After working out today I was trying to make a right hand turn from the parking lot, and ended up sitting there for five minutes because a lady in a huge SUV was trying to make a left hand turn. I couldn't see over her and she made no attempt to let me know when I could go. I don't know, maybe it's just me, but it would seem to me like if you are in an oversized vehicle you might be aware that you are not see through ...

Ugh.

Anyway... I stopped at the grocery store today and spent $10.71. My last shop for the month. It does put me over my goal of $100 by about $3, but I'm okay with that. SO much better than the $350+ I spent last month on food/junk, etc.

Bananas, apples, frz. veggies/fruit and 1 candy bar. So, 5 items.

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This afternoon I got a call from a man who was wanting us to see if his father was on one of our buses. His dad is an 80 yo and very frail - he'd said something about wanting to go to a particular location in our city, and then later was nowhere to be found.

I got a physical description of the man and the time he was possibly missing since. At first our bus driver supervisor said the man should contact the police first. But then the asst. living home where the father lived called asking the same thing and confirming that someone saw him get on a bus.

There followed a bunch of bus drivers getting descriptions of the man, and a confirmed sighting of him being left off downtown, but not having gotten a transfer. I received a third phone call from someone else looking for him after we had the sighting confirmed.

By about this time it was time to close up, so I don't know the ending of the story.

I really hope they found this mans father though.

So I just got off the phone with NE. He got a call from his sister letting him know that their aunt had died.

This wasn't really unexpected because she'd been suffering from Alzheimer's for awhile, and not in the greatest health.

What WAS unexpected was how long ago she had died.

ONE MONTH ago!

NE's sister was contacted by the aunt's son to let her know that the aunt had left her some money in the will. Otherwise who knows when she would have been told about the aunt's death.

Apparently the son got all hissy fitty with her because she hadn't come down to take care of the aunt last summer.

Oy vey.

NE is going to have to call this guy because he also was left something in the will. If it is the same or similar amount as what his sister was left, it'll be enough to pay off his surgery debt and have some left over. That would be a huge weight off his (proverbial) shoulders.

I just hope this guy doesn't try to berate NE for not coming down there .. NE would not let that fly. (He hadn't been asked to do so in the first place.)

Just wow. I'd feel so awful finding out a month AFTER a relative died. No chance to go to the funeral (if there was one?) etc.

---
I cashed in for my second $25 PayPal from Swagbucks today.

I went to the gym yesterday after work. Barely found a parking space - guess they have some kind of swim meet at the outside pool?? When I was leaving I picked up keys off the key board .. walked all the way out to my car ... and realized I'd gotten the wrong keys!! So trudged back and exchanged. Ooops. Don't think anyone missed them ...

Five weeks from now and I'll have been at bus company for 1 year! And I still have people coming by the window sometimes asking where the "other older lady" is. (she retired)

Spending: Monday - None (other than buying Fitbit stock)

Tuesday - None

Sunday afternoon NE and I went on another little joy ride into the country. We went out as far as Hickman (for those who know NE area) and visited a couple lakes there. We stopped at the local "grocery store" called Jack and Jill and each got a drink. (He treated )

We also stopped at a large hotel that had a lot of brochures for tourist attractions in the area, and took a number of them to look at further.

It was a nice way to spend a few hours.

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Right now it is looking as though I'm going to have about $300 in "extra" money this month. That is .. if I continue to resist temptation til a week from tomorrow.

That means I'll have $150 or so to put towards my little get away. That will pretty much cover lodging and gas. So July will be all about getting the money for food and entertainment.

I have $11 left of the $100 I allocated for my groceries category. Must resist temptation. (SO wanted pizza this weekend -- delivery pizza! But resisted!)

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I'm trying to make the Allegra last a little longer by not taking it on the weekend ... not sure that is such a good idea. Because I have a bad sinus headache right now. Wasn't bad Saturday or Sunday, but maybe it was because I'd built up over the previous 5 days ...

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I checked the Dollar Generals here, and :**( no frozen fruit. So I had to get the frozen fruit from the local grocery store - $3.29 for 1lb.

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Spending: Saturday - none
Sunday - $13.33 - frozen fruit, etc. (groceries)
Monday - none

I have a good amount of stock in an electric car company - mostly inherited, but some that I personally bought with my own cash or with money rolled over from a company 401k fund. I've been wanting to diversify it a bit with another single stock, but hadn't found anything cheap enough or interesting enough.

With the recent IPO of Fitbit, that changed.

I love my Fitbit, and from the many articles I've read, it seems to be a pretty healthy company (ha ha - no pun intended, really) with good growth potential. I'd forgotten about the initial IPO date, so unfortunately wasn't ready to pull the buy card at the start of the bell Thursday.

So I pulled it this morning. I had $170.00 cash in my brokerage account which was leftover from the rollover where I purchased electric car stock. So I bought 5 Fitbit shares. I want to buy more than that though, so I went ahead and sold 5 electric car shares, which netted a bit over $1k after the trade fees.

I tried buying more Fitbit after work today, but I got a popup saying that if I put the new order through, my other one would be canceled. ???? So I guess I'll have to wait til Monday and hope the price doesn't go up too much by then.

All of this trading and selling and buying was done in an IRA account, so whatever tax consequences there will be won't happen for another 20 years.

When I put my own cash money into the electric car stock, it was roughly around $1k. Enough to buy a good amount of stock, but not enough to hurt if I happened to lose money on it. That's kind of how I figured how much stock I'd go with for Fitbit.

I'm curious to see where this will go.

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Hectic afternoon at work today. Have a new story for my bus chronicles - might do one tomorrow.

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Did some grocery shopping this afternoon. bread, fruit (bananas and oranges), cheese, frozen vegges, chocolate, soda ... $18.41

Also stopped at a local green grocer type place (OH) and treated myself to some stuff from their deli - curried tofu, cajun yams, and a spinach/lentil, etc. patty. $6.31 It was either that or give in to my strong desire to order pizza ...

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I'm reading a really good book by Elizabeth Musser right now - Swan House. I've read other books by her, and they were also very good. (Christian, romance, historical, major issues like racism, poverty, etc.)

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I got paid for my part time parking garage job! $73.65 - that is one 8 hour shift (although it wasn't actually a full 8 hours, because I left 30 minutes early after being told I could if I wanted to.)

I don't know when I'll have another shift though, because it seems like all the available ones are on Saturdays. Sometimes having beliefs that are so different from the mainstream can sure make it hard to find the extra income (and sometimes the main source of income too ... so many jobs I've had to turn down over the year due to Friday night/Saturday issues ...)

Note - I am an Seventh-day Adventist. Similarly to Jews, we celebrate Sabbath from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset.

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I think I have settled on what my August trip is going to be - Des Moines -- Friday - Living History Farms; Saturday - Memories Day (visit church my dad was pastor of, visit various places we lived, etc.); Sunday - Adventureland!; Monday - drive home and recover.

I still need to get the addresses from my brother - our dad kept a list of all the places he lived his entire life. My brother has it somewhere. We lived in three different houses in Des Moines. I'm most curious about the house we lived in where my bedroom was in the finished attic, we had a lake within close walking distance, and I had an awesome friend named Tara who lived across a hayfield from us that had a small stream running through it. Lots of good memories there.

I was in 3rd grade when we moved from there to New Mexcio.

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On Sunday I plan on going to Dollar General to buy frozen fruit, and also stop at Sears to see if they have the shoes I want. (dress shoes for work to replace ones that are falling apart) I'm going to try to hold off til July to actually buy them though so I can put it on my Discover card and have it count towards July's $500 spending.

I've also been thinking more about the Nationwide thing of using the debit card 8x in a month to avoid fees. If I give myself a budget of $20/month for treats (which would be much less than I have been spending) that would mean 2x a week I could get about $2 worth of a treat. So in reality it would be money I'd spend anyway (realistically) and $20 not put on the Discover or Swagbucks cards isn't going to be that big of a deal. And it's only for 3 months + 2 weeks.

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A good friend of mine and her family are doing fundraising to pay the fees to adopt a baby boy from Papau, New Guinea. They were missionaries there this past year and were asked to adopt this particular child, but before it could happen, they had to come back to the US. I'm thinking that this might be where my charitable giving will be going starting in July.

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So that's all for now folks ... (bet you thought it was never going to end ...)

I asked today about having a direct deposit split between two banks and was told that the city isn't set up for that. (I had that capability when I taught ten years ago .. could do it myself on our website.)

So that means I'll have to have my whole paycheck go to Nationwide for a few months. Then do a quick withdrawal. Good thing I have a month's buffer in my checking account at all times.

I've also done some thinking about the 8 debits per month to avoid the $8 checking account fee. I think that will be a total hassle and would probably end up making me spend more than $8 each month that I might not have otherwise spent. So .. considering that the bonus is $200 ... I'm going to eat the $8 fee until I get the reward - probably total $24 - $40.

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Got Firefox working again properly! I was beginning to think I was in need of a new computer ...

I did something called "Refresh Firefox" that got rid of all my add ons (Adblock, Swagbutton, etc, etc.) It's now running super silky smooth! I'm just going to deal with the ads for now I think.

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Spending:

$9 .... at Walgreen's. Sigh. So tired today all I wanted was some chocolate and soda. Kind of overdid it.

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Dollar General - found out where one is which is near another store I like to go to once in awhile. I might try to get over there on Sunday - also want to go to Sear's to see if I can replace my dress shoes. They are beyond bad.

Sunday was my first shift for my part-time job working as a parking garage attendant. Pretty much what I did for 8 hours was stand at the back of a parking garage and help people get out of the garage by putting their ticket in and paying, or swiping their hotel parking key.

There were a few mishaps that kept the day somewhat interesting. Several hotel parking keys not working, a CC getting stuck in the machine, someone not have a CC to pay and the floating supervisor not being available because someone in another garage couldn't get out and was threatening to drive through the gate ...

All in all it was okay - not a bad way to make $11/hr. Once in awhile.

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So NE and I went to HuHot last night. The food was good, especially once I found the tofu. But OH MY WORD it was expensive. $13.99 per person not including a drink. By the time I paid for our meals, NEs drink, tax and a tip, it was about $40! So .. I have $10 left for next time. Ugh. If I would have realized that, I probably would have ordered a dessert or two to go just to finish off the card. In fact, that might be what I do anyway. NE wasn't overly enthusiastic about the place, and would much prefer a buffet. We can go to a buffet with tip for $24, which would be less than what another meal at HuHot would cost minus the $10 on the giftcard.

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Work today was much, much, much better. Seems like the grumpy sauce ran out even though the rain didn't.

--
Made it to the gym tonight for the first time in too long. 30 minutes walking the track.

I've been thinking about trying the Stronglifts program, but feel intimidated to go into the weight room and figure out how to do the stuff myself. I asked NE last night if he'd be willing to come with me once or twice to just basically talk me through the form, etc. He basically said no without saying no ... Said he didn't think it'd be safe to do without a spotter. My question is ... what do other people do that don't have a spotter???

I'm going to try something similar with just dumbbells and a bench. Maybe also see if they have a pullup bar. The outside pool is also open, so I really need to try my swimsuit on to see if it still fits and get in there! Make use of my gym membership!!

I really wish it didn't take me 20 minutes to get there and 7 to get home ... That makes it more difficult. But if I were to say I'd go later ... yeah, wouldn't happen. I can't sit down other than to put my shoes on.

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I put in for vacation for August 7 and 10 today. Now I just have to figure out what exactly I'm going to do ...

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Spending Sunday and Monday - $0 (other than gift card)

This afternoon after church a group of about 20 of us participated in a Kids Against Hunger event. It was a blast! Within the space of two hours we were able to put together enough food packages to feed 6000 people!

It's setup in an assembly line fashion - each part of the food bag is supposed to be manned by one person, then one person weighs the bag, one person seals the bag, one person puts a sticker on the bag, and another person puts it in the box.

At my table we had a 7 yr old and an 8 yr old. For the first hour they were pretty good, but after that they started goofing off a bit. We put them to different tasks and that seemed to help - but for the last half hour or so their grandma and I were doing 5 jobs between us - it actually went a lot faster and smoother with just the two of us doing those jobs.

I didn't get much sleep Friday night (again) and almost decided to not go today. I'm SO glad I went!

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Stopped by the library on my way home and dropped off 4 more entries for the Adult Reading program, and picked up the movie "Boyhood" which was on hold for me. I might watch that tonight.

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Tomorrow I'll be doing my first shift for the parking people - from 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Afterwards NE and I might be going to eat at HuHots (with my gift card.)

I'm hopeful today was the last day Walgreen's has their candy on sale 2/$1 .... $3.89 gone again. Sigh.

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Talked to my grandma tonight and found out my brother has been interviewing for a different position. If he gets it I have the feeling that will put a crimp on him having vacation time to be able to come out here in September. Supposedly it's a good bit more money and he won't have to move. They came to him.

So NE has still has a large amount he owes for his surgery over what insurance covered. He's been paying what he can each month. I asked him a week or so ago if the place took AmEx, would he be good with the idea of my paying a portion (maybe $500 or so) and then sharing some of the cashback.

Last night he told me he got a new bill ... and drumroll please .... they take AmEx! So my dilemma about how to get the spending requirement finished is done! Even if I only keep 1/2 of the cashback, that is better than none (or purchasing grocery gift cards from future months grocery budget money.)

We're going to work out the details more on Sunday night.

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The above news is especially good since I'm planning on attempting the Discover deal of spending $500/month for 5 months for $75 starting in July (I think.) If I put everything on the Discover, I should be able to do it pretty easily.

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I forgot my lunch at home today. Luckily I had a tortilla and vege refried beans in the fridge at work. Still, I wasn't sure that'd be enough, so I bought some things from the vending machine. Yikes! SO expensive. $1 for a standard sized Snickers.

After work I went grocery shopping - English Muffins ($1 each!), eggs ($1.99 for 1/2 dozen OMW!!), Brownie mix (for treat day when I'm on - $1/each!), canned sweet peas ($.89), oranges ($1/lb), bananas ($.59/lb), Morningstar pizza and corndogs ($2.99 each), Amy's Black Bean enchailadia ($4.15 - cheaper than going out to eat or most take out -which I was sorely tempted tonight), 20 oz Cherry Pepsi

Total - $27.18

Two more items I "bought" with rewards points - a can of Pilsbury crescents (YUM!) and a 1/2 gallon of Mint Chocolate Chip Gelatto. I've never had gelatto, and have always wanted to try it. This sounded SO good. Especially for free.

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Edited.

Summary - Rant about bad day at work.

I told my boss that some people here must have gotten ahold of the grumpy sauce this week. She told me she thinks people are just sick of the rain.

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Redeemed Bing points for a $5 AGC today

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My rent check was cashed today, and I heard from the property manager that I can put my keyboard box in the laundry room (big box that I can't break down and will help make my bedroom look a bit more ... finished.)

So Tuesday night after much hemming and hawing I decided to go for it - or at least see if I could find a parking space in a safe area and reasonable distance from the jazz concert.

I left for the concert about 5:40 with my phone at 56% ... Not smart.

Had to use Google maps to find my way there. Even so, got turned around. Finally found a parking spot that was somewhat reasonably close, and had lots of people / other cars.

Put $.25 in the parking meter - after 6 the spots are free, and I parked about 5:50.

I started walking in the direction I thought it was ... only went two blocks when I saw a woman at an outside restaurant - asked her where the place was and was told to turn around and turn left.

About ten minutes later I found the Jazz concert! I was carrying a book, a water bottle and a blanket. The temperature was a cool 97+ degrees ...

I had brought a $5 bill with me in case there was some vendor food that tempted me, but I didn't even see where the vendors were (although I saw a lot of people with vendor type food.)

I found a place to spread my blanket out and preceded to try to be comfortable sitting on the ground on a blanket in the "cool" weather. Not too long into this my phone died. Oops.

Shortly after 7 the band began playing. It was pretty good music. After about 6 songs though, I'd had my fill of sitting on the ground. (I have circulation issues with my feet ... sitting on the ground for very long makes for sleepy feet.) Amazingly that was the same time they broke for intermission - so it made it easy to slip away.

I'm really glad I went, even though the weather made it almost miserable (saved by good breezes.) However, if I were to go again to something like this, I DEFINITELY want to procure a lawn chair! It also would be nice to have company ..

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Walking into work today I found a quarter laying on the ground. Thought it was pretty funny since I had just spent a quarter the night before.

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Today was kind of stressful at work. The phone was going constantly - with quite a few memorable calls. Not all for good reasons. I also had a slew of mail in pass orders for the football bus shuttle. I had to really pay attention so I didn't put an bus shuttle order into the front desk receipt book.

I decided to treat myself after work ... Walgreen's has their candy bars on sale 2/$1 - not a great price considering that's what the NORMAL NON-Sale price used to be ... but better than today's "normal" prices.

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My rent check hasn't been cashed yet. Usually it's cashed within a few days of my putting it in the box. I sent the property manager an email tonight to see if I can find out what's going on. I'd sent her an email a few weeks ago too though, which I haven't gotten a reply on. Hope nothing is wrong.

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I got two more medical bills stemming from my ER visit. One can be paid with AmEx and the other can't. Sigh. I still am not sure how I'm going to get to $1000 spent on that darn card. I'm at about $300 right now - it's so hard finding places that take it. The lure of the $250 cash back made me not consider carefully HOW I could actually do it. I'd always heard that AmEx is'nt accepted everywhere, but the reality is now sinking in ...

I *really* don't want to go the route of gift cards - but I'd rather do that than lose $250! Maybe I can purchase gift cards for the airline I'll most likely book for my CA trip in November .. hmm... (haven't figured out which airline yet.)

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Tuesday spending:
$.25 - parking meter

Wednesday spending:
$3.89 - treats from Walgreens

Earnings: $.25 from in front of bus garage

Yesterday NE and I went out for a lake drive -- we went to a total of about 5 nearby lakes. Before we got started on that though, we had to get a park permit. He decided to get two of them - one for each car. It came out to $39.50.

He didn't have enough cash, and there'd be an extra $2 charge to use debit/credit. For once in my life I actually had the cash on me! (thanks to all the FB sales lately.) Later he was going to pay me back and I told him it was my treat - his birthday gift. (August 3rd - he's HARD to shop for.)

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Sold my folding table via FB garage sale - $5. Only about the fifth or sixth time I listed it. At least it's gone now.

Cashed out for a $25 PayPal from SBs.

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I'm not sure if I'm going to go to the jazz concert tomorrow night or not. I'd really like to, but I'm just not sure about parking in downtown. It starts at 7 - not sure how long it'll last. I could always leave early I suppose. If I had someone to go with me to it, I'd like that much better (especially if that person were to drive/park!)

I'll see.

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Sunday I also went to see Avengers 2, and bought some candy at Walgreens. Shhh...

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A fairly major intersection closed for roadwork today and for at least the next 18 days. As expected I got tons of calls about it/about the detour.

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Spending:
Sunday:
$39.50 - 2 park permits
$5 - Avengers 2
$2 - Candy from Walgreens

Monday - No spending.

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I'm still feeling somewhat sore from my fall on Saturday, and some of the bruises got bigger/easier to see. But otherwise no ill effects from it.

So today I wore my sandals to church. (went better with my outfit than black heels .. really need a pair of white sandals, but I've never been able to find a pair that stays on my feet.)

As I was walking to the building, I walked over wet ground and may have stepped in a small puddle.

I get to the church, greet the greeter, and then start down the stairs to go to Sabbath School.

As I reach the second step down, I did my own version of slipping and sliding. My left wrist, forearm, elbow and left side of the ol' gluteas maximus(sp?) took the brunt. Both of my ankles seemed to get into the action as well.

Thankfully no clothing was ripped or dirtied. Also, thankfully I was able to get up and walk (...limp a bit) to the SS group.

Have some majorly sore areas on my left side now though! (One bruise has already shown up on the gm, and I have the feeling another one will be appearing on my forearm.

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I just signed up for an offer with a $200 bonus after 90 days. All you have to do is open an eChecking account with Nationwide and have one direct deposit of $200+ within the first 60 days, and then two-three more of $25+ (to avoid the fee.) You can close the account after getting the bonus with no penalty. The interest rate is abysmal (although not bad for a checking account) Ooohh... reading the fine print a bit closely ... to avoid an $8/month fee you have to make 8 debit card transactions a month. Yuck. I'll have to figure out how to do that without messing up my trying to spend very little (or you have to have a 10k balance. Can't quite do that.)

Well .. if you're interested, here is the link:
http://www.nationwide.com/sem/nf-echecking-personal.html

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I signed up at church today to go to a Kids Against Hunger food packing event next Saturday afternoon. I didn't realize at first, but you are supposed to make a donation to participate. Minimum $10. I already did my charitable giving this month, but I guess I can take it from next months category. I suppose I really should wait til closer to the end of the month to decide where to put the non-tithe charitable money to be sure I have some to put in things that come up.

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Tonight I'm planning on going to a free concert at my church - The Allen Family. I'm pretty sure I went to a concert of their's here last year in June. The name sounds familiar (and so does their picture.) If it is, I remember I really enjoyed the music.

I had been planning on going to help one of our elderly church members pack their moving truck tomorrow morning, but I'll have to see how my arm is doing.

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NE and I will be going out to eat tomorrow night - it's my turn to pay, so we'll be going to Hu Hot's where I can use my $50 gift card. We also are going to do some driving around the local lakes. Hopefully it won't be too muddy.

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I decided to bake a frozen pizza I'd bought back in Jan/Feb from the local store that was closing. Let's just say that it's not a brand I'd get again even if I could.

Today at work I was talking with the Office Manager about yet another frustration which occurred due to my not knowing about a detour. She suggested I talk to the transit manager about it, but should have an idea in mind to solve the issue. We talked a bit more, and then came up with the idea of using a Google spreadsheet like what we do for the Lost and Found items. That way detours, accidents, delays, etc., can be updated quickly by whoever hears it on the radio .. and I can then see them without my first knowledge being a phone call from a bus rider wondering where the bus is at!

So .. I did talk to the transit manager. He told me he had had a similar idea, and that he would be working on getting something put together. I really hope this does truly happen, because it would mean a lot less having to deal with one particular dispatcher ... I also pointed out to him that my being able to know this stuff would help to make our bus company look better.

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I already have two entries for the Summer Adult Reading Program. The Life List - Lori Spielman and Two Testaments - Elizabeth Musser. Both very good books.

I was asked what some of the prizes were:
Weekly branch drawings - giftcards to various places
Booklover's Gift Bag - filled with goodies and a bookstore giftcard
Grand Prize - Booklover's Gift Bag and a Paperwhite Kindle

Ooo la la!

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Thursday spending: Nada

Friday spending:
Gas - $25.xx
Groceries - Apples, cat food, cat litter, bread, Morningstar Corndogs, frozen veggies, frozen fruit, Apples, Bananas, treat -- $31.19 -- My ten things.

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I had someone ask me something strange on Thursday. An older man came to purchase a bus pass. As I was helping me he asked me what church I went to. I told him which church. He then told me that he'd thought I was a Pentecostal because I seem to like to wear long dresses/skirts and have long hair. Ha!

I told him that I just like to wear those kinds of things sometimes, and that I like long hair. (Although my hair is hardly what I consider "long" right now! He should've seen it before I cut it in September!!)

I just thought that was so funny. Most of the time I wear dress pants or on Friday's jeans, but once in awhile I'll wear a dress or a skirt. And yep, the ones I wear at work anyway are fairly long (my skirt was barely mid-shin on Thursday) - but there is a good reason for that! I never know what kind of bending, stretching, etc. I might have to do ... hence a skirt that only reaches my knees would just not do unless I want to put on a show for other people ..

Say what you want about the actual Bing search engine, but their Customer Service rocks! I replied to the email from the CS person yesterday letting them know my issue was fixed, and thanks! This morning I got a reply back from a different agent thanking me for letting them know AND giving me ten bonus points as a thank you! Sweet!

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At work today I got a replacement headset for the one that quit working on Friday. What a welcome relief it was to get it! The phones were nuts at times today and I felt like I was going to get a permanent crick in my neck from holding it in place with my shoulder while looking for info.

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Went to the library to pick up some books on hold. While there I found out about an Adult Summer reading program! Prizes for reading books! For adults! Wheeeeeeeeee!!!

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I may have my first shift at the parking garage this Sunday. It's from 10 - 6:30 for some Soccer Bash thing. Before taxes, that'll be about an extra $100. Sweet! I'll have to do my grocery shopping on Friday after work or Saturday night though, because NE will be here as soon as I get home on Sunday.

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I am going to be making brownies for the Treat day tonight. My turn. As soon as I finish this post. (From a mix I bought on sale a few weeks ago.)

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Spending Today:

Walgreen's - (medical) $19 (Ten day Allegra D)
Library - $2.60 (late fines, hold not picked up fine - finally had cash with me to pay this.)
Dropped off rent check

I got an email from Bing CS asking me to send a screenshot. When I got home and went to the page to get a screenshot, it was already fixed. 525 credits, which is quite doable.

--

I relisted four items on the FB garage sale - two of them have had multiple people express interest and even say they'd come by and buy it ... No shows. I'm not gonna give up though, because I'd rather have a little cash for these things than just give them to Goodwill.

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Day 2 no spending (outside of normal bills.)

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I bought Kari a cool toy from Amazon a few months ago, and I KNOW I took a video of her playing with it the first time - about three minutes! It was super adorable. But I've looked on both of my phones and on my computer ... and it is nowhere. I'm afraid my delete happy self may have accidentally deleted it, as well as the hundreds of food photos for Pact.

She still plays with it every once in awhile, just too unpredictable to take another video.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001LWRFW2?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00

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We're interviewing for new bus drivers right now. They're looking to hire 8! The interviews started on Friday. Today this one guy came in who had driven all the way from Minneapolis! Not only that, but I knew I recognized his name = he'd called me in April? and asked me to send him a copy of all the maps and schedules. Guess what he did with the All Route maps? He had them majorly enlarged and laminated - $200+ He's pretty much memorized all the routes/schedules and could probably find his way around here from any point A to B.

Boy, I hope he gets the job after putting that kind of time and money into it.

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I'm thinking of watching another movie tonight. I guess I'm in the movie watching mode lately .. haven't really watched much of anything since maybe January?? I should check to see if there's new episodes of OUAT on free Hulu. Hmm...

Those that do Bing, have you ever had a monthly bonus? I was just working on Bing and saw a June bonus if I do 625 searches.

So ... I did all the searches - mobile and desktop and got 20 credits. Hmm .. 31 x 20 = 620 not 625?? Anyone know where those 5 extra credits are supposed to come from?

I tried contacting support, but got an error message.

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I got credit for another Pinecone survey, and so was able to redeem for $15.

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My coughing is WAY better .. not gone, but better. Although I still feel uber tired. Didn't help that Kari thought the sun coming up at 6 this morning meant I should be awake and feeding her either ...

--
Looks like NE has strep - we went to the local urgent care place last night. I better not get it! (I get strep so easily ...)

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Spending outside of regular bills today: $0

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Saturday night I watched "Disaster Wars" on Hoopla. It was so badly written and badly acted! I loved it.

Tonight I might watch Thelma & Louise A recent Mental Floss article made me think about watching it again, and of course the library had a copy.

---
I saw on FB yesterday that Bette Midler is going to be in Omaha this coming Friday. All the tickets I found were on resale sites and only being sold in pairs ... so $88 minimum. I have no one to go with me, and .. it's a Friday night. (I am an SDA, so my Sabbath starts on Friday at sunset.) Bullet dodged there, otherwise I might have been able to talk myself into doing it - even though I have no idea who I would get to come with me.

Now if Kenny G or Jim Brickman come into anywhere within an hour and a half radius ... (on a non Friday night or Saturday afternoon) all bets are off! I haven't been to a real paid concert since 2008 shortly before I was laid off from the oil and gas job.

I love going to concerts. Maybe I could find a concert happening in a 3 - 5 hour radius in August and make that my travel bug/savings goal ... hmm... Two birds, one stone.

So ... I spent about an hour entering all the transactions for May into YNAB. I hadn't entered anything since the 12th ... Let's just say it wasn't pretty at all.

The good: $207 in extra income (FB sales, SBs, Pact, Perk, etc.)
Sent 10% of net to EF + $37 ...

The bad: Only had $37 left after an extra $207 in income. Which means I came dangerously close to having to dip into my 10% deposit ... for no real reason.

The ugly: Spent roughly $360 on food/fast food/treats
The most I think I can ever remember spending in one month in those categories ...

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So ... June goals.

The past few months I have been doing an experiment where I did not set out any particular amounts in my flexible spending categories for my budget. For a few months this seemed to work okay ... May though has totally busted this idea. So for June I have decided to modify this approach - I have given myself budgeted amounts in certain categories (Groceries, Treats, Restaurants) and then left the rest unbudgeted (since it isn't the other categories tripping me up.)

My plan/goal for June and perhaps July is thus: 50% of the unbudgeted money will go towards my normal goal of the EF extra deposit (above the 10%.) The other 50% will be used in July (maybe August) to go somewhere for a few days - i.e. get out of town.

As I mentioned in my last post, I have been feeling the travel bug. Feeling kind of restless, listless ... bored in a way. So my idea is that the less money I spend in June (and possibly July), the nicer my little out of town excursion will be.

I could say NO FAST FOOD in June - but I'm hoping that knowing that every time I get Fast Food or get some junky item that it is reducing the quality/length of my getaway, will work better for motivation.

We'll see. (Snafu - the cash thing might work, except I have a bunch of cash on hand right now thanks to the FB sales this month. Getting to the bank to deposit it is a major hassle. So if I did cash only for fast food, etc., I'd have a lot of leeway for it.)

--
I'm hoping to get a training shift for my part time job this coming week, so that money could definitely help the "extra" category - and help me also maybe to not be quite so bored ...restless.. listless. Hopefully.

This is just the cough that won't go away.

The doctor said my lungs were clear, but sometimes it feels like something is pressing down on my chest or something.

The cough *may* be getting better ... not sure if it is wishful thinking or truth. Although now the cough medicine that was helping me sleep is not being effective, so 3 out of the last 4 nights have had very little/bad sleep.

My mom suggested coconut oil to kill off viruses/bacteria. Not sure if I believe it would help, but maybe if I can find a small amount for not too much ... worth a try I guess.

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My little earphone/headset at work seems to be dying. I came back from my afternoon break and had ten dropped calls in 15 minutes. (New battery - put in a month ago.) So had to use the handset for the remainder. It's kind of funny because at first I really didn't like the headset, but now I am so used to it that the handset just feels SO awkward.

On Monday we're going to figure out where to order a new one (and I'm going to ask if we can get two - one for a backup - apparently these only last about a year or so ...)

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I have been super frustrated with the Swagbuck video apps lately. Either they're having those stupid ads you have to interact with in order to move on, or they're crashing every time you blink. If this keeps up I may focus my video earnings on just Perk. Which stinks because Perk takes F O R E V E R to get to the $25 level.

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My mom was telling me tonight how flooded it is in her area (she lives in the Dallas/Fort Worth metro area) That the swimming pool/rec center in her complex is locked up because of it being flooded.

She said she was kind of feeling aimless after breaking up with latest guy ... so I gave her an assignment. She has to find her local library, GO to the local library, talk with a librarian to find out any volunteer opps, and check out any activities the library may offer -- by Tuesday. She liked my idea/assignment.

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Finances .... I haven't done any looking at my credit card balances in a couple weeks ... or updating in YNAB. I know it isn't going to be pretty. At all. I haven't been saying No to myself a lot .. more like a whole lot of , why not? and go ahead.

Tomorrow I will be working on getting this all updated so I can see how bad it is. My groceries and restaurant (face it, Fast Food) categories are going to ginormous. Since mom and brother aren't coming to visit in June, maybe I might make June a limited spending month. Will think about that more tomorrow and what it might mean.

I do kind of feel the travel bug though. I haven't really gone anywhere further than Kansas City (and that wasn't a "fun" trip) since moving out here a year ago. I'm used to at least one or two out of state flying trips each year.

So maybe I need to think about some kind of short trip I can take - maybe use one or two vacation days. Would have to go alone since NE couldn't take off that much time. This of course will have to wait until I'm feeling much, much better.

I withdrew $15 from Pact yesterday. Payouts this month were pretty low. I *might* be able to cashout $15 from Pinecone this month depending on how quickly todays survey credits. With the $97 I got from FB sales this month and $50 Swagbucks PayPal, I'd be close to $200 in extra money.

Seems like my headache has finally gone away ... so maybe I can sleep some.

Off to the haystacks! (hitting the hay ... catching some zzzz's ... sawing logs, etc., etc.)

So I wasn't at work very long before I knew I had to do something else to get this cough gone. On multiple calls I erupted into a horrible coughing fit. One of which I wasn't able to get to the mute button .. I also was really feeling like I may soon be losing my voice - when talking on the phone I was having to strain to make myself heard.

So I left work early to go to the doctor. She also told me my lungs were clear, but did give me antibiotics for what is probably a sinus infection.

I've taken the first dose tonight ... hopefully it will start helping quickly.

I seriously don't know how much longer my voice will hold out if I keep coughing like this.

When I was in Walgreen's waiting for my prescription I had several nasty looks as I hacked out my lungs (covering my mouth with my elbow of course, even though I'm supposedly not contagious.)

So another $30 out of the FSA money .. I need to check that account soon and see how much is actually left for the year... For next year I plan to take out a much larger amount (had $50/month this year - next year I think I'd be safe at 75 or maybe 100/month.)

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It is really warm and humid tonight. My A/C is set at 78 and has come on a couple times.

I feel for those in Texas and OKlahoma right now with all the flooding and tornadoes. I hope SCFR is okay - I think her home is in the vicinity of some of the recent flooding.

The past few weeks I've made about $97 in sales of items from around my apartment. Tonight I will be spending $20 of it for a 3 shelf bookcase - the person is bringing it to me. (I told them I couldn't come get it til Thursday - they offered to bring it to me! Sweet!)

That extra bookshelf will help me to get my living room really starting to look more finished. I've put in some bids for hanging shelves (to put knicknacks on) but I haven't gotten to them quickly enough.

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I am so freaking tired of coughing! Two weeks ago I went to the doctor and was told .. Oh, it's just allergies. Your lungs are perfectly clear. By the middle of next week you should feel much better.

So two weeks later I am NOT feeling better and the coughing is getting worse - deeper/harder. Of course my temperature is never over 98.6 (normal for me is more like 97.4 .. I'm taking the nasal steroid spray, the allegra D, the cough suppressent, drinking tons of water, eating oranges galore ... This weekend I slept a TON.

I plan on calling the doctor again tomorrow. I don't know how much good it will do, but there's gotta be something. The hard coughing is ... causing other issues. So annoying!

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Cashed out for $25 PP from SBs and a $5 AGC from Bing

On Wednesday I got an email that was sent out to all city employees about a part time job opportunity. It is basically to be a parking ticket attendant for Farmer's Market events and Arena events. It pays $11/hour.

I sent an email indicating my availability and interest. Thursday morning I had a reply asking me for my phone number. The person called me during my lunch hour - apparently I have the job just by virtue of expressing interest and being already employed by the city!

So today I'm supposed to go and fill out payroll paperwork during lunch. That means that I'm going to have to drive rather than walk. (The place I'm going to would be at least a ten - 15 minute walk one way, versus a 3 - 5 minute drive - not to mention the sweat factor...)

I should get at least two 2 hour shifts each week, and possibly longer/more shifts. This is only for the summer season.

It will be kind of a boring job, but it means at least $200/month extra which of course will be going towards my savings goals!

Sweet!

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I sold two more items on Thursday - my ironing board($3) and a set of fleece Queen sheets ($10).

The sheets were an interesting item to sell ... The first person to express interest asked a ton of questions and then after saying she'd come by at a certain time, passed about an hour before! So I sent a message to the next person in line - she had just one question - Are these really fleece and not flannel? Once I reaffirmed what I had posted in my ad (roll eyes) she was at my place 30 minutes later.

Once she got here she told me she was so excited because she didn't even know fleece sheets existed. I told her that they'd been purchased at Costco around 6 years or so ago. I have a full sized bed, and these are Queen.

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Heard from brother dear the other night ... apparently he and mom agreed to hold off on the trip here until September - around her birthday. Oh well ... gives me more time to get my place into shape.

I walked home again today from work. By taking a bit more direct route, I was able to shave off almost an 1/8th of a mile and nine minutes. So I made it in about 31 minutes.

I'm thinking about walking TO work the whole way in the morning. If I get there early enough, I can go into the bathroom and "freshen" up.

Our local library is going to be offering Hoopla soon - which is a source of ebooks, audiobooks, movies and tv shows. So I'm planning on downloading an audio book to listen to, and of course there is Brian Harding's Daily Audio Bible podcast. So plenty to listen to while I walk.

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We had a Social Styles training today. Essentially it was a personality test and then everyone had to share their strongest results. My result was Amiable-Amiable. That just meant that almost all my answers fell into the Amiable category. I was the only one who had a double.

It was somewhat interesting, and the big bonus was it got me off the phone for 90 minutes!

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There's two movies I really want to see. Avengers 2 and Pitch Perfect 2. PP2 I think I'll wait for it to come out on DVD - but I'd really prefer to see Avengers 2 on the big screen. So .. I'll probably go see it Monday afternoon - a matinee. (I have Monday off! Sweet!)

Okay, so this wasn't SO short, but it was ... shorter.

I ended up going home early from work today. I just was not feeling well at all. When I told my boss, she told me that she wasn't surprised because one of the other ladies in the office had told her it sounded like I was getting sick again.

I decided to go to the doctor because some of what was being coughed up was colored ... She listened to my lungs and said they were clear - so just really bad allergies. I told her I'd been taking Allegra D for three weeks or so with little effect which was weird for me since it used to be really effective.

She asked me if I'd tried Flonase - I told her I had one time before but it gave me nosebleeds. She told me it was all in how you sprayed it ... So I agreed to try a nasal spray. (Which I found out tonight is $60!!! after insurance. It better me a miracle worker spray!)

I haven't gotten the prescriptions yet because by the time they were ready I just didn't feel like going back out again. (I called three times from 2 to 5, and they weren't ready til 6!)

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I listed a bunch of things on the FB group yesterday, and had three items get picked up quickly .. supposedly. One person backed out of the purchase today completely, and another gave some excuse as to why they couldn't come today, but scheduled a time for tomorrow. ugh I could have taken a nice nap if I hadn't had to worry about being awake to hear their knock!

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I was sitting and reading when I heard a strange gurgling sound. After checking around in the bathroom and kitchen, I noticed some very smelly water in the bottom of my garbage disposal. So I turned on the water and started the disposal thinking it was clogged up. To my dismay and disgust, brownish very stinky water started to come up on BOTH sides of my sink (divided sink) - roughly an inch of this nasty stuff on each side.

I called my landlord, and when he got back to me he told me he'd have someone come over tomorrow afternoon. He said it was probably the dishwasher drain plugged up, and not to use my dishwasher or kitchen sink.

I'm just glad it isn't sewer water or something like that which was my first thought - there were some horror stories in the paper last week after the flooding of problems with sewage flooding basement apartments in some areas of the city (of course I don't have a basement apartment ...)

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I almost forgot! One of the email replies to my last blog was very weird. When I looked at it on my phone there was no written content, but some object that I was supposed to touch/click to download. I didn't click on it of course! I checked my blog for that person's response, and there was a normal looking comment from that person - no smiley's or anything that looked like it could cause a download thing. Kind of worrisome ... anyone else get anything like that?

So NE and I did a road trip to Glenwood, Iowa on Sunday. It was really quite enjoyable. All the rain we've had recently has made everything really green up. We stopped at Mills Lake on the way there - a small, but pretty lake in the Loess Scenic Byway? We also ate at a Mexican restaurant El Portal. It was an awesome place because .... they had veggie fajitas!!!! Usually at a Mexican restaurant I have the option of enchiladas or quesedilas or .... It was SO nice to have something different to choose. It was really yummy too - they included a pineapple ring - so good that flavor plus the other veggies.

Right as we got our check the waiter brought out a desert and told me Happy Mother's Day. Uh thanks ... maybe someday, but probably not.

I didn't end up getting to bed til nearly 11:30 .. on a work night. Still, it was so worth it.

(NE paid for dinner - it was his turn. )

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Anyone else getting that super annoying ad covering the bottom of your screen for CoverGirl? I get it on the blogs and on the forums - it slows the forums down majorly, and when logging in I accidentally clicked on it twice!

I don't mind ads as long as they're not obtrusive like that!

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So it seems my allergies are back at it in full force, even with taking Allegra D. The last couple days not only have I been overtired, but I've also been miserable with sneezing and coughing and just feeling generally ill.

Ugh and double ugh.

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I was reading on a blog or forum or something about how someone felt like their home finally looked like an "adult" lived there and not a college kid. It made me kind of think ... if someone were to come into my apartment, they probably would think "college kid" and not 39 year old.

There's not a whole lot I can do to change that look I think without spending money I don't want to spend. But ... I'm wondering if maybe getting rid of all my moving boxes which are currently stored in my bedroom - some under the bed and some next to it against the wall .. would help. When I move again I'd have to buy new boxes, but boxes aren't *that* expensive ...

I also am thinking I need to let go of my stereo. It was a college graduation gift (half from my dad, half from my pocketbook) which has definitely seen better days. Kari's claws definitely did not help its look.

Then there is the baby dresser which I have hauled around with me since I moved out on my own in 97. It was used for me and my brother ... I'm thinking maybe it's time to finally let it go.

There also is the portable dishwasher ... one of my last major gifts from my dad. I have it sitting next to my loveseat right now as sort of an end table ...

Getting another bookshelf or two, finishing hanging pictures, getting rid of the foldup table, etc., probably would also go a long ways toward "adultizing" my place.

Growing up all our houses were set up so nicely - decorated, good furniture, etc. So I know what it could/should be ... but for some reason I can't make it like that. Somehow the gene of dressing well, doing hair well, caring about makeup, creating a home instead of just a place I live in ... skipped me.

I don't know ... I guess I'm feeling like here I am almost 40 and I'm not married, I don't have kids, if it wasn't for inherited stocks I'd barely have any retirement money (they are 1/2+ of my assets ...) and my place looks like a college kids. This so isn't what I hoped my life would be like at this point.

Not to mention when I see articles say something like "on the low end of the scale are salaries of $35,000/year ..." and I'm thinking - I'd be jumping ecstatically if I made that much! (And at one time I actually made more than that .. had no idea how good I had it.)

And then there is the factor of not really having anyone to talk to/hang out with other than NE here ... and all the friends I've had over the years that I kept in touch with for the longest time .. have kids, have families, have way busy lives ..

Riddles is still in the land of the living. The past few weeks or so NE has been taking him to the Vet to have fluids and Vitamin B? injections. The first week it was nearly daily, the last two weeks was two or three times each. Each visit costs $50

The fluids definitely seem to be helping. Riddles is eating some again, and hasn't had another seizure since about two weeks ago. NE is very happy about that, although not so happy about how much this has cost. I suggested he ask about whether he could do the fluid injections himself at home (and that I'd be willing to assist) but he hasn't asked. Oh well ... it's his money. (I had a neighbor once who had to give her cat daily or weekly fluid injections, so I know it can be done at home.)

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We had some major flooding here Wednesday/Thursday. Some have called it a 50 year flood. Thursday was incredibly crazy at work - so many bus routes had to have detours because of the flooding. Most people were understanding, but some were outright jerks. One person got mad when I told him that he'd have to walk eight blocks to catch the bus - "YOU are making me late for work!" Uh, yeah sure mister. We made the roads on the route get flooded and be closed, just so you could be late for work. Yepppers. A few others asked me to get out my crystal ball and predict whether or not the bus was going to be on time two hours from then or the next morning ... I'll get right on it buddy!

Thankfully by Friday morning the waters had gone down all over for the most part, and by noon all the flood related detours were done. Of course I had one caller complain about a bus that didn't arrive at the scheduled time after our office was closed and wanted to know why. I explained that since I wasn't there at the time I didn't know exactly why, but the best I could guess is that it was related to the voluntary evacuation of the area that bus route goes through!

Wednesday night I was walking through my hallway in my bare feet and stepped on a wet spot. At first I was worried that maybe Kari was having bathroom issues (never has before) but after smelling it, I knew that wasn't the issue. I found quite a few more areas of carpet that were quite wet.

As I was trying to figure out how this happened, I realized that the dripping sound I'd been hearing off and on the past few days might have had something to do with it. So I called my landlord. He said he'd send somebody by the next day.

Of course with all the rain/flooding issues on Wednesday/Thursday it wasn't til nearly 6 p.m. that somebody came by (I shut Kari in the bathroom in case they came by while I was out) The problem was the condensation pipe? for the a/c units in the apartments above me being blocked. (I haven't turned my a/c on yet, but apparently my upstairs neighbors have.) The guy that came by couldn't get it unblocked.

So I had to shut Kari in the bathroom again on Friday. The A/C guy came again and the carpet cleaners came while I was gone at work - so Kari didn't have to be shut in the bathroom the whole day. I think she actually didn't mind it too much because I gave her canned food both days ...

The carpet is pretty much all dry now - although now I need to figure out how I'm going to move my dresser back - don't know if NE will be able to help me with his shoulder issues.

We're supposed to have another major storm come through tonight. Our creeks and lakes can't take too much ...

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Tomorrow NE and I are doing a little roadtrip to Greenwood Iowa for our anniversary. We'll probably go out to eat somewhere around there. He was in that area a couple years ago for some speakers and thought it was really beautiful. It will be nice to get out of the apartment and do something together (doesn't happen often ...)

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Texting with my mom last night I found out she'd been in a fairly major car wreck three weeks! ago. It was her fault -- she and a friend were traveling to San Antonio and had gotten off the highway for gas or something. As they went along the frontage road there was some construction and hard to figure out how to get back on the highway. Her friend spotted a way and told her to go ... there was another road that criscrossed the pathway and a car coming - which my mom did not see. The car clipped the front passenger side of my mom's car.

Nobody was seriously hurt - banged up knees, elbows and wrists. But my mom found out she only has liability insurance - apparently someone talked her into changing her insurance plan a few months ago to save a bunch of money and didn't explain HOW she was saving that money. (As she's telling me this, I'm wondering HOW IN THE WORLD did she not know this???)

So ... her insurance company told her that her 6 month premium was going up to $5k! She's had a number of not-fault and at-fault accidents in the last six years or so, and is now considered high-risk. She kept looking and now has insurance through USAA for $165/MONTH!!!! She also has been without her car for the last 3 weeks.

It sounds like it's going to be around $2500 to fix it (and that is a long time family friend who has fixed our cars many multiple times over the years - the shop her car was towed to estimated $5k+ to fix.)

She just last night got a letter from an attorney for the person who hit her suing her for damages.

She's in a mess.

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I finally got my $25 AGC from PerkTV.

I was really craving delivery pizza last night ... and gave in to it. $17 for the pizza, $5 for my "Zone", plus delivery charge and tip ... $28 .... Ouch! The pizza was good at least.

Monday was one of those days you can be so glad to not have to repeat.

Work was awful. People calling in very crabby and impatient ... getting told that the cash was $19 off over a 4 day period last week (person who reconciles it was out sick for 4 days ..)

Then I go to the gas station to get gas. First pump doesn't have the cheap gas, so I cancel my card and go to a different pump. Put my card in, and my rewards card ($.42/gallon off) and it shows that I lost the $.42/gallon. I go inside ...by the time I get back to the pump my card has been canceled. I redo it, and my card is rejected. Am about ready to scream like a banshee.

Go inside again, guy runs my credit card and my rewards card. Both work! I fill up for $2.09/gallon.

Then I go to Walgreens to use my $50 cashback. What an ordeal it was to use that money! I'd tried over the weekend in store and online with no luck. Then Monday I decided to see if I could buy ink - of course they were out of the ink I needed. Finally did end up buying a huge thing of cough syrup and a huge container of extra strength pain meds, plus a few miscellaneous items.

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Tuesday was ok at work. Had a different project to work on along with my usual. Balanced cash box myself to reassure myself. (Can I just say how I think the cash box is almost worse than the crabby callers?)

Came home just so tired and didn't accomplish anything.

I take that back ... I stopped at Goodwill and bought something I can use as a bean masher for my black bean burgers (it's actually a pastry cutter I think) and ... a 3rd chair for my dining table! (I didn't have any cash on me, and hated to charge just $.99 for the pastry cutter ... so was very happy to find a chair that worked for $6.99!)

Oh, I also voted in the city elections.

I also got $25 PayPal from Swagbucks
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Wednesday was good at work. Was given another different project (after finishing the other one.) One that will be ongoing. Also got away from the office for the last 2 1/2 hours making a presentation to the public librarians - actually got up front and talked a little without totally losing it. Impressed myself.

Was heading out to the grocery store when I noticed a wet spot on the carpet. At first I was worried maybe Kari was being naughty ... but then after moving a chair I realized that the furnace was leaking ... Called my landlord and they'll send someone out in the morning to fix it and clean the carpet. (said something about something or other being blocked)

Tonight we're having heavy rain, lots of thunder and lightning and I've gotten an Emergency Alert on my phone about flash flooding. NE is out delivering tonight ...

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I've been reading up a storm the last few weeks. Last week I read a series of 9 books by Marta Perry (Amish stories) and this week I've read around 4 or 5 various books. Instead of getting anything really done with my extra time (while NE is working 5 nights a week ... ) I seem to be spending most of that time reading.

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I better hit the ol' bed soon otherwise I'll be way tired tomorrow!

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Sunday is NEs and I two year anniversary. Hard to believe it's been that long. A few weeks after that and it'll have been one year since I moved here to NE. Wow. (And I still haven't gotten the necessary stuff to put my front license plate on my car ... thankfully no cop has decided to pull me over )

I had seen this mentioned on the YNAB forums but when I looked at my AmEx account I couldn't find it. But today I was looking at my account and decided to browse the offers, and there it was!

The deal - Spend $20 at Sam's Club and get $20 cash back on AmEx card.

(You do have to be a Sam's Club member already.)

So I thought about what I could get - it had to be something online - not store pickup.

Everything I was thinking about was either store pickup or would have shipping added. Then it hit me - gift cards! I checked their gift cards and they have a good selection.

I chatted with an AmEx CS person to make sure that a gift card purchase would work for the deal. She said it would.

One deal I could've done would be to purchase two $10 Sam's Club gift cards. That would've meant no money spent, and $20 in items I could purchase at the store.

However, I decided to go with something else. NE loves to go to Chinese restaurants, and the Hu Hong place here is one of his favorites. There was a deal where you get two $25 gift cards for $39.98. So ... after the $20 is taken off, you get $50 of food for 19.98!

That will be almost 3 meals out for NE and I.

(Plus it counts towards the spend $1k in 3 months for $250 cash back.)

I spent a lot of money in April. Mostly medical, some overspending in groceries and treats. Bought a couch.

Thank goodness for a 3 paycheck month! I barely squeaked by with putting my 10% of net (of 3 paychecks) into my EF this month. But it got there!

--
Must Spends:
Giving: 10% + 30.00
Rent: 430
Gym: 41.73

Flexible:
Groceries - 160.66
Internet - 65.75
Natural Gas - 23.57
Electricity - 26.93
Auto fuel - 24.26
Restaurants - 14.47
Medical - 877.59
Clothing - 13.48
Household Goods - 113.56
Treats - 52.40
Entertainment - 15.00
Misc. - 26.00

Savings:
EF - 10%
ROTH - $200.00

Extra Monies:
$25 - Swagbucks
3rd Paycheck
$17 Pact
$5 AGC from Bing

Savings Percentage - 17% Gross to Employer Pension, 10% to EF (3 paycheck Net), $200 to ROTH
Roughly 40%

Total EF - 7,992.77

-- $4,007.23 to go to make goal!

Let me start off with the good stuff ..

I've mentioned that I had lost the large non-keytag grocery store rewards card and had spoken with the people in the customer service area about getting it replaced. The first time I talked to them was a good while ago. Since then I went back a number of times and each time got told that "they were really behind on the cards"

So Sunday I went again. This time though I think I must have gotten a manager back there. She checked for my card replacement, and then checked for my order. NOTHING! They had lost my order form - never even sent it out!

So she confirmed my contact details and then told me that she personally would take care of it.

I got a phone call on Monday letting me know that she'd be at the store on Wednesday after 2:30 with my card.

So after work today I stopped by. Not only did she have my card, but she had had the person who made it (coded it?) add 41 cents worth of gas savings. That is .. 41 cents PER GaLLON.

I'm going to wait til Thursday to use it - but boy howdy, is that ever going to be some cheap gas!

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The bad.

I had finally made enough PerkPoints to redeem for a $25 AGC. I got an email this morning telling me my reward was on its way.

Then this afternoon I got an email telling me my reward had been canceled. That there cheating detector or whatever had detected I was doing something violating TOS!!!!

I sent an email to them stating I HAD NOT done anything to violate TOS!

Kind of doubtful they'll backtrack, because there is no way to prove a negative (that I didn't do something against TOS.)

So very frustrating. I guess my devices won't be getting quite such a workout anymore.

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No news from NE about Riddles. He was taking him to the vet again today at 5.

Tomorrow is payday - so that will mean May is totally funded. (My 3rd paycheck or really the second one for April funded my medical expenses category plus some ...)

I feel really bad for NE right now. His oldest cat, Riddles, is 18ish and he picked him out as a kitten. The last two years or so Ridds had gotten pretty thin (total opposite of all NEs other cats) and the past six months or so NEs had to do more to tempt Ridds into eating.

A couple days ago Riddles had a seizure. Then he had another one yesterday. NE took him into the vet and they did bloodwork. His kidney's are functioning at 15%. NE is preparing himself for possibly having to make a hard decision.

The stress of everything got to him last night at work, and he lost his temper. I really hope he doesn't get fired ... (my assistant teacher was fired for less one year, of course, he's not working around kids.)

Riddles is a pretty special cat. I'll be pretty sad too if the hard decision has to be made.

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My brother placed 76th out of 507 people in a 75 mile bike race this past Sunday. He was pretty stoked.

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I finally got enough points on Perk to cash in for a $25 AGC. It was really slow going this time around.

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I got the medical bill for my Urgent Care visit - $51.xx.

I also got my American Express card - I've never seen a credit card like it - kind of a clear plastic? I won't be running it - just using it to pay the medical stuff and maybe one months tithe/offering to make the $1k spending, so I guess it doesn't really matter too much what it looks like.

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I texted my IT friend from NM tonight (the one with lung cancer.) She texted me back (thankfully!) and told me that her health has been touch and go, but she's still kicking. She also told me that some local yahoos burned down the Family Dollar store this morning!

What serious morons! That town has two places to buy general merchandise/food at - the local mom and pop store (small!) and Family Dollar. Otherwise you have to drive at least 30 miles to get to either big G town.

I have to wonder if they got the idea from the intelligent rioters (sarcasm) ruining Baltimore right now ... Ugh.

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A position opened up at the local bus company. They had interviews last week and again today. Of the 7 people who were slotted for interviews ... only 4 actually showed up! None of the 3 no shows called or emailed or anything to let us know they weren't coming. All I can say is .. Wow. Must be a pretty hot job market out there to blow off an interview.

Today I was voted in officially as a member of the local church I've been attending. I had my membership transferred from the church in Texas (never transferred it to NM.)I had to stand up front with a few other people and receive my membership "packet" (a membership certificate and a packet of info on spiritual gifts.)

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I talked to my grandma this afternoon. She was busy packing and getting ready for a flight tomorrow - flying to Florida where she's meeting my aunt and uncle and then getting on a cruise ship! She'll be gone for two weeks. (She turns 94 in September - but still cruising along. Heh heh.)

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Guess who FINALLY called tonight?! Yep, that stinkaroo of a brother, that's who. We managed to connect with our mom, and it looks like the third weekend of June will be our rendezvous time - they'll both be coming here.

Mom was wanting to do a dude ranch or a 4 day cruise ... I'd love to do a dude ranch if they offered a vegetarian menu, but somehow I don't think that is a possibility ... a 4 day cruise would be fun, but I doubt my brother could take that much time off (and I really don't want to spend that much.) So, they'll be coming here - I'll show them where I work, take them to my church, maybe go to the vegan restaurant in O (they're both meaties, but are used to vegetarian fare.) Maybe take in the zoo, etc. Should be fun. (My mom is into pickleball - I checked and found a place here that has pickleball!)

We decided that they'd each take care of their own plane tickets and then we'd split 3 ways any of the costs here. Mom is going to see if she can amass enough hotel points for a hotel here.

Now it'll be interesting to see if bro actually purchases a plane ticket before June ...

My brother is participating in a 100 mile bike race next Sunday (May 3) supporting Diabetes research. He estimates it'll take him about 6 hours and burn around 15,000 calories. He's going on a 75 mile ride tomorrow ... More power to you bro. More power.

He's pretty stoked about some major companies that have been seeking him out to do their social media advertising.

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I stopped at Walgreen's tonight and picked up some Allegra D. My cough which had almost gone away seems to be coming back. In talking with the pharmacist it sounds like I should be able to get a 30 day supply of Allegra D OTC with a prescription so that I wouldn't have to come back every ten days AND I can use my FSA money. Next time I see my doctor I'm going to ask for a prescription and try it again! (tried it years ago and was told I couldn't do it)

$18 for a ten day supply ... Will have to look for coupons, etc, but it's better to spend the money on it than get bronchitis or worse ... (Checked the price for the generic version ... was actually more expensive! and not available in the 24 hour version.)