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Archive for June, 2005

May have a plan

June 29th, 2005 at 05:34 am

My parents are filing for bankruptcy, and if their house doesn't sell soon, it will probably be foreclosed on. My mom is essentially living with her fiance in another town, which leaves the house empty (except for her stuff). So, she offered to let dad and I stay in it until either we didn't need to or the foreclosure was final - whichever happened first.

Yesterday I had a long convo with my mom, and ended up telling her about Pathways- that before all this crap came down the pike, I had committed to Todd that I would do it. She convinced me to stay in the house till after her wedding - which would only leave two weekend session of Pathways after that. It would also give me a couple months to really decide where I want to go from here - NE or CA. 99.9% of me is leaning towards NE and Scott.

Scott called me tonight - I totally wasn't expecting it. He told me that he'd been looking around his town and seeing that there were a lot of "for rent" signs. And also that he'd looked in the Sunday paper and saw that there wasn't much in the way of jobs listed. But he did say that probably as soon as he saw Evelyn (kind of the leader of the singles group) that she'd probably be full of ideas for me. One comment he made which really surprised me was that he hadn't realized how much I liked his town. When I asked him why he said that, he told me that I hadn't been very enthusiastic about it - in other words, gone on and on about it. That was really weird to me, because I know how much I did like his town and that area of the US, and I remember numerous times stating to him how much I liked it. I guess it didn't make an impression on him?

I went to Wal-mart today and had my two back tires replaced. The treads on them were worn dangerously thin. While I was there I noticed some car radio/tape systems which were fairly inexpensive and that are compatiable with MP3 players. My speakers are starting to squeak and squeal, and I'm getting really tired of using them - so I think I'm almost ready to bite the bullet and get my car radio replaced. (I had a nice system, but in 2/04 it was stolen out of my car.)

In the morning I'm taking my car to a place called "The Honda Alternative" and having the 75k mile tune-up done. It costs nearly $100 less than at the actual dealership.

It looks like we'll most likely be moving out of this place over the 4th of July weekend. I hope we can find people who can help move us. Todd already volunteered himself and his fiance if I need them -that would be a little awkward I think, especially since I've never met her before.

I've felt so tired and nautious today. Didn't get really much of anything accomplished. I really should have gotten some more boxes packed - or something. I was really embarrased when I had to admit that to Scott. Tomorrow I have to get some packing done, and I have to get some exercise - no matter how tired or lethargic or ucky I feel.

Keeping It Frugal in Texas,
Laura

Big Changes

June 24th, 2005 at 12:54 am

Well, long story short (yeah, right) Smile After having settled into our apartment and starting to feel at home, last night we got a notice telling us that we have to get out. Basically, my dad didn't check an answer on the application, and they are accusing him of "falsifying" the application. Also, yesterday morning I quit the sales job.

So, last night I talked to Scott for nearly two hours. He offered to come right away and help me pack and move, etc. He also offered to let me stay with him in NE and even help me get a job and sign a lease for me out there (since I'll now have the double whammy of bankruptcy and eviction on my rental history). I told him that we wouldn't have to get out that fast, so he's coming in the morning (leaving after he takes his mid-term tonight).

I also had an offer from my grandma to live in her apartment (attached to her house) in CA rent free.

Oh, I also found out that tomorrow is most likely the day that our sweet little 16yr old Maltese is going to be put to sleep. Ryan (my brother) is going to be with him, which makes me feel a *little* better.

So, at any rate, I've been having a fun couple of days. NOT!

Laura

Two days

June 16th, 2005 at 07:12 am

Two days in a row I've had late nights. Tuesday night I had an appointment at Heather and Joel's home. I had been a bridesmaid in Heather's wedding a few years ago. There's only one word to describe that appointment --Chaos!! It started with me not having the correct address (they'd moved recently). Then, Heather had forgotten to tell Joel I was coming, so he'd invited another couple over. They didn't have all the stuff Heather needed to make taco's, so the guys went out to the store. I think both couples were interested in the product, but they just didn't like the price (understandably). I didn't make it back home till after midnight.

Tonight (Wednesday) I had an appointment with my best friend and her husband. I paid for pizza for all of us (tax write off) and then did the demo. Their two children LOVED it! I did a bit of a funny though - I was trying to demonstrate how the Rainbow can pick up water very fast. So I filled my cup with water, and asked the little boy to hold it. Then I turned on the machine --- and --- POOF! Water Everywhere!! I had forgotten that I had switched the hose from the intake valve to the exhaust valve! It really was funny, except that I'm not sure how trusting the little boy will be of me now! LOL They did end up buying the machine, with a little help from me. I won't go into all the details, and some people may disagree with me on this, but for the past six months I have been setting aside my tithe money into a giving account. I just plain did not want to give it over to the church burecrats - I wanted it to go for God's work - or to church workers. I knew that my best friend's daughter has some very bad allergies, as does her husband. This caused her to miss a LOT of work last year, and her husband too. I just felt that this was SO perfect for them. I also had been asking God to show me how and where to use this money. I felt really impressed that this was what they needed, and I should help them get it. So, that's what I did. They had a hard time accepting it, but I stressed to them that I truly felt God was impressing me to do this, so they finally accepted, after my manager and I got the monthly payment as low as we could for the remainder.

I'm going to have to go back on Friday for three reasons: 1) I messed up when filling out the contract, so need to redo it and have them sign 2) there were no owner's manuals in either box and 3) there was no product registration form in the box. It's a little bit frustrating, but perhaps I can get another appointment up there so it'll kill two birds with one stone, so to speak. Smile

Spending Log: Tuesday and Wednesday
Gas: $20.00
Office Depot: $12.97 (appointment book + soda)
Pizza: $20.00 (tax write-off)
Giving: $1200
Tolls: $1.50
Junkfood: $2.10

Keeping It Frugal in Texas,
Laura

A Sale :) :( ????

June 14th, 2005 at 05:26 am

Well, today I made my first sale. I know I should be jumping for joy, but in all honesty, I'm not so sure I feel very good about it. The sale was to my mom. When I got to her house today she asked me how I felt it went yesterday with Dave. I told her the truth, that I felt he hadn't been very nice and that I'd seen a side of him that I didn't care for very much. She essentially decided that she wanted the Rainbow, and so she was going to get one. I think she sees this as a test of Dave - how he'll handle her going completely against what he had decided (a good point - because this is something she's known to do quite often - so maybe a good thing for Dave to see, as well as for her to see how he reacts). If her credit somehow miracuously manages to be approved, then she's going to have to start making payments on it in Sept. I wonder if she somehow thinks that Dave might bail her out and just pay it off for her???

Our group is now down to 6, and I have a feeling that by tomorrow we'll be losing one more. I can understand the other's frustration. We have a meeting Tue - Friday at 2pm which runs for at least an hour. So that essentially cuts out 1 -3 hours of time you could be doing demos (depending on how far you live from the office, etc). Also, whenever you make a sale, you have to go back to the office to get your replacement Rainbow - so if you are at an appointment an hour away, you make the sale, then you drive back to the office an hour to pick up your new Rainbow - if you have any other appointments scheduled then more than likely they'll have to be rescheduled. I have committed to doing this through at least the end of June, no matter what. On July 1 I will weigh the pros and cons and decide if I'm going to continue with this or not. I feel like I have to give this time, as well as putting forth as much of my own effort as I can.

Tonight we had what is called "Main Event" which is where all the offices in the Metroplex get together once a week. Various prizes are raffled off and some of the big wigs talk about various things. I met a few of the people from my class as well as some other people from our office, and we car pooled over to where it was held. Of the five of us, three smoked in the car. I had the privledge of sitting between two of them. *cough* *cough* *gag*! Believe me, I have my own vices, but I just can't tell you how much the smell and the smoke from cigarettes bothers me - makes me feel sick to my stomach. This is something that never was an issue at my last job (school). I don't know. Guess something I'll just have to get used to.

I found one of my items which I'd mailed out a long time ago had been returned to me because of an unknown address. I got on my computer to email the person and let her know what had happened to her item, to find out that she had already started a "dispute" resolution with Ebay!! Arghh!! I had told her that if she didn't receive it to email me!! Oh well, I responded and copied the address she had given on her MONEY ORDER and told her that it had been forwarded to my new address. Honestly, right now, I am throughly sick and tired of selling through Ebay and really could care less about getting my first negative feedback (if she ends up leaving me a negative feedback). I think if I DO ever sell more stuff on Ebay that I am going to insist on PayPal only - so I won't have this mess of an incorrect address (or wating 4ever! for the $ to come).

K, I'm very tired.

Spending Log:
Exon: $5.16 (Gas)
Pancho's: $4.97 (lunch)

Keeping It Frugal In Texas,
Laura

Ugh!

June 13th, 2005 at 04:45 am

The good about my day:
1. Sold the remainder of my teacher resource books at Half-Price Bookstore, and got $65 for them. Didn't buy any new books.
2. Watched "How To Lose A Guy in Ten Days" while drowning in Cherry Coke.
3. Got a free 2 liter soda at Kroger's because the cashier forgot to ask about the bottom of my cart.
4. Got my free movie ticket from a promotion Kroger's ran in April.

UGH!
----My second demonstration. The WHOLE thing! Today's was with my mom and her fiance'. The demo itself went okay. But let's just say that after today, I'm not so sure how much I like this guy. Ok, so you don't want to buy the darn thing. I can handle that, can even understand it. I'm of the frugal mindset myself and don't like to spend money unless I really see the need or have thought long and hard about it. But, if someone came into my home (whom I invited!) to demonstrate something, especially when that person is possibly going to be your stepdaughter soon, I think I'd hold off on the barrage of negative type questions. If you're not interested, just say, Thanks for coming, I really think it's a great product, but it's not really something I'm looking at getting right now. Don't ask me questions, and then when I answer them, tell me "well, that may be the company line ...." ARGHHH!!!!! Get this -- my manager offered this guy the most UNHEARD OF DEAL -- $50 down today, THEN a whole YEAR before he has to pay the balance -- no interest!!!!! All he could say to me was, "What if I called in a few weeks and asked what your best price was?" I told him that I had no way of telling him that, but that I did know that the offer from my manager, and the price of the product, was ONLY good today. There's much, much more, but I won't bore you all to tears. My mom pulled me aside and told me that she *really* wanted it, and would get it from me tomorrow. I had to tell her that no, she couldn't because her credit is cr@p right now (ok, not actual words, but general idea).

Really, truly, I could care less whether or not he had bought it or not. It was just the *way* he acted, the *way* he asked the questions. Like he was accusing me of lying at every step of the way. I drove 45 miles ONE WAY to do this demonstration. It took me most of the first 30 miles plus a traffic jam to calm down on the way back.

Tonight, more than most nights, I am really, really, feeling how single I am. How alone I am.

Spending Log:
Kroger's: $9.36 (bananas, frozen meal, junkfood)

Keeping It Frugal in Texas,
Laura

Quick Report

June 12th, 2005 at 05:52 am

Today was a pretty lazy day overall. It started out early, because of course my cat wanted his breakfast and didn't understand that I wanted to sleep in. Smile

The cable guy came by and switched out my box for a DVR box. Yay! But he told me that I wasn't supposed to have been getting HBO and Showtime and they'd be gone by tomorrow. Frown Wahhh! Oh well, not really like I was watching much on them anyway - just kind of nice to have such a plethora of movies to choose from. Oh, may I say it .... I LURVE my DVR!!!! Smile Smile

Towards late afternoon I was getting kind of bored and felt the need to get out of the place. So I went to Wal-Mart to drop off my dad's prescription, and to get some of the things I needed for my demonstrations. Then I dropped my books off at the library. I had thought about going in and getting some more, but I missed it closing by 10 minutes. Better luck next time I guess. After that I stopped at a pizza place and ordered a pizza to go. While I was waiting for it, I went back to my car. As I was reorganizing my car space, I found my friend Heather's # which I had been looking for before. So I called her. We were chatting up a storm, and I guess the person I'd ordered my pizza from noticed that I was on the phone, so he brought out the pizza to me. Smile Smile What service. Smile

I totally wasn't planning on talking to Heather about me coming and doing a demo for her and her husband, but our conversation just naturally flowed into it. I think I got her pretty excited about the Rainbow. We set up an appointment for Tuesday evening. SmileIt *might* be a sale!!

Tonight I watched "Daddy Day Care." I thought it would be a silly movie, but it turns out that it really was pretty good, and I was really glad that I watched it. I also watched "Picture Perfect" which I had seen before. I really didn't get much done today, but sometimes you just need those lazy kind of days.

I did though get my Excell set up to record all my business expenses and income, and refigured my budget based on just the base salary, as well as figuring out my formula for any $ above and beyond the base salary amount.

In the mail today I finally got my deposit back from my old apartment. Apparantally someone *did* come in my place after we left and stole my pots and pans (which I had inadvertantally not packed) and the wet dry/vac that the manager was supposed to pick up. So, the cost of the wet dry/vac was deducted from my refund. I could I suppose file a claim with renters insurance, but it probably wouldn't hold much water since I had to leave the door unlocked. At least the refund is enough to replace the money I used to pay the new deposit here, so I'm breaking even.

Ooops. Guess it wasn't such a quick report after all. Smile Scott would ask me sometimes how I came up with these long emails after we'd been talking on the phone for an hour or more that night. Smile Guess I just like to write - a whole lot more than I like to talk outloud.

Spending Log:
Wal-Mart: $7.97 ((business supplies)
$3.87 (ointment for dad's finger - will be reimbursed)
Wal-Greens: $2.36 (junkfood)
Papa John's: $9.97 (pizza)

Oi! I spent more money than I realized today. Will have to watch my pennies till Wednesday (payday -next to last check from teaching)

Keeping It Frugal In Texas,
Laura

Last Day of Training/First Demo

June 11th, 2005 at 04:01 am

Today was our last day of training. When I arrived, there were a number of our group standing around outside --smoking of course - and talking about some of their doubts and concerns. Andrew walked by and overheard some of what we were saying and asked what we were talking about. He got a bit upset, and then dissapeared into the building for a few minutes then came back with a whole pile of w-9 forms and independant contractor forms, etc.

Later, he had one of the higher up's come by and talk to us for nearly an hour telling us about how big the company is, etc.
There was a lot of time taken up showing us just how big the company is. One really cool thing was that the Rainbow was mentioned on an episode of "Everybody Loves Raymond", only it was called something else, like a Hum Ve.

I didn't get out of the office with my kit until after 5. By the time I got home and got started with my first demo (to my dad) I didn't have much time left before he had to leave. I cut some parts short, but still didn't get through to the very end, so I had to "reschedule" it for Sunday morning. My dad was very impressed with the machine, even though he couldn't afford one. Smile I think the gest part was when I had him vacuum the rug under the dining table 50 times with our regular vacuum, then I vacuumed with the Rainbow two or three times and pulled up a boatload of cat hair and other gunk.

I did pretty well for the first time going through the demo from start to almost finish. I just got really stuck in the middle of the close section, and I couldn't find my phone script for calling into the office. Putting everything back into the box was a pain and a half, and took me almost as long as the whole demo did. I was *so* hungry by the time I had everything cleaned up and put away!

I'm sure after I do this a few more times, I'll be able to pack it more quickly, and also assemble the various things more quickly too. I do need to figure out that closing though, or I might lose actual sales. My next demo isn't till Sunday at 4, so I am going to try to practice a bit between now and then. Maybe do some housecleaning - like cleaning my mattress and pillows. Smile

Oh! I almsot forgot! During lunch today I was looking around in my car, and I saw the copies of the scholarship papers that I had left with Todd on Tuesday. As I was looking at them, I realized that I had forgotten to give him $15 check to go with them! I was *so* embarrassed! I called him and told him that I had *just* realized that I had forgotten to give that to him. He told me to not worry about it, that he had written a check for it. What I can do is drop off a check on Monday on my way from the Monday morning meeting to my mom's house (where I'm doing a demo). That'll be right on the way.

Not much else to write about today. I am so very tired.

Spending Log:
Lunch: $3.01 (grilled cheese, and box of Jr Mints)

Keeping It Frugal in Texas,
Laura

Second Day Down!

June 10th, 2005 at 01:29 am

The morning at work didn't start off very well. I pulled up and saw a number of the people in my class standing outside the building smoking or just standing there. I went over and said Good Morning, and stood for a few moments. Finally the smoke was really getting to me, so I decided to go ahead and go in. Well, unfortunately I didn't double check what door they were standing in front of, and when I tried to open the door, it was locked. The door I wanted was the next one over. I tried to just laugh it off, and I think I would have succeeded, but one of the "ladies" said, "You know I've been out of school for awhile, but I do remember taking a course called "Reading Is Fundamental"." I *really* wanted to ask her if she thought that was necessary, and there was a word that *really* *really* wanted to slip out of my mouth to describe her, but I decided it wasn't worth it.

Later we had our daily "on-time" drawing, and I won a prize! It was the RainMate which is kind of a miniature version of the Rainbow machine. I was pretty happy to get that. We had to have at least 80 appointments set today for Andrew to get lunch for us. We were missing three people, and ended up with only 69. After a bit of hemming and hawing, he decided to go ahead and get pizza for us. Of course I was the only vegetarian in the group, but luckily there was someone who was alergic to salt (so she couldn't eat peporoni or sausage) so we got a cheese pizza for us.

Alot of today felt kind of like wasted time. Andrew would start us off on practicing a part of our demo, then would leave and not be back for an hour or more. Our groups would go through the demos two or three times, and then just kind of sit there yakking waiting to see what to do next. It was a bit frustrating, especially when he (Andrew) would keep saying how we were so far behind schedule. We stayed an extra hour today, and apparantally are back on schedule.

Tomorrow we're going to have a much longer day, but we'll also be leaving with our Rainbow to use in our demo's. If we sell it, we have to go all the way back to the office to pick up another one. That's going to be a bit of a pain. But I really doubt that I'll be selling any this weekend anyway. The demo's this weekend are mainly just for practice - getting my feet wet.

When I got home this evening, I did not feel like getting anything put together for supper. So I told my dad that I'd take him out to eat, if he was willing to hear me say a sentence about my business (so I can write it off). Smile Mom called while we were eating and wanted to know what we were eating, and why I hadn't wanted to make something at home, etc etc. Just being nosy. I wanted to ask her what *she* had eaten all day and *why* she'd eaten whatever she'd eaten! Of course though, I didn't do that. It isn't as though I go out to eat all the time - and even if I did, it really isn't any of her business!

Dad told me something that made me really sad today. He said that his sister Ni (my Aunt) had told him that our little Maltese who is nearly 16 years old is really failing fast. That we might need to really start thinking about letting him go. I really don't want him to be put to sleep without any of his immediate family members there with him, but he's in CA right now. The only person who *could* be there with him is my brother, and the President of the US is probably easier to get in touch with than he is! He really has had a long life - he's lived longer than the normal life expectancy for a Maltese. He's such a good dog. We got him my freshman year of high school - our little Reggie.

I am feeling so tired and just out of sorts. I really hope that I start feeling better soon, cuz I'm going to need a lot of energy to do all the demos and driving.

Spending Log:
Exon: $20.00 (gas and a drink)
Luby's: $13.29 (dad and I supper)

Keeping It Frugal in Texas,
Laura

First Day of Training

June 9th, 2005 at 03:46 am

Today was officially our first day of training. Andrew (the manager) told us that the whole food name thing yesterday was just to see who could handle silly office humor. Our numbers went from about 34 people yesterday, to 14 today. It will be interesting to see how many show up tomorrow.

I am still thinking that this is going to be a good thing. It *is* going to be a lot of work -- and a *lot* of driving, which I'm not particularily fond of, but I'm willing to do it. The reason I'm willing to do it is because I see that I will be rewarded for what time and effort I put into it.

Most of the people there smoke, and it seems like most of them also drink. A lot of them curse quite easily. It is going to take a lot of getting used to. I'm not sure if any of them could become more than acquaintances because it just doesn't seem like I have very much in common with most of them. Most of my time will be spent on my own, so it probably won't be that big of a deal in the long run.

I found out today that the office is open Tuesday to Saturday. Before I had even said a word, Andrew started talking about how Saturday's were a must, UNLESS your religous beliefs led you to not work on Saturday - such as Seventh-day Adventists, Jews, Seventh-day Baptists, and Jehovah Wittnesses. I guess my lack of jewlery, lack of cursing and smoking, somewhat more modest dress, taking the meat off my sandwich yesterday, etc *had* been noticed by him. He asked me pretty point blank what I was. I told him I was an Adventist. So, he told me that I would just have to work extra hard on Sundays. I told him I'd have no problem doing that - I'm used to working on Sundays. Smile

We had a homework assignment tonight. We had to begin setting up our demo's for this weekend. He gave us a contest - everyone who completes 5 demo's between Friday and Monday gets to choose a $50 GC for Outback Steakhouse or Red Lobster. The GC's wouldn't do me much good, but the Outback one would be a good birthday gift for my Mom. So, when I got back home tonight I called five people, and made 4 set appointments, and one more good possibility. Smile So, I think I just might have my GC. Smile

I got another email from the *24 yo* tonight. He was asking me if I would like to chat on the phone with him. I told him I couldn't tonight because I had to do some phoning. Smile He was born in TN just like me. Smile What am I doing emailing with a 24 year old????

Ok, it's getting kind of late, so I better get going.

Spending Log:
Jo's Deli: $1.89 (grilled cheese sandwich)

Keeping It Frugal in Texas,
Laura

Has the hunt ended already???

June 8th, 2005 at 04:13 am

Well, today I went for the orientation. I must say that I am quite impressed both with the product itself, and with the company. The manager answered just about every question I had without me having to ask it. I have decided to give this my best shot.

Something kind of funny - in an effort to get to know each other, and I guess to make it easier to remember our names, we had to come up with a food name for each of the ~30 people there. There were some very interesting names. My food name is ... Cherry! Becuase I was smiling so much. Hee! Smile

After Orientation I dropped off the Scholarship application to Todd. On the way back I came with in seconds of being in a major car accident. I had just pulled out of the parking lot and was moving forward, when out of nowhere this car makes a left turn in front of me. Luckily for me my brakes were working *very* well. I literally came with in milimeters of hitting the driver's side of the other car. That's two times now in two days that I was either in an accident, or came *very* close to being in one. My guardian angels must really be working overtime right now.

A funny! I got an email from a -- get this -- 24 year old guy! on the one singles site. He's divorced with what looks like a 2 yr old little girl. This guy is the same age as my brother! How weird would that be??? Smile

Spending Log:
Exon: $1.49 (drink and snack)

Keeping It Frugal in Texas,
Laura

And the Hunt Begins!

June 7th, 2005 at 03:29 am

Shortly after getting up this morning, I got out the list of job possibilities which I had written down yesterday. After calling all of them, I was able to easily cross out three of them, two others all I got were answering machines. One of them I have to go by and fill out an application. Another one I have to fax my resume. Two of them I got "interviews" with. All within the space of about 30 minutes. Smile

I went to the first "interview" today. It was for a company that sells an air purification system. Basically there was a group of about 30 people sitting in a room watching a slide presentation on the company and the benefits, while the manager? narrated. The manager? kept reiterating "if" you are selected" bolognie. After about 25 minutes or so, he gave us time to finish filling out our applications, then started taking people out for our "interview". He calls me back finally - 30 seconds and a handshake later I am walking out the door! We were told to call back between 6:30 and 7:00 to find out "if" we were selected. Ooohh, the suspense was killing me -ha ha. Smile Who would'a thunk it? I was one of the ones "selected!"

There are four days of training from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. My second interview (again, a group interview) is on Wednesday, so I figure I'll give this company one day to make me want to work for them. -- To prove to me it's NOT another Fire Secure. One thing I can say though, is that they already are MUCH more organized. Something else, is that they do guarantee a base pay + commision -- I'll have to see more how that works though before I get *too* excited. Also, they *said* that there isn't any cold calling - that everyone we'll deal with are existing customers or people who've expressed interest. Again, time will tell.
I may be wasting my time with this, but then again, maybe I'm not. That would be pretty cool if I found something right out of the barrel. Smile

After the interview I stopped by Todd's office to pick up the scholarship application for the Pathways program. Last night I emailed him and told him that I had decided that I wanted to do the program. The first session is the weekend of July 8-10. I really hope that this program is as good as he says it is. He asked me if it would be okay for him to put his fiance's name down as my sponsor, because she is trying to become a trainee or something - and you have to sponsor so many people. He's already in training to be one of the assistant counselors. -- That would be too weird if he was in one of my groups - though he knows pretty much everything about me.

Dad and I each chipped in $20 for the grocery envelope, and then I went grocery shopping. Albertson's had it's 1/2 gallon milk on sale 10/$10, so I picked up 5 of them. The OJ was also on pretty good sale, so I picked up two of them. Then one of my favorite snacks - green grapes - was on sale for 10lbs/$10 - yummy! Dad had mentioned that he'd like something in the house besides water to drink. I didn't want to get soda, cuz neither one of us needs those empty calories, so I picked up some Langer's Strawberry-Orange blend Juice - on sale for $1.50 (7.3 cents/oz). Most of that should hold us for this week, and into next week. Smile

Oh! Almost forgot! I bought a 4-1 printer/scanner/copier/fax machine today from Circuit City. I was getting very tired of not being able to print anything out, and looked at the cost of replacing the ink (needed black and color) and it turned out that those two inks were only $30 less than the machine I bought. I'd been seriously wanting one for awhile (nearly two years) and I looked at it as more of a $30 purchase (on sale, and after mail-in rebate). Smile I like it very much - just have to figure out how to have my DSL, phone, and fax all in the same phone jack.

Well, I guess I better go get that application filled out. Todd needs it tomorrow, so I'll be dropping it by his office after training is over.

Spending Log:
4-1 Printer: $101.32 (with tax)
Albertsons: $25.08
Exon (Gas): $10.00 (~5 gallons)

Keeping It Frugal in Texas,
Laura

Saturday n Sunday

June 6th, 2005 at 04:23 am

Saturday
Didn't really do too much. Cable guy came right at noon and hooked up the main tv with digital and the 2nd tv with expanded basic. Very cool. He didn't have the DVR box, but will come by on Thursday with it.

Late afternoon I went out and saw "Sisterhood Of The Traveling Pants". They changed a few things on it that I wish they hadn't, but overall it was very good. I was crying like a baby - almost as much as I was when I read the book a few months ago.

Then I went to Walgreens and got some junk food, and to Taco Bell and got some food. Way too much spending on unnecesary things.

Got an email from one of my Ebay customers telling me she'd received her package - unfortunately it was empty with the exception of a piece of wadded up newspaper. I offered to send her some other books I hadn't listed yet, or refund her money. I feel just awful that this happened.

I got some emails from Scott. He asked me to pick out my 8 main character traits from a list. One of the traits I listed was adventorus - he was really surprised by that one. One of the traits he picked for himself was reliable. The jury's still out on that one.

I signed up with eharmony for the 3 months for $49. Normally it's $49/month. Maybe I'll have better luck with it than the site where I met Todd and Scott, though I'm not holding my breath.

Spending:
Cable: $33 (waived instalation fees - yay!)
Movie: $5.50
Taco Bell: $4.73
Wal-Greens: $6.81
Eharmony: $49
=== way too much money -- ugh!

Sunday:
Dad got here this morning raring for a game plan. So we had breakfast, then went on a 30 minute walk. Then got most of the pictures/miorrs etc hung up, got stuff loaded in his truck to take to storage, and just basicaly got the place looking better.

Scott wrote me and told me that one of the older men in his single's group whom I had met a couple of times basically dropped dead after the Single's Potluck on Sabbath (Saturday). The thing that really stinks about it, is that that man had just recently become engaged. I didn't know him very well, but he seemed like a nice enough person. Scott is taking this pretty hard I think. He lost both his mom and one of his sisters 10 and 13 years ago, and I think this is just bringing it all back up to him.

I've been feeling so ucky all day today. It was all I could do to keep working on stuff with dad. I didn't want to complain, becuase its not exactly like I've been working ultra hard this last week or so. I did go through the Sunday paper's employment section and wrote down about 14 different places I want to check out. There are a lot of car places advertising gaurnteed training salary. It is somewhat tempting, but I don't think I'd be good at that at all - I can't tell a lie worth anything - that I think is one of the reasons I failed at my fire safety business - part of the sales pitch to prospective employees, I just couldn't say because I didn't believe it once I was "inside" the whole thing.

I hope I get an answer to a question soon. If not sooner, by Saturday at least.

Ok, I better get some shut eye so I can get started on my job hunt tomorrow.

Spending Log: NONE

Keeping It Frugal in Texas,
Laura

Finished Moving, Back from trip

June 4th, 2005 at 01:14 am

Hi! It's been awhile since I last updated here. The rest of the packing and moving went well and was fairly stress free, as much as packing and moving can be stress free! Smile I got a mani/pedi and highlights - Wink

Last Friday of course was moving day. Everyone showed up by about 9:30 and I was all moved out and on the road by 11 a.m.! Then I was all moved in, and got pizza for everyone by 2:00. Smile Most of the rest of the afternoon was spent settling the big pieces of furniture, and settling my room, while Scott mostly laid on my bed.

Oh yeah. That brings up another part of my weekend. Scott. Suffice it to say that I was glad he came, I enjoyed having him here, he was a big help with the actual moving part of things, but ..... he didn't come here with any more intentions than just wanting to be with a friend. Yes, I was dissapointed, and frankly, more than a bit embarrased, but still glad that I found out what it was all about. I did tell him though that I couldn't do another weekend like this one, and he understood. I'm not totally sure where this leaves us. A part of me would like to just completely cut off contact with him, but at least till the end of next week, there may be a reason for me to stay in contact with him, so until then, I'm going to put off my final decision.

My trip to Fredricksburg was good. The b&b I stayed in was very charming - I spent hours on the front porch swing watching the people go by and reading. The first night I was there, there was a very huge storm with LOTS of lightning and thunder. Some of the lightning got so close I could actually hear it sizzle! I hiked to the top of Enchanted Rock. It's a *steep* 8/10 of a mile climb, and boy howdy, did I ever find out how out of shape I was! When I got up to the top, I found this little secluded spot, with a couple of stunted trees and a lot of cacti. I sat right under the trees for nearly two hours just talking to God, singing praises, and quietly listening. I don't know if I imagined it or not, but I *think* I heard him speak to me - just something simple "I am with you my child" Later, on the way back down, I got myself off the correct path and was getting more than a little nervous. I asked God to help me find my way back to the correct path, and somehow I managed to find it. I really felt his hand guiding me that whole time on the way to the park, on the Enchanted Rock, and as I was going back to town. It really was an amazing experience. Really, the best part of my whole trip.

The rest of the time I checked out some of the shops. I *love* antiques, although all of the antiques in their shops were WAY out of my price range, they still were cool to look at and dream about. I did end up buying two things - 1) My first piece of jewlery that I bought for myself - an ankle bracelet with a small blue heart. One bf I had gave me a number of pieces of jewlery, but since I don't really wear it that much (especially with teaching in the schools I've been at) I never bought any for myself. I guess this was just one more step towards breaking away from what has been. 2) I bought a set of kitty kat coasters - to put drinks on my coffe table (from a garage sale, but still, no reason not to keep it looking nice). My whole trip - food, gas, do dads, and lodging, were MORE than paid for by my Ebay sales! Ya-hoo!

Mom and Dave brought Monkey over tonight. At first he was hardly even acknowledging me, but then he got to where he wouldn't let me out of his sight. Right now he's laying down in front of my computer monitor resting his head on my leg (yeah, I've got my legs up on my desk) Smile .

I've been without internet since last Thursday night, which has been hard in some ways. But today when I got back from my trip, the DSL service had been turned on at my new place. YAY! I haven't been keeping up with tracking expenses very well lately, but now that I have my net back, I will be tracking much more faithfully again.

Tomorrow the cable guy is coming. We're going to get Digital Cable with DVR capabilities. I know, I know, we should be spending as little as possible. But dad and I agreed that since we got such a deal on the apartment, that we could splurge a little on tv. I haven't had cable for nearly three years, and dad's pretty much been without it for a year or so, so I know we both could do without it if we really had to tighten our belts. I am SO looking forward to the DVR!

Ok, this is getting a bit long, so I probably ought to sign off.

I'm gonna have to catch up on some of y'all's journals. Smile

Keeping It Frugal in Texas,
Laura