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

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

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

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

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

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

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

--

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

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

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

I got an email this morning telling me that today's Oprah show is going to be visiting Loma Linda, CA (where my dad and grandma live!). They are going to be visiting the Loma Linda Market, which is a Seventh-day Adventist grocery store type place. They are going there to research why Adventists (who mainly are vegetarians) live so long. Then she is having some people from there come to Chicago to cook a vegetarian Thanksgiving feast!!!

This is just too cool! I even woke up my mom and stepdad this morning to call them and ask them to record it for me -- one of the pitfalls of not having cable anymore.

I was on FaceBook the other day reading one of my friends pages, when I noticed the name of one of her friends. It just so happened to be the name of the girl who's family lived in the downstairs part of our house for a bit over a year when we lived in MN! She and I are about the same age, and she has a brother about the same age as my brother.

We used to walk about a mile down the road to a combo bar/grocery and get a rootbeer at the bar (whatever it is called where Norm from Cheers would sit and be served) and then get ice cream or canned veggies, etc from the grocery area. They had the sweetest mixed mutt named Manna (what is it?). He survived being shot by a neighbor (he was chasing ducks on this persons pond) but after having costly surgery, was felled by a car a few short months later.

Her mom was single - their biological dad had been a class A jerk and no class father. I think they were attempting to stay hidden (if I remember correctly). So their mom meets this wonderful man who'd been single his whole life and was a good bit older than her. They fall in love and get married. He adopts my friend and her brother - they get a new dog - an Alaskan Husky and live on a small farm in the country.

They live happily.

Until a few months ago when my friend's adoptive dad dies.

I'm glad I found her. My mom and her mom were really good friends, but lost touch. So now I've sent her my mom's contact info so they can reconnect. I think it will do my mom as much good as it will her mom.

My dad and I were talking on Friday. He told me that the Sam's Club card was up for renewal again. We share a card and take turns paying for it each year.

However, now that he's out in CA and living with his mom (my grandma) they go to Costco instead of Sam's. I very rarely find myself going to Sam's anymore.

So, we agreed that it probably was time to let go of our membership. Bye Sam's, it was nice knowing you.

---

Strangeness . . .

Last night I got an instant message from someone I'd not heard from in nearly a year - just out of the blue. This person was interested in finding out if I still had something of theirs that they'd left at my place. (I did still have it.)

Then today I got an email from someone who saw an OLD posting of mine on a teachers website about The Lorax. (Dr. Suess - cute environmental theme). At one time I had adapted the story into a play format for my students - which is what that person wanted. I had to tell her that I didn't have a copy of it anymore. I do however still have my video copy of The Lorax!)

What made the above email and instant message even stranger is the following two conversations I had recently (within the past week):

1. With my mom -- You know, I realized recently that I haven't even visited particular teacher website in over a year. I must really be starting to let go of that part of my life.

2. With friend/co-worker -- Have you ever heard back from so and so? Has so and so ever came back for that item they left at your place?

Well, the past couple days have been much better as far as the amount of productive work time I've had. Makes the days go by so much faster.

But Friday during lunch time something happened that really ticked me off. As I've said before, my desk is located very close to the kitchen/breakroom. My back is actually to it.

One of my female co-workers is a born and bred New York City native, transplanted to Dallas a bit over 10 years ago. She fits the NYC sterotype of bold and brass. I usually get along with her pretty well, and ignore her spurts of cursing, etc.

Friday, she and two other co-workers were in the kitchen getting their lunches out. I had already put my lunch in the microwave. When it was done, I went in to the kitchen and got it out, then had to ask coworker D to move so I could get to the sink to drain my bowl. I drained it, checked the sink to make sure nothing had fallen out of my bowl, then went to my desk to eat.

A few minutes later co-worker D steps out of the kitchen and shouts, "Laura! You need to clean up after yourself when you use the sink!" I just turned and looked at her, then turned away.

My bird was *itching* to fly - it hasn't flown since the 5th grade. I also seriously considered going over there and slapping her. However, maturity and professionalism prevailed, and I just ignored her.

I thought of a comeback later - "Do you think you're being funny? If so, you're not. You're just being crass and totally unprofessional." Of course, I don't know if I could actually say that to her - but if I did, I think it would totally shock her, coming from me.

So, anyway. I'm thinking that on Monday I am going to talk to our mostly Spanish speaking co-worker who is in charge of keeping the kitchen clean, amoungst other things, and try to convey to her that I'm sorry if I've left any messes behind me for her to clean up. And if I ever do, PLEASE let me know. -- I am human, as much as I try not to, there may be times I haven't noticed every little particle I may have left behind.

I also plan on talking to D. I think I may say something like "D, the way you acted on Friday towards me really upset me. I felt it was totally unprofessional and rude. It may be acceptable for you to talk to the guys in the back like that, but that's not the way to act in here. I lost a lot of respect for you. In the future, if you have a problem with me, I would appreciate it if you would come directly to me, and say what your problem is, rather than shout it across a room. You are much more likely to get a positive response that way."

I am SO leaning towards taking my dad and grandma up on the CA move. The only person in my office I would miss at all would be Shr. Really, ever since the company moved to the new building, there has been a definite shift in the pleasantness and enjoyability of working there.

I am going to be working on updating my resume this weekend, and then have my mom help me tweak it over Thanksgiving.

--
Thursday night I ran 2.5 miles in 35 minutes on the treadmill. I was totally wiped out after that, but proud of myself.

I asked my dad last night to see if he can find out about any 5k races being held out in CA while both my brother and I are visiting him and grandma. I think it would be such a blast to do a race with my brother - even if he leaves me in his dust.

Oh yes, I don't remember if I mentioned it, but I will be going to CA again. I will be leaving Dec 25 and coming back Jan 6. 13 1/2 days away from work! Yee Haw! (And yes, there is a reason for making sure there are some non-holiday weekdays included - re: resume.) I'll be using my remaining 2008 vacation days, plus 3 of my 2009 ones (which may not matter if things work out.)

Good news and not so good news.

I found out today that a third lady from my office has signed up at our gym. This is good of course for E and for the gym.

It is however not so good for me personally. These three ladies and myself all will be in the gym at about the same time in the morning - all of us needing to be DONE at about the same time as well. Not to mention that there are two other new ladies who've been coming in the mornings.

There are two shower stalls in the ladies locker room.

Now, good news part.

One of the ladies who signed up for the gym actually also signed up for a PT course from E. She had asked me personally to introduce her to E.

So I found out today that as staff, I get a $20 referral bonus for her!! I may get another referral bonus for a second of the three ladies who joined up - I didn't directly refer her, but I've talked to her a good bit about the gym and about E - so we'll see on that one.

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I've now used my netbook two times at the gym doing ChaCha. It really works pretty well.

I think I'm starting to get the hang of the keyboard.

I'm needing to do a bit of cleaning this evening, my kitchen especially. So I'm going to do what my coworker suggested to me today -- put my netbook on the kitchen table, turn the volume up loud as possible, then work on cleaning in between questions. That way I can get my cleaning done, but also keep making a bit of money. Ahh. . . the convenience factor.

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

I made the leap.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

---

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

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

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

* I updated my Extra Monies pages, as well as my tickers.

* The gym paycheck that bounced as well as the next one I got have both been finally taken care of. I picked up my check today (which includes the $98.25 + $10 bounce fee + last two weeks work hours) and was told that I *do not need* to worry about this one bouncing. I'll be putting it in tomorrow. If it bounces, I'm going to insist on money orders from here on out.

* I bought a few groceries at Target this weekend. I wasn't paying close attention to the register, so missed my Morningstar corn dogs ringing up wrong. Luckily I checked my receipt and caught it. The lady at customer service gave me $3 in cash back. Free corndogs! Yay!

* My brother's birthday is tomorrow!! He's going to be 28 years old. He was born on the day Reagan was elected. Hopefully he'll celebrate his 28th birthday with Obama being elected.

* I've been doing quite well with not buying junkfood or eating junk at work. So well in fact, that I've lost nearly 10 pounds since my last post! (Mostly water weight I think though.)

* I'm still considering a laptop. Although a comment made by E on Thursday night when I picked up the keys to be able to open the gym on Friday's has me wondering if it is a good idea or not. He mentioned that they may have to let go of some of their employees.

* I won another weekend contest for ChaCha last week. $10 Yay!

* My mom and I did a 5k together last weekend. We both walked away with first place trophies for our age categories. ......... Of course, we were the only females competing in our respective age categories! LOL!

I was so very proud of my mom for finishing and not taking any shortcuts. We were the last two of 25 people to cross the line. My time was the same as my first 5k (43:37) and my mom finished in 50:00. (She can't run due to joint/bone problems.)

* I finally got to see Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2. It was showing at a second run theatre near where we did our 5k. It cost $3 for my mom, me and my stepdad to see it. Cheap entertainment.

* I think my car's stereo speakers are dying. Today when driving home the sound kept coming in and out, getting louder and softer, going from one side to the other. First time I've noticed that.

How expensive are car stereo speakers to replace??

* I paid $2.11/gallon for gasoline today. I am loving the falling gas prices!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

After that mom and I went our seperate ways.

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

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

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

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

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

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

I was sure that I had scheduled two transfers from my Chase checking to ING to go out on Tuesday. But when I checked, they weren't showing up as pending. I kept checking through the week, and still they weren't showing up.

So today I did a Yodlee check up which I hadn't done in a few days and noticed that my Chase checking balance was pretty low. Curious, I clicked on the link to see what was going on.

In bright red it showed me that my gym paycheck of $98.25 had bounced, and that I'd been charged a $10 fee. Ugh!

I called E and he apologized and told me that he'll have $108.25 in cash for me on Monday.

I'd been warned by another gym independant contractor about checks bouncing - but this was the first one that actually bounced.

---
I'm off to my mom and stepdad's here in the next hour or so. I'll be doing laundry tonight, then tomorrow my mom and I are going to go clothes shopping! I've budgeted $250 for it. I'm hoping to get a few under items, a pair of pants, and then as many tops as I can with the leftover money.

I've unfortunately NOT been going in the right direction lately with my weight, and my current wardrobe has many items which have "shrunk". I'd like to say that I'm going to take the bull by the horns and get back on the losing track . . but I've said that over and over for the past few months, and the pounds have crept up instead of down. So . . I've gotta deal with reality.

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*Disclaimer: I put everything I possibly can on my Mypoints credit card, which I then pay off in full each and every month.

I redeemed 9800 mypoints today for 3 $25 giftcards. They're all Christmas gifts - brother (I'd also gotten my brother a gift card through Mypoints for his birthday which I received a few weeks ago), dad, stepdad. (I got my mom her gift from Amazon a few weeks ago.)

*Almost forgot - at the same time I got my brother's birthday gift card, I also ordered a gift card for the Office Christmas Grab Bag we do on Christmas Eve.

I have 2300 points left, so by the end of November I should have enough to get one more $25 gift card.

First, the good stuff.

My second monthly ChaCha payment went through of $131.74. $10 of that was money from a contest I'd won. I lurve ChaCha!

I also picked up my check for the gym. It was for $65.50, but then the $20 overpayment from the previous check was subtracted, so it came to $45.50.

So, between ChaCha and the gym, in October I have added a little over $275 to my Extra Monies funds. Most of what I do for both of these require very little effort - just time and consistency.

It looks like my next paycheck for the gym will be at least in the low $100 range - due to an extra shift already worked, 3 Friday afternoons, plus starting to work the early morning shift on Friday Oct 31. Me likey.

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

Rant.

Today I went out to eat with two of my coworkers. One of them had a buy one get one free coupon for specific items on the menu - none of which could be turned into a vegetarian friendly food. Not a problem - I'm used to it, and can deal with it.

I've eaten at this place a couple times before, and have found that the Grilled Cheese Panini w/ a side of sweet potatoes can be had for $6 +tax and is filling.

It is however on the children's menu.

So, I place my order for it. I am then told that I can't order off the children's menu. I reply back by saying that I have done it both times I've come before with no problems.

The waiter tells me that if I'd like to speak to the manager he'd be happy to get him. I very briefly considered this, but then decided that I did NOT want to make a scene. I told the waiter that I am a vegetarian and that there was NOTHING else on the menu without meat. He suggested that I get the quesedilla entree and just have the chicken left out.

The quesedilla price: $8.95
The pannini price: $5.95 (includes side dish)

I went ahead and ordered the quesedillas and asked to have spinach and mushrooms added.

Later when I saw the bill, they had charged me $9.95 for my item. I can only assume the extra dollar was for the oh so much more costly than chicken - mushrooms and spinach!

OY VEY!

Needless to say I will NOT willingly go there again - nor will I recommend it to anyone!

I would REALLY like to know just what the problem is with an adult ordering off the children's menu?? The portion size is going to be the same whether an 11 year old orders it, or an ahem.. 32 year old orders it. Is it really worth $4 to them to completely lose a customer??

Just a quick note. I've been keeping pretty busy between ChaCha and doing extra shifts at the gym, etc.

On Saturday I had the most fabulous day. I spent the day with my best friend T, her husband and their two kids. The daughter was having her sixth birthday. The five of us went to the Dallas Arboretum where T has a family pass (up to six) and she brought a picnic. T kept apologizing for how simple the picnic was , but I told her the simpler the better!

After the kids had plenty of time to wear themselves out, we went to their house. N, the dad, and the boy N worked together on carving a pumpkin. Then D, the girl, and I separated all the pumpkin seeds.

We had a late supper of Sabbath Roast, veggies and sweet potatoes. The food was very good, but even better to me was watching young N as he insisted on serving everyone! I still remember staying with him at his parents apartment the night T had D and feeding him his "mooney" (mac and cheese).

How the years do fly.

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.

Today I got my gym paycheck. I had worked a couple times at the other gym site where there had been no time cards. So E was going to write my times down on a timecard. He forgot of course - which I found out when I got my previous paycheck.

So today's paycheck included one Friday I hadn't gotten paid for (previous pay period) plus the normal hours in the current time period. But . . the numbers didn't add up.

11.5 hours (3 afternoons of 3.5 hours, plus one 1 hour afternoon) x 6.55 = $75.33

My paycheck today was for $98.25.

I looked at it and looked at it trying to figure out where he came up with that figure. Shoot - I *liked* that figure.

The only thing I could figure out is that he counted one of my 3.5 hour afternoons twice.

So I called him and told him. He told me to write on my current timecard a note to subtract $20 from my next paycheck. That's about $3 less than the difference, but he said he didn't really care much about $3.

We had an interesting exchange about just what $3 could get you.

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I can't say much, but I am very sad about a situation happening with a family member of mine. I hope and pray that the situation will change, but I fear that it won't.

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I think I don't handle change well. At all. Work the past two weeks has totally and completely stressed me out.

Yesterday the furniture was finally moved back into place.

The way I have to place my computer on my desk causes me to have my back towards the kitchen/hallway 99% of the time. There are three heavy traffic patterns which run by my desk now (3 sides). At least twice now I have looked up from what I was doing to find multiple people by my desk looking at me. Also, due to the setup, I now have LESS space.

I keep getting asked how I like the new setup. They don't get what I'm really thinking -- they get - GRIN Oh, it's great!

Trying to think positively -- I will get used to this!

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 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.

A friend asked me to fill out a reference for her. I wasn't able to think of a good reason to say no right then, so now am in a bit of a bind as to the best way to fill it out.

I've never said one word to her about what I think of her skills in this area, mainly because I didn't think it was my place or my business. Now I guess I'm going to have to put it out there.

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Sat night I went to the Beach Boy's concert with my mom. We had a BLAST! The crowd had an amazing amount of energy. We got them to come back out and do 3 encores! The venue for the concert was a bit strange - in the same hall where the Dallas Symphony Orchestra plays (they actually accompanied the Beach Boy's). I wasn't accustomed to seeing so many Hawaiian shirts at a DSO concert.

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I'm almost up to $70 with ChaCha. My goal is to reach $100 by the 14th, so I can get paid on the 15th. I think I'll be able to do it, even though it won't be a full month.

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I have another 5k coming up this Sunday. My mom and stepdad will be coming to cheer me on.

I've found at least one race in Oct Nov and Dec that is on a Sunday - so that works well for me.

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I've decided to drop my membership to the Outdoors club. There just wasn't enough things I was interested or able to do to make the monthly fee worthwhile.

Between my meetup groups and my races, I'm really keeping myself pretty busy anyway.

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I got an email from my dad tonight. He was saying that he is near the Texas/NM border and will be crossing into NM in the morning. Getting closer to CA!

He must be quite the sight to see. A huge Penske truck, then a car trailer w/his vehicle on it, then his little trailer. The little trailer my family purchased back in the early 1980's (around the time my brother was born!) It's gone many many miles through numerous states.

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.

My sidebar is updated I added a page for September to track my savings and extra monies. I am not including my income from Cha Cha or the gym until I actually receive payments.
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This morning I ran my second 5k race. Going into it I wasn't expecting great things because I felt like I hadn't been training like I needed to.

Well! Guess what? I BEAT MY TIME! Woo Hoo!

This particular race didn't use the timing chips, so I'm not sure of what my *exact* time was - - but as I passed the finish line the clock read 43:00!! I started near the middle of the crowd, so I probably could subtract a few seconds. Even so, that is an improvement of at least 37 seconds!

One kind of downer though. Most of the second half of the race there was this older lady who I kept trading places with - she'd run ahead of me a bit while I was walking, then I'd run ahead of her a bit while she was walking, etc. We both reached the 3 mile marker at the same time and agreed to run it the rest of the way together.

I wasn't able to run it the whole way because the first part of it was over dirt with lots of tree roots. I figured rubbery legs + tree roots = possible injury. Once I got to the section which was just dirt, I ran again. The older lady ran the whole way.

She made it across the finish line about 15 seconds before I did. I'd finished and drunk a couple cups of water (and my dad had finished the end of the race video) when we noticed someone laying on the ground being fanned. A few minutes later, paramedics came and put her on a stretcher.

It was that same lady I had ran to the finish line with. The ambulance stayed at the lake, so she probably was okay. Just kind of a bummer to see someone you sort of ran with go down like that.

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In other news, I've now made nearly $16 with ChaCha now. It really is kind of fun and easy.

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Saturday night I took my mom and stepdad to a local baseball team's game. I'd gotten the tickets for free from my company. The tickets included free food and parking. We all ate way too much - but had a great time.

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Today was probably the last time I'll see my dad until at least Christmas. A week from tomorrow he will be heading out to CA next Tuesday. So now it's just my mom and I left here in Texas.

I noticed yesterday that some of the gas stations had gone up by 5 - 10 cents except for one. So today I decided to fill up even though I still had a good amount to get me through the weekend. I didn't want to take the chance of the $3.34 price becoming the $3.45 price of another station (or worse!)

8/22/08 Odometer: 104,917
8/29/08 Odometer: 105,185

=268 miles (trip to mom and stepdads, trip to Mckinney (Museum), regular driving)

Purchased 7.764 gallons@ $3.34 =$26.00

Mileage = 268/7764 ~29 mpg

Hmm . . that number seems off somehow. It's strange how each time I fill up, my mileage seems to be going down by one mile.
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Today was kind of frustrating at work. I was *very* busy. That is a good thing. But one of the frustrating things that happened was that I worked through my normal lunch hour to finish getting some documents certifed mailed. Then, when I took my lunch time, I had only finished eating a few minutes, when my OM saw me savoring the last few minutes of break time and was like - L, do you know DW has stuff he needs you to do? And that he said you'll have to stay here till it's done?

Arghh! Yes, I knew he had stuff he wanted me to do. I knew that it wouldn't be something that could be done quickly, and that he wanted it done before leaving for the weekend. I know she wasn't saying it to be mean or malicious or whatever, but at that point it just sat so totally wrong with me!

Then later on I was attempting to make copies of these HUGE documents. He wanted them in color. There is only the one color copier. I had managed to make one good copy, and had a second one set when the copier started whirring with a big print job. Usually I can handle that without outwardly showing any frustration. Today my frustration showed and was noticed by the person who'd sent the print job.

I know it can't be helped when there are a dozen people hooked up to the same copier/printer. Even so, it can be SO annoying when you're in the middle of a copy job to all of a sudden have a print job start up. It's nobody's fault, and can't really be helped. All the same, it still can be quite annoying.

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.

---
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 #??

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Yay! I got another ING referral bonus today:

+$10 for Downpayment fund!

---

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.

Cha Ching!

$10 ING referral bonus

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So . . I took a vacation day on Monday -- I was going to be Miss Busy Beaver and get my place in tip top shape and get meals planned out for the month . Ya da ya da ya da.

Er . . what did I really do? I read books #9 - 13 of the Plum series, plus a couple other books. I *did* go to church -- and then on Sunday I went to the grand opening of the upper grade campus of the school I used to teach at. (Until this year, grades PreK - 12th were on the same grounds as the church. Now, PreK-6 are on the church grounds, and 7th - 12th are at the new campus.)

I dropped all those books off at the library today on my way home from work - to help ensure I don't incur any NEW library fines! Ack!

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Today was my last personal training session with E. It was kind of weird - I've been training with him since October.
I think what I'll miss most in all honesty is having someone to talk with a couple hours a week.

---

Thursday afternoon E is going to train me on how the gym policies work, and what I'll be doing. Then Friday afternoon will be my first shift. I'm looking forward to that extra money to put towards my savings goals.

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I'm thinking about stopping my membership with the outdoor club here. The Calendar for July was so full of activities, that I thought I'd have a hard time deciding which things to do. But . . the August calendar has mostly dining out events where it costs $35 min. There had been one free event, but it was canceled.

I think I'll be able to keep myself busy enough on the weekends between the two meetup groups I've joined - and those events will mostly be free.

I haven't completely decided yet though.

This morning my carpooler gave me $10 -- off it goes to my Extra Monies fund.
----

After work today I stopped and got gas.

On August 1, my odomoter was: 104,333

Today, my odomoter was: 104,601

That is a difference of 268 miles

I bought 9.382 gallons on Aug. 1.
Today, I bought 8.135 gallons.

A difference of: 1.247 gallons

So . . my gas mileage is 268/8135 =~31mpg

Am I figuring this correctly?

Gas was $3.62/gallon for a total of $29.52

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I stopped by the library today - dropped off items and picked up some more. I unfortunately had forgotten to take two books which were due today with me - so I'll get them in tomorrow on the way home from church. $.70 fine.

One of the books I had to return today was my Vegetarian Slow Cooker book. I made copies of 6 of the recipes that I may want to try.

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Last night I made a start on my Shape It Up weekend by doing a trash run and a dish run.

So far tonight, all I've accomplished was actually eating one of the Veggie Bean Burgers I made a couple weeks ago (and froze!) to see if it was edible enough to include in my meal plans. It was.

I think #9 is calling my name quite loudly right now. I did make some progress in my plan . . . Hello? Stephanie? Yep I guess I'll be checking out your latest adventure here shortly.

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I got an email today from the person who bought the Brita pitcher - she'd picked it up from the PO this morning. She was so happy to have gotten it so fast. I guess I can't begrudge the extra shipping cost (and reduced profit) too much. ;D

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.

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.

So, I made the fruit salad. I thought it turned out pretty good - colorful.

I went to the vegetarian/vegan brunch meetup. I think I was the only one who had any fruit salad. Oh well - I'm going to take it to my mom and stepdad's tonight.

The food was good. There were maybe about 13 people all together. Everyone seemed pretty friendly and everything. But . . you know how sometimes there are like two or three people who talk non-stop? Yeah, there were a couple of those kind of people there.

If I'm in a group of people I know well, or especially in a smaller group of more like 4 or 5, I can be talkative. But get me in a group of people I don't know, esp. when there are a couple of non-stop talkers - I end up having little to nothing to say.

I'm kind of reminded about why I didn't keep going to these group things before. My first reaction in a new group is quiet, shy, etc. It was so much easier to make friends in school.

heh. I was talking with this one guy. He told me what he did for a living, and then asked me the same thing. Not two seconds after my telling him that I work at an oil and gas company, he was gone.
I checked his profile on the website - he's buhuddist (sp?) so . . just as well.

Here's hoping that my adventure tomorrow at the nursing home will go better.

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.