I got a phone call from E this morning at 6:47 a.m. asking me if I could go in early - as in ASAP. The person who was supposed to be there had gotten a bad sunburn and was pretty ill.

I made it over to the gym by a little after 7:30.

One big accomplishment today -- for the first time since before Christmas break, I did my 30 minute run! Of course, I scaled it back a lot since it had been such a long time, but I ran for a total of 18 out of 35 minutes. Yay!

I found out from E that both of the people who I'd talked to about joining the gym have signed up! Bonus time!

---

I got my Cobra letter today. Just for Medical it'll be $398/mo. It didn't mention anything about the 65% Stimulus discount - but it was dated on the 17th.

I'm going to call them on Monday to clarify about that, plus some other items.

---

Today's accomplishments:

1. Gym from 7:30 - 5 pm
2. Cashed gym check
3. updated blog
4. 35 minutes exercise session!
5. Checked Craigslist

Saturday Plans:

1. Church
2. poltluck lunch
3. update blog
4. Out on town with friends
5. Clean counters (one of these days I'll actually do this!)

I worked at the gym from 8 to 3 today. It was pretty uneventful, except that one person came by who was interested in joining. If he joins, I'll get a bonus. On Friday a woman came by who was interested in personal training - she set up an initial appt w/E, but wasn't able to keep it. But if she ends up signing on, I'll get another little bonus.

After I finished at the gym, I met my former OM in front of our office building. She gave me my severance check, and a few items I'd forgotten in my haste to leave.

For some reason, looking at that check took me back a few steps in dealing with the loss. I was a zombie for the next few hours - even through my doctor appt and stoping at Walmart.

When I was putting my groceries in my trunk, I realized I still hadn't brought in my box of stuff from my former life. It had sat there since Friday.

Once I got home I checked my mail. There were a number of important letters.

2 of them were from Texas Work Force. 1 said that as of Feb 22 I have to complete at least 5 work jobs each week - submitting an application, contacting an employer, attending a seminar, etc.
That sounds like a lot to me, especially when I see what the job listings look like. But . . I'll do whatever it takes.

The third piece of mail was a summons to serve on the Jury on March 9. I wonder if Work in Texas will exempt me from the 5 thing if I get picked for a jury, esp if it lasts more than a day? I've had Jury Summons before, but never made it to the courthouse. My group number always seems to get dismissed - maybe it's because of my last name being in the latter part of the alphabet?

----
Thursday's Accomplishments:
1. Worked gym from 8 to 3
2. Dropped off severance paperwork
3. went to doctors appt
4. grocery shopping (spent too much, bought some junkfood.)
5. Worked on work in texas resume

*no exercise, no cleaning, didn't look at Craigslist

Fridays Goals/Plans:
1. Work gym from 11:45 - 5
2. Get to gym by 10:15 to workout/cleanup
3. Prepare 3 blog posts
4. Clean counters
5. Cash gym check
6. Check Craigslist

This morning I made it to the Work Force Center about 8:20. The seminar I was going there for started at 9, but I thought I'd get there early in case there was a typing test or something else I could do.

At first when I asked one of the ladies at the front desk about the seminar, she looked like she didn't know what I was talking about. Then when I told her the name of it, she was like, "Oh! WIA. Are you in the WIA?"

Trying not to sound stupid, I told her I didn't know what the WIA was. (I'm still not sure what the letters stand for!)

She told me that it was a program for people who had been laid off and want/need training in job skills in order to get a better job. Also, she told me that the seminar I came to attend was one of the requirements for the program - that most people didn't choose to attend it. Luckily I'm not most people, right?

Another lady who was nearby spoke up and told me that WIA was a great program. That it was paying for her to go through training to be a medical secretary. Not only are they paying her tuition, but they also are giving her gas cards for getting to school (and presumably a part-time job.)

Hmmm.... this sounded interesting.

I am going to attend the next orientation session on Tuesday to see if I qualify, and what all it entails. (There is a session on Monday afternoon, but I'm working at the gym then.)

I'm just thinking that going the route of being a medical secretary wouldn't be a bad idea - or at least the training for it. Will have to check into pay scales on it though.

Another possible route is to take computer training on Quickbooks or other accounting software - both of which seem to be asked for quite often in the admin asst ads I'm looking at.

****Would it be bad of me to take advantage of this program if I qualify, considering I do have financial resources available to me, while others may not??***

The second thing I learned today was at the seminar. It actually became a one-to-one session because the room it was to be held in was occupied, and the presenter only had space for one person in his cubicle. The other two rescheduled for tomorrow.

The seminar was going through the functionality of the work in Texas website. I'd already signed up on it, as well as done a good bit of exploring, but he was able to show me a lot of things I had not figured out yet. He also gave me a lot of great hints and tips.

So, my visit this morning to the Work Force Center was well worth my time - even though they don't have an official typing test.

---
Accomplished today:

1. Seminar at workforce center
2. Checked Craigslist
3. trash run, dish run
4. updated blog
5. Filled gas tank - $18

*Did not exercise, nor update applications, nor cash gym check.

Thursdays goals:

1. Work at gym from 8 -3
2. Give former OM severance paperwork
3. exercise
4. update blog
5. work on resume/application info
6. Check Craigslist
7. Clean counters (kitchen and bathroom)

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This afternoon my mom treated me to seeing "Confessions of a Shopaholic." I absolutely LOVE the book series, and the movie was really pretty good too.

Afterwards we ate at TB ($3.01 for both of us!) Then went off on a wild goose chase looking for a book she needs to read before her interview on Tuesday.

My lateness getting home is partially why I did not accomplish some things I wanted to.

---

I have two questions about the Stimulus bill which recently passed, and am hoping someone may know the answer(s).

1. Is Cobra being subsidized at all?
2. Is there a certain amount of UI you can make without Federal Taxes being owed?

The reason I ask, is because both items were brought to my attention as things that were being proposed as part of it, but were not confirmed as to whether they were passed.

Thanks for any info!

Um yeah. You know that list I made yesterday of all the things I was going to accomplish today?

Managed to do four items.

1. Applied to company scfr mentioned
2. caught up on blog posts
3. Perused Craigslist job postings
4. Started to look into ehealthinsurance plans

Didn't clean, didn't exercise, didn't finish applications (although did make some progress on one of them.)

On Craigslist I found a number of interesting postings. One was for AmeriPlan, which I don't think is right for me. Another one was for a different tutoring company than AtoZ, which I did apply for and took a number of qualifying tests.

A third one though made me annoyed. I responded to an ad for an admin asst with a starting hourly rate slightly higher than what I made. I received a reply back with a link to a website to fill out an application. I filled out the application, copied and pasted my resume, and submitted.

After submitting, the next page was a list of online colleges where you could 'further your career opportunities' and nothing else. So now I'm wondering if the ad wasn't just a scam to get you to give your contact info so they can bug you to death to apply to one of those online schools.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think I am.

----

One thing I've been trying to wrap my brain around today is the fact that all the money which I've been earning from my side jobs, and which I've completely allocated towards savings goals, is now not really 'extra monies' but is now 'NOW' monies.

I'm trying to figure out if the money I have stashed in my general Extra Monies account, but not allocated yet, should be put in my Next Month fund for general spending, or go to where I'd put it if life was normal.

You see, right now I am using the money I earned in January for expenses. In March, I'll use the money I earned in February (including the severance pay I guess.) So by April, I'll presumably need to use the monies earned in March.

Since there will be no full-time income coming during March (unless a miracle happens) the only income will be from side jobs or unemployment.

So . . . maybe for February I will go ahead and allocate my extra monies normally, since I'll have a 'normal' income. But then in March, whatever comes in from whatever source, will go to fund April's budget.

Am I making any sense?

---

Tomorrow my mom wants me to go with her to some travel business seminar she thinks I could really do well with. I think I'm going to tell her I'm more than happy to meet her for lunch somewhere, but am not interested in MLM (which is what this is.)

What I hope to accomplish on Wednesday:

1. Attend seminar at workforce center - maybe see if I can take typing tests and/or other computer proficiency tests

2. Cash gym check and deposit it

3. Gather needed info to complete various applications (health insurance, workforce)

4. Check Craigslist for any new listings

5. Clean at least one hour

6. Get in at least 30 minutes of exercise.

-

To keep myself accountable I am going to note here what I am doing each day in my job search.

Today:

1. Applied for unemployment
2. Applied at TexasWorkForce
3. Applied at AtoZ tutoring
4. Stopped by gym location and got my schedule
5. Read most of the employment related articles on MSN

Tomorrow's Goals:
1. Send in paperwork for severance
2. Search Craigslist for odd jobs
3. Apply at company scfr told me about
4. Spend at least two hours cleaning apt
5. Fill out state application
6. Catch up on blog series posts
7. Exercise at least one hour
8. Finish resume info for TWF and AtoZ

My mom called me tonight and told me that she has an interview for a position which I think she'd be awesome at - a teacher trainer/evaluator. She's one of 7 people being interviewed. I think she has an excellent chance.

----
Here is a really cute

video of a kitty drinking.

Enjoy!

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Since I'm not earning real income now, do I have to stop my Roth IRA contributions? Or could my gym earnings count towards earned income which would qualify me to continue my contributions?

Should I continue them??? I've been sending $75/mo to my IRA, so it isn't a big budget item - - but percentage wise out of even 40 hours/mo at the gym, is pretty huge.

I've been staying up so late the last couple weeks and am getting more and more tired - just dragging through my days. One thing I've noticed is that the more tired I get, the easier it is for me to justify spending money - namely on food - more precisely, on junk food. Barely a week into February and I've probably spent more than 45% of my food budget. Not good.

I really need to focus on getting to bed at a decent hour, so that I can also keep my focus on keeping a healthy budget and diet. And of course, getting to bed at a decent hour would help me be more likely to actually get to the gym for a workout!!

I think my tiredness is also partly why I've let some frustrations with the gym and the *other* company get to me more than they might have normally.

So . . confession time. I stopped at Sonic tonight and got a grilled cheese, onion rings and blast - $7 (including tip). Btw - they remembered not just a straw, but a spoon too!

Those of you who live in places that have been getting hit hard this winter will probably laugh at me. But that's okay.

This morning, for the second time since I've lived in Texas, my car doors were frozen shut!

The first time I experienced frozen car doors was my Junior year of college (1996!) I was supposed to go home that weekend, but between my car doors being frozen shut and the main highways near where my parent lived being shut down - I didn't go anywhere.

Today though, I did manage to get my door open with a lot of chipping at the edges using my car key. Yes. My car key. Bright thinker that I am, I left both of my ice scrapers inside my car.

After about 30 minutes, I had my car defrosted and deiced, and headed off to work.

There is a slight incline from my complex's parking lot to the street. I didn't drive down it - oh no - I SLID sideways down it! That probably should have been a good clue that I needed to wait a bit longer to go to work.

Of course, I didn't wait. I wasn't sure I'd be able to make it back UP to my apartment - so figured I should go on ahead. My usual 20 minute morning commute took a little more than an hour, but at least I made it safely.

Unfortunately, at least 5 people in Texas died due to the icy conditions and driving. One of them was a 22 year old teacher.

-----
My post today is:

Do You Want To Meet People Who Are Like You?. You may recognize some of the things I mention.

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I don't remember if I mentioned that along with the lost Toll Tag, I also had a missing glove.

I've searched through everything I took to CA with me, and it still hasn't turned up. So, tonight I stopped at the Family Dollar and picked up a new pair of gloves for $2.

They had quite the interesting selection of gloves. I had to really dig to find any that were .... er.. normal looking.

Of course you know what's going to happen now that I've bought myself a new pair of gloves, right? Today will be the last cold day of the season! (I can dream right?)

Yay! We were let out of work an hour early today due to ice storm warnings.

Traffic and weather weren't bad at all on my way home, so hopefully it remains that way for other people today.

We had a birthday party for our company's owner today. The most delicious ($40) chocolate cake and ice cream.

------
Thanks to dmontgrey, I realized that my today.com blog wasn't letting non today'ers leave comments. That's all fixed now.

My post today is probably pretty funny considering just how much I'm into sports and all.

How To Celebrate Superbowl 43 Inexpensively.

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When I got home tonight I had a note on my door from the apartment management. It told me that if I signed a new long-term lease, my rent would go up by $5/month. Or, I could go month to month and have my rent increase $50/month.

Somehow, I had thought that the month to month rent was much higher than the long-term lease.

I'm having a lot of debate in my mind over whether to keep the question/possibility of CA alive or not. Given the state of the economy right now, and the utter lack of job availability I've seen so far in the area I'm wanting to go to . . . plus the fact that I have a job that in a few weeks I'll have been at for 3 years . . ????

I'm just not sure if I should go for the 6 mo lease for only $5/mo more than now, and then less flexibility if a job should miraculously turn up that fits my criteria, or bite the bullet and go for the month to month lease for the extra $50/mo.

Right now I'm really leaning towards telling my dad I've decided NOT to pursue the idea of moving out to CA. I just am not firm enough on that to make the step of signing on the dotted line of a long-term lease.

Those of you who have been reading my blog for awhile will probably be able to guess what I am talking about. I can't be specific in naming what I'm talking about for a number of reasons.

*I just deleted a couple paragraphs after thinking better about it.

To sum it up: Got an email telling me I was no longer wanted at a company (not gym.) Am royally ticked off. Supposedly will have a chance to be wanted again in a few days. Am supposed to 'review' materials. Funny thing though, I can't log into my account?!

-Although it's probably a good thing I can't log in, because then I might say something in the forum there and *really* be locked out.

----
Deep breath here. On to other subjects.

I went to the dentist today. She told me I need to floss more. (sheepish grin) But otherwise my teeth look fine. Whew!

----
It's rainy and cold here. In the morning it's supposed to be rainy and freezing -- icy roads. Fun.

----
My main post today:

Do You Have a Grocery Store Rewards Card?.

I also posted a youtube video of a *really* funny cat video set to a rap type song called Mean Kitty. (I don't like rap much, but I liked this song . . your mileage may vary.)

-----
After the dentist visit today, I was just famished, and could not resist the siren call of fast food. My first idea was Taco Bell, but then I changed my mind to Burger King.

Not healthy food at all.

I asked for a BK Veggie Whopper w/cheese. What I got was a bun with lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, mayo?, and a slice of cheese - no gardenburger!

I asked for a small onion rings. Got that.

I asked for a small shake. Got the shake, didn't get a straw.

I'd held out for six weeks on eating fast food -- and breaking that tonight just wasn't worth it.

This morning I felt much better, so I went to work. I was *very* busy all day long.

I made a pretty big mistake though. There was this report I was working on to send in to the Railroad Commission. I had all the numbers figured correctly after having painstakingly entered a years worth of them for two different companies on a spreadsheet - then calling the companies to verify my numbers.

I needed to finish that report today, and get it sent off. So, I figured out the total, and started entering it on the first line. However I caught myself making a 6 instead of a 9. Fixed it with a little white out.

Sent it to the manager who has to sign the paperwork. He signed it and gave it back to me. I put it in the mail.

6 hours later . . .

Sh, the person who asked me to do this project, came to me and showed me the folder I'd filed the copy of the form I'd mailed. Changing the last 9 to a 6 wasn't my only mistake. I had also replaced the 9's in the thousands place with 0's - and hadn't caught it.

I *really* thought I'd done a good job on it. And yet, I muck up again. Ugh!

I've written a letter to the RRC to explain the accounting mistake, and hopefully rectify the situation. We'll see what happens I guess. (I had the numbers written correctly on the draft sheet - but somehow got 0 in my head!)

----
So E calls me tonight - leaves a voicemail. Not word one about the bounced check - just 'Laura could you help me out by opening g2 in the morning?'

I called him back and left a voicemail telling him I'd do it - but that we needed to talk tomorrow - in my most serious unhappy sounding tone possible.

He leaves me a voicemail (this time I purposely didn't answer) and tells me thanks, and sure we can talk tomorrow. All in a cheery voice.

I don't think he gets it does he?

----
I bought groceries tonight.

$11.67 from Walmart - fruit, frz dinners, pizza, chocolate

I could have just gotten the fruit and been fine - but yesterday got craving pizza and almost ordered delivery - so decided to buy myself a Totino's for $1.12 instead tonight.

-----

My post tonight:

How To Save Money on Your Home Phone.

------
Sorry for kind of a downer post.

Although I stayed up WAY too late last night (err.. this morning?) I still managed to accomplish some things that I had put off.

Don't laugh . . . I got all my stuff put away from my CA trip!

One of the bad things about having a king sized bed is that more than half of it can be covered with a suitcase, clothes, etc., and it can still be slept on quite comfortably. (I really should have taken a before picture .. err no.)

I also did a major trash run (bags in front of my door ready to go out in the morning.)

Then of course did a dish run and a load of dishes in the dishwasher. I also cleared my kitchen table off of all the accumulated mail, advertisements, etc which had been building up.

Last, but not least, I entered 10 codes for the Coke Rewards points. (I have a shoebox full of the cardboard codes and cap codes still to enter - 99% of them given to me by my mom and stepdad who drink lots of Coke -mostly diet Coke.) I don't know why I'd been procrastinating so long on doing that. Every time I go to my mom's I get loaded up with more . .

If I would've entered these when I first got them, I would've had enough for the first movie ticket - back when they were only 330 points. But now it looks like they don't even have them anymore! Yikes! I guess I can try for the 1-day pass to Universal Studios for 1000 pts. ... just wouldn't be the same purpose. Ack. Procrastination hurts!
----
Saturday and Sunday were NSD's. So, I think that means I have 12 NSD's so far for January. (I don't count things such as paying tolls or paying monthly bills as spending. Gas, groceries, etc count.)

------
I'm listening to Pandora.com right now and one of my favorite songs is playing - Bubbly by Colbie Calliat. Whenever I hear it, it puts a smile on my face.

-----
My post today is my meal plan for the week if you're interested.

Sunday Sustenance: Week of Jan 18 - 24

Okay, I'm going to start with the good.

Work was good today. I stayed very busy the whole day, and a vendor bought pizza for all of us. Free food.

If you remember, I lost my TollTag sometime between Dec 24 when driving to my mom's and Jan 6, driving back home. I had the feeling that it would be okay for me to continue to go through the Toll Tag area, even though my tag wasn't on my windshield. I had found my tag on the floor of my car a number of times before *after* getting to work, and had never received any violations.

However, Tuesday night my mom made me worried that maybe I had been wracking up violation fines. So, W, TH, and Fri I went through the pay booths. Ugh.

Tonight I stopped at the Toll Tag office on my way home from working at the gym. I explained the situation, and was told that I was right. Since my license plate is registered to my Toll Tag, it automatically goes against my account - no violation fines. Whew!

I had to pay a $25 fee (can be refunded if I find my tag) to deactivate my old tag since I didn't have it to turn in. Thankfully they have gone to a new type of Toll Tag that is similar to the car registration/inspection stickers which stick to the inside of your windshield. I guess enough people complained about how often their tags fell off that they changed the design!

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I was looking at my stats today for my today.com blog. It shows you what websites your unique visits are coming from, and if any of your posts are showing up in Google searches.

Guess what? I had TWO unique visits from a Google search which gave them my post on

MyPoints Visa vs Chase Rewards Visa! Woo hoo! I've been indexed!

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Unfortunately my day turned less great when I got home and checked the mail. In the mail there was a letter from Chase telling me that my last gym paycheck had been returned for NSF.

That by itself really made me annoyed.

But, it's worse. By the 13th, I figured the check had cleared and it was safe to go ahead and move it, plus some other money to ING. So, I scheduled two withdrawals for the 14th. There would be about $20 left in my account after the two withdrawals.

The check bounced on the 13th. (Must have been after I checked my balance.) The first transaction went through fine. However, there was only $88 left in the account when the 2nd transaction of $100.00 went through.

So, in one day's time, due to one bounced check, my Chase account is now in the negative.

This is the second time I had a gym paycheck bounce. The first time it *only* cost me a $10 NSF fee, which was eventually refunded by E. (It took until the next payday to get the bounced check + fee refunded though!) This time however has cost me $35 in NSF fees and caused my account to go negative.

I was NOT a happy camper.

I sent E a screen shot of my bank account page showing the numbers so he' have "proof" of the numbers. I also told him that I wanted to have the full $82.xx in CASH by no later than Wednesday so that I can bring my account back in the positive.

I also told him that I had lost any confidence I had in him telling me the truth when he says 'the money is there to cover it.' From this point on, I will be calling their bank to see if the money is actually there to cover it.

I was pretty close to telling him that I had had enough - to find someone else for the job. But then I got to thinking about the average $150/mo (including the cost of free membership) that I'd be losing . . and bit my tongue enough to give him a chance and see what he'll do.

I vented my frustrations in as positive a manner as I could by writing about how the Economy is Hurting Gyms .

Personal Goals:

* Find a balance between making more money and having a life.

--What this means:
-----Limit myself to 10 hrs a week doing anything related to ChaCha.
-----Accept only one extra gym shift per week.

Well... I have kind of been on a ChaCha hiatus since a bit before Dec. 15. But instead I've added my today.com blog which is taking a lot more time than ChaCha ever did. BUT I have kept to just one morning a week at the gym.

* Build existing friendships
----Contact at least one friend each week via email or telephone.
----Invite a friend(s) to my place at least once a month.

I have contacted a friend at least once a week. However, I haven't invited anyone over just yet. My excuse is that I was in CA for two weeks!

* Build new friendships
----Attend at least one Vegetarian meet up per month
----Join and attend bookclub once a month

Um . .. moving on.

* Give Back to Others
-----Participate in at least one volunteer activity each month

I did sign up for something this past weekend, but then overslept and missed it. Ooops.

* Have home be able to be company ready in 15 minutes (similar to flylady w/o the emails)

Nope - not even close.

---Do an initial cleanup run - trash, dishes, etc.

Did do that before CA. Need to do again.

---Divide apartment into cleaning and decluttering zones. Focus on each zone for one week.
Not Yet.

Financial:

Car Fund: Finish funding to $4,000.00

DONE! (After this month's interest from HSBC at least.)

House Downpayment: Save $5,000.00 towards it.

Cruise 2010: Save $500 towards it

Vacation(s): 2, possibly 3. I'm estimating needing roughly $1,000.00.

Okay, definitely a case of progress but not perfection.

-------

Today was a SPEND day!

Gas: $17.27
Walmart Groceries: $26.25
Target Groceries: $16.90

I made it out of Target without picking up any junkfood! All I got were Amy's Burrito's for my work lunches (10 @ $1.69 each!)

Today was also a good day at work. A coworker and I went out to lunch at a mall (she treated) because she needed to exchange something. That was fun.

-------

My today.com post today is about

How to Get Healthy Without Spending A Lot

It was pretty busy today at work. I was the Queen of the Copier for a large part of the day, which made me very glad I wore my flats!

Today marked my 6th No Spending Day for this week, and a total of 10 for January. This really is remarkable for me. I've had some uber stressful days this past week, and my coping mechanism has usually been to get something to eat on the way home from work (i.e. junkfood.)

Tomorrow also marks one-month of no soda.

I've only made it to the gym to workout once since getting back to TX. Mainly I have slacked on going because I haven't been feeling 100%, and of course, jet lag. I'm hoping that by next Monday I'll be feeling more back to normal and get my routine going again.

------------

I had my first comment on my today.com blog last night! Woo hoo!

Tonight I wrote a follow up post of sorts to yesterday's called:

How a Pocket Notebook can Save You Hundred's of Dollar's a Y...

I'm so happy with the camera I got for Christmas from my mom and stepdad. It is SO easy to transfer pictures from my camera to the computer - just need the memory card and then plug it in. Voila!

I've been without a good camera for so long, it's going to take me awhile to get into the habit of taking pictures again.

I'm also trying to figure out what I could do videos of . . . .hmmm??

I really wasn't feeling very well today, so didn't do my gym run time this morning.

Work was ultra busy today. Ever get the feeling like you can't do anything right? Well, yeah, had that today. Got better by the end of the day though, so that was good.

So tonight when I got home I decided that I probably ought to check my mail. Most of it was the usual junk, but there was one very interesting item.

Some of you may remember how at the beginning of 2008 I was hired to be a part-time SAT tutor at the company my mom works at. (Or, should I say -worked at- she quit yesterday!!) I only went to the first training session, because for numerous reasons I realized that the job wasn't a good fit for me.

I never got paid for the two training hours. After a round of emails back and forth between myself and the person handling the money, I finally decided to just let it go. $20 wasn't enough for me to go real hardball - esp. since I didn't want to make things hard for my mom.

So, in the mail tonight I received a W-2 form for $20!! I *never* received the check - and I certainly *never* cashed it!

I sure don't want to pay taxes on money I never had - even if it is only $20. Now I am in the mode of contemplating how I want to handle this.

Perhaps a certified letter with copies of the email exchanges, as well as a reassertion of my never having received the check? Perhaps ask them to provide me with both proof of payment as well as proof that *I* signed the check?

Perhaps to have a CC to a fictitious lawyer?? (Actually, I think I may know a real lawyer who'd be willing to do me a favor. Hmm. . )

I'd love to hear any suggestions you all may have. Even if it is for me to just let it go.

----

Today was a no spend day. (I think this makes 5 days in a row!)

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Oooh! Oooh! Good news!

I was just getting my supper ready a few minutes ago. While I waited for the microwave to finish I checked some mail I had on the table. One of the items was that letter from the PA District regarding the class action suit against Wachovia.

I thought the deadline to claim your refund was January 9, and that I had missed it. But, after re-reading the paperwork, I saw that it actually is MARCH 4! Even better, you can submit your claim online! Yes!

-------------

I know from previous posts here that many of you can relate to feeling like you are sometimes subsidizing the librarian's salary.

Today I posted a blog about

How to NOT Pay the Librarian's Salary. As a bonus, there is even a picture of one of my favorite pieces of furniture in my apartment.

Today is going to be a no spend day. It's also a day that I didn't get out of the house at all. Let's not even mention what time I finally got OUT of bed. The jet lag really hit me I guess on a day I didn't *have* to be up at a certain time.

I wrote a post for my today.com blog. I had to edit it a lot to make it a bit shorter. I'm really going to have to discipline myself to be more brief.

While I was writing my post, I got an email from Facebook telling me someone had requested that I add them as a friend. It just so happened to be the first guy I had dated my freshman year of high-school in Minnesota! Wow, that really brought me back a few years. He was a Senior, and I was a 13 yr old freshman. (Don't worry - there was no hanky panky going on - I didn't have my first kiss till I was 17! LOL!) He's married and has a couple cute boys now.

I keep wondering who is the next person I'm going to run across on Facebook???

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I'm off to watch CSI:Vegas now, then am going to finish putting away my stuff from the CA trip.

I'm writing from sunny Loma Linda, CA (well, it was sunny and warm today - lets not mention the previous few days!)

My dad and grandma have been spoiling me with way too much food ever since I've arrived and neither one of them will let me pay for anything!

I really hope I still can fit in my clothes by the time I head back to Dallas!

Friday we hit the after-Christmas sales and got some good deals on clothes and a few other items.

My mom and stepdad gave me a digital camera/camcorder which can also be used for a webcam. I was in shock! It didn't come with a memory card, so my stepdad loaned me a 2gb card so I could take pictures and video. I've been having fun with it. Today I found a 4gb card for $15 at Circuit City, so I'll be able to give him his card back.

When I get home I'm going to transfer all my pictures and videos, and maybe share a few.

If you've ever played the "I Love Lucy" board game --- we (dad, grandma and I) took videos of everyone who got an "Ai Yi Yi!" card. It was fun.

-
We visited the local gym today (finally).
I was dissapointed because the inside track I was looking forward to using is closed for rennovations until Jan 5.

I can purchase a "One-month" membership for $15 instead of daily guess passes. Although I'm not sure if I'll even be able to get there more than 3 times .. . we'll see.

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My dad took me by the library yesterday, and I checked out 6 books. I finished one last night a bit after mid-night.

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Tomorrow we are going to go visit President Nixon's Library. It should be interesting. We may go to President Regan's Library as well while I am here.

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I haven't heard anything back from the applications I put in yet. It probablly is due to the holidays.

My dad and grandma have this idea that maybe I could buy a mobile home in the local mobile home park here. They took me through it on Saturday and it does look like a nice place to live. It may be a way for me to get into a home of my own - even if it's not a "house" like I'd been thinking about.

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I'm not sure why, but my Asus laptop has a lot of trouble connecting to the city-wide WiFi here in Loma Linda. If I did come out here to live, I'm not sure I could be content with not having easy access and probably would be willing to pay for my own personal access.

But of course the whole thing of moving here to Loma Linda or not has one big obstacle (other than me being 100% sure this is the way to go) and that is me finding a job here.

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Yesterday my dad and I were doing some engineering work. We needed to cover the top of the back porch lattice roof with two tarps. The covers needed to go into the middle of it. My dad was talking about getting up on the roof and throwing the tarps out. I didn't want him getting on the roof, so I came up with the idea of tieing a rope through the holes on the ends of the tarp and throwing them across, then pulling the rope through, and the tarp across. It worked. Although in the end he still did have to get up on the roof to do the final straightening.

--
Since Dec 24 I have spent:

$15 -- Checked one bag on flight
$1.50 - library fee (dad's - checked out a video - have to pay a rental fee at the library here)
$2 - 2 packs of Eclipse gum

Yep, that's all I've spent - and the checked bag money will probably be reimbursed to me - although I'm not going to say word one about it considering how much I'm being treated to already.

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One week till I have to go back to work.

This afternoon I got a call from T's husband inviting me to a Cookie Party at Mr. B's house. (Mr B was my teacher aide for a year, and was also T's aide for a year - amazing, giving, selfless man - such a hard worker.)

Of course I said yes!

Mr B had baked 4 or 5 dozen sugar cookies in star shapes and tree shapes. He'd also made several kinds of fudge, several types of regular cookies, and loaves of 'friendship' bread.

It was really good to sit and chat with everyone. At first the kids were decorating the sugar cookies, but then they got tired of it. So . . us adults got to get in on the fun.

Mr B sent us all home with a huge bunch of goodies.

I can't have that in my home for more than tonight, so am going to take it into work and share the bounty. (Have already eaten a few too many of the goodies.)

I've invited both T and her family, as well as Mr B and his family to my place at the end of January for a Danish Aebleskeber brunch. I had them all over to my place maybe a bit over two years ago - so it's way past time to do it again!

(Mr B has a long last name that is hard for kids to say. So everyone just called him Mr B--. It just kind of sticks.)

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On my way to the party I stopped at Half Price Bookstore.

I dropped my bag of Spanish materials at the sales desk, then started looking around.

I found a nice calendar for my stepdad, and a book for me.

Finally, I was called to the sales desk. I was offered $6.50 for 5 Spanish learning books/dictionaries, and 3 computer programs (1 of which cost $100.) I just couldn't do it.

I think I'm going to try Craigslist again after I get back from CA. There has to be *someone* who wants to learn Spanish!

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I earned $13 this morning working the morning shift at the gym.

I didn't get any exercise in today, other than the stairs from the garage to the office and back.

I spent $10.48 (calendar and book - but it was off of a gift card I got for my birthday.)

Didn't really do much today so far. Guess you could say I'm catching up on rest?

Got a call from E asking me to open G2 tomorrow morning. Said I would. An extra $13 before going away for 2 weeks doesn't hurt.

Finally about 4:15 I made myself get dressed all nice and warm (27 degrees) to go pay my rent and check the mail. All there was was junk mail. Oh well.

When I got back I made myself a cup of hot chocolate with the second packet of specialty mint chocolate mix. Yummy!

There's still a good number of hours left in the day - somewhere here I'll get motivated to actually do something productive.

Tomorrow after work I'm going to stop by Half-Price books, see what they'll give me for my Spanish language materials, and see if they have any train calendars. My mom says stepdad would like something like that.

(I give my mom and stepdad the turkey that I get from my company for Christmas, and a gift card for an expensive steak and crab place that one of the three honcho's gives us (they used it the last two years for their anniversary dinner.) Then I give them something I actually bought for each of them.

--I could use the gift card for myself - just buy 3 or 4 of their desserts and take it home. But that would kind of defeat the whole thing of trying to live healthy.


ETA: Yay me! I did manage to get busy (sort of) and got all the clothes picked up and put away from around my apartment. Also got all the dirty dishes from various places to the kitchen. Progress!

I really had to fight myself this morning, but I did it. I went to Sabbath School and to Church.

I'm really glad I did, because of three things:

1. My best friend T and family were there, and I sat with them. T's daughter made me a card during church that said "I Love You ... You Love Me." Swoon.

2. I usually like to go to first service, but today went to second service. The music today was just fantastic! The church bell choir performed around 8 pieces, plus the first service praise team led us in Christmas music for a number of hymns. The sermon also was fantastic - of course, I always have gotten a lot out of Pastor P's sermons.

3. While standing in the hallway with T waiting for her son to get out of class, T noticed a new family standing across from us. She started talking to them. They mentioned they'd just moved from Albuquerque. So, of course I had to mention that my family had lived there from 84 - 89. I asked them what church they'd attended - it was the same one my family had attended, and my other best friend who recently moved back to Texas. So, I asked them if they knew my best friend K. They did! Wow! What a small world we really live in.

I just love it when I walk into the library, and see the librarian notice me and immediately go get the book I had on hold.

In other news, today was a no spend day.

Really, it was a pretty much do nothing day (other than going to church and then the library.) I slept a good portion of the afternoon. I really hope I'm not coming down with something -- not just a few days before my trip!

Let's see here . .

* Found out today that I more than likely will be keeping my Friday morning gig opening the gym. I thought it would only be through today, but apparently the person who used to do it isn't available anymore. So, that means a continued 5 hrs a week at the gym in the new year.

* Gulp. Submitted an application and resume to two places in CA today. The first one was ALL online.

It was quite aggravating because after I completed the application, pasted in my resume, pasted in a cover letter and submitted - it then had a background check form asking for drivers license, car license, places lived for last 10 years . . . You had to do it right then - no way to save it and go back later. I finally managed to finish the last bit of it at 8:29 a.m. I'm supposed to be at my Real job at 8:30. Argh!

* Updated my sidebar totals, and added an Extra Monies tracking page for Dec.

* Today was a No Spend Day
(Not for lack of thinking about things I would like to go buy - mainly food items.)

* A good friend of mine from college friended me on Facebook today! Hi DJ!

* I got paid for an unused sick day today in my paycheck. After taxes, ~$74 going to Extra Monies! Yay!

* I contacted an old friend today via email! -- I'd received an email from an address I thought I recognized saying something about "I have a prayer for you". But when I opened it, I saw it was from fanbox something or other site, and recalled getting strange emails with that website before. So, decided not to open it. SO glad I didn't open it, because about 30 minutes later I got an email from my friend telling me that it was a virus! Ack!

* The Beck Diet Solution is being held for me at the library. This is the book that has a bunch of ideas on how to fight negative thinking with positive thinking. I'd sparkmailed the person who had blogged about it to find out the name of the book, and she got back to me right away. So, I'll pick it up tomorrow and start making my keychain cards!

* A funny at work today. {Backstory} We have a 'consultant' doing some auditing for us. Yesterday he'd asked me for 5 paperclips. So, I reach into my side drawer and pull out the DW created 'paper clip pocket made out a notebook paper and staples'. He gave me a funny look, and I explained to him that I tend to give DW a lot of paperclips in the various things I do for him, so he likes to give them back to me at various times and in various modes of container.

{Today} Consultant guy comes by my desk again, and asks to use my stapler. Then he says he needs more paperclips. So, I pull out a second, more full 'notebook/staple packet' and give it to him. He then puts it down on the filing cabinet next to my desk which holds the letterhead and envelopes, and is about 6 inches or so higher than the top of my desk. He tells me he'll be back for it, but needs to go meet with head honcho.

About 30 minutes later I notice J, our CFO walking by my desk casting strange glances towards my area. Then about the same time, A, who's desk is next to mine also starts casting strange glances my way. I figured out what they were staring at.

After explaining what it was, D, our shipping manager (deal with brokers person), says "It's like you're at an airport and you see a strange package."

(After all that, I just went ahead and took it to the office the consultant was working out of!)

Maybe not so funny in the retelling - but it was pretty funny when it happened.

I'll be in California! Yay!

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Now to the mundane.

I ran 2.1 miles in 30 minutes at the gym.

I spent money today:

$20 to Office Manager towards 3 honcho's gifts

$5.64 at Walmart (bananas, sweet potato, microwavable soup, can of sweet corn, 2 packets specialty hot chocolate, and a bottle of chocolate syrup.)

I probably could have stuck with just the first 3 items . . but this is the list of what I got AFTER talking myself out of some of my more 'usual' purchases. I'm counting it as a win!

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I talked to my dad last night. He told me about the gym at the local university. Among other things, it has an outdoor pool and an INSIDE running track!

My grandma can get a free membership since she is over 80 years old. That means I can use a guest pass ($5/day - but I asked my dad to see if there was any kind of 2 week pass deal instead.)

So . . any guesses as to where I'll be at some point on December 26? LOL!

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I talked to my mom tonight. She wanted to have some specefic ideas for what I wanted for Christmas. I'd told her that if she felt she HAD to give me something, that cash really would do. She wanted to have something I could open. So I told her that some things I'd like to get (which I probably would use some of the cash for anyways) is a new pair of running shoes, a Runner's ID (she really liked that idea, because she gets so worried about me whenever I go running outside), and a low-end digital camera.

The Runner's ID is the least expensive (~$20), the shoes would run roughly $100, and the camera - I've seen some in the $90-100 range that I liked. So, what I imagine will happen is that I'll get the ID, then cash towards the shoes or camera.

Honestly, it really doesn't matter to me whether I get anything or not - to me the best thing is just spending time with family. You never know when the last moment is you'll have with a loved one, nor the last words you may speak with them.

One thing our family has always practiced is at the end of phone calls or before leaving someplace or other, is to say some form of I Love You, and or give a hug. That way if something horrible were to happen, we'd be able to have a good memory of the last contact.

Today we had a meeting where we learned about the new HR company that will be administrating payroll and healthcare benefits for us.

My insurance will be going from United Health Care to Aetna Std. It will still be fully covered by my employer.

We still have the FSA option. Unfortunately, this new company has not gone into the realm of the debit style FSA card but are stuck in the realm of faxing in receipts and getting reimbursed. Yuck. I've been very spoiled.

We were told that we can not enter any of our information on the website until December 29. There will be an email sent to our work email with the link and password info.

A coworker of mine is going to forward that email to my personal address, so that I can fill out the info even though I'll be out in CA at that time.

Unfortunately, even if I get the info all filled out on Monday, the 29th, it is highly unlikely that the direct deposit will be functional by Friday the 2nd (payday.)

So, that means I will receive a hardcopy check. I will still be in CA on the 2nd. I won't get my paycheck for the 2nd, until the 7th - almost in time for my next paycheck!

This is why I'm so glad I don't live paycheck to paycheck. For me, this whole matter is just a small annoyance - a loss of a bit of interest. It would be so much worse if I was counting on that money to be IN my checking account to cover a rent check or some other expenses.

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Today was a NSD.
30 minutes on bike at gym this AM.
Did a trash run.

Absolutely incredible.

Tonight I got home from work and checked my mail. I had several birthday cards, a couple Christmas cards ... and then a letter from the Clerk of PA court.

When I saw that I was going 'What in the world??'

Finally I sit down and open it. At first I'm reading it and going 'Uh, ok.' Then I get to the last page and it hits me what it is about!

In a nutshell back in the area of 2003 or 2004 I had $139.xx removed from my checking twice. I had no idea who the money was going to, nor what it was for. I called my CU and let them know that I did not know why the money was going out ... and asked them if they could figure it out. If I remember correctly they were able to give me a phone number to the place, I called them and told them to cancel whatever it was. Then asked for a refund of my money. I was told I'd get it in 60 days. Several months later I called again, and was told it would be put on priority. This went on for at least a year, then a whole bunch of life happened and I forgot about it. Never got the money.

According to this document I received, this happened to a WHOLE bunch of other people as well. Wachovia let this company open up accounts, then they would call people with some mis-leading telemarketing call to get their bank info, which lead into Wachovia cashing unsigned checks. (I think that's the gist of it.)

So, there is now this class-action suit being brought against Wachovia. At first I thought all I would get would be the $35 refund for bank charges (I did end up bouncing a check as a result of the withdrawal at the time.)

THEN I looked at the last page. On the bottom was a check for $139.xx - a refund for the amount that was stolen from my account! I don't think I ever had any of the money returned to me - but don't have the paperwork to show it anymore - so I am EXTREmLY pleased with this amount!

Needless to say I am going to show the teller the paperwork and ask if they can verify the check as legitimate before actually depositing it. But . . I think this really is the real deal!

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I received a $100 from my Grandma for my birthday also in the mail today.

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It was below freezing today here. I had planned on getting to the gym 10 minutes early to get extra running time in, but it ended up I needed all that time plus a bit just to get my windows deiced.

At least I got my 2.1 mile run in this morning. Then today after work I did roughly 40 minutes strength training/stretching.

Today I enjoyed the luxury of being able to sleep in as late as I like.

When I finally deigned to get up and dressed, I headed out to get my car inspected.

I seriously thought that I was going to need to replace my windshield wipers in order to pass inspection. In fact, I was planning on buying new ones before getting inspected.

But instead I stopped at the first place I saw that had the state inspection.

I told the mechanic that I needed my oil changed, my car inspected and most likely new windshield wiper blades.

Roughly 40 minutes later, my car passed inspection and my oil was changed. But I still had the same wipers! The mechanic told me that they were still fine and didn't need to be changed.

I was very happy about that of course - but more so happy that he didn't just say that I needed new ones to make the extra sale.

--

This weekend I really need to finish up my defensive driving course. I've one hour completed and 5 more to go. I'd been planning on doing them during my lunch breaks, but then kept getting pulled up front to give the receptionist her lunch break. So . . just need to go ahead and get 'r dun this weekend.

I think when I get the 10% discount back, I'll put it in my extra monies accounting as a rebate - since I've already paid my 6 month premium without the discount.

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I got another ING referral bonus today. Now I need to do some legwork (i.e. typing) so I can send out more referrals.

This coming week I have two extra early morning shifts at the gym, plus my Friday morning early shift and afternoon shift. I started thinking about how much money I'd received from my last 3 gym paychecks which I hadn't allocated yet to any of my Extra Monies funds yet (due to the bounced check). Then I thought about how much I'd be getting soon from ChaCha (at least $145).

I made the leap.

I bought a netbook -- at Target -- for $300.00.

It is the ASUS Eee PC 900. It's just over 2lbs in weight and the screen is 8.9" diagonally.

I have books that weigh more than it, and that are thicker than it.

I also bought a usb mouse to use with it, and a carrying case.

Tonight I connected to my home internet network with it and downloaded the ChaCha toolbar and was able to do a couple queries. I will def. have to use the mouse for that though - at least till I get more accustomed to the touch pad.

I also called my dad and grandma on Skype - which came preloaded. I thought this had a built in webcam, but I found out that it doesn't. So, I'll have to see if I can find an inexpensive one -- but that will come later - after I pay back the loan to myself.

So, at this moment I have a loan of $350 that I owe myself. I will be keeping track of what I earn doing ChaCha at the gym, as well as how many hours of extra gym shifts I do beyond the Friday afternoon shifts (which is what I originally signed on for.) I wonder how long it will take me to pay myself back?

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Oh yes, I must mention the bit of drama in the purchase. My card was initially declined. Imagine my surprise!

The people at the electronics counter graciously let me use their phone to call customer service. Apparentally my trying to make a $350 purchase at Target flagged my account as "unusual activity". I had to answer a bunch of questions and confirm a number of charges from the past few days - then my card was reactivated.

The man on customer service was apologetic, but I told him that I was *thankful* for the flag, even if it was a bit of a hassle and delay. I seriously LOVE how alert WAMU is about their customers credit card usuage. I would SO much rather have my card declined, than to go check my account and see thousands of dollars worth of charges on there that aren't mine - that is SO much more hassle and headache.

Bear with me folks, this is a bit long today.

This is pretty sad really, my post today. The scale has been going up and up in the past few months, but I kept consoling myself that I was still less than when I started Sparkpeople back in June 2006.

Then this morning I get on the scale and find out that that is no longer true.

What's really sad is that I am exercising, although not as consistently as before. I even have a 5k I'm participating in tomorrow, even though I've not been able to complete 2 miles on the treadmill in 30 minutes for several weeks.

What has happened though is that I've gone back to most of my *really* bad eating habits. This has been affecting me both financially (food costs + needing new clothes) and health wise (weight gain, not able to run as fast).

I can't even begin to explain how frustrated and discouraged I feel about this whole situation. One totally of my own making, and my own control.

So . . . I'm working a good bit of hours at the gym. Probably once a week get called to cover an extra shift after work. Then of course, this coming Friday I will start doing the Friday early morning shift for the next 8 weeks.

Usually I spend most of my time at the gym when working, reading. I have attempted to do a weight routine while on shift, but there were so many interruptions I kept losing my place in my counts.

As I've mentioned before, I also am working for ChaCha.

So, I'm thinking that maybe I can knock out three objectives with one stone.

1. Get back on track with food/exercise
2. Reign in spending on junk/extra food
3. Make more side income

The way I'm thinking of doing this is by allocating whatever money I earn from "extra" shifts, as well as the early Friday morning shifts for the next 8 weeks, to a laptop fund.

In order to actually access the money though, I have to earn it. Kind of do a matching funds type thing.

For example:
One day where I don't spend any money on any type of junkfood or unnecessary food, as well as don't consume any office supplied junkfood equals $5.

For every 5 days, I would get a Fund Match of $25.

Once I have "earned" at least $200, I will go ahead and order the laptop I'm thinking of:

Sylvania G Netbook and then make a "loan" to myself that I will be able to pay off much faster by using the laptop at the gym to do ChaCha. (Until the loan to myself is paid off, any money I earn doing ChaCha at the gym would go towards the loan.)

I am guessing, if all goes well, it will take me around four weeks to get to the initial $200 mark. Then, roughly another three weeks (when adding additional ChaCha income) to pay it off. So, that would give me 7 weeks of getting back into my good habits, which hopefully would stick even after the laptop is paid off.

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By the by . . if anyone knows of another laptop that would work with Firefox and in the $400 or less range, I'd love to hear about it!

Also, I think I'm right that I could use the laptop purchase as a tax write off on Schedule C since it is largely being purchased to do the ChaCha job. Am I right?

Like I mentioned yesterday, my mom and I were going to go clothes shopping today.

I wanted to get several under items, a pair of pants, and some tops. I had set my budget at $250. I don't buy clothes very often, and a good number of my tops were starting to look worn and/or "shrinking".

Our first stop was Costco. We picked up three cute tops (same top, 3 colors) for $24 + tax. My mom actually paid for these, said they were a special treat for me from her. Yay!

Next, we stopped at Grapevine Mills Mall. The first store we went to was Dress Barn Woman. I bought a really pretty flowy type dress with a lime green shrug. It originally was $69.99, but was on the sale rack and came to $23.34. I also bought a t-shirt type top for $8. So, that total was about $32.

Next we stopped at Hanes. I was fitted, then bought 3 regular bras and 2 Champion sports bras. That came to $73.

Last we stopped at Lane Bryant. I tried on LOTS of clothes. Finally I handed my mom the things I knew I wanted, then chose two items I'd get depending on how much the other items rang up to.

The clerk told me if I signed up for LB card that I'd get 15% off the entire order, plus 25% off the highest priced item. To me, it was worth doing, even worth losing the points on mypoints card.

After everything was added up, and I added the extra 2 items plus a third one - it came to a total of $101.23.

I got: 1 pair pants, blue striped button up blouse, pink striped button up blouse, plain white button up blouse, a black swingy loose jacket, and a light material blue sweater with a buckled waist.

After that mom and I went our seperate ways.

On my way home I stopped at Walmart. Since I was well under budget, I decided that I'd go ahead and see if I could find a good replacement for my purse. (The one I have the lining has ripped out and some of the seams are looking pretty loose. I've had it for about 6 years I think.)

I found a good replacement for $10, plus got a 7 pack of undies for $6.

So, for approximately $245 today I got: a new purse, 7 prs undies, 3 bras, 2 sports bras, 1 pair pants, 1 dress w/ sweater shrug, 1 black swingy jacket, 3 buttoned up blouses, 5 other office appropriate tops.

Eventually I'd like to see if I can find a brown sweater shrug to go with my dress as well, but by the end of the day I felt all shopped out!

I'm very happy to have come under budget and gotten much more than I thought I would be able to. Good quality brands too. I'd love to be able to shop at a thrift store and get much more for the same money, but if you are over a size 12, there is not much to find at a thrift store.

I wonder if anyone at work will notice my new duds.

I'd been getting frustrated with myself - stopping to get something to eat nearly everyday on the way home from work -- usually something not needed at all.

So . . on Sunday I took out all money related items - credit card, debit cards, CVS ECB bucks receipt, cash, etc. Left in my change purse was about $.07.

Monday after work I was famished and was really tempted to stop and get something instead of coming home and making something.
Today, I was really tempted to just stop somewhere and get something.

But guess what? I was forced to overcome the temptation. I couldn't have given in to it even if I'd really wanted to.

So, I think I'll keep my purse money free until Friday. The only reason I'll have my card then is in case I need gas. But . . if I still have a quarter tank left by then, I'll wait till Monday to fill up (new month's budget!) and not take it then either!

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This past weekend I went to the Heard Natural Science Museum with some other members of the DFWO club. There were a total of 8 of us. It was *very* humid, but not terribly hot. We walked roughly 2 1/2 miles on various trails, and then came inside to the cool air conditioning and checked out the exhibits.

Afterwards we ate lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. I had a grilled eggplant sandwich. OMW it was SOOOOO good! None of us got dessert.

Later Saturday night I went to my mom and stepdads. While my laundry was getting washed, we watched the "Bee Movie" which I'd borrowed from the library. It's so cute - we all really liked it.

On Sunday the three of us went to a play at Theater Arlington called "The Perfect Wedding." The whole audience was laughing out loud through most of it - myself included.

My stepdad has bought season tickets for Theater Arlington for many years. Since he met my mom (and I moved back up this way) he has made sure to include a ticket for me whenever there is a play I'm interested in. Sunday's play had a much younger crowd than usual (normally there is a large contingent of senior aged people, with a small spattering of my age, and a smaller spattering of younger than me.)

Anyway, I've really appreciated that he does this for me. I'm really looking forward to this weekend - I'm going to be taking my mom and stepdad to the local baseball team's home game. I think its playoffs - I've been told it was sold out. These are the same type tickets I got for FREE from my company for my dad's birthday July 5.

I wonder if gamecock's baseball boy will be playing there?

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I have my next scheduled 5k on Monday - Labor Day. Oy vey! I am so not ready for it! I've really slacked off on my running. The last two runs I did on the treadmill I felt ill most of the rest of the day - even with only having a very small amount of food in my stomach.

I think I'll have to be satisfied with finishing the upcoming race again, and not worry about beating my previous time.

Maybe by my next one (Sept 14th) I'll be back in gear.

Car trouble:

1 - My dad's GMC Jimmy - some kind of ball bearing or some such thing in his front driver side tire broke. He was here, visiting me, we were about a mile from my apartment. Took about three hours, but a friend of his brought a big trailer up and loaded his Jimmy on it. Short term fix cost about $161, long term fix (replacing whole front axle, big and small bearings, etc) cost another $900.

My dad says that the steering is so much more sharp than it had been and is glad he went ahead and did the whole shebang. His Jimmy has close to 200k miles, was bought used, and has been paid for a bit over a year.

2 - My tires -- My tires are low. I know all I need to do to fix this is find a tire pressure gauge somewhere and fill them with air. However, one of the tires had the hubcap put on in a weird way (it must be one of the newer tires) and the stem is not in a reachable spot.

So, I need to go somewhere where they have one of those tools to take the hubcap off and put it back on with the stem reahable. My dad suggests Walmart (where I bought my tires.) However, I really really don't look forward to sitting around for an hour or two just to get air in my tires -- so have been putting it off.

That one tire (with the strangely placed hubcap) is looking really low . . .

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New job:
Today was my second shift at the gym. Like last week's, it was completely uneventful. No one came in to workout . . so I had pretty much the whole time to read, or if I'd wanted to, I could have called someone and talked on my cell. The only things I really did was to fold towels that had been in the dryer, and start a new load of towels.

Last week I made it very shortly after 3:00 p.m. Today was a different story. At 2:54 p.m. my main boss saw me walking down the hallway and called me in to ask me to do some copying for him - and he needed it right then.

What was I going to say? Um, can't do that for you because it'll make me late for my other job that pays minimum wage. Yeah, that would be a NO.

So, I ended up getting there 10 minutes late. I'd told E that this was a possibility, but that I didn't think it would really happen. Of course, it did have to happen - luckily not on my first shift!

When I'm sitting in the gym wondering how I can make time pass faster . . I remind myself that the reason I'm doing this is to help me get to my house that much faster, as well as my other savings goals. That helps the time to pass just a bit more easily.

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My carpooler started making noise a couple months ago about how she didn't like the 7a.m. leaving time and that she was going to find other rides. At the time, I told her that was fine - she needed to do what suited her needs best.

So, for the last 3 weeks or so, she's been riding with me pretty sporadically. Last week she rode with me twice - didn't give me any money. This week she rode with me twice, and gave me $5.

So, it appears that $40 of my extra income pool may dwindle to more like $10 - 15, or perhaps less a month.

The only way to change that would be for me to go in everyday at 8a.m. which would mean no time to workout at the gym in the morning. Not going to happen.

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I had to fill up today. I ended up paying an extra $.21 for it because I decided to pass up the station selling for $3.39/gallon to see if the station which had been lower in price the day before would happen to be lower again today. They weren't.

So . . . $3.41/gallon
Bought: 10.449 gallons

Odometer on 8/8/08 = 104,601
Odometer on 8/22/08 = 104,917

So, mileage would be 316/1050

Which equals ~30.09 mph

That is a bit less than last time, but almost all the driving was done in town.

I was also surprised to see a number over 10 gallons when filling up. I think thats the first time I've seen it go over 10 gallons since I can remember. I really thought I had a gas tank slightly smaller than 10 gallons. Maybe I really was smelling fumes coasting into the gas station.