I just looked at my grocerygame list for tomorrow and saw that there are 4 items that will be FREE after coupon - AND they were the only things I wanted off the list - AND all the coupons for them are in this Sunday's paper!! One of the items is something that I definitely would not normally buy because it's overpriced. I went to taylortowncoupons.com and ordered 20 more coupons for that one particular item (which will make each item actually $.10 because the clipping cost is $.10). I won't say what variety it is - but I will say that Dad and I will be eating our Mac and Cheese. Hee!

Been a quiet day. I only got one phone call from one of my new surveyors. She was just wanting to double check on what she was supposed to do. So ... no phone calls *HOPEFULLY* means NO PROBLEMS!!!

No spending today. (Well, the coupon order - but I haven't actually paid for them yet.)

No exercise either. Will have to do my 4th workout tomorrow, do or die!

Am now going to go watch Miss Congeniality 2 (from Netflix) and finish reading my "Fame" book. Hope ya'll had a good Saturday!

Keeping It Frugal in Texas,
Laura

I had quite a shock this morning when I logged into my delphi forum page, and then clicked onto Reality Bites (a site about television.) The first thread that popped up was entitled "Donations for Lolly." I was wondering why they were taking donations for Lolly, this particular forums hostess. As I looked further, I was even more shocked to find out that she (Lolly) had *died* Saturday night from an asthma attack at the age of 34! !!

I'm mainly a lurker (don't post much) at most of the forums I go to, but she (Lolly) was one of the people whom I had had some interaction with, and I always looked forward to reading her takes on various tv shows. The whole forum is just shell shocked right now.

What really got to me the most though is that one of my best friends is 31 years old, and has had terrible problems with asthma her whole life. About four years ago she was hospitalized with pneumonia/asthma for nearly two weeks and came very close to dying. Since having her son two years ago, her health has greatly improved, and she is now expecting a little girl in March. It's just so scary to me to have it really hit home that people *really* *do* *die* from asthma.

Something else that really caught me off gaurd today. I got an email from Eric, a guy I had initially met through one of the christian dating sites, and we became good email friends. The last note I'd gotten from him was shortly after Halloween. He basicaly was forwarding the weather warning (freeze warning). Well, on the list of the Carbon Copy, was a very familiar name - Heather R. Heather was an associate pastor with my dad a little over 6 years ago. She and I became fairly good friends, had fun together, etc, but lost touch when she went away to seminary. So anyway, I wrote him back a short note, and asked him how he knew Heather. He replied that Heather was the girl he'd mentioned to me awhile back - and that she is his girlfriend!!! I'll have to fill you in on part of what really surprised me - Eric is *just* 5'10 standing tall. Heather is at least 6'1, maybe 6'2 standing relaxed. The other part that got me was that it was just another indication of just how small the Adventist world is.

Dad and I went to Kroger's tonight because I wanted to stock up on cat litter and cat food (on sale + had coupons). He threw one of his royal conniptions at the cashier because she didn't heed his call fast enough about not wanting coinage back, but wanting to get rid of his own coinage. He was upset with me too, because I guess he caught me rolling my eyes at him. Ooops.

Then we went to the Chinese resturant where they have the most scrumptious Egg Foo Young. He was already in a foul mood, and then while we were standing at the ordering place, he was taking his sweet time figuring out what we were getting -- the cashier/order taker took her attention off of him for one minute to let a lady behind us know that her food would be ready in five minutes. I agree, it probably wasn't the *best* customer treatment, but he totally went off and took it as a complete affront to him - total rudeness. It's evenings like this that almost make me think maybe being single isn't such a bad life outcome after all. There are ways of dealing with things like this constructively, and then there are ways of blowing things out of proportion and making a spectacle of yourself. I prefer to deal constructively.

We hired three new surveyor's today. I will be training them on Thursday. I am crossing my fingers that between the new surveyor's and the MEga batteries being mailed, that we will be at 100% completion on Dec 17.

Well, I started reading this book called "Angel's and Demon's" by Dan Brown. It's a work of fiction talking about the Catholic Church, the Illuminati, and anti-matter. It's pretty good so far.

It's supposed to snow or sleet tomorrow. I hope it does snow - I'll go out and make snow angels. I know this is probably not a healthy thing to admidt, but on my iwon.com homepage I have a weather icon for my town ... and also for Lincoln, NE. They are having temps of around 3 degrees and lower. I wonder how Scott is faring in all that.

Dad picked up the tab for everything at Kroger's tonight, even though I had planned on paying for the cat stuff.
So he bought $42.xx worth of groceries, and paid $19.XX after store coupons and other coupons.

I got my latest water bill today. It went down another $6 -- down from ~$59 to ~ $53. I sure wish I knew what was making it go down, cuz then I'd keep on doing it, but more fanatically.

No spending on my part today.
Did 15 minutes on my Gazelle, and 25 minutes of weight lifting.

Keeping It Frugal in Texas,
Laura

A lazy day. Finished reading the 4th book in the Redemption series by Karen Kingsbury. I really hope the library has the last book of the series - it really is a powerful series.

Got a call from my brother this afternoon!!! We only talked for a few minutes because he was on a break from his "Forum" class (something similar to Pathways.) He was telling me that his girlfriend might be promoted from a resturant manager up to a General Manager - all before she turns 25. She's an awesome person, and that would just be so great for her. Ryan, my brother, also told me that he had been promoted to a server at his resturant (they work at different resturants.) That really is quite an honor - it's a 5 star resturant and there isn't much turnover in the server's department - he's worked there now for I think 4 1/2 years, starting as a busboy. This resturant has many famous, celebrity customers. I sure wouldn't want to eat there though - a "cheap" meal for two might be a mininum of $500. Although I've gotta say, last year when I was out in CA visiting him for Christmas - the chocolate delicacy he brought me from the pastry chef at the resturant -- mmmmmm .... heaven!

No spending today - didn't even leave the house.

I also got a call from TXU asking me why I had left and I guess trying to figure out what it would take to get me back. I kept telling them that I'd be unlikely to come back - that I'm giving Ignite at least a six-month shot. They upped the ante to a $500 credit on my electricity bill spread out over the next 12 months - that, well now, THAT was tempting - but I didnt' take them up on it. I haven't received my first bill yet from Ignite, so I'm really hoping that this was worth it. My hopefully last bill from TXU was $4 more than last month, having used ~200 kb LESS than the month before.

Keeping It Frugal in Texas,
Laura

Wowsie! We are already in December! Only 30 days left in 2005. Time goes by so much faster the older I get. Sometimes I wonder if things will ever really change, or if time will just keep speeding past me and it'll be 2036 and I'll be 60 years old wondering where the time went and just what did I do with it.

Well, anyway. Basicaly today I did laundry. My second load of wash were the colored clothes, but I guess I tried to fit too many clothes into the load because there was still a lot of soap scum left on them. So, I ended up seperating the load and doing two more loads. So, in my effort to save money and time, I ended up wasting money and time. Though I did get my two jackets washed that had been needing to be washed for a long time because of it (to make the 2nd load fuller.)

I used Jeffery's link today to sign up for Emmigrant Direct. I'll probably put the $10 bonus in there whenever that comes around. I think its pretty cool that Jeffery and Nate are doing that for us (though it's making them a little money too, but it's all good.)

I made pasta w/spaghetti sauce tonight for supper. There were enough leftovers for three lunches for me for next week.
I figured out that the portion we ate tonight for supper cost about $2.00 - there were enough for 5 servings, so about $.40 a serving. I thought that was a pretty good price for a meal.

I was telling Dad that I had figured out what I would do for Grandma and Aunt Ni's Christmas presents - I'm going to make Grandma a Gift Jar of Sugar-Free Cherry Tea (she likes tea) and I'm going to make Aunt Ni a Gift Jar of Powdered Milk Bath (with added fragrances.) I think he didn't think that either of those ideas were that great. He said that we needed to get them something nice (read $$). I told him that I didn't think it was the $$ that counted, but the thought that counted. He didn't respond - probably becuase he didn't want to argue about it. All I know is that if it wasn't for them coming here, I wouldn't be doing *anything* for them other than an e-card. It's going to cost me more money for electricity, food, water, etc to have them here. Right now I am living by the string of my teeth, not knowing how much I'll have to live on from month to month. Spending money on Christmas gifts for two people who have everything they could want materially just doesn't make sense. Giving them something that can be used, that doesn't take up much room, and shows that I put some thought and time into it, makes a lot more sense.

Monkey is being so sweet. Instead of sitting on the desk in front of my monitor, he's sitting on the armchair beside me while I'm typing. Of course this makes me have to have my arm in an uncomfortable position while I'm typing, but I don't mind.

Well, I didn't get called in for an assignment tomorrow. So, I guess I can just consider this a long weekend. Hopefully next week won't be a long weekend.

Spent some time working on my 'you need a budget" budget. Had a couple questions about it and emailed Jesse - had an answer back in about an hour. Great customer service. The more I'm using it, the more I am really liking it - the program itself, as well as the budget concept of using November's pay in December. For example, I have paid all of my December bills that I have control of the timing and have the bill for - yesterday, and I haven't received a paycheck yet for December. When I do, that money will not be used till January (or at least not until I have January bills.) This is especially useful for me right now since I have no idea how much I will make each month.

Well guys, I've had a number of short (er) entries. Guess I was due for a longerish one.

No spending today (didn't go anywhere, didn't buy anything online)

Keeping It Frugal in Texas,
Laura

Wow! Hard to believe it's already the end of November! 2005 has just flown by. In 15 days I'll no longer be in the 20 something crowd. - yikes, I'm getting old.

Work was s u p e r s l o w w w w w today. I played around on the net for a couple hours, then read about 3/4 of the 3rd book in Kingsbury's Redemption series called "Return." Guess it's good to be getting paid to sit at a computer and surf the net and read, right?? I hate the feeling of wasting other people's money though.

Unfortunately, I did not get any calls today for temp jobs this week. So, tomorrow I have the day off, and unless I get a call, I guess I have Friday off too. Wow, my paycheck a week from Friday is going to look real nice - NOT!

I don't know if anyone here has had or even heard of Anderson's Split Pea Soup - but there's a resturant in CA that almost exclusively serves it. And it is VERY good. About 7 years ago I ate there, and while I was there I bought two cans of Split Pea Soup. Until tonight, I had not opened either one of them. Let's just say that either my tastebuds have really changed, or the canned version is just plain nasty. I'd have to most likely go for the later.

Other than normal bills going out of my account today (electric for Dec, cell phone for Dec, car insurance for Nov, etc) there was no spending today.

Keeping It Frugal in Texas,
Laura

Jorge, here is a link to where you can get the free download of Ad Aware: http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/
Hope that works for you!

After work dad and I went to Kroger's, and amazingly there were PLENTY of pizza's left that qualified for the deal! So we got 8 Red Barron 4-Cheese pizzas (our Friday night pizza) for $16 - saving nearly $24 from what it would be at Walmart for the same 8 pizzas. We're set for Friday night supper through January!

On the way home from work I also stopped by the library to drop off some books. While there I checked to see if any of the other books in Karen Kingsbury's series were available. Lo and behold, they had the next two books!!! Woo Hoo!!

Work was medium slow today. Not my usual busy busy Monday. However I am still waiting on four surveyors to come in tomorrow to download. On the way home I *finally* got a call from Candice!! She told me she had done the assignments and would be coming in to download tomorrow. I told her she had a lot of people worried about her, and she told me that her mom was supposed to have called us (me and the employment agency.)

Dad was in a bit of a sour puss mood tonight. Before I marry someone there's a couple tests I'm going to put them through. Driving in heavy traffic, in medium traffic, and a fairly long-distance drive. Finding out how they behave when overtired and hungry. I'd rather be single for the rest of my life than put up with a sour puss/road rager.

Anyway, no spending on my part today (though I was sorely tempted to stop and get some more chocolate - made chocolate pudding pie tonight for supper instead.)

Keeping It Frugal in Texas,
Laura

Hi! I just typed a LONNNGGG entry - guess I took too long typing it and I timed out or something. So, I'll make this a bit shorter then add to it another time.

Let me introduce myself. I am 29, single with no kids, and an elementary teacher for the past 8 years. I've had a number of bumps and bruises on the financial highway of life - an especially big one five years ago. But now am beginning to do much, much better, with LOTS of life lessons learned. For numerous reasons, I am planning on switching careers in June. I am taking courses right now to become a Real Estate Agent. The road ahead won't be easy, especially since I only have myself to support myself, but I believe with God's help, and with the lessons I've learned, I'll make it through.

Until next time!

Keeping It Frugal in Texas,
Laura