Back in 2003 I met this guy on a dating website. We emailed back and forth for 4 or 5 months - quickly realized that all it would be would be a friendship. At one point he mailed me his collection of coins from around the world to show my students.

About a year or so after we stopped emailing each other, I received an invite to his wedding. I didn't go (it was in AR, and well, it would've been kind of weird.)

About two years ago he found me on myspace and we friended each other. He and his wife had had a son, and they were still in AR.

Today I got a message from him on myspace saying they were going to be in town, and would I like to get together.

At first I was thinking this would be a bit strange, but then I figured why not? It isn't like I had any real plans.

So I replied and gave him my cell #. He called me and we agreed to get together at a nearby SouperSalad.

We met there at 5p.m. and then were basically kicked out at 8p.m. (the place was closing.) They are both very nice and interesting people. His wife has a hobby doing something I'd never heard of before - body videos. Basically where she pantomines/sign languages what a song is about.

She attended a 3rd Day concert here on Thursday night, and someone noticed her signing along to the songs. They got her up on stage and had her sign for a couple songs. Pretty cool.

I'm glad to have had the chance to meet them.

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Last night I attempted to log in to my HSBC savings account to transfer part of my extra paycheck. (5 paycheck month - Woo hoo!). I guess it had been so long since I manually logged in, I had forgotten my security key.

I was locked out. So this morning I called the contact number and got my account unlocked. While I was on the phone, the representative asked me what the purpose of my account was.

I told him part of it was my emergency fund and part of it was my car fund. He asked me if I'd be interested in hearing about CD's where I could put some of my money to earn more interest. I told him no. He asked me why. I told him that it was important to me that the money in that account be accessible without penalties or charges for withdrawals. He backed off then, and told me that if I ever was interested in learning more about cd's to give them a call.

HSBC is offering 4% for a six-month CD which isn't too bad. I just would hate to put part of my EF in a CD, and then four months from now have to break it for some big emergency that the non CD funds can't cover. It would only be a .75% difference between the savings account and the CD interest.

I updated my tickers on my sidebar for September. For details you can check out my September earnings page. There was some actual good movement - thanks to ChaCha and my gym job.

My ING interest increased this month (by $.48) but my HSBC interest went down, even though the actual amount in the account increased, the teaser interest rate dropped on the 15th.

In October there will be a good deal more movement due to a 5 paycheck month. Although, I am considering using *some* of that extra paycheck to help update/upgrade my wardrobe. I haven't fully decided on that one yet though.

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At work the chaotic week - week two has continued. Only the fun was compounded by my main manager being back from vacation. On Monday he was understanding. Yesterday however when I told him I wasn't able to get some information he needed because that program was on my computer which of course wasn't set up - he became the opposite of understanding.

So I spoke to the president's daughter, who I guess you could call the company liasion (sp?). She told me that I could go ahead and set up my computer on the floor until the furniture got moved back in.

Um ok. Miss ingenious here really didn't want to sit on the floor in her skirt and use her computer. So I thought about this little rolling table we have back in the Engineering copy/file room. It has a double purpose - holds extra paper for the copier, and when I do my filing it holds my filing book and the files.

So I cleared the table off and set up my computer on it. For the rest of the day I had many people laughing at me and my setup - good naturedly of course.

I will admit it is a funny setup. But it is much better than trying to use my computer on the floor. Or continuing to share the computer with the receptionist when this particular manager asks me to get something for him and expects it yesterday and doesn't want to hear that I can't do it yet because receptionist is having to use the computer to do something for another person.

Fingers crossed - furniture is supposed to be moved back into office area and set up in the morning. Anxiously awaiting a return to some semblance of normalcy.

I logged in tonight to do a bit of ChaCha'ing and noticed that my earnings were a good bit higher than they had been this morning -- $10 higher!

I checked, and sure enough, I was one of the winners in the Sat. nite contest!!

So now I'm close to $70, with 17 days to go till the next monthly payout. I think I'll have a good bit more than just a $100 this time.

I just checked my bank account balance, and saw that my first ChaCha payment has been deposited!

From Aug 26 - Sept 15 I made $101.01 in my spare time. Fun!

I also received my second check from the gym for $49.13. It would've been more, but I didn't have my timecard at the location where I worked the Friday before payday. It'll be on my next check.

So, from gym job (2 paychecks)
1st one: $67.14 and 2nd one: $49.13, then the $101.01 from ChaCha, I added

$217.28 to my Extra Monies fund for Septmeber. (Granted, some of the money was earned in August - but I don't count it as earned until I have it IN the bank.)

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I am SO glad AIG got bailed out. I have my 403b (from when I was teaching) with AIG Valic. That is 5 years worth of contributions. My Roth, 401k and TRD IRA, are all at different places, but combined are maybe 20% of the value (at least what it was two weeks ago) of my AIG 403b.

It makes me sick to look at the value of the 403b though. It is down over $1k from where it was when I made my last contribution June 05. To some, a 1k drop isn't much, but percentage wise for me, it's HUGE.

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I just realized I hadn't posted about my latest 5k!

This past Sunday I completed my 3rd 5k race. I finished with a 43:04 which didn't beat my previous time, but I was satisfied with it. I had to stop to tie my shoes once, the course was much hillier and there was a good gusty wind both ways (nearly blew my hat off a couple times!)

The really really cool thing though is that with my Dad being in CA now, my mom and stepdad have stepped up to be my cheering section at my races. Even better, my mom has said that she would like to participate!!

There is a 5k on Oct 26 which is closer for them to get to - and has a fun walk built into it. So, we're going to do that one together. Well, not totally together, since I'll be running and she'll be "speed" walking.

Today I got a call from E at the gym asking if I could work the 5:30 to close shift. I was only planning on watching a movie tonight, so I said sure, why not.

While I was at the gym in the afternoon, I found out that we get paid on the first business day of each month, and the 15th of each month. So that means I have a paycheck waiting for me at the other gym location. I'll pick it up on Friday, which is fine, since I won't be able to get by a bank until then anyway.

Then tonight I got another call from E asking if I'd be willing to come in *early* tomorrow and open. The person who was supposed to do it is sick. I of course said YES.

I think I'm going to REALLY like my next paycheck.

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When I checked my email tonight I saw that I'd received another ING referral bonus. YAY!

Of course, I'm still waiting for two of the last three bonuses to go to my available balance column. I think they still earn interest though, which really is all that matters.

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I'm now up to nearly $28 in ChaCha earnings. I think I've become slightly addicted to the sound of a doorbell.

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A new company has moved into our office building. They are taking up at least two complete floors.

This morning I arrived at around 7:15 a.m. and found that the ENTIRE row where I normally park was completely full!! Normally when I get there at that time, there *might* be one or two cars in that section.

So it looks like I'll be parking up on the next level from now on. That's okay though, because that is the same level that the gym is on.

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I forgot to mention yesterday . .

On Sunday my dad and I found mini-blinds at Walmart for about $8. It took us all of about 3 minutes to remove the old ones and install the new ones.

That saved me at least $27.

While we were at Walmart, we also had them fill my tires with air and move the hubcap on my one tire so we could get to the airstem. They did it for no charge.

Some of you may recall that a few months ago I was considering a move to CA. After considering pros and cons, I developed a list of 5 signs/events which would need to happen for me to feel certain it was the right way to go.

Well, tonight I got a phone call letting me know that the first item on the list has happened! This is incredibly exciting news for the main person involved, as well as for the whole family.

So . . . one down, four to go.

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My apartment complex management have become anal about appearances. A few weeks ago they sent a notice listing a bunch of different possible violations and their fine value.

One item was regarding the mini-blinds on the windows. Admittedly, the condition of some of the mini-blinds in the complex is atrocious, so I can kind of see their point. But . . I got a fine notice on my door today.

The blinds in my bedroom are fine. Nothing broken, and they hang all the way down.

The blinds in my living room are the problem. While my beloved cat was alive, he destroyed a good number of mini blinds in the various places we lived. I tried to avert that from happening by making sure the blinds were lifted from the windowsill enough for him to stick his head under.

Didn't work. So, I have one blind that has half of about six sections that are broken out. Then, the other mini-blind is stuck in the position where there is about two inches of space between the windowsill and the bottom of it.

So, I have to replace the one mini-blind myself, or have the management come in and replace it for $35.

Ugh!

Thankfully my dad is coming up Sunday so he can be here for my 5k on Monday. We're going to go to Walmart, etc to see if we can beat that price. I'm really hoping for something more in the $10 - 15 range, if not LESS.

What really irks me about this is that I've never been charged for the blinds in any of the other places I've lived - never even came out of my security deposit.

--
I put another few hours on ChaCha tonight. It was a bit on the slow side - had plenty of time to surf the net between questions. Made a couple more dollars while doing what I'd probably be doing anyway.

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I went to deposit some money into my WAMU account today via the ATM. But when I got to the point where I put the deposit envelope into the ATM, I got the message saying that they couldn't help me any further and I needed to contact my financial institution.

I've had a $0 balance in the account for a couple months now, but if it was deactivated (which is the only thing I could think of) then why did it even accept my pin #??

Yay! I got another ING referral bonus today:

+$10 for Downpayment fund!

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I don't drink a lot of soda . . but my mom does! She's addicted to diet Coke. So I got an email from Tom Thumb and one of the deals was buy 2 12 pks of Coke, get 3 12 pks free. I stopped by after work yesterday, and for a total of $12, I bought 5 12 pks of Coke - 4 for my mom, and 1 for me.

Today was my stepdad's birthday, so I called to wish him a happy bd -- and also to tell him about the deal. He's very much like me in that he likes to find ways to save money wherever possible.

The thing I was wondering though -- have 12 packs *really* gone up to $6??? I don't remember the last time I bought a 12 pk, so maybe they've been that much for a while .. but OMW that is a LOT of money for soda.

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Today at work I was making some copies at the end of the day and just happened to glance in the trash can. There was an empty 20oz bottle of fanta -- so . . I absconded with the lid. (mycokerewards)

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I was supposed to do my training today after work for the gym. But E called me and said that he'd had a new client who wanted to train at 5:30 today - so would I be willing to train in the morning. Of course, I said yes.

So I'll do my training in the morning, and have my first shift in the afternoon! Look out - here I come - ready to make $6.55/hr! So at 3.5 hrs, plus maybe another 30 minutes training =4 hrs = $26.20. -- Almost a tank of gas! LOL

I will have to find out if they pay weekly or monthly and if they do direct deposit. I hope they do dd, but I kind of doubt it.

Grocery shopping: $25.61

I stopped at Walmart tonight. They had the Boca Burger's in a bun 2 for $4. That made each complete sandwich $1. I bought 5 boxes of them. (They're pretty good - I've had them before.)

As I was driving home I was thinking about how much I could spend on my various meals per month if I didn't have too much variance.

30 days worth of breakfast - 2 large cannisters of oatmeal + 2 large containers of egg sub, maybe 4lbs of bananas = ~$20

Work lunches - 20 days - 20 Amy's burritos from Target at $1.69 ($33.80), 1 large bag frozen veggies ($2) -- ~$35.80

Home lunches (10 days) - pb & j sandwiches, boca burgers, etc - $10

Supper - 2 bags Quiona, 1 bag brown rice, 1 bag lentils, frozen veggies ~$30

Snacks - (string cheese, almonds,) ~$10

So, theoretically, I could get by on less than $110/month. Work lunches could cost even less when I make my own burritos (but not that much less really).

So, where does all the other money go in my grocery budget? Let's see . . last month I broke down and bought a pizza from Pizza Hut . . I also found a store that sold Nestle Treasures & had Orange Crush Jelly Belly's . . . I bought a couple varieties of squash (expensive stuff!) . . . I bought some unhealthy junkfood items . . plus other things not coming to mind right now.

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Before I even got started with all this thinking this afternoon, I'd asked to take Monday off as one of my vacation days.

I've gotten more and more behind in my housework and haven't been preparing meals ahead of time -- which has led to my doing a lot of the impulse convenience food shopping of the past few weeks.

This weekend I only am planning on going to church Sat. morning, then Sun afternoon I'll be doing my first RAoK meetup with the Salvation Army.

That means I'll have from 11:30 a.m. on Saturday until 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, and then all day Monday to be productive.

My plan is to give my apartment a through cleaning by Sunday afternoon. Then, on Monday I am going to plan out my meals for the rest of the month - attempting to use ONLY what I have on hand already as much as possible.

If I accomplish both the goal of having my apartment in Impress a Stranger Shape, and have my meals planned out (and prepared ahead as much as possible) for the month by 2 p.m. on Monday, then I'm going to treat myself to a movie. -- I want to go see "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2".

What that means is that when I get home tomorrow (after stopping at the library) with the 9th book in the Janet Evanovich Stephanie Plum series, I will have to make a decision between sitting down and reading that first, or get a head start on the cleaning. If last weekend repeats itself, Stephanie Plum will win.

I posted the Brita pitcher that I'd had listed on Craigslist on another site I frequent. Someone bought it - $15 + shipping and handling. Great!

So yesterday I took off from work a bit early and stopped by the PO to mail it. The postal worker was miffed at me because I hadn't taped the box. Understandable I guess, but I also remembered from when I was selling my teacher supplies that they always wanted to check what was being mailed ++ I didn't have any tape. So . . . I ended up mailing it Priority to get the "free" tape (I also misjudged the weight of it w/the box - so an extra $5.40 in shipping alone).

So, $21.10 - $.92 paypal fee - $11.60 Priority Shipping = net profit of $8.62.

I think I'm about ready to take all my Spanish materials to half-price and see what they'll give me for them. Even if it's only $10 for the lot, it'll be more than I have now, right?

Or . . if anyone is interested in various computer programs for learning Spanish + books, let me know. I also have a box of 10 Brita Pitcher filters I want to sell.

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Last night when I got home I was all settled in and reading "Hard Eight" by Janet Evanovich when I got a call from my dad. He was needing new ink for his printer, and he couldn't get his old cartridge refilled at Walgreen's because it was leaking.

So, he'd found one on ebay for $8 and wanted to know if it was a good deal. We spent the next hour talking it through over the phone, then eventually yahoo messenger when his phone died. I tried to talk him through using my paypal account to buy the item because he wanted to do "buy it now" but it wasn't letting him add his address. Finally I told him to email the seller, apologize, and say he was a newbie ebayer and would pay as soon as possible.

Tonight I went ahead and set up a paypal account for him (with his input over the phone) and paid for the item via his account.

Trying to help someone do this over the phone is NOT my idea of a nice relaxing evening. But at least it is now done - hopefully the ink cartridge will come quickly.

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I've done some spending the last few days - unnecessary spending - mostly on food.

Sunday - Tuesday: $35.96
Wed - no spending

$4.56 of that was lunch on Tuesday because I forgot to bring my lunch to work. The remainder of the money was almost completely not needed and not good for me.

I'm going to deduct it from my grocery budget and move on - but one way or another, I'm NOT going over budget this month. I've got more than enough food already in the house that needs to be eaten.

*Almost forgot -- I got out one of my last large containers of eggs on Monday morning to make my oatmeal/egg breakfast. I didn't get back into the kitchen till Tuesday night (other than to grab a banana). Guess what was still out on the counter? At least it was only 1/4 full, so not a whole container wasted.

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My gas gage has been acting funky on me, so I'm not really sure what to think. But today it was hovering between 1/2 full and a bit more than 3/4 of a 1/2 full after having driven 220 miles. Normally 1/2 tank gives me around 160 miles.

So, either my gas gage is acting *really* funky OR I'm getting darn good gas mileage!

I'll find out the real story on Friday when I fill up again.

--
I think I've decided to go with the Garmin Nuvia 200. I'm going to wait until my current cc statement closes to buy it - that way I can budget money in August and September for it. That'll happen around the 15th of the month.

So today at 1:00 I was supposed to be arriving at, or already be at the nursing home for my first meetup with this particular group.

Instead, I just walked in through my front door a few minutes ago.

How'd that happen?, you may ask.

I left my mom and stepdad's a bit after 11 a.m. which *should* have given me plenty of time to get home, put my clothes away and change.

Instead, somehow I got it in my brain that I needed to take 121 S to get home. 45 minutes later after going through parts of Fort Worth TWICE, I finally stopped and got directions to get back to a familiar road.

So, what is this NEED I'm saying is not a want anymore? Some kind of a GPS device - a foolproof one!

Today was especially annoying because I've driven this route MANY MANY times and so I would think that my normal directional cluelessness wouldn't come into play. But, it did.

So, I ended up wasting a whole bunch of gasoline, plus a whole bunch of time -- and am now going to be a no-show for my first RAoK meetup.

Please give me some suggestions as to the least expensive way for me to go in a car GPS unit. Knowing me, I probably need something that will say the directions out loud - maybe yell at me "get in the left lane for the next turn!".

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In other news . . my mom, stepdad and I went to see "Mama Mia" last night. It wasn't a great movie, but it was a fun movie. I thought the girl who played Meryl Streep's daughter was really pretty, and it was kind of weird/fun to see Pierce Brosnan breaking out into song.

My stepdad had some more coke codes for me to enter, so we're now up to 154 pts - nearly halfway to our first movie ticket.

Today's spending:

Gas: $3.73/gallon - 9.382 gallons bought
...........=$35.08 Odomoter: 104,433

Groceries: $30.59

Bought: red/green grapes, 3 bananas, 4 red del apples, 1 can mandarin oranges, lg cannister old-fashioned oatmeal, 5 16oz containers of egg whites, 1 32oz mixed frozen veggies, 1 box Morningstar veggie links, lg container Rice Dream milk, 1 sm box Junior Mints

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Woo Hoo! Remember how in my last couple posts I mentioned about how I was trying to figure out whether I should go with the quarterly membership plan at the gym, or cough up the money for a full year?

Well, today near the end of my workout session with E, he confirmed with me that I do have the job (after work on Fridays 3 1/2 hrs) starting a week from this coming Friday. He also mentioned that since I'd be working at the gym, my membership would be FREE!

So, not only does that mean I don't need to pay for the quarterly fee (roughly $64), it also means that I don't have to put it in my budget to save up for the next quarterly due!

Yay!!!

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When I was doing my grocery shopping today, I noticed something that slightly annoyed me. First of all, Wal-mart has stopped carrying the large container of generic egg substitute. Wah! Secondly, the next least expensive brand that is in a large container cost $4.89 for 32 oz, while the 16oz containers cost $2.44/each. So, you would at first assume it would be cheaper to buy the 32oz version + greener (due to less trash) - but obviously you would be wrong!

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?'s

I'm going to a Vegan/Vegetarian meetup brunch tomorrow. I'm planning on bringing a fruit salad, but I'm not sure if the mixture I'm thinking of will work right or not.

Here's the fruit I was thinking of: red/green grapes, sliced bananas, chopped apples, mandarin oranges, maybe some canned pineapple chunks?

Is there anything that I should take out? Or do you think all those tastes/textures would work ok?

Next ?

At the gym, I will be an independent contractor. This year I will make less than $600. Do I have to do a Schedule C for it? Or can it be listed under "other income" for tax purposes?

Next year, I would make a bit less than $1200. Would that be enough to make me have to pay self-employment taxes?

One more ?

Anyone have any idea why my Cruise 2010 ticker is so long? It's cutting part of my sidebar off! I checked the code and it looks the same as the other tickers. Weird.

July:

I kept fairly good track of my spending this month, but even so did overspend in several categories (food being the main culprit.)

I had some extra expenses that I had not counted on with my switch from a landline based DSL to a non-landline based DSL.

I made some purchases that I probably should have foregone.

However, I was able to sell some items, as well as return some items.

So, all in all, financially speaking, not a great month, but not the worst.

August:

I will be starting my second job sometime in August, which will bring in about $28/wk (3 1/2 hours)

I need to make a decision about whether I'm going to pay my gym membership in full for a year at the reduced rate, or just pay one-quarter at the reduced rate by August 30.

The DFWO group I joined in July is doing a 7-day Caribbean cruise at the beginning of January. It cost's $700 + taxes and tips. I'd really like to go on this, but there is no way I'd be able to save enough to go by January, unless I put all my savings + extras toward it.

So, thinking about how excited I was about the Kenny G concert, and how it motivated me to "find" money to be able to go, I've come up with a long term goal.

Starting in August, I now have 3 savings goals.

1. Car Fund (until fully funded):
$220/mo base + all HSBC interest
+ 40% of extra* monies

2. House Downpayment Fund:
$50/mo base (TDAMERITRADE)
+ All ING interest
+ 30% of all extra* monies

3. Cruise 2010 Fund:
30% of all extra* monies

*Extra Monies = Second job, proceeds from anything I sell, survey money, 5th paychecks, ING referral rewards, Carpooler money, overbudgeted amounts in gasoline, 50% groceries, bonuses, etc.

Once the Car fund is fully funded, it still will get all HSBC interest (to help pay for repairs.) But the House Downpayment will then go to 60% all Extra (plus the monthly savings), and the Cruise 2010 Fund will go to 40% all Extra.

I will track all extra money on a page (sidebar). I'm not *too* far from fully funding my Car Fund. I just have to really buckle down and quit spending so much overbudget in a few categories which keeps dwindling down my one-month buffer, which I then have to replenish, so send less to the savings goals.

-- I also think I'm going to track my gas mileage. I need to get gas tomorrow, so I'll start as of August 1.

* I finally received my reimbursement check from the disability insurance overpayment. So, that's $16.25 more which I'll be putting in my Downpayment fund.

* I had an ING referral go through today. So, that's $10 more to the Downpayment fund.

* My carpooler paid me today. I'm probably going to have to get gas tomorrow - so I think I'll put that $10 to my gas fund. $10 worth of gas should get me through to Friday, and a replenished gas fund.

* On Sunday I went on my first outing with the DFW club. There were six of us who ate lunch at the museum (good price/food). Then 4 more showed up in time to do the tour. The exhibit was really quite large, and I really enjoyed seeing works by Monet and Gaughlin etc. in person.

* I used nearly 1/2 tank of gas to go to the museum and back. Ugh.

* I've really been trying to do the gas mileage "tricks". Such as driving 55, not using a/c unless absolutely needed, trying to keep a steady smooth pace, etc.

I'm not sure if all of that has given me much more than an extra 15 miles or so. I'm also not sure if it's worth continuing when I'm having people practically running over me on the tollway. Or, like yesterday on 35, having people tailgating me and giving me birdy signs when they finally pass.

* This weekend I had a very visual reminder of why it's so important - so *vital* to have renter's insurance. Sometime Sunday morning one of the apartments in my complex caught fire. By the time the fire was out, 4 apartments were destroyed, and 12 others were heavily damaged by smoke and water. One person was injured, but I haven't heard anything about pets.

Neither my carpooler nor I had even heard the sirens or commotion because the area where this happened is on the other side of us, closer to the main road.

* I spent a bit of money this weekend on foolish and wasteful things. Things I knew I shouldn't be spending money on even as I bought them. Unfortunately, they are not things that can be taken back.

I got stressed out at work on Friday (over something which I found out today was not even necessary) and the "who cares" monster came out to play. Oy.

* I have signed up for not just one, but for TWO 5k's in September! One is on Labor Day, and the other is on the 14th. I was so happy to find races that weren't on Saturday. I really want to make going to church a regular part of my life again.

* The race on the 14th benefits an organization that does a lot to help underprivileged children in India and the US inner cities obtain an education. I have set a fund raising goal, and made a donation page. If anyone is interested in hearing more, let me know.

* One of my co-workers today told me that her daughter was interested in doing a 5k with me. So I gave her the info for both of the races I've signed on for, and told her I'd love to have the company!

* I've been having trouble with my abductor muscle the last week or so. E, my PT was telling me it could be overtraining. I sheepishly asked him if the problem could also be caused by drinking too much coke.

After telling me what I know already (i.e. soda dehydrates muscles) he told me that for every ounce of soda I drink, I should drink 2 ounces of water to somewhat mitigate the effects.

He also suggested using foam rollers to help work out my leg muscles. Although he said a much less expensive option was just getting some pvc pipe from Home Depot, etc. That it would serve the same purpose. **Bright idea alert! I just remembered that I have two pvc poles that my dad made for me years ago (for some exercise video - which have gone unused) which would work perfectly! Can't get more inexpensive than free!

E will be working at the gym in the morning, so maybe I should take one of them and see if he'll have time to show me what to do.

* E also told me today that due to minimum wage rising, that the gym's monthly fees will be going up as of September 1.

So, since my training session is coming to an end (2nd week of August) I will have to start paying the quarterly fee.

I can either pay for the first quarter by the end of August at the lower rate, then after that have to pay at the higher rate.

OR I can pay for a full year's membership at the lower rate, then once that year is up, will have to pay the higher rate.

Paying a full year upfront will save about $120 over paying the higher rate.

My only quandry though is, what if I do end up moving to CA in March? They have a no refund policy.

You know, I really should have checked the dates before I got so excited and started putting money in a special fund.

So, if you remember from my last post, I had saved enough to go see Kenny G with a friend. Today at lunch I went to the website to purchase my two tickets, and was greeted with the fact that October 1 and October 2 are WEEKDAYS!

I could probably handle going to a concert on a weeknight, and getting home late. But my friend T more than likely won’t be able to do it. I hate to not go with her, because its almost become like a tradition. Anyone else I can think of, probably wouldn’t want to do it on a weeknight either.

I don’t want to go alone – especially at night in downtown Dallas.

So . . . I guess I’m going to have to pass on this one. I will check with T to be certain, but it not only is a weeknight, but it is a schoolnight for her as well.

Ugh.

Jeffrey or Nate -- I can't post comments on the blogs! I tried at work today, and I couldn't post a comment (even with the subscribe feature turned off). I thought maybe my work computer was being funky.

Now I'm at home on my computer, and I *still* can't post any comments!

Any ideas?

**Weird. I was just able to make a comment on this blog. So, I tried again on another blog I wanted to comment on, but it still didn't take.

ETA -- Ok, I cleared out my temp internet files, as well as my cookies, and now seem good to go.

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Today I finally received my cell phone rebate from AT&T. Yay! Of course, they sent it as a Visa debit card instead of an actual check. Guess they think that for the people who actually follow through and get the rebate, that the hassle of having to use a debit card will be another chance for their money not to actually get used.

---

So, as to Kenny.

The last time I updated my Kenny fund, I was up to $37.

Today I am adding the $30 rebate to it -- for a total of $67.

What does this mean? Well it means that I am going to be purchasing two tickets to see Kenny G on October 2 in the next hour or so! Woo Hoo!

---

I also received $10 from my carpooler today, plus I closed a bank account and received a check for the remaining balance of $1.69.

So, of that $11.69:

$5.69 --- Car Fund
$5.00 --- Downpayment Fund

Slowly, but surely . . .

----

Last weekend when I was at my mom & stepdad's, I asked my stepdad if they did anything with the coke codes. (My mom is a MAJOR diet coke addict - my stepdad likes regular Coke.) He said they didn't do anything with them.

So, I asked him if I could have them to enter on the coke rewards website. He agreed to that.

So far, through a couple caps I had, plus the two codes he sent me that worked (two others didn't work, no matter what letter or number I put) . . . we have 46 points!

I'm not sure how many points movie tickets are, but when I have enough for 3 of them, I'm planning on taking him and my mom out to a movie. That way we all get enjoyment from it.

So today I decided to test the waters again at Craigslist.

It was a mixed bag of results.

I posted my 19" TV/VCR in the freebie section. An hour later I had met a man in the McDonald's parking lot, and he drove away with it.

I also reposted my ad for the Brita Pitcher + filters, as well as the Spanish learning books. I toyed with the idea of reposting the Spanish learning computer programs as well, but was told it probably wouldn't be a good idea. I think I'll probably end up taking them to Half-Price bookstore and see what I can get.

So far the Brita pitcher ad is still up and going. But . . for some reason my Spanish learning books ad got flagged!!

UGH!

-----

I was planning on doing a bunch of meal prep for the week today - plus meal planning and maybe even my laundry. Guess I was in too lazy of a mood to do all that though.

I did manage to make a triple batch of Veggie Bean Burgers - yielded 13 burgers. I ate one for supper, and the rest are flash freezing right now. I didn't quite follow the recipe, which I think is why not all of the "burgers" held together very well when I flipped them in the skillet.

I was going to make Vegetarian Sloppy Joes tonight, but then I realized that the recipe calls for cooking at least 10 hours in the crockpot. So, I put together all the ingredients, and will dump them in my crockpot in the morning before heading to work.

---

This was a no spend weekend for me (dad treated for IHOP yesterday.)

I got a text message from AT&T that my rebate from my cell phone purchase had been mailed - finally!

I still haven't received my refund from the overpayment of my disability insurance. If I haven't gotten it by Wednesday, I will be calling them again. I seriously hope they don't do this to me again next year. (My salary was reported as over 15k more than it really is -- so they held out the concurrent amount to pay for the disability ins. premium for that pay amount. This happened last year as well.)

Tomorrow morning is my first 5k! I was signed up to do one back in May, but was sick at the time so couldn't do it.

Wednesday after work I picked up my free tank top and a cap which is part of the race day packet.

I was reading this one site about preparing for your first 5k, and it said something about not bringing an mp3/ipod for safety reasons. Does anyone know if that really runs true? I was planning on putting together a playlist for my run to help keep my mind off what I will be doing.

My dad is going to be staying over tonight, then we'll be going over to the race in the morning (*early* morning - need to be there by 6:30 a.m.!) He's bringing his video camera to make a record of the event.

My main goal for tomorrow's event is to . . . well, to finish it!

---

I signed up for my first event with the DFWO club - we'll be going to see the Impressionists exhibit at a museum in Fort Worth. This was something I was wanting to do anyway, so now I can do it AND meet new people at the same time! Woo Hoo!

Through the DFWO club I have also found out about a couple meetup groups I wasn't aware of. One is called Random Acts of Kindness, which is a group that mainly visits a nursing home once a month, works with the Salvation Army a couple times a month, plus a few other things.

I'm going to have to actually make use of the Yahoo calendar to make sure I don't double schedule myself. What a problem to have.

--
Today was payday (every Friday is, actually). I decided that I was going to go ahead and make my August contribution to my car fund today. August is a 5 paycheck month, and HSBC is running their 3.5% deal through Aug. 15 - so I scheduled $400 off to the Car Fund. It should be in the account by the 27th - probably not in time to figure into the daily average for July, but will help out the August one.

---

This Sunday I plan to do laundry and do a whole bunch of freezer ready meals - to hopefully help me keep my grocery spending in check. The more I can keep control of that expense, the less my savings will be slowed down by having added the "Social" category to my budget.

This weekend I signed up to become a ChaCha guide. Tonight I spent about 20 minutes going through their registration process, and taking the fitness assessments. I finished all 3 parts within the time limits - but got the message at the end that I wasn't needed! Arghh! That would've been such a perfect and easy way to make a little extra cash doing what I normally do - surfing the net in my free time. I wish I knew what the problem was. Oh well, will just have to keep looking for something else.

---

This weekend, inspired by my desire to earn enough money for my Kenny G tickets, I did two things I'd been putting off. First, I took a couple items back to Sam's Club which I did not need anymore due to finding an item which replaces them for the next 10 years or so.

Second, I took a couple DVD's and some books to Half-Price bookstore to sell.

Sam's Club Refund = $26.59
Half-Price Sale =$8.00

I decided to put 50% of my "new" money towards the Kenny G tickets, since that was what had truly motivated me to get off my duff and get those items done.

So . . . $17 to Kenny G
.........$ 8 old balance =
.........$25 out of $65 needed

Then, I decided to put 25% of the remainder to my Car Fund, and to my Downpayment Fund. So, that is an extra $8.50 to each.

----

I stayed at my mom and stepdad's this weekend. We played 3 hands of Uno, and I won all of them.

Then today we went to a play called "The Boyfriend". It was a musical spoof of 1920's era British comedy. It was pretty funny -- I loved the dancing - the Charleston and the Two-Step. The plotline was so-so. I also loved the flapper girl dresses -- funny thing though, my mom had never heard the term "flapper girl."

She asked me where that term came from, and I wasn't really sure. I'm thinking maybe from the style of the dresses? The pleats kind of "flap" when you move in them?? Probably could find this out on Wiki - maybe check into it tomorrow.

This morning my carpooler handed me $8 and told me it was for me to treat myself to lunch.

My lunch today was a veggie omlette (made in my bowl I keep at work) and a handful of french fries from the catered lunch given to us by one of our vendors (a seafood/steak place).

The $8 goes to my Kenny G Ticket Fund!

Woo hoo!

Old balance: $0.00

New Balance: $8.00

Saved $8/$65

---

I also got two emails today about my TV/VCR combo from Craigslist. So it looks like I'll be able to get rid of that pretty soon!

About a month ago I purchased two tickets for the Beach Boys concert which will be in September - for my mom's birthday. I actually splurged a little on getting somewhat nicer seats than usual.

Tonight I was adding the concert on my facebook page, and while I was getting the correct url . . . I saw him.

Him who, you may ask. Kenny G. Yes, he is back in my town again. The man with the lusciously sweet locks, and even sweeter melodies. The man who my best friend T and I went to see a couple years ago - sitting in the section where we had quite a view of his backside.

The tickets are not on sale yet for the average non American Express card holder, but I imagine they will be in the next month or so. (Concert is first weekend of October.)

So . . . two tickets to the concert (backside section) plus handling fee would be right around $65. So, how to come up with the $65? I could ask my friend T to pay for her ticket (because of course, I'm going to have her come with me!) But I really hate to do that because she and her family treat me so very often when I go places with them.

I'll have to figure something else out. Ok -- I've got it. Maybe *this* will be the extra motivation to not spend ONE penny more than necessary on food for the next two months. Hmmm. . . maybe I could also allocate all carpool money towards the tickets - not just add it into my slush fund.

Oh I can hardly wait to call T and tell her about this! She is SO going to flip out!

On Thursday I got a mypoints offer for 50 points to open a bank account with Compass@Bank. Also, part of the offer was a free ipod.

Well, I don't particularly need an ipod, because I've got a perfectly good mp3 player of my own. But . . I'd been thinking about getting something similar for my dad for Christmas. I'd planned on getting him one close to what I have, but when you see something for free . . .

So I decide to bite the bullet and go ahead and open the account. There's a number of choices you can make to "build" your free checking account. I don't remember all the choices available, but one of them was something about "earning" and extra $25 for each year the account was open.

So . . I get my dad's Christmas present, I get 50 mypoints, AND a year from now I'll get a $25 credit? Ok. I'm game.

I start going through the application process - for the most part it's fairly typical.

Then I get to the fun part. They require address verification via a phone bill, utility bill or bank statement.

Well . . . I only have a cell bill now (which they don't accept), I don't have utility bills (paid for by apt), and almost all of my banking statements are online.

So, I had the most recent statement from my BofA IRA cd account. I faxed that in on Monday after receiving an anxious Nellie email from them telling me my account can't be approved without address verification. (At this point I was thinking - Are we overanxious here or what?)

I called Monday afternoon to verify that they had received the fax, and was told that there had not been any note of one yet. But as soon as they had it, I should get an email.

So, Tuesday afternoon, no email. I call again and am told that they had received my fax, but that it wasn't acceptable. What?! Two reasons: 1) Not current enough (March 31, 2008 statement) and 2) not a bank statement. Um . . . okay, so Bofa isn't a bank?

Now we're to this morning. I print out the first page of my ING June statement, white out all the currency and account info, then fax it in. Late this afternoon I finally receive the email telling me my address had been verified and my account approved.

Oy Vey! Here I thought opening an account with HSBC was a pain in the patootie.

Now, as soon as my opening balance transfers, I can then complete the process for getting the ipod. Then it's just a waiting game to see how long it takes to actually get here.

--

I think I now have a few too many bank accounts open. I have two which I think I'm going to go ahead and close to help streamline myself a bit - especially after adding this new one. Luckily I am NOT required to have a direct deposit to this account - so I'll probably just keep the $25 opening deposit in there until I get my $25 credit ( a year from now).

I sure hope my dad likes his Ipod (and that I can help him figure out how to use it!)

Like I mentioned in a previous post, I listed a number of items on Craigslist this weekend.

One t.v. already sold - Yay!

But what is getting really annoying is the Spanish language materials. First, I had posted an ad with the Computer CD Roms + the various books/dictionaries in the Computer/Tech section.

I got flagged and deleted.

So, I went to the help forum and was told that I needed to separate the computer stuff from the books. Ugh! So, I did that, then reposted the computer part of it in the computer section, and posted the book part in the book section.

The computer part was flagged/deleted!!

I'm about ready to say forget about it!

-----

Today I went to CVS and used my ECB's to buy cereal. They had Shredded Wheat 2 for 1 ($4.29), so with my $2.50 ECB, it came to $1.79 for two boxes of cereal. Not too shabby.

I also filled up my car. A bit less than 10 gallons for $38.97.

----

I checked on the progress of my rebate from AT&T for the phone I bought in the beginning of June. The rebate has been approved and should be arriving "SOON".

As for the rebate I'm owed from the company who handles our company's insurance policies (thanks to my salary being reported incorrectly) I am STILL waiting to see that money. If it isn't here by Thursday, I will be calling them again to find out what is taking so long.

---

I have my 19" TV/VCR listed for free on Craigslist. I've listed it before on freecycle as well . . but no takers. I really need to go by the tv repair shop and ask them if they'd take it. Part of me hates to part with it, since it was a Christmas/birthday gift from my family back in 96, but it doesn't work (I imagine it'd easily be fixed though) and I have another t.v. that fits my entertainment center perfectly. I don't need more than one t.v.!

Friday I spent most of the day doing various projects around the house - one of which included doing a deep cleaning of my kitchen.

Saturday I slept in and didn't go to church (thanks to fireworks going off by my window till 2 a.m. in the morning!) I spent most of the late morning/afternoon working on some projects + a nap.

My dad arrived about 5:30 p.m. and we headed over to the baseball game. Of course, he had NO idea where we were going or what we were doing. Once he figured it out, he was beyond estatic.

Our parking pass put us within a stone's throw of the main gate. Our seats were in the front row on the left hand side of home plate. We had FOUR places to go find food at. First was a barbeque place. We got salad, potato salad, beans, chocolate chip cookie, and Dr. Pepper. Then we headed over to the next spot, where we got nachos w/cheese sauce -- and I saw one of my co-workers with his family.

After that, we decided to give our stomachs a chance to settle down a bit, and headed to our seats.

At the top of the sixth inning, we decided to go check out the last two places. At the JC penny lounge we got salad, baked apples (really supposed to go on the pork), cheeses, and a chocolate chip cookie +soda. Last, we headed over to the Sports Bar where we each got a cup of ice cream w/fudge and varous toppings. We both got water that time! Neither one of us finished our ice cream.

After the game was finished (home team won!) they had a terrific fireworks display. I told my dad they did it just for him - to celebrate his birthday.

What an awesome evening of free entertainment and food!

---

Today I made pancakes for us both, and then he helped me out with some more projects around my place. We also went to Walmart and picked up my tv converter box. It's still updating right now, and I'm not sure how to use it yet.

My dad left to go back home around 4 p.m.

---

After he left, I made my frozen smoothies for my after workout meals, my oatmeal for the week, and a cottage cheese roast.

---

One of the things I did on Friday was to list a number of items on Craigslist. I decided to list my spanish learning materials - all for $100. If they don't sell for that much by the time the listing expires, I'll go down to $75.

I also listed my non-working 19" Tv/Vcr for free.

I also listed my 20" working TV for $15 -- which I think may have sold. I'm actually about to go meet the person (at a McDonald's parking lot). I'll see if it actually pans out.
--
More later

Woo Hoo! I just got back from my first ever Craigslist sale!

Ka Ching! $15 going to my Downpayment fund!

__
Friday and Saturday were no spend days.

Today I spent:
$24.75 at Walmart (converter box, new laundry hamper, vacuum bags, etc)
$4 at Sonic (drinks for dad and I)
$1 late fine at library ("There Will Be Blood" very very strange movie.)

Friday was a no spender.

-------

Well, I really enjoyed my day off from work yesterday. I slept in, then putzed around on my computer for awhile before getting busy with some projects.

One major project was doing a deep cleaning of my kitchen. As part of it, I also reorganized my big freezer, as well as my combo fridge/freezer. It was long overdue.

Another project I tackled was shredding my HUGE shred pile. I have my shredder next to my desk, and just toss credit card offers, etc. onto the shred pile. My shredder had needed to be emptied, so I hadn't shredded in a LONG LONG time. I emptied the shredder, and got through the whole pile (had to empty it again in the middle of my job!)

While doing the shredding job, I noticed my shelf full of Spanish language learning tools. About a year ago or so I was really wanting to learn more Spanish, so invested in a number of programs and books. Unfortunately, my interest in it didn't last very long.

So, I'm trying to decide if I should ebay or craigslist most of it, or if I should keep it in case I get motivated again.

I really don't see myself getting too motivated to pick it up again, plus there's some things that I wouldn't be able to sell anyway that I *could* use if perchance I did. . .

I still need to find out what Sam's Club's return policy is. I'm hoping it's 90 days w/receipt (although I may be over that already. Procrastinator!)

Question: I have a number of various sized refillable water containers which are mostly just taking up space. I hate to just throw them away -- any ideas on what I could do with them?

----

Today I weighed in - lost another 3 lbs! That's a total of 12 lbs in two weeks.
Woo hoo!

---

Tonight I'm taking my dad to a local baseball team's game for his birthday. My company has been giving away free tickets (which include food/drink and parking) for all the home games. I grabbed up the July 5 tickets as soon as I saw the notice!

He has NO clue what we're doing tonight. He just knows that it'll be outside, and that casual clothing is a good idea.

Update!

This afternoon my brother called me to tell me about how it went Saturday night. First of all, the name of the show filming at his resturant is Housewives of Orange County, not Desperate Housewives: 90210.

Second of all, the ladies, and the production person LOVED him. Remember about the shaved head? One of the ladies said something to him about looking like Justin Timberlake! My brother responded by saying that he can sing like Justin, but can't dance like him. SO . . . the ladies insisted that he sing for them!

He sang "In The Still of the Night" which is the song he sang for the talent show on the cruise our family took in Dec 04 (which he won First place!)

The producer told him that he came off so well, that they are probably going to feature him as part of the show!!!!

He doesn't know when this particular episode will air, because they still have to put together all the material they've filmed and decide on episode order.

-----

Today I went grocery shopping. I keep finding these recipes calling for a leek, but I've never had one, nor knew what they looked like. So, I decided that I was going to get one and try it out.

OMW!!! How about $4.79 for two leeks!! You couldn't even just get one, you HAD to buy two because they were bundled. Needless to say, I decided to pass on this particular vegetable.

I also have this cookbook (from the library) which has a number of recipes calling for grapeseed oil. I checked to see the price of a bottle of it -- $9.79! It *was* a pretty good size bottle of it, but why couldn't they have a small bottle of it available?

I did buy some sea salt. It was a bit more expensive than regular salt, but not too bad.

Last week I bought a butternut squash - which was $4.49. Today, they had spaghetti squash and butternut squash for $1.49/lb. I bought a spaghetti squash which ended up being 2.12 lbs - so almost as much as my butternut squash from last week. I almost bought an eggplant, but all of the ones they had were pretty small and had soft spots and/or brown spots - for $2.59, it just wasn't worth it.

-----

I'm doing this eating plan where you cycle your carbs. You have two high-carb days a week, then 5 low-carb days. Each day you also cycle through what kind of carbs you eat, plus make sure you eat a lean protein with each carb. So far I'm liking it (especially with the 9 lb loss last week!)

To help me keep track of what I'm supposed to be eating, plus to help make meal planning easier, I made a google spreadsheet.

If you want to check it out . . .:

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pQv1EPln7uI6MInnd6HpCVw&gid=1

Happy 4th everybody!

This morning I made Cottage Cheese Oatmeal Banana Pancakes. Besides the obvious ingredients, I added flaxseed, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and chocolate flavored protein powder. My batter made 16 1/4 cup pancakes and were high in protein, but low in fat.

Best of all, I was able to freeze 12 of them for 3 more Sunday morning breakfasts (nice and easy ones!) *If you're interested in actual measurements, let me know.

--

At the end of May I had disconnected my land line and then gotten dry loop DSL. This apparentally caused my previously combined bill to be uncombined.

Last week I got a "Final Bill" from AT&T that was due upon receipt. So I went ahead and paid it, thinking I was done for July.

Nope. Today I got a bill from AT&T wireless due July 11. I called to find out what was going on. The wireless part of At&T charges a month in advance. When my bill was combined, I guess the parent AT&T company paid the Wireless part, then billed me.

The end game is that instead of having lower phone expenditures this month, I'm having an extra months cell phone bill + activation fee!

Now I'm just waiting to see how I'll get billed for my dry loop - and if I'll have to pay in "advance" for them too. Ugh!

--

I was comparing my credit card statement (online) and my Ing account today.

I have three accounts other than a couple sinking funds - which I use each month. One is my Orange Checking which I have direct deposit each month. Then I have my "Coming Month" account which is where I transfer my paycheck to each Friday from Orange. Then I have my Credit Card Payment account which is where I transfer whatever the balance is at the end of my last statement, then transfer it to Orange to pay the card off in full by the due date. (The idea is to get as much interest as possible before departing the money. The interest from all my ING accounts gets transfered to my ING Downpayment account.)

Well, this past month I had a number of expenses that just kind of kept on coming. This was of course after my trip to CA, where I spent more than I really should've.

I had to replace my cell phone, then I bought a new DSL router, then I bought two tickets for the Beach Boys concert in September (mom's birthday), then I signed up at this website I'd been thinking about for over a year, then I bought a Brita filter + filter replacements from drugstore.com, then I mail-ordered a 3-month supply of one of my meds (saved $20). . . . etc. etc. etc.

Some of the things on that list are things that were unavoidable. Some, I should have just waited on or thought about a little longer, some are things that will save me money in the long run.

Long story short, this month, after subtracting the total amount of what is on my credit card from what I have in ING, I officially no longer have a One-month buffer. (I could transfer it from savings (EF/Car Fund), but I DON"T want to touch it!)

This means that for July and August, I am going to really have to watch my spending very carefully so that I can get my buffer back ASAP! I might be getting a second job in August, so that will help a bit - but I also plan to see if I have anything I can sell.

(P.S. The credit card will be paid in full both this month, as well as the coming month. I'm just going to have to use some of my July income to pay it instead of using June's income.)

---Anyone know Sam's club policy on how long they'll take an unopened item back w/receipt??

I've been pondering on what I could do to bring in a little extra money to help my car fund grow faster, etc. Babysitting, etc., seems to only happen once in a very long while - so can't really hope for too much from that.

Anyway, this morning Eric, my PT was at the gym in the morning. (Usually his dad is there in the morning.) We were chit chatting a bit when it hit me. At least 3 evenings a week I go home after work and . . . watch t.v., read, goof on the net, etc. Why not put one of those evenings each week to good use?

So I uncharacristaclly (sp?) blurted out and told him that if he had any evening hours openings (for watching the desk/gym) available, that I'd be very interested in one evening a week.

**He said that he thought he would very likely be able to find me some evening hours!** Better yet - at the same gym I already work out in (where my office is located) - so no driving to get there!

I'd still be able to read, or perhaps even do some strength training (while keeping a close eye on the front door) but I'd be getting paid! Woo hoo!

----

I'm going with my best friend T tomorrow night to see Sex and the City! It will be so great to get to spend some time with her again (sans kids) as well as to see SATC.

----

There has been a very definite environment/relationship shift at my workplace. It's been VERY noticeable to me since coming back from vacation. My good friend and co-worker has also noticed this.

Maybe I'm noticing it more now because I'm looking for reasons to either stay a Texan or try out being a Californian again, or if it truly had a major shift about the time of my vacation.

I know I shouldn't have let it upset me so much, but on Thursday I heard something that made me realize just how far out of the loop I was - not to mention the news itself could be something very sad.

----
Very cool thing at work today. We moved into the 21st century! We got a color copier!!! Our Landman was so cute with how excited he got when someone made a copy of a land plat (sort of a map) he'd colored in - and it came out looking better than the original!

I'm just so excited because now whenever DW our engineering manager asks me to print out the production for various wells, I'll be able to print the black and white pages along with the color curves -- together!! --- at the same time!!! No more having to match up the b&w pages with the color curves!!

Yesterday I went to CVS to use my $5 off $25 coupon. One of the items I picked up was a $20 Blockbuster gift card. I went up to the register and checked out with no problem. But then when I got to my car I looked at my receipt a bit more closely and realized that I hadn't been charged for the gift card!

So I went back in to the same cashier. He was puzzled as to what had happened because the gift card had scanned - so it could've been used! He rang it up for me again, and I handed over a $1 CVS ecb which made it $19. Then I swiped my gift card (from mypoints.com) and it wouldn't work. He tried getting it to work - no can do.

Finally got a manager over who tried to get it to work. She finally asked me exactly what I was trying to buy. When she saw it was a gift card, she told me I couldn't buy a gift card with a gift card! So I just left - didn't even bother seeing if I could get my $1 ECB back.

I could've walked out of there with a $20 free Blockbuster gift card (for my brother and sil for Christmas I was thinking) but instead I was honest and ended up losing $1. Oh well - maybe I'll have some good repercussions come my way for doing the right thing.

---
I checked my mail this afternoon, and was VERY happy to see that my Stimulus check had arrived. Now I just have to wait till Friday after work to deposit it. Then probably Monday or Tuesday for it to finish clearing. Then the following Monday or Tuesday for it to be fully in my Ing checking. Then probably another week for it to be deposited in my HSBC account and start earning the 3.5% interest their offering right now.

I need to check if there's a way I can just send the check directly to HSBC rather than messing with all the transfers, etc.

That was the question in my head last night when I picked up my mail.

There was flyer from the local $.99 stores advertising that for their 5 year anniversary celebration that they were selling a Wii and Wii Fit to the first 9 customers at one particular location. This location just so happens to be on the way to work.

Unfortunately, they don't open till 9, and I'm supposed to be at work by 8:30.

Am I the owner of a Wii and Wii Fit? Nope. The responsible Laura kicked in and reassured me that this wasn't worth being late to work for -- not to mention figuring out how to explain it to the lady who carpools with me.

So . . what would you do if faced with this choice? Be 45 minutes late for work and get a Wii/Wii Fit for $.99 (or some other item you really desire); or forego the Wii/Wii Fit and follow your normal schedule?

Warning: Long post ahead.

As I mentioned in my last posting, la familia de California are seriously trying to get me to move out there. They've tried to get me to go out there before, but I previously had great resistance. My resistance now is not so great.

All of this may be a moot point if my two requirements don't happen - namely (1) situation w/family member resolved; and (2) have a better salary + comparable benefits job lined up.

** If I do decide to go, it most likely would not be till after Feb. 15. Three reasons - 1. 3-yr anniversary at job (looks good on resume and just feels more finished) 2. My apt lease isn't up till March and 3. My brother would most likely be able to fly out here and help me move (slow season for him).

Okay . . so a very preliminary Pros and Cons list. -- I welcome questions and comments to help me flesh out things I haven't thought of. --

Pros for staying in Texas:

- Stay in same apartment

- Freedom and privacy

- Very familiar with surroundings (i.e. don't get lost very often anymore)

- One of my best friends lives here, along with her two children

- My mom lives within a 45 minute drive

- Comfortable with my job

- Job pays me enough to pay my bills and put some in savings

- I like my coworkers

- I have easy access to a gym in the office building

- I have a great personal trainer with whom I have developed a good friendly relationship

Cons for staying in Texas:

* In regards to job and life in general I have been feeling very much at a stand still.

- As much as I hate to say this, I really think that my job is a dead-end. I doubt seriously that I will ever see another raise in the next five years, and if there is one, it probably wouldn't amount to more than 1/2 tank of gas a month.

- While I won't say I hate my job, nor even that I dislike what I do . . . I will say that the thought of doing this for the next 30+ years gives me nightmares.

- Although I do have good health insurance benefits, and my salary does pay me enough to pay my bills and save some -- that is only with being pretty frugal. If my rent were to go up my very much, or if the prices of other essentials were to go up much, etc., etc., then the small bit of money I am able to put to savings now would be gone.

- Although I have big plans and hopes of being able to save enough to replace my car if needed, as well as for a house downpayment -- on what I make + with rising costs, sometimes I feel like it's a lot of bluster without any substance - i.e . impossible.

- I like my coworkers. For the most part it is a good work environment. But sometimes, especially the past few months, I have felt more and more left out. I think this is due to a number of factors -- 1) Two new employees closer in age to another coworker -- 2) My eating and drinking habits i.e. vegetarian and no beer/wine, etc. -- 3) I think sometimes that I talk too much -- 4) other - not really sure.

- My best friend - When we are able to get together, its great! But that's just it. She is married, a teacher, and has two young children. Hence, we don't get together very often.

- I've allowed myself to grow unhappily comfortable in preferring my own company. What do I mean? Even when I do go to church/Sabbath School I have to force myself to make small talk with people. I think in some ways I've forgotten how to really connect or make friendships. -- So, I more often than not excuse myself from even making the effort of going in the first place. There have been many, many weekends where I've cocooned myself in my apartment from Friday after work til Monday morning without leaving it once.

- I'd like to get married someday - but not to just anyone. Here in TX, single men in my age range, who don't drink or smoke, have a good head on their shoulders when it comes to money, share similar views/beliefs about God, and connect with me in the other ways that matter - just don't seem to be here.

Pros about CA:

- Greatly reduced expenses by sharing household with dad and Grandma

- Be able to spend a lot of time with my Grandma who will be 88 in Sept.

- Grandma has mentioned that she'd be ok with my having a cat -- one of the main reasons I have not gotten another cat is that I'm gone so much during the weekdays - there, in CA there would usually be at least one person in the house most of the day - so the cat wouldn't be lonely.

- Have 24/7 access to washer/dryer

- Possibility of much larger salary

- Very good possibility of being in a work environment where my lifestyle choices aren't looked on as odd or different

- Be an inexpensive and short plane ride away from my brother

- May be able to use part of larger salary to actually do some traveling

- Live in an area where being vegetarian is normal and easy to accommodate

- Live in an area where there is a MUCH higher likelihood of meeting someone with similar values/lifestyle

- Give me a bit of a fresh start - maybe feel renewed energy for life

- ???

Cons for CA:

- MOVING

- Sharing space with my grandma and dad (would need to lay down MAJOR ground rules)

- Uncertainty about what kind of work situation/environment I may find myself in

- Leaving the familiar

- Leaving my best friend, as well as another good friend who's moving to Houston soon.

- Not being able to see my mom very often (would involve a longer plane trip)

- Uncertainty that I would actually be able to connect with anyone there better than I have been able to here.

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Overall, I think the main reason(s) I am even willing to look at this as a possibility is that I feel at such a standstill with my life. I've been feeling for awhile that something really needs to change.

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, yet expecting something different. I wonder, if by staying here in Texas, by staying in a job that I really don't see room for growth in, and by hoping that somehow, someway, something will happen to give me the life I dreamed of when I was 12 - if that just isn't a bit insane.