Today during lunch I was browsing FB and my eyes just about bugged out. There in front of me was a 1334 sq ft house for $30k!

Everything I usually see on there is 3x+ as much. So I inspected it a bit closer to figure out why it was so inexpensive.

The main thing I could come up with was that it is a mobile home. From the pictures it looked well kept, it included a yard and a screened in back porch. It didn't sound like it was in a bad part of town, nor too terribly far from work.

I couldn't click on the link for more info, and it seems to have disappeared. However, it gave me hope that I might be able to afford something without taking on a huge mortgage or waiting ten years ... as long as I can find a mobile home in good condition and in a good / well taken care of park. And apparently there is such a thing here!

I could do 20% down on this thing with only my EF savings. Give me a few more years (and more time to research areas/mobile home conditions) and this might just be the way to go.

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I ended up walking to work this morning even though I really had not planned on doing it (so HOT yesterday morning.) It was a little warm, but much cooler than Monday a.m.

NE picked me up after work today and took me over to his place so I could use his car to go to the gym.

The drive without a/c wouldn't have been too bad if it hadn't been for the horrible traffic! It took me nearly 30 minutes to get to the gym! (In comparison, it took me 12 minutes to get home.)

NE is planning on getting the a/c fixed in his Honda, and then taking his Subaru in to see what is going on with it. If it's more than a $1k fix, he's probably going to get rid of it. If the a/c gets working in his Honda, that'll give him until October or so to get another second car (for winter driving.)

We're trading cars again tonight after he gets off work (11 p.m.) I'll be glad to have my car back.

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I figured out that my digital scale just takes AAA batteries. I have some around here somewhere ..

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No spending today (Day #11)

Tonight I was just sitting back relaxing and getting ready to enter my receipts from my Walgreen's shopping trip when I got a call from NE telling me his car had broken down just a few blocks away.

The end result is that I'm letting him use my car for at least the next few days. I'll take the bus to work, and he'll pick me up tomorrow and then I can use his second car (no a/c) to go to the gym. (He delivers pizza, and it is WAY too hot to be driving around for hours without A/C - I can survive 20 minutes to the gym and back.)

He's going to have a mechanic friend look at it, but it'll eventually have to get towed and fixed. It doesn't sound like it will be an inexpensive fix.

He's had so many troubles with his two cars (both are 2002/3 models - Honda Civic and Subaru Impreza I think.)

This of course had to happen in the midst of our first major heatwave this summer.

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After work today I went to the UPS customer center and picked up my 2" washers (IOW cheap fractional plates.) Then I stopped at Walgreen's to pick up some more Allegra D ...I also picked up some candy bars ... and a folding chair in a carrying bag. All came out of budgeted categories.

By the time I got home I was pretty hungry, plus this morning I saw I'd lost another pound and was thinking it was going a bit too fast. So I decided to treat myself to Burger King. Again, budgeted. (but no more left for the month in that category!)

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My digital scale died this morning - just after I weighed myself. I was wondering if maybe the reason the numbers had been going down on it was due to a weak battery - so I weighed myself at work. It was only a difference of 5lbs - which made sense (eaten breakfast, drunk water, work clothes, shoes, etc.)

I need to figure out how to get the scale going again.
(It's a Wahoo fitness wi-fi scale, about two years old.)

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NE paid me back today for the two things I put on my Discover and American Express cards. So as soon as that money is available, I'll send it on to the cards.

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Just a month from now and I'll be on my mini-vacation!! Woo hoo! I can hardly wait. 4 whole days in a row away from the phones! (If you're calling for directions, it's a good idea to have something to write on/with, and know the address of where you are and where you want to go ... just saying...)

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Almost forgot! Saturday night I worked my part time job at the parking garage. It was only supposed to be for 90 minutes. But the concert lasted until well after 11 pm. They finally told us to go home about 12:30 a.m.!! That definitely won't work for me on a weeknight ... But I can thank ND (performer) for 2 extra hours worth of pay!

So this past week I kept checking my SBs Shop & Earn ledger to see if my shoe purchase had posted yet as pending SBs. It never showed up, so I wrote to customer service asking where it was.

They replied back to me that I need to wait 5 to 7 business days. I was very annoyed.

Then last night I did my ten videos on Mypoints and then took a look at my points ledger. Guess what was showing as pending?! A purchase from Amazon!

Somehow I must have made the purchase through a Mypoints link rather than a Swagbucks one. Although I thought I'd been pretty careful to go the Shop and Earn tab on SBs, and then to Amazon.

Oh well, either way, it looks like I'm getting points for it.

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Speaking of The Shoes .. They arrived on Thursday afternoon. I have tried them on, but not worn yet (Friday is jeans day.) I'm not sure I'm going to like them as much as my falling apart ones, but I can live with them until Sear's gets the shoes back in stock!!

(they are much firmer material, and the over strap is very thin.

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Remember the 2" washers I ordered to use as fractional plates for weight lifting? They arrived on Monday! Or at least that is when I first got the UPS notice on my door. I love how they come at times when the majority of adults are .. at work!

Tuesday afternoon I called to arrange to have them hold it at the main facility - but first I had to jump through the hoop of the automated scheduler thing. The only option offered to me by it was to have it sent to an "outlet." The outlet would have been WAY close to my work, but cost $6! I was very annoyed, and had to be very persistent to get a live person.

I'm planning on going there on Monday to get them.

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I ordered a bunch of books about MS Office/Word 2013 from the library. Most of them were in yesterday. I need to browse through them and figure out which one will best meet what I'm wanting (something to help me with learning intermediate/advanced skills.)

A couple DVDs came in too - Theory of Everything, and When Calls the Heart (a Janette Oake series movie)

So I now have 3 movies to watch (Boyhood) .. I have SO gotten out of the habit of watching movies/television. (I bought Season 4 of Downton Abbey on Amazon streaming ... quite awhile ago ... and still have not watched any of it ..)

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I've agreed to help out with the local VBS program for two nights (July 20 and 22) ... That means I'll have to change my workout schedule that week because I have to be at the church by 6. I really considered saying NO because I didn't want to change my gym routine which is still in its infancy .. but realized that I probably would enjoy doing this, and it is only one week.

The 21st I have a shift at the parking garage - 9 to runoff. I found out that runoff means about 10:30. I can handle that once in awhile on a weeknight.

I have a 9 to runoff shift tonight, so I'll get to see firsthand what it involves.

--

I got very little sleep last night. Went to bed a bit after 11, and woke up about 4. My fitbit sleep thing showed I had about 15 minutes of restlessness during the night. I am SO tired. I will probably try to take a nap before going to the parking garage tonight.

Looking forward to when the good diet and good amount of exercise is going to equal a good nights sleep!

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On YouGov surveys I am only 8k points away from a $100 Amazon gift card!! That is about 16 surveys. (They have smaller denomination ones for less points, but the $100 one is 1 point per dollar value, whereas the others aren't.)

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I almost forgot one of the reasons I wanted to post today!

This morning I got my loaf of bread out because I was going to do toast and a fried egg for breakfast. However when I counted how many slices were left, I realized I only had enough left for 4 lunches this week. I don't think I used any for toast last week (although I may have.)

What this means is that one loaf of the Orowheat Everything bread is NOT enough for two weeks of work lunches. I had thought it would be enough, plus a little extra. I really like this bread because of its size - it perfectly fits my black bean burger patties and is cheaper than the full sized bread (obviously because it is smaller.)

I'm thinking lunch on Friday I can cook some quinoa or something and crumble a burger patty into it, along with my regular veggies. Kind of a burger bowl. That might just work for lunches the rest of the month too so I don't have to buy any more bread. (Especially since the grocery budget is so thin right now.)

I have English muffins I can use for toast (although my PB and my J are running low.)

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My diet/lifestyle and exercise seem to be working. I am within 3 lbs of where I was a year ago. (I have lost/gained/lost/gained ~16 lbs since then.) This is the lowest I've been in 7 months or so. Another 4 lbs and I'll be in a decade I haven't been in since ... ???? (I did briefly flirt with the top of the decade maybe a 1 1/2 ago, but that was all of two or three days.)

It still may be possible for me to be down 30 lbs (from Jan 1 weight) by my 40th birthday (Dec 15). That would be another 18 or 19 lbs. If that happens, I'd be at my lowest weight in at least ten years. Within ten pounds of when I first met NE. Wow.

I'm not really eating that much less of real food... just not buying/eating much junkfood. Amazing how that works, huh?

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Saturday spending: $0 Day 10! (I know I won't be spending anything since I'm not going anywhere til tonight for my parking shift.)

This morning I decided to check the airbnb site again to see if anything new had come up. Guess what! I found a place for $29/night! Previously the best I had found was $45/night. I booked for two nights, so my lodging costs will be $65. Right now I have $176 set aside for my getaway, plus whatever I can add this month.

I'm thinking I will be coming in under budget!!

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I booked the lodging with my Amex card. Between paying for a portion of NE's medical bill (he's paying me back minus $125, which is half of the cash back reward) and then booking the lodging, I finally have my Amex finished! I doubt if I'll ever use it again unless some offer comes up again like the Sam's Club one, or some kind of Amazon deal. Too much of a pain.

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I also finished out my $500 for July spending on my Discover card. (Actually I just realized that I might need to do one more grocery trip with it - because once I take the shoes back, then I'll be under $500 again.) I've put all my recurring bills on it - electric, gym, Internet, etc. I also used my card to pay for the final treatment of Riddles (again will be paid back.)

*Working on spending $500/month from July to November on my Discover card for a $75 bonus. I am not spending anything I would not normally to get this.
I have no debt, and pay my balances in full every month.

August looks like it will be easy too, between trip expenses and car insurance renewal. September should be easy too - mom/brother visit, purchase airplane ticket for Thanksgiving, etc. November I'm not sure what all I'll be able to do to get it.

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Went grocery shoppigng today after the gym. I walked over there, totally forgetting til I passed the pet care aisle that I needed cat litter ... Oops. At least the cat litter and the grocery bag weighed fairly the same.

I bought: apples, bananas, egg salad sandwich, eggs, green bell pepper, Boca crumbles, candy bar, paper towels, sliced cheese, shredded cheese, cat litter.

Total of $28.70

There are 3 more grocery Friday's in July, and I have $39 left in my grocery budget. I'm going to have to try to keep my next 3 trips to $13 or less to stay within budget. That means probably forgoing the sandwich and/or Amy's meal.

(paper towels and cat litter come out of non-grocery categories)

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On the way to the gym today I was nearly sideswiped! There were two left turn lanes. I was in the far right one. I turned into the corresponding lane. Luckily out of the corner of my eye, I noticed the person on my left starting to come over! I beeped my horn and swerved into the extra lane to my right (for right hand turn people.) My adrenaline sure was pumping!

CCF you might know the intersection I'm talking about -- 27th and Hwy 2 heading towards Walmart.

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I had two people at work argue with me today. One was someone wanting directions. I even gave him to the bus driver supervisor, and the caller argued with him!! The other person was someone who came to the window with commuter checks. I told him he needed to fill them out. He told me that "NO, it's your responsibility to fill them out! The lady who I've always dealt with before never asked me to fill them out." I told him that in the year I've worked here, anytime someone's brought commuter checks, that they had them filled out already. He didn't believe me. Finally I just took the checks and gave him his passes.

(We hate commuter checks! They give them two checks for every pass AND the check numbers are LONG. Such a pain in the patookus!)

Before the arguers, I'd been thinking that this had been a pretty calm week - nothing really of note. (at work at least)

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Thursday - No spend day #8!

Friday - spend, spend .. but all within budgeted categories

As part of our contract we are able to take credit classes as long as they have something to do with our job responsibilities. We get reimbursed up to $1200/contract year.

So today I was thinking about the recent project which I tried to help out our purchasing agent. There was a big time crunch, and what she wanted me to do was something I hadn't done before - create a clickable table of contents. So I was on a huge learning curve under a time crunch. Then had to send it on to the main pa before I was finished.

That felt very stinky to me. I absolutely hated sending on a document which I knew wasn't finished.

What could I do to change that for the next time?

I figured out that I could take classes on the various MS Office products and then take the certification tests! That way I'd KNOW I had a very good/advanced grasp of all the inner workings - plus it might be helpful if later on I decide to try for a higher level position.

So I checked with the local community college. I saw they had a program focus for those wanting MS certification, but there was no list of required classes.

I sent an email to one person, then got a friendly response with the name/email of who I needed to contact. So I contacted the first person.

Their response seemed like they hadn't read my email very well. So I sent another polite email repeating one of my questions.

What I got back totally blew me away:

I DON’T KNOW BUT YOU CAN CONTACT OUR OFFICE PROFESSIONAL PROGRAM ....

The rest of the email was in normal writing (not all caps.)

Is it just me, or does that seem like an uber unprofessional response? I can't imagine ever responding to someone in all caps like that in an email. Especially a business email. I kind of feel like emailing the person she mentioned and suggesting that they may want to make sure that the people answering emails know it is impolite/shouting to write in all caps.

Anyway .... while I was waiting for responses I kept looking for other avenues. I am almost thinking that I'd rather just buy the MS Word Study Guide ($14.29) for the certification course and go through it on my own pace. Then take the certification test for it. Then do the next one (Excel probably.) and so forth.

I still want to take some classes though - so maybe Spanish (we have some Spanish speakers that come by), or ASL (had a mute person come by today!) Or something else that I can figure out how to make it fit with my job.

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On FB today I read an article that Amy's is opening a fast food restaurant in CA near San Francisco!! I LOVe Amy's food! (vegetarian/vegan) Next time I'm in SF, I will have to make a point of going there.

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Today at the gym I talked to one of the personal trainers. I first asked him about the barbel weights - he told me that the barbel in the Smith machines was lighter than the one in the power rack - which explained why when I tried to use the pr one, I couldn't do it. He gave me a couple ideas on how to get a barbel that was weighted between decade amounts (I'd been using the fixed barbel weights after realizing I couldn't do the regular barbel.)

I also asked him about Pilates classes. He basically told me that they don't have very many because there isn't much interest. He suggested Yoga. No thank you ... (although maybe I should try one class of it to see if it is all new agey, or just straight poses and no nonsense.)

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I got home pretty late due to having talked with the pt guy. I made a pot of spaghetti with a bunch of kale and 1/2 cup of Morningstar crumbles. It was SO good. I had in my meal plan that I was going to eat the pie that I'd bought at Dollar Tree on Sunday (one slice frozen) but after eating my spaghetti I was so full that it doesn't even appeal to me. So I'll save it for another night.

I'm reading Judy Beck's Diet Trap Solution which is all about retraining your brain - CBT or cognitive based therapy. I'd heard of an earlier version of it (this is a 2014 or 15 copy) but never checked it out. It's pretty interesting so far.

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So I asked my boss today if I could have the Friday and Monday off of the weekend my mom and possibly brother are coming. She said yes, but then reminded me that I had signed up to work an event that Sunday!

It's a 4 hour event.

What would you do?? Should I ask my boss if I can get out of it, or have my mom/brother drop me off and do whatever, then pick me up later? I kind of feel bad either way.

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No spending day #6!

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One more question -- How do you easily measure 1/2 cup of dry spaghetti?

So today the world lost a special person and a special cat.

You might remember me mentioning about NEs cat Riddles and how he'd been doing pretty poorly. NE took him to the vet and for about 4 or 5 weeks had the vet give him fluids 3x a week. Then NE started doing the fluids himself.

Up til about 4 days ago, the fluids seemed to have made him much better, nearly like his old self. Then he started getting worse. Failing rapidly. So much so that as of Sunday he stopped eating completely and didn't have the strength to jump up on NEs bed. (his favorite place)

Today NE made the decision to let Ridz go in peace. I was able to get off work a couple hours early so I could be there with them. I hadn't seen Riddles since September (long story.) He was literally a skeleton with skin and fur. It was bad.

Hopefully I can put a picture of him here in his better days:



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I also found out today that the woman who I learned ASL from when I lived in Texas, and who helped me to do an ASL interpretation of Kevin Henke's "Kitten's First Moon" had died from ALS complications.

This was a very special woman. Someone who loved God, loved her family, and loved the deaf community.

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After dealing with Riddles taking a trip to the Rainbow Bridge, I really did not feel like going to the gym for my workout. But I did it anyway. Kind of a shortened one, but at least I kept in the habit.

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No money spent today.

On the local FB sales group, sometimes people list houses for sale. I've seen houses on there for anywhere from 94k to 489k. Mostly they are between 110-40k.

On my income it has taken me roughly a year to save about 5k in my EF (the balance was already there, leftover from my moving fund/EF from NM.)

I pay $430/month in rent, plus between $50 - $100 in utilities. I put about 15% of my post-tax income in a ROTH (which doesn't even get close to maxing it out.)

So if I ever want to buy a house and have the payments be something I can manage on my income, I will probably need 40k+ for a downpayment, plus another 10 - 15k for closing costs, House EF/fix up.

At my current savings rate, that might happen ... oh 9 or 10 years from now? And that's assuming that the simple, not fancy houses (1000sq ft w/basement home for $138k type places) will not have gone way up in price.

And I'll probably be needing another car about that time too ...

I don't make minimum wage - but maybe close to 2x minimum wage. I don't have much in the way of extravagances - no cable tv, watch my pennies. I do have my iPhone and my Internet (which I cringe paying for - so expensive!) I'm also only supporting myself and my cat.

So ... how do people with families do it? How do they buy houses???

I was looking at the calculator for the 138k house, assuming a 20k down payment at 4.5% interest. My payment would be something like $900/month!! No way on God's green earth I could afford that and still save for retirement, or for car replacement, or have any extra left for once in a while vacations, or for home repairs ...

I guess it kind of makes me a bit discouraged. I know, I know ... I could get a teaching job making twice what I make here (or close to it.) But as stressful as the bus job is sometimes, it is only 40 hours a week and I'm done. Teaching .... just not the case. Plus a WHOLE nother level of stress.

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PS - I have an ad for Sam's Club below. They just have to be advertising that they have Nutella on sale this month. Note to Laura - DO NOT ENTER Sam's Club this month.

I love fireworks, really I do. However, I will be glad when the people in my neighborhood run out of them. Really? Firing off something at 3 a.m.? (It had finally gotten quiet around 1 a.m. so I thought it was safe to try to go to sleep, then got rudely woken again.)

Got up this morning, made my SBs daily goal, then made my oatmeal banana greek yogurt pancakes (no mishaps this time!) Spent a little more time on the computer.

Unloaded the dishwasher (finally ... been clean since Wednesday.) Reloaded and started it.

Headed over to the gym. Did about 30 minutes of walk/jog/run intervals. Then went upstairs and used the stretching contraptions (need to ask how they work when there's someone actually there.) and used the thing where you place your feet under something, and bend forward and up (back strengthener thingy.)

Got home and started my laundry. Took a shower and then got started on making a quadruple batch of my black bean burgers.

Put the laundry in the dryer. Put the black bean burgers in the oven to bake. Boy does the oven make the house heat up!

I made a total of 20 burgers. I think I added a little "too" much liquid this time because they aren't sticking together very well (even after I added a little extra oatmeal.) That's how it goes when you're not really measuring. Once they're frozen and then reheated, they should be fine I think. (I'm waiting for them to cool off enough for me to put them in the freezer now.)

Just had an apple and a piece of pb toast. I didn't want to eat too much because I'm not sure where we're going for dinner tonight. It'll probably be a Chinese buffet - NE loves those places. If so, a plate full of veggies and fruits first, and then a second plate with some of the other things I like in small amounts.

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I'm just 200 SBs away from being able to get my next $25 PP. Kind of tempted to do some surveys to see if I can get any. Did a few last week? whenever they were having the Survey Soiree thing that I actually completed (shocked!)

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Spending today:
Laundry - $2

Dinner will be NE's treat.

So today was the day. I finally made the trek to Dollar Tree to find out if they had the frozen fruit deals like Laura (other Laura ) had mentioned awhile ago.

The first Dollar Tree I ventured into did not have anything other than ice cream. It did however have a mom who was being incredibly rude to her daughter and the mom caught me giving her a dirty look while pressing my lips together to keep from saying something.

So I headed on to the next Dollar Tree - the one that is about 8 miles from my home. (It's a LONG way when you work only 1.5 miles from home and have a grocery store within 1/8th of a mile!) That one had the frozen section!!!!

I bought ten bags of frozen fruit (mangoes, strawberries, peaches, and pineapple), 3 bags of mixed frozen veggies, two vegetable samosa thingys that looked good, a little Hershey's pie, and a bag of chocolate covered pretzels. (I was getting really hungry at this point ... my earlier shoe expedition took WAY longer than expected.)

In all ... I spent $17!! The frozen fruit should probably last me a good 6 weeks, maybe more. The veggies should be enough for July. I'm thinking about taking the frozen fruit out of the bags, putting one cup servings (mixed up) of them in sandwich baggies, and then putting those baggies into a large freezer baggie. That way I'll really know how many servings I have (and it will save me ten or 15 seconds in the morning ...) Maybe I'll do that with the veggies too, that way my servings of them are a little more ... even. (somedays I have a lot more than other days.)

Next time I go up there I'll need to stop at Walmart and/or Sam's first to get non-freezer items to help make the trip a little bit more gas friendly.

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I did buy shoes today. They're not exactly what I'm wanting, but they're the closest I could get at the mall. I spent over an hour going into every store that had a shoe section in the mall. Sears had the shoe I wanted, only not in WW. Online they HAD it in WW, but it was out of stock!! ARghh!!

If anyone knows where I could find black MaryJanes with medium/low heels and a rounded/box toe, in an 8 1/2 W or 9 W, PLEASE tell me or buy two pairs of them for me and I'll paypal you the money and shipping! Seriously.

Why do stores make it SO darn difficult to find WW shoes?? With as many ... larger ... people as there are, you'd think there'd be an incredible market for them.

I SO hate shoe shopping! When I got my last pair, I KNEW I should have gotten two pairs right then and there.

Here is a link to the exact shoe I'm wanting:
http://www.sears.com/i-love-comfort-women-s-mary-jane-girly-black/p-05487533000P?prdNo=22&blockNo=22&blockType=G22

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Okay, so besides Dollar Tree and Mall walking, I also got my library books dropped off, filled up with gas, did some more grocery shopping (at the store 1/8th of a mile from home) and got in a great workout at the gym!

Groceries: $27.80 -- canned black beans (for black bean burgers for lunches), loaf of Orowheat Everything bread, bananas, big bag of washed/cut kale, bag of apples, zucchini, Amy's frozen entree (my Friday night treat), loaf of chocolate bread (for church picnic tomorrow) and a can of Off! spray. (holy cow! Nearly $6 for the Off! spray!!! it better last a good long time!)

Gas: $25.70 - got .07/gallon discount from local grocery store loyalty card.

Shoes: $26.73 (am going to hold off on wearing them until I just can't possibly wear the other ones ... in case I find the ones I really want and can take these back!)

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Workout! I did my second Stronglifts 5x5 workout today - first one using the app. Even though I did it only using the barbell (not adding weights) and it didn't *feel* like it was very hard ... I was sweating majorly by the end.

When I was done though, I did about 15 minutes more of walk/jog/run intervals. Was *really* sweating by the end of that!

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Now I think I'm going to finish my Alex Cross book (Hope to Die by James Patterson) and just have a nice relaxing evening.

Tomorrow is church, church picnic, and the church biking/walking group. Might finally watch "Boyhood" tomorrow night (borrowed from library.)

Sunday will be my oatmeal banana/greek yogurt pancakes, making a triple batter of black bean burgers to freeze, laundry, another workout, and then going out to eat somewhere with NE (his turn to treat this month!)

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Almost forgot! On the way to the gym I stopped by my PO box (need to close it - was about to close it this last time, but got charged for it before I'd sent in the forwarding order.) I got my bill for my car registration. I knew it was either July or August. Apparently it is July. $170.

Oops. I kind of forgot to budget for that. I'm kind of thinking of cheating just a little bit ... I'll put it on my Discover card for the July spending requirements, but I won't actually count it out of my budget til August. (the CC won't be paid til then anyway, especially if I wait til July 20 or so.)

The reason for this of course is that if I take it out of July's budget, then I'll have very little to put towards my getaway or extra for the EF.

In August I know I'll be getting at least ten hours of overtime (which would count as at least 15 hours of pay) so that would pretty much cover it.

Note -- I will be making sure to set aside $15/mo for next years registration!

I almsot posted this on FB today, but then decided not to.

What I did post: Enjoying my day off!

What I almost posted: It's so nice to have a day off where I can get up when I want to, do what I want to, and not have any phones to answer! Makes me look forward to retirement all the more!

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I almost have my first daily goal finished for SBs. Once that's done I'm going out shopping. Dollar Tree for frozen fruit, and Sears possibly for my new dress shoes (for work.)I may also hit up an oil change place that's in that area to see if they still have oil changes for $19. Also need to get gas and drop off my rent check.

Once all that's done, I plan on putting some time in at the gym and doing laundry.

Off to finish up my daily goal!

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I closed a credit card and a checking account today. I'll have to wait til August when I have a day off during the week that isn't also a holiday to consolidate a couple investment accounts.

Speaking of investments ... Thanks to the surge in the electric car stock yesterday, my networth increased nearly $14k from the beginning of June. Keep it up electric car stock, keep it up!

I think my personal challenge / getaway goal worked pretty well.

In my Everyday Expenses categories:
Groceries - $103.92
Medical - $40.64 (Allegra D)
Kari - $9.05 (food and litter)
Treats - 18.78
Movies Out - $5
Gifts - $39.50

SO much better than May!

I earned extra income in June:
$78.xx - parking garage job
$50 - PP GC from Swagbucks
$25 AGC from PerkPoints
$10 - AGC from Bing
$10 - Pact

Besides my usual ROTH contribution and my 10% to my EF, I had $313.06 left over! That means I have $156.03 to put towards my getaway in August. (The other half goes to my EF.)


In July I'm going to do the same thing, really try to keep my spending down as much as possible. There are a few things I know I'll have to spend on though:

new shoes!!
higher electricity bill than the past 5 months or so
possibly have to renew car registration?

I know I have at least one shift at the parking garage in July, and I might be able to manage $50 from Swagbucks again. I'm also going to put some more things up on eBay and FB ... see how that goes. I think $100 more should make for a nice trip.

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My EF is at $8220.25 of my $12k goal. Sloooowwwlllyy moving towards the goal.

I couldn't believe my eyes ... when I was waiting to make a right turn from the gym again today -- the same lady in the humongous SUV was next to me making a left turn! How bizarre! At least it didn't take 5 or 6 minutes this time.

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I went to the gym today (as I said above ) and *almost* chickened out of going into the weight room. I walked for nearly ten minutes on the walking track "warming up" ... (read . getting my courage up) It was full of guys - finally I saw a women go in there. My warmup was over.

With the warmup and a five minute cooldown, I did about a 40 minute workout. I decided to go with a full body compound move workout. When I got there I tried to find out if they have fractional? plates, but I couldn't find a trainer to answer my question.

I think for now I'll just do the dumbbells for now (except for the deadlift - they have extra weighted bars for that.)

I can definitely feel that I put my muscles to the test! My arms are all shaky.

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I got my $25 AGC reward from Perk today - already spent it on my next installment of pea protein powder (for my smoothies) and a drain cleaner thingy someone suggested before (was waiting to get free shipping.)

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For those who read and/or made suggestions/comments ... the boat was not (and won't be) purchased. This came about without me saying a thing. Medical debt will be wiped out. (or nearly so) That's more like what I thought this person would do!

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We had something unusual happen at the bus station today - NO callers or visitors making complaints! That is kind of a rare occurrence.

3 more days til the long weekend!! Can hardly wait!!

Saturday afternoon I went to a local park to join a group of church members - some bike, some walk. Yesterday I was the only walker. It was pretty humid and the sun was beating down, so I thought I'd take the path with the most shade. However, after the short jaunt from the parking lot to the path where you decide your direction, I changed my mind.

Why? Skeeters!! I was being attacked by hordes of mosquitoes. So I chose the more open route.

45 minutes later I came back. One of the bikers was there at the parking lot and told me I had a swarm of mosquitoes all around me. I didn't even know ... I guess the sweat on me made me not feel them or something??

Will definitely need to be getting some bug spray before my next outdoor adventure!!

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This morning I made oatmeal-banana-greek yogurt pancakes. They are so good! My first pancake turned out really good. I was able to spread out the batter in the pan with no issues. The second one though ... as I was spreading the batter around, half of it ended up falling out of the pan onto the burner!

I quickly turned the burner off and used one of the back burners (not as big as the pan and a little off kilter.) I'm just glad I didn't set off my fussy smoke detector!

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I cashed out for a $25 AGC from PerkPoints last night. Now let's see how long it takes to get enough points for the next one ...

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My weight had gone back up for awhile ... but the past month or so it has been going back down. Today I weighed in at the lowest in 3 months. Now if I can just keep that trend continuing!

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I'm considering making a new savings goal - enough to pay for 8 30 minute personal training sessions. That would be enough for 4 weeks of 2 sessions. I would use it for strength training only. I need to find the gym's brochure with the actual costs, but I think it was around $350 for 8 30 minute sessions. (It's $50 for one 30 minute session, but you get a break on multiple.)

Maybe starting in August, I can "pay" myself $10 every time I go to the gym more than 1x in a week.

Before I'd actually commit to a trainer though, I'd want to interview them thoroughly. I've been doing a lot of reading on it (strength training) and know exactly what I want - so would want to make sure the trainer would fit with what I've learned.

I had a pt once before, only for strength - liked him a lot, but I don't think I really made that much progress. I think I'd be a lot more pushy now about getting exactly what I want out of it.

I don't know if I'll really be able to bite the bullet on paying for it again or not ... last time I think I used part of a tax refund. Just thinking about it right now.

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.

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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

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'm thinking of going to Des Moines, IA for a few days in August. Possibly spend a day at Adventureland (found a $4 discount coupon for August), then spend a day or so checking out old houses I lived in in the area. Maybe another day doing other stuff in the area.

I haven't been there since 1986?? So if anyone has any ideas of interesting things/places there, or nearby, I'd love to hear it!

I checked hotel prices in the area, and am finding run down places for $60+. Checked AirBnb and found a nice looking place for $45. Will need to do some more looking on that front.

I might end up going somewhere totally different though ... just not quite sure where yet.

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.

This morning when I walked into work I was met by quite an intertesting item in the Lost and Found. My first indication that something different was afoot was the noise. Chirp ... chirp ... chirp ...

I looked on my desk and saw a sweater, a bus pass folder, some keys, and a Wal-mart bag. Hmm... maybe the noise is coming from the bag.

So I look inside the bag. There is a round container with small holes in its sides. Then on top of the container is a removable plastic lid with a small round hole.

The mystery was solved though by the sticker on the lid ... 50 live crickets!

My boss thought I should throw them away. But I wanted to give the person who lost them at least a day to make a claim.

So all day today I was serenaded by the lively chirp, chirp, chirping of 50 crickets.

At the end of the day I took them home with me and let them go on the front lawn near my apartment. They were pretty good sized crickets! I hope they are happier having some freedom (even if short lived) now rather than being fed to some creature!

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NE dropped his phone in water this morning .. and it was ruined. So I still had my Android phone I'd gotten 3 years ago to test out Ting. It's operating system is so outdated I can't run Perk or SBs on it, so it's pretty much useless to me. But for texting and calling it will still work perfectly fine.

I called Ting and had them take the phone off my account and put it on NEs after porting his number to it. What a process (the actual process wasn't that difficult - it was the 20 minute wait for a rep when NE was already running late for work.)

I'm glad I didn't get rid of that phone! (I'd been planning on getting rid of it somehow, just hadn't decided the how or the what.)

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I called Nationwide bank tonight and found out that due to some issue with the identity verification process when I applied for my account, my application hadn't gone through. So I redid the verification questions over the phone, and had a welcome email about a minute later. Now I just need to figure out if I can have two direct deposits - the main one to CapOne and then a small one to NW. Then a few months from now, I'll have an extra $200. (and will close the account asap w/o fees.)

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Spending - Monday - forgot I bought Allegra D - $20.32
Tuesday -- None

*I didn't have any Allegra left Sunday night, so tried with just the non-d allergy stuff. Misery. I really hope I can find a cheaper alternative, but having a sinus headache when you're trying to sleep or work just isn't worth saving a few dollars.

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Forgot to ask my Firefox question - I have the latest browser and am finding it to be really slow and buggy. Also, I can't delete any of the bookmarks from my favorites bar. I don't know for sure if it is FF fault, or if it is just that my computer is getting too old for the browser.

Just wondering if anyone else uses FF and has similar issues.

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.

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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.

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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 ...

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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.

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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.)

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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.)