So, it's been about 9 days since my last entry. It's been busy and tiring and stressful ...

But ... I'm still doing well with no soda, and fairly well with the DD. Almost finished with week 3 of Stepbet.

Last week I had several pizza indulgences which I think my system did not like at all. Hence being sicker than I have been in a long time this weekend. I'm only now really recovering.

I've told DH I want to lay off on any pizza for a good while. And cheese. Not sure if it was the cheese, the grease, the white flour, or bad pineapple topping ...

I hadn't really wanted pizza the last time, but DH *really* wanted it, so I gave in. Ugh.

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We were going to go to Denver on Sunday for a car, but DH didn't get enough sleep, so we scrapped the idea. I was so glad because I really didn't feel like driving there and back in one day. At all.

I just wish a car would magically appear within an hours or less drive that was PERFECT for what he wants.. So this car search would be over.

This coming Sunday DHs work is having a 2015 Christmas party ... catered by Outback Steakhouse. Yuck. DH actually wants to go (to the first part at least - second part is a party bus - double yuck.) So ... I'll eat something before we go and see if they have some kind of non-alcoholic non-soda drink ... dreaming, right? (water of course ...)

The following Sunday I have 3 - 4 hours of overtime at work putting new schedules on the buses, and then I'm volunteering at a local church event celebrating world food cultures. That's going to be a long day.

Last week I went out to IHOP by myself, and then I went and saw Sully. I really needed an evening out.
(I liked Sully, although there were parts of it I was going ... come on already! Part of it may be that it was pretty late and I was tired though ...)

DH and I had a pretty frank health discussion. He told me that he pretty much has decided to not really make any changes in his habits yet ... because he has time. My insisting/nagging/conjoling him to at least try something different obviously would not work ...

He also told me he'd rather take a pill than do a diet change.

So ... I guess that's it then. I can't force him to do anything. Sigh.

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So ... today I found a job possibility with the city ... pays $2.50/hour more. Same hours. Working at the public library - doing some of what I do now, but adding in a lot more MS Office type work. Not a librarian position (those all require weekends, which I can't do.)

So ... I'm applying.

I don't know how I'd get off for an interview if it came to that. The next two months both of the people who cover my responsibilities when I'm gone will one or the other be gone more than they're here.

I guess if it's meant to be, it'll work itself out. the money sure would come in handy.

I think I'm getting into a pretty good routine now. Most days 70-80% of my food consumption is whole grain/fruit/veggie/nuts/low-processed. Now at over a month without soda.

I saw something on the YNAB forum today called a My Soda Pop (or something like that.) For $75 you could get this reusable kit to make your own carbonated water/juice/soda. Same idea as the soda stream machine, but more environmentally sound. I was interested in it til I saw the price ...

Step Bet - Week 1 (ends Tuesday)
1/2 stretch days, 2/4 active days

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I went and looked at my American Express card offers after seeing what CCF posted. I had the Boxed offer a cable/internet offer. These will help me get to the $25 cash out (currently sitting at $16.)

At boxed I bought toilet paper and Madras lentils.

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Our poor kitty Baby, the oldest of the brood, doesn't seem to be feeling too well. Thursday night he lost his lunch, and then wasn't interested in the wet food dinner. This never happens. He's a true chow hound.

I made a vet appointment for Saturday morning. I hope it doesn't take too long, because I'm supposed to be doing an announcement for my Sabbath School group at the beginning of service. (Not looking forward to ... but am not going to have to say a word - just be moral support to my teammate.)

I'm wondering if we are saving enough towards the vet category ...

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DH and I both had dentist appointments this week. DH didn't think he'd have any issues since he's not had a cavity in 50 years ..... So, when it came time to renew dental insurance this year, I dropped it for both of us.

Wishing I hadn't now.

I had a clean bill of teeth health. My DH on the other hand has a receding gum line. He'd mentioned this to me, but I hadn't realized that was the same as gingivitis.

So ... at his appointment they wanted to do what is called a "deep cleaning." Something which would take at least 2 2 hour appointments and cost $150 after insurance. And this is only AFTER he gets clearance from his family doctor (blood pressure) and his orthopedic doctor (shoulder replacement.)

He feels it would be way too stressful to accomplish this before October 31 (end of plan year.) So ... we are going to hold off on it til next plan year. Hopefully he'll have his blood pressure better under control by then too. Sigh.

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DH and I had a long discussion Thursday night. It ended with me saying that IF he found a vehicle that just absolutely SINGS to him, then I would be willing to move a certain amount of money out of the fence fund. (Also, IF he'd commit to keeping the vehicle meticulous so good resale value later.) I did also make sure he realized that it *could* mean that the fence wouldn't happen right away next spring - unless he sells some of his electronics.

This coming week we are going to be going on a short excursion for car hunting / short get-away. Either to Chicago or Denver depending on which area has the most possible cars to look at.

It'll be nice to get away even if just for a short bit. (2 days) Hopefully we'll come back with two cars so the car search will be over for a few years... (This is why I prefer to buy newer models, so that I can buy once and not have to deal with the search again for a LONG time.)

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On Sunday we are going to be signing our wills! Also, our DNR statements. It will be good to have that all done. And for free too. (My church's larger organization, called a Conference, has a trust and wills department that does this for church members - all they ask is that the church is remembered in some small way in the will.)

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I've borrowed a bunch of books on DIY foods, "easy" vegan cooking, etc from the library. So far 3 books into it, and I'm not terribly impressed ... I am thinking of getting a nut milk bag to make my own milk and butter. DH may roll his eyes a bit ... we'll see though.

I went shopping at HyVee tonight - picked up bananas, apples, brussel sprouts (at Dh's request!), chia seeds, and a couple other things I don't remember. $22.xx

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Oh! DH gave me a nice surprise Thursday. When I got home, I found out that after his dentist appointment he had stopped at the local ABC (Adventist Book Center) to see if they had my fave Wham. They didn't, but he brought home some other TVP product for us to try.

I was really surprised because I wasn't sure he'd really heard me when I'd asked him if he'd stop by there sometime if he was awake and out during their hours .. because I was really craving me some Wham. He heard and he remembered.

Still doing pretty well getting my daily dozen in most days. (At least about 70 - 85% level.) Still holding strong on no soda.

I'm working on my meal plan for this week, and plan to get some Kale to try out Ceejay's kale chips, and try out Kashi's idea too.

I found a recipe for making baked apple slices in the oven (rather than the dehydrator) so might try that too.

My grocery budget for the first week at least is going to be helped somewhat by a generous gift from my church's ladies group - a belated housewarming/wedding gift. My walking buddy brought it over last night - two kinds of ravioli from Trader Joe's, organic marinara sauce, veggie meatballs, salad mix, can of black olives, two baguettes, a set of measuring spoons and cups, and a silicon spatula. All in a container which can be used as a serving dish.

Pretty neat.

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Okay, September wrap up:
Mortgage - 526
Extra Principal - 25
Natural gas - 26
Electricity - 139
Phone - 52.27
Water/Sewer - 86.82 (bi-monthly)
Internet/Cable - 54.95
Netflix - 10.71
Groceries - 296.91
Car gas - 274.49 ($50 or so for MN trip)
Tithe - 130
Giving - 30
Car Maintenance - 129.48
Clothing - 23.45
Phone/Garmin replacement - 25.93 (new Garmin warranty, back-up phone DH)
Household - general - 46.95
Pets - cats - food/litter - 70.95
Pets -cats - medical - 24.39 (felliway dispenser)
Pets - non-cats - food - 13.49
Fitness - 41.85
Laura birthday/entertainment (trans siberian) 108
Date night / eating out - 63.85
Catifying - 15.87 (materials to attach cat tree to wall in living room)
Laura fun money - 19.39
Student loan - 51.38
Medical debt - 178

Money was set aside for multiple categories not shown above .. because nothing was spent in them for now.

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We had our October budget meeting on Thursday night. It was kind of fun due to my 3rd paycheck and overtime hours. We put $200 into each of our spending money categories (been getting about $40 each), an extra $300 into repaying medical debt (actually have enough to pay half of it in full right now - just need to find a card DH would qualify for with a $1k spend and good sign up bonus, or even a $500 spend with good sign up bonus ...) We also allocated extra to some other categories.

DH agreed to do a $100 extra principal payment to the mortgage after I explained to him how making the little boost payments would save us huge amounts of interest / time in the long run.

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DH made the commitment to only one 20 oz soda per work night, and I have made the commitment to not taking more than one servings worth of chocolate/junkfood into the office at a time. This will be helpful to both of us.

Ok, I need to get my walking clothes on and get out there before it's dark. May go ahead and do some grocery shopping tonight too. (Since I did some cleaning last night before my walking buddy came over ...)

Still going strong on no soda.

The light duty person has been diagnosed with per-diabetes and high cholesterol, so we have been doing a lot of talking about diet, etc. She's a big meat eater, so I suggested she may want to try cutting back on meat by using it as a condiment to her meals, as well as cutting out/back on dairy and eggs.

I've been doing fairly well with the DD. The one item I'm having trouble with is getting my greens.

That's partly why I'm thinking about getting a dehydrator - so I can make Kale Chips (maybe spinach ones too?) Then I can use them to dip in my homemade hummus. Taking care of greens and beans!

I'd also like to do dried apples like my dad's friend Pete does. Every time I go out to CA, I come home with bags of died apples. So addictive.

I found one on Amazon for $50 I like, but plan on checking Craig and FB first. DH thinks that's a good idea in case I end up not really using it.

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I got an email from the Achievmint app today telling me how many points I'd earned. I've been ignoring them because I thought that I'd earned the max number of rewards. But today I decided to see why they kept sending me emails.

Well, I guess they restructured their program so that even people like me (who earned $200 from them) could continue to earn rewards in $10 increments. I'm halfway to the next $10! Guess I'll start tracking my water again.

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Also last night I decided to look at the Bounts store ... and was able to snag a $10 CVS card! I tried to get a second one, but it wouldn't let me add it to my cart.

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I stopped at a Dollar Tree yesterday (Tuesday) and was disappointed to find that most of their frozen vegetarian selections weren't available anymore. At least they had a good selection of frozen fruit.

I also bought 4 plastic canisters to put rice/beans/quinoa, etc. in. I need to buy some more, and also find my sharpie so I can label them.

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I got a reply back from N e l n e t. They didn't answer whether they accept 3rd party checks or not, but they told me here to send a payment ... So, I guess we can try and see?

DH needs to recertify for the IBR plan. If it's based on 2015 taxed income, he should be okay still. By next year when it'd be based on both of our incomes together, we'll already be in student loan repayment focus so it won't matter. Right now we are focusing on the medical debt.

(Citi gives the option of sending rewards money to either a student loan or a mortgage. Otherwise, I'd send it to the medical debt. The medical debt has no interest, but the interest on the student loans is negligible, and the mortgage isn't bad either. I just want the medical debt gone first. Even if it doesn't totally make financial sense. )

Now I am at 3 weeks of no soda!

I got home from grocery shopping on Sunday, and then went out for a walk. Just as I was getting to the house, DH calls me to find out where I was.

We ended up going to check out some more cars around town, and in Home Depot to check out week whackers, etc.

By the time we got back home, the majority of the time I'd planned for cleaning/cooking was gone.

So ... DH cleaned out the kitty boxes (bleach) while I got dinner on and did a few of the cleaning tasks I'd planned.

Dinner was eaten about 9 p.m. That's not late for DH, but is way late for me.

After dinner/cleanup/conversation, DH asked me to help him figure out the blood glucose meter. Yes, the thing I had gotten him nearly six weeks ago.

What a bizarre and un user friendly contraption that thing is! Finally about midnight DH had had enough and decided to try to find some youtube videos to figure it out. I was beyond exhausted.

Today I managed to get my lunch put together, and breakfast made, so that they were both within the DD guidelines.

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Why is the Vegas contest idea out?

Well, on Sunday before I went grocery shopping, I stopped by the gym to do my initial weigh in and to ask some questions I had from the packet.

The guy who I talked to had no idea what was in the packet. For example, the packet stated that you could another facility, but would just need to have proof of that. He told me you could ONLY work out there.

So today I emailed the main contact person to clear up the confusion. He said the same thing! Even though the packet contradicts that.

This, plus a few other things, led the light duty person and I to agree to forget this whole thing.

I am thinking about joining Planet Fitness, which would only be a short distance out of my way on the way home from work. And only $10/month. DH thinks this would be a good idea as well.

DH also suggested that maybe I could go use the gym membership I already have (and have to pay til March) on the weekends when traffic wouldn't be such an issue. He's got a good point. Now, just to do it.

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I'm probably going to go to bed not too long from now. I've a massive sinus? headache, probably partially triggered by the short night's sleep.

DD 20 (Saturday) was a bit of a wash. I had my regular morning smoothie and toast ... but then had a craving for pizza and chocolate ... and gave into it. Didn't get much other of the DD (daily dozen) foods in.

Today is a new day.

-

I spent a little time updating the budget last night. I was thinking that we were going to be getting kind of close to the limit on our groceries, but even after double checking that all receipts were entered, I found that we had nearly $140 left! No way we would need to spend that much in the next 7 days.

So, I moved $70 of that to paying for the Trans Siberian tickets (my birthday category only had $15 in it ... the tickets were $108. Needed to whack some moles ...) I found a few other places I could WAM (move money) from, and fully covered that category.
I would have waited to buy the tickets until I had them funded normally, but by buying them when I did, I saved $40.

I can hardly wait for November 17!

I've had a pretty lazy start to the day so far. After DH woke me up coming home this morning (4:30 a.m.) I managed to go back to sleep til nearly 9. I love Sunday mornings. The cats weren't so happy about my staying in bed til 9 ...

In a little while I'm going to go to the gym to do my initial weigh in for the Vegas Trip Contest, and then go do some grocery shopping. Probably Aldi's, HyVee and SuperSaver.

Then I need to clean/bleach a couple of the litter boxes, sweep, vacuum, clean the bathroom, mop the laundry room ...

I'm planning on doing a simple dinner tonight I think. A Chef Boy'r Dee pizza with a side of broccoli and beans. That'll make DH happy and me happy too. (And won't take 3 hours of prep time.)

I'll bake some sweet potatoes for my work lunches this week, and portion out some of the beans I made last week. (How long are cooked beans okay in the fridge?)

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I read an interesting post on the blog No Meat Athlete about how to really make lasting habit changes.

http://www.nomeatathlete.com/limitless

I don't believe personally in meditation/mindfulness, but I would like to get back into the habit of spending time daily reading/thinking about the Bible. Usually when I go for my walks, I listen to the podcast Brian Hardin's Daily Audio Bible, but it's easy to let my thoughts wander (especially when he's on the chapters with long lists of names ...)

Ten habits I would like to incorporate in my life:
1. Daily Bible reading (physical book) Start with 5 minutes, and slowly increase to 30. (Read Sabbath School quarterly??)
2. Memorize one Bible verse a week. (Use Memorise?)
3. Play the piano daily. (Start with 5 minutes, and work up to 30.)(Purchase iPad piano app?)
4. Practice Spanish. Start with 5 minutes, and work up to 20 minutes using Duolingo or other sources.)
5. Wake up an hour earlier. (Start with 5 minutes ...)
6. Daily flossing (much better about this, but could be even better.)
7. Practice releasing stress through other means than chocolate. --Say "Oh Well" -- Chew gum --- .....?
8. Spend time daily doing something to make the house more home like (other than daily cleaning the litter boxes) Start with 5 minutes, work up to 20.
9. Average 7,000 steps daily. Or, 30 minutes of movement daily. (Start with average of 4,000 / 5 minutes movement and work up.)
10. Make contact with one family/friend (other than Grandma) 2x a week. (Start with 2x a month, and work up.)

Habits 1 and 2 kind of go with each other, so I think I'll make those my focus for September/October.

What are some habits/small changes that you might like to focus on?

I'm still managing to stay away from soda. I'm finding out again, like other times I've managed to go more than two weeks avoiding it, that it gets to where I'm not sure why I wanted it in the first place. I'm at that point now - where a sip of DHs Cherry Coke doesn't even tempt me.

As far as the Daily Dozen - I'm still doing fairly well with it. I think I may modify it a bit ... such as making beans a 1/2 cup per day UP to 3 servings. Eventually I may work up to 3 servings daily, but most nights all I want is something simple like a bowl of cereal and maybe some fruit. When it gets colder, it'll be easier too ... soup or a sweet potato w/beans, etc.

DH didn't like the spaghetti squash too much. We have 3 mo I'm going to try making a spaghetti squash "pizza" and see if he'd go for that. I had lots of leftovers to eat this week because DH wasn't too keen on any of what I made on Sunday. I'm going to have to toss some of it, because I couldn't even eat it all.

One thing going to work on this weekend is coming up with a meal plan mainly using what we already have on hand, but using it in a different way (to make it more palatable to DH.) He was mentioning to me that he thought we shouldn't be buying more perishable items until we used up what we have. (I didn't say that if BOTH of us were eating them ....)

*Exercise - Fallen a bit short on this this week, due to 2 days of evening meetings and a road trip. Got in a 30 minute walk today though!

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DH may have found his winter vehicle - just an hour away! Thursday when I got off work DH called me and asked me if I wanted to take a road trip to O city to see the car. Although I was pretty tired and really wanted to get a walk in, etc., I said yes.

It's a 98 Subuaru - not sure how many miles - $1400. Needs new tires and a driver's side mirror and the windshield replaced. DH was supposed to call the dealer today to talk to them - I forgot to ask him if he did or not.

I really hope this car is workable. A 1 hour road trip is much preferable to a 12 hour roundtrip!

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One of our local gyms is running a contest starting on Monday for a trip to Vegas. You enter as a team of 4, and earn points based on exercise, tracking food, weight loss, participation in nutrition events, etc. You get free access to their gym for the duration of the contest.

The winning team of 4 gets a 3 day/2 night trip to Vegas. Airfare and hotel only.

So ... I got the light duty lady to agree to partner up with me - we'll be assigned two more people.

Doubt we'll win, but it'll be fun anyway.

(This contest is mainly a marketing gimmick to get people to join their gym - it's a new company taking over the locations a defunct gym.)

It's free. (Although you can earn more points by buying stuff at some place, or also by scheduling a chiropractic consultation / visit (sponsors).) I may go ahead and do the chiropractic thing - check to see if a visit would be covered under insurance.

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I ended up getting 6 hours of overtime this week! Two meetings from 5 - 7, and then a 3rd meeting I wasn't supposed to be at initially, from 3 - 5. Due to my union contract, that 30 minutes of OT HAS to be 2 hours.

2 of the meetings had about 125 people each, and one had 49 .... lots of twiddle the thumb time at that one.

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I received my signup bonus for the AE Charge card - 25000 points plus another 1000 for my "purchase." (paid medical debt) Let's just say I'm underwhelmed at the choices.

Most likely we're going to go with using it as Amazon credit. 26,000 points translates into $182 at Amazon.

Or we may keep it around in case we do some traveling, and then we could use it on a more dollar for point basis at hotels com.

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I'm going to try contacting N e l n e t again tonight to see if they accept a 3rd party check. I've already sent them two emails through my husband's account (that I set up for him online ...) with no response. (student loans)

DH and I agreed that if we don't get a response within two weeks this time, that we'll send the $600 in rewards from Citi to the mortgage instead. That'd be more than a one-month payment. (The mortgage company responded to my inquiry within about 6 hours!)

Once that finally clears out the rewards points, then I'm going to check into having that card changed into the Double Cash back card (that doesn't have an annual fee.)

Day 15 of no soda.
Had a Kit kat gifted to me by the lady doing light duty. I'm a milk chocolate gal - rarely dark.

I think I got an 87% today. Lots of leftovers from dinner.

I think DH and I are both getting tired of roasted veggies. I need to come up with something else. Not salad. He won't eat salad. Veggies have to be cooked.

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So, how did DH save the day?

Well last night I was afraid I had fried my blender and my InstaPot. The blender would be a horrible loss due to daily use, and the InstaPot, I'm just starting to figure out what to do with it.

I'd tried everything I could think of. DH had me try plugging the blender in another outlet, and it worked! So then we thought that the outlet went bad.

But when I plugged something into it, it worked!

So, we thought maybe just the IP had fried.

But then DH made the wonderful discovery (which he will tease me about forever) - the removable plug in cord was NOT plugged in to the back of the pot!

Crisis averted. Wooh!

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Of course, on the other hand .. since DH hadn't made an appointment to get his car looked at (the wheel bearing fixed) and had just let it go and go (he did buy the needed parts ...) he tells me on Saturday he needs my car.

It probably will be most of this week before it can get fixed.

Ugh.

And of course this week just so happens to be when I have two evening meetings in a row after work.

Thankfully my boss said she'd be ok with me riding with her to the meeting, and taking me home on Tuesday. Wednesday won't be an issue since DH doesn't work til 9 PM.

But still... Ugh.

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I needed a few stamps to mail something, and since after I got home, DH had the car, I walked to the next closest gas station which sold stamps. (I called first!) Got a good 35 minute walk in too.

On my way home, a lady that I've seen quite a number of times on my walks was in her driveway unloading groceries with her son? She said hi to me and asked me if I lived in the area. I told her that I lived just around the corner.

She then told me that if I ever wanted a walking partner, just bang on her door after 3 pm and she'd throw on some shorts and go! COOL!

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Something else pretty good. I got a call from my doctor's office about my blood work. They said that my platelets had improved a good bit, and to stay on the iron supplements - they seemed to be working!

I need to call back and make an appointment for another retest, and also ask what the numbers were. I hate how they don't give you a copy of the results unless you ask. It's so annoying. I want to track these things myself!

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So, I've been pretty frustrated with one of my paid to exercise apps - bounts. It works fine, but I haven't been able to redeem for a reward in a LONG time. I have enough points for at least $15 worth of rewards.

But they are all out of stock. Except one - Crutchfield. A $25 reward. I need another 2k points or so for.

I had been wondering why I'd even want that. But then I got a catalog in the mail today (or I should say DH did) and it was for ... Crutchfield! I browsed through it and at first thought everything was WAY out of my price range and nothing I'd really want.

Then ... then I saw it. A little device you plug into your stereo which works to make your stereo bluetooth compatiable. That just means that you can listen to your iPhone music without any cords connecting to your speaker system. $50.

This is a goal I can work towards.

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Something else I forgot!
DH agreed to go to a real concert with me! Trans-Siberian Orchestra on Nov 17. It'll be an early birthday celebration for me. Thank goodness the guitarist he likes is in this particular group (I guess they divide the group into two to cover more territory.)

Now I just need to buy the tickets!

I had my first real test today regarding soda... DH got a Mountain Dew from Runza while we were out looking at car lots. I was thirsty, but I had water with me. Not even a sip.

So today is going to be difficult to assess.

This morning when I got back from my walk, I didn't want to just make a smoothie. I wanted something a little different. So I decided to make "ice cream" using my usual smoothie ingredients, except less liquid and more cacao powder.

Unfortunately. I way overdid the cacao powder and no matter what I added, I couldn't get rid of the bitter taste. I managed to eat maybe half of it, one painful spoonful at a time.

Like my husband likes to say - Laura, taste and add, taste and add. Ugh.

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My great northern beans turned out pretty good I think. 25 minutes in te Instant Pot. My hummus is ok, but I really need to find my food processor so I can make it smoother/creamier.

Another disaster - I put a spaghetti squash in the IP to cook for 6 minutes. When I cut it open, I realized it needed more time. But .... the outlet isn't working anymore! I tried resetting it, but did no good.

Hopefully when DH wakes, he can figure it out.

I have tofu "steaks" marinading right now, and probably should get the veggies in the oven for roasting.

I would have gotten more done today, but DH woke around 11 and wanted to go around the car lots. A ride with DH is much more appealing than cleaning.

We found one vehicle he liked, but it didn't have a price tag. I'm betting it'll be way out of our price range. We'll see I guess.

Today makes 13 days sans soda. I don't really miss it that much.

I did buy and eat some chocolate on Friday, but much less than normal. I actually ate an apple instead of eating the chocolate right away ....

I'd say Day 12 was about a 85% and Day 13 about a 65%. I had leftover pizza for lunch today (from Thursday Little Ceasar's) and it wasn't all that appetizing.

I was going to go on the Saturday afternoon hike with some fellow church members today, but after I finished my earlier post and started to get ready, I realized I just wasn't up to it.

Instead, I took a 90 minute nap.

Even after getting up from my nap (to see DH off to work) I still wasn't feeling very good. So, no walk today.

I'm really hoping I'm feeling better by the morning because I'm way behind on cleaning, and I need to get food ready for the week. Tuesday and Wednesday will be late evenings for me (helping explain the new bus routes to people) and I don't want to derail my healthier eating.

I'd really like to hire someone to come in and assist/push me to get the cleaning done. Maybe some organizing too. Also have someone help me figure out how to make the house smell better ... Sigh.

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I did some grocery shopping the last few days. DH agreed that if I made a big pot of Great Northern Beans, that he would eat them throughout the week. (This was after I read to him the section on how people were able to eat 1/2 cup of legumes daily on top of their regular intake, without it causing weight gain. In fact, it caused the opposite. Plus helped to regulate the blood sugar, etc.)

The beans and chickpeas have been soaking since Friday night. I am going to take them out of the water in a few minutes. Maybe use the Instant Pot for the GN beans so hubby can start eating them.

I bought from our local "Farmer's Market" store - almond milk, spaghetti squash, eggplant, red onions, apples, oranges, 2 lbs of Great Northern beans, 1 lb of chickpeas (going to make hummus and roast some too), 1/2 lb of Brazil Nuts (eat 2 a day to help with thyroid, plus heart health), two Medjool Dates ($$$$$$) and some other things I can't remember. $26.xx

From HyVee, 3 candybars (3 for $1), red seedless grapes, ?? $13.xx

From Dollar Tree - multiple bags of frozen broccoli florets, frozen asparagus, a couple spices, etc.

$9.89

From another local grocery store (Russ) -
bananas, ten different spices/herbs (ground mustard, bay leaves, chopped basil, ground ginger (to keep at work), sesame seeds, ....

$14.40

I also looked at buying Chlorella and liquid B 12 ... but couldn't stomach the cost. I was thinking about buying some fresh kale too, because the fresh/non-bagged stuff was on a good sale, but I didn't know for sure what was the kale I wanted (3 varieties) - I wanted to try making Kale chips. So I didn't get any.

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I'm about halfway through How Not to Die taking notes. Some of the recommended stuff is SO expensive. I'm thinking I'll stick to the recommendations that are a reasonable cost, and then IF something happens to me, then I can go for the more expensive stuff (like Chlorella ...)

A part of me is really frustrated that I'm feeling so poorly even with having been eating much higher amounts of fruits and veggies for nearly two weeks, and little junky food.

I'm not giving up though. Something has to work to get me feeling energetic again. Maybe if DH sees it working for me, he'll be more willing to expand his choices as well...

---
Redeemed a $25 Walmart gift card today from SBs.

Also used a $30 Petco gift card I earned last month by setting up "repeat delivery) to order some grain free cat food and more litter. Cost after rewards and gift card - $6.86

---
Almost forgot! The mortgage FINALLY posted to my credit reports! I got a call from the fraud alert place my company uses that there were two alerts - one that the mortgage had been added, and one about the inquiry from Chase.

Later I'll post another one, but only have a few minutes right now.

Let's see:

1. I'm 40 years old, and will be 41 in December
2. I have furkids, featherkids, and shellkids only. Too many of all of them.
3. I am a newleywed - married April 24. DH is why I am mom to so many non human kids.
4. I was an elementary teacher for 8 years, a tutor for two, and an elementary school librarian for 3 years at a mission school for Navajo children.
5. I live in Nebraska. Nebraska is something like state #13? for me.
6. In January, I will have been blogging at SA for 12 years!
7. I am a Seventh-day Adventist Christian. Far from perfect, but trying. I would NOT have voted for Ben Carson if he'd somehow gotten on the ticket.
8. I am a vegetarian. Currently I still will eat eggs and cheese and ice cream ... however ... I am trying to wean myself off of all those things.
9. If chocolate could be my main food source, I'd be a happy woman. Sigh.
10. My DH and I met the first time online in a SDA dating website in 2004. We dated a few months, went our different ways. In March, 2012? I called him. In May we saw each other again, and have been together since (except for a short stint ...)
11. I have family in Texas, Tennessee, California, Ohio and Egypt.
12. One of my dad's younger brother's and his wife have lived more of their adult life in the Middle East than in the US. They started as paid missionaries, and now are sponsored by various organizations to do a health ministry.
13. Walking is my favorite form of exercise. Especially walking outside.
14. Lifting weights is my second favorite form of exercise ... although I don't do it consistently.
15. I love to read, although between keeping up with various forums, blogs, etc., plus taking care of my non human kids, have not left me much time to do much reading lately.
16. Music is like an elixir to my soul. Listening to it (most types except heavy metal/punk/rap) and singing loudly off key are two of my favorite ways to enjoy it. I did not inherit my mom's singing ability. Nor my brother's.
17. I have one younger brother (35) who lives in CA. He's a pretty awesome dude all around. I'm very lucky to have him.
18. I've had the opportunity to meet several SA bloggers in real life. MonkeyMama, LookingForward, ThriftyRay and another one (sorry, brain disturbance ...) That was a blast!
19. I feel so blessed that nearly 12 years ago I came across this website. It's not just a blog site to me, it's part of my family. DH doesn't quite get it, but he humors me when I talk about my blog friends.
20. Ok, I must really get going. I am going to be late for the afternoon "hike"

Later!

Today I scored 91% on the daily dozen.

Mainly lost points due to only walking 30 minutes.

I also ate chocolate. Mainly because I had some left from yesterday's purchase.

Must only buy single serving sizes. Must not keep extras in house...

I finished listening to the book this morning on the way to work. After work I stopped at the library and picked up the hard copy. I plan on taking notes on it tomorrow while I wait for DH's procedure to finish.

I tried a cup of water with ginger and a bit of honey tonight. Not too bad. I might buy some ginger to keep at work in case I feel one of my bad headaches coming on.

Someone told me that possibly they *could* be migraines, even though they don't last more than 6 or 7 hours (the worst part at least) and are helped by sleep, dark and a cold cloth.

---
I'm kind of looking forward tomorrow - most of the day I have off from work. In the morning accompanying DH to his appointment, then go to work for two hours, then go to my own doctor appointment (getting my iron retested.)

I'm really curious to see what the retest is going to show. I still am not a ball of engergy, but I do feel like I have a little more energy than I did before.

---
DH found a car he thought he wanted (winter delivery car) in Minneapolis. He decided since he was going to take Wednesday night off from work anyway (knowing he was going to need to be near a toilet ...) he decided to drive out there to check the car out.

So, this morning around 4 a.m. he headed out. He hadn't asked me to get cash out for it, and was bemoaning how frustrated he felt not having cash on hand to just go buy a car if he found one.

I told him I'd be okay with taking out a certain amount of cash that was already budgeted for car replacement to keep in the house. It wouldn't affect our interest earnings *that* much.

He seemed happy with that.

However, we still had to figure out how he was going to pay for the car.

I didn't want him to put it on our daily use card, because that would put us close to 60% utilization. So I tried to set up the new Chase card which actually has a higher limit than our Citi card. ???

The phone activation system didn't recognize the card number. The website activation didn't recognize the card number. Finally, I called the customer service number and got the car activated.

DH got on the road. He got back home about 6 p.m. and told me that he ended up NOT getting the car.

Sigh. (of relief partially ... wasn't looking forward to driving to Minneapolis and back on Sunday ...)

So, he's back on the hunt.

Friday I'll probably go ahead and take out the balance of the car fund to help alleviate DH's frustration.

It's a small thing to compromise on.

Going on 9 days of no soda! I almost gave in to temptation today, but told myself that no, I didn't need it. It was just habit - in CVS, get a couple of sodas ...

Day 8 I had about 79% of the Daily Dozen, and today I had about 98%.

I tried adding a 1/2 cup of oatmeal and 1/2 cup of black beans to my smoothie ... Hmm... interesting. I will have to experiment with how much liquid (was too thick.)

In listening to the book when I went on a 40 minute walk in the rain this afternoon, he was talking about the health benefits of ground ginger.

Headaches/Migraines, Menstrual cramps, PMS symptoms, etc., etc. I'm wondering if it would help me with my sinus headaches ... Doesn't hurt to try, right?

---
I hadn't spent any money this week since Saturday (ok, did buy some stuff from Amazon yesterday - silicon baking mats, a cookbook for the InstantPot and Miso)

This afternoon though I had to stop at CVS to pick up my DH's prescription for preparing for his colonoscopy. $50. Ouch.

I'm really trying to keep myself out of there unless there is a *really* specefic reason to be in there (like picking up a prescription)

I managed to get out with just buying a *little* bit of chocolate (which, yes, I ate ...)

I'm almost finished with listening to How Not to Die and now am waiting for the hard copy from the library. There's so many things I want to take special note of, but he goes so fast sometimes, or my "person" who tells me how long I've walked, etc. cuts in for 20 seconds+ ...May end up buying a copy ... (if I can find it used)

Although it is only 2:40, I already know what I'm eating the rest of the day, so I figured I'd go ahead and record it here.


++No soda consumption
++No chocolate consumption (ate it all last night ...)

Beans (3 servings) ...........3/3
Berries (1 serving)...........1/1
Other fruit (3 servings).......2/3
Cruceferious Veg (1 serving)...1/1
Greens (2 servings)............2/1
Other Veg (2 servings).........2/2
Ground flax (1 serving)--------1/1
Nuts (1 serving)---------------1/1
Spices (1/2 tsp Turmeric)------1/1
Whole Grains (3 servings)------2/3
Water (5 servings)-------------5++/5
Exercise ......................65/45

I went for an approximately 65 minute walk/jog this morning - about 3.6 miles. When I got back I had my fruit smoothie -frozen mango/berries and a banana with flaxseed, chia, protein powder and my new additions of turmeric and cinnamon ... and an incident with the black pepper. OOOO Lesson ... do not remove the spice container lid, especially not black pepper.

Let's just say that even though I attempted to remove most of what went in, judging from the taste, I was not altogether successful. (Seeing as how I'm not a big fan of black pepper in the first place ... but am trying to like it more ... Yech.)

I'm going to snack on some broccoli and hummus here in a little bit to tide me over til we get back from the Wills and Trust meeting.

I marinated and then baked a bunch of tofu "steaks" for dinner, and am roasting a pan full of bell peppers/onions/broccoli/eggplant/butternut squash/spinach right now. I'm also baking some sweet potatoes for my lunches this week.

In a bit I'm going to cook some brown rice to also add to lunches this week.

I'm also soaking some cashews which I'm going to blend with some nutritional yeast flakes to make a "cheese" sauce for the roasted veggies/tofu steaks.

Hoping DH will like this .. trying to change it up a little.

---
I finally figured out a good solution for my dust mop /bucket issue. A dishpan! I put a good dose of murphy's oil in the dishpan and some water and stirred. Then got mopping (and scrubbing ... of course by tonight there will be new cat chuck spots to take the place of the ones I scrubbed up ...) Worked perfectly.

--
Got our bi-monthly water/sewage bill. It was nearly $24 more than the last one. Yelp. I had to massage a number of categories to fund it, but I found the money. I will probably just set aside $50/month for it from now on, rather than just $30. Then once I have the actual bill, I can reassign the money to other places.

+++
No soda consumed
2? servings of fruit

Checked on Google to find out what Dr Greger's Daily 12 consists of - had heard him mention it in the book, etc., but I'm not there yet. Only on Chapter 12.

Apparently there's an app to help you track it too ...
The Daily 12 is a list of things he feels important to get in ... daily. (Dr Gregers Daily Dozen)

Beans (3 servings) ...........0/3
Berries (1 serving)...........0/1
Other fruit (3 servings).......2/3
Cruceferious Veg (1 serving)...0/1
Greens (2 servings)............0/1
Other Veg (2 servings).........0/2
Ground flax (1 serving)--------0/1
Nuts (1 serving)---------------1/1
Spices (1/2 tsp Turmeric)------0/1
Whole Grains (3 servings)------1/3
Water (5 servings)-------------3/5
Exercise ......................10/45

Saturday Score: 17/67 ~39%

Not my best day to start scoring ... wasn't feeling very good and didn't eat terribly good for me stuff, other than at my first meal (cereal w/banana, watermellon, whole wheat toast w/pb)

We won't talk about my "dinner" .. except to say that chocolate and pizza ...

---
I went to a local grocery store tonight (partly to get a Totino's ...) but also picked up some more hummus, snap peas, oranges and ground ginger. Spent about $15

--
Sunday we are *finally* meeting with my church's wills and trusts guy. This is our third appointment - both of the previous ones were missed because of me ... (spaced the first one, was during house buying process ... had to cancel the second one due to coming home from work early sick)

I'm realy curious to see how this works. DH and I spent some time discussing who we'd want our executor to be, and who'd be an alternative, etc. We both alreaady know what we want done if we die (cremated and ashes spread to the wind) but probably need those wishes written down somewhere in case we both go at the same time.

I'd like to set up a trust of some sort for animals, maybe have it go to the local no-kill cat shelter or something. DH probably would like that too (this is if we both go at the same time.)

----
I got my Chase Rewards Unlimited card in the mail today. Just need to activate it now, and send a $500 payment to DHs medical debt. Then probably by next statement will have the $150 cash back. Which will then be put towards the medical debt as well.

Anyone know how long it should take for a mortgage to show up on your credit report? My credit scores all still say "No recent installment info" ...

I've had the mortgage since June...

I'm also looking for a good sign up bonus for a card DH could qualify for. He has some dings on his report in the last few years (before we got back together)

I probably need to wait awhile before opening another card (looking at the Citi Double Cash back card ... though I wonder if they'd switch my current Citi card (with an annual fee) to the Double Cash card (with no annual fee) ... Hmmm.... with no credit pull.

----
I was reading something on the MMM forum on Friday that got me intrigued about some of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. I checked a few books out from the library, and have put a few more on hold. None of them though seemed to deal with what happened in the stadium those few days - the rumors I heard about that seemed the most horrific ... so was kind of curious to see if anyone had written about the reality of it. Will have to see though.

So .. Day 2.
++
Did'nt buy soda.
Put tumeric and cinnamon in my smoothie..
Had a total of around 8 servings of fruits/veggies.
Got in a 30+ minute walk

--
Bought and ate chocolate..
Had queasy stomach all day.
Had headache all day - maybe allergy related.

Keep forgetting to tell you all about the allergy appointment - was told that I'm ONLY allergic to a couple types of grasses. Makes no sense at all to me.
Sigh.

--
Got a surprise bill from former Internet provider. I'd looked into keeping their service at out house, but was told the fancier service with TV wouldn't reach our house, and we'd have to get Dish TV. Said no thanks!
Apparently something triggered in their system and I got sent a bill for service in September - $120 AFTER $40+ in "credits."

Uh .. no.

Spent about 40 minutes on the phone. Wrote down name of rep and confirmation number. Hopefully is taken care of.

Then called current Internet/Cable company. TWC. My 4th call regarding the "deposit" they charged me.. Supposedly I have been given a $50 credit. We will see. Name and rep# written down.

After the phone calls I went to Walgreen's and used my $10 credit (from connecting my fitbit to their walking program) - bought chocolate and an Amy's meal.

Then to HyVee where I got some bananas, tofu, and veggies.

Then to Aldi's where I returned an impulse purchase, and bought a couple cartons of Almond Milk (DH likes it.) and some peanuts for DH.

--
I don't know if the pherenome / felliway thing is helping at all. It says it can take 30 days ... My miss Kari seems to be getting worse ...

So last weekend I saw the book How Not to Die (by Dr Greger of nutritionfacts.org) mentioned in a couple different places. I put the audiobook on my library reserve list, and picked it up on Saturday.

Wow. I have to say I'm super impressed so far. And I'm only about 6 chapters into it.

One thing I already plan to do is add 4 brazil nuts each month to my diet. I also am adding a teaspoon of tumeric to my smoothies - I'd already been using tumeric on the roasted veggies, etc., but after hearing all the things it can do ... Yeah, a teaspoon in my smoothies! Probably will add cinnamon too.

My mom and my brother have both agreed to read/listen to it and then we can discuss it together. DH is a little bit more reluctant ... though he did somewhat patiently somewhat listen to me talking about it this afternoon.

So.. I am officially giving up soda. 100%. Not even a little sip of DH's at a restaurant. I also am limiting myself to no more than $2/week on any kind of junk food. Been spending way too much fun money on it/ eating WAY too much of it.

This is Day 1. Maybe I'll try to update a little like CB - though probably not daily.

I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in preventing the top 15 diseases that kill you ... And saving money on medical stuff.

---
So DH called me tonight and let me know that he got into a fender bender. His fault. Low speed. He's fine - but the person he hit (beater of a truck) appears to be claiming injury. Sigh.

This will be interesting to see what happens.

Now to figure out where the $150 ticket/court costs will come from.

----
Almost forgot! I actually got ALL of my thank you notes written tonight!! Some of them are even addressed!

Now they are on the counter waiting for DH to add his signature, and a short note of his own on some of them. Then I'll get them addressed and stop at a post office.

Woo hoo! Finally will have that albatross off my neck!

August was a spendy month in a number of categories - due to car repairs on DH's vehicle, and changing some grocery habits (i.e. buying more fresh produce since DH is actually eating it now!)

So ... the numbers: (expenses only == lots of money was put in various holding categories)

Mortgage/Extra - $0 (Was a month ahead in payments, so decided to distribute this money elsewhere.)
Natural Gas - 41.86
Electricity - $0 (paid August's bill in July ... )
Phone - 60.67
Internet/Cable - 55.35
Groceries - Fast Food - 8.86
Groceries - 347.30
Car Fuel - 223.09
Tithe - 130
Giving - 30
Car Maintenance - 474.04
Clothing - 85.71 (mostly DH replacing jeans, shoes, belt)
Household General - 263.69 (bedframe, misc., piano bench)
Medical - 139.38
Pets-cats=food/litter - 59.10
Pets -cat-medical - 102.26
Pets - non cat - food.shelter - 70.34 (chicken cage, food)
DH birthday dinner - 40.84
Date Night = 17.30
Student loan - 53.51
Medical Debt - 1000

---
DH requested that for the next budget meeting if it could be done on the iPad laying down he'd appreciate it. So thankfully YNAB's iPad app has much more functionality than the iPhone app..

We did our September budget meeting on the iPad while lounging on the bed. We had about 500 more to work with this month due to DH not having any nights off for packing/cleaning his old apartment, etc. Still ... the money went fast!

We may be purchasing a vehicle for DH this weekend. He needs something that is good for delivering in the snow. The car replacement category and the car repair category got the most money for September.

For the medical debt, I'm looking for another credit card offer with a good sign up bonus. I have about 600 available in that category to make another large payment. Are there any spend $500 get $100 deals out there?

We also bought DH a new phone - he found a used replacement for $10 on eBay. He currently uses a Keocera flip phone ... He joked that he wanted an iPhone. I told him sure, if he could wait a few weeks til the new model comes out, then the iPhone 5's will be an absolute steal. Would be a good starter smart phone.

---
Ok, so bank account interest is weird.

In July we had just slightly less money spread between two accounts. Both qualified for the 2.5% interest. We earned a total of $28.50 between the two accounts.

This month all but about $1.5k was in one account. Only one account qualified for the 2.5% interest. We earned $41.86 in interest.

I really don't get how we earned nearly $12 less in interest having nearly the same amount spread between two accounts (maybe a difference of $900 in ending balances)

The amount we earned in interest this month is about what I'd figured we should have earned last month. So ...???

So it's been a busy week.

Interesting tidbits...

DH and I worked together Thursday night to make stuffed bell peppers. So yummy! I meant to take a picture but forgot. The filling we made actually was enough for me to use on a sandwich the next day, and still have enough to stuff maybe 3 peppers.

Friday night I had a big scare. I was sitting at my computer relaxing, when all of a sudden I heard Kari and Sunny fighting right next to me. I put a book in between them to break it up, and Kari went off into a corner. The way she was huddled made me realize she was hurt.

So I went over to her and picked her up, and had some blood drip on my leg!!! Her eye was all scrunched up.

I panicked. I called DH and he told me to call the vet and see if they thought I should bring her in or wait and see.

I called the Vet and they told me that I should bring her in if she was got in the eye.

So I commenced trying to get her in the kennel ... Ten minutes later, and multiple scratches later, I had her in the kennel and in the car.

Then DH called to say he was five minutes away. I waited for him to come so he could look at her eye too. By the time he got there, Kari was opening her eye again.

We could see then that it was only the corner of her eye (the 3rd eye??) that looked a little bloody. So ultimately we decided to wait and see.

This morning she seemed fine, and the scratch looked healed.

We are discussing what we are going to do about Sunny. She is the only one of our cats that uses her claws to hurt the other cats (namely Kari) or destroy furniture (my office chair ...DHs speakers)

We see maybe 4 options. 1 and 2 - let go of one of the two cats - Kari or Sunny. 3 - Get Sunny declawed or 4 - try something like Soft claws?? to see if they would stay on Sunny and actually work.

I also ordered some Feliway spray today. I've had mixed opinions about whether it really works or not, but I'm going to try.

I don't like options #1 -3 at all, but if #4 doesn't work, then I'm not sure what else to do. We can't keep having Sunny take pieces out of Kari (she took a piece out of one of her ears a few months ago.)

Sigh.

---
In more positive news ... today DH let me cut his hair! I'd bought a clipper set from Aldi's about a month ago and he kept putting me off, or when he had time I didn't.

Today though we both had time at the same time. It took me about an hour, and I think I did a decent job for my first time. Definitely need to watch some more videos about how to cut the top part.

Today's haircut basically paid for thee clippers. Any future cuts will be money saved!

---
A new Dollar Tree WITH a freezer section opened up less than 1/2 a mile from our house on Thursday!!!

Color me ecstatic! They have the frozen fruit! They have the chicken nuggets DH likes. They don't have any of the frozen vege options of the other store ... yet. I will be letting them know they need to get those in there ASAP.

I also found that they have those organizing fabric bins that you would normally pay upwards of $5 each, for $1! (For those cube organizers.) I bought two to try out the quality and usefulness.

Well, I guess it's a good thing we bought the extra warranty for DH's Garmin.

He called me tonight to see if I had registered the Chromebook and Garmin yet ... I hadn't. Oops.

He apparently had a bottle of Windex on his car seat??? that wasn't tightly closed. It spilled onto the Garmin, and has rendered it useless.

The Garmin that is not even a month old.

So, they are both now registered and a file has been claimed. It is now up to DH to get it mailed in.

I personally will be shocked if they will replace it. Guess it's a good thing DH hasn't spent is fun money yet this month.

---
In other news ...

I realized as I was doing my budgeting tonight, that I hadn't scheduled the next mortgage payment. I went to the website to schedule it, but I couldn't do it! I could however schedule an autodraft for 9/1/16.

I decided to do that (so I don't have to worry about spacing the payment.) Then I realized that I had money budgeted in August for the mortgage and the extra payment which actually won't be needed now til september (I paid the first payment in June that was due July 1.)

So that gave me some money to play with a little bit. I put most of it in the car maintenance category, because that one took a hit this month and there's more to come. I also added to our fun money and a few other categories.

My little girl (cat) seems to be on the mend from her bladder issues.. Unfortunately, it hasn't helped her behavior with the other cats. At all. On more than one occasion I have seen her go from one side of a room to across the room and into the hallway to pounce and growl at another cat.

I've also witnessed her swatting at the other cats while they are using a litterbox.

I'm not really sure what to do.

I'm worried that the other cats patience with her is going to run out and they'll gang up on her. Or .. that they'll stop feeling safe using the litterboxes because they are worried she's going to walk by and attack them.

I think a lot of it is her being territorial about me. But I've heard her go on the attack when she's on the other side of the house from me.

I wonder how much it would cost to get a cat behaviorist to come and help us get this figured out? The vet tech said something about giving her her own litterbox and water bowl ... but how would that work?

I have one litterbox per cat plus one, plus water dishes throughout the house. I have no idea how I could make an area accessible to her, but off limits to the others.

Sigh.

--
This morning I did something I haven't done in YEARS. I walked / jogged 3.2 miles! It took me about 52 minutes ... Considering that for the past six months or so, about the furthest I've *walked* at one time is 1.75 miles, I'd say not bad.

Maybe I'll try training for the Turkey Trot. Haven't done an actual race in quite a few years.

--
Tomorrow I'm working the BR Welcome (local university welcoming their students back.) It'll be at least 3 hours of overtime. I'm hoping it won't be too hot or humid.

I'm also going to be picking up a piano bench for $20 from someone on a local FB group. I'm hoping that having a bench will make me more likely to actually use my electronic keyboard.

I'm also planning on picking up some more veggies from a local FT store (place that sells lots of veggies/fruits/natural foods.) Possibly get them chopped up and roasted before heading out for the BRW event.

I wonder if frozen pre-chopped veggies would roast very well???

----
I dropped off DHs scrip for a glucose meter last night at 5:15 and told them I'd wait for it. My name finally got called at 6:10. Ugh. Double ugh.

*DH helpfully told me this morning that I should have just dropped it off to pick up today. Um, sure. But then I would have had to go BACK a second time - though I guess I could go through the drive through and not be tempted to buy stuff inside....

I was also picking up refills of my scrips. My overall total was $79, but then after coupons, ECBs (CVS), etc. it was down to $45. (Of which, ~$38 was scrips.) Besides other things, I picked up knee highs, Gold Bond foot powder, Glade plug in scent warmer/refills, and a thing of hand soap.

---
While at CVS, I picked up a pamphlet talking about a Weight Loss Program offered by the Minute Clinic. You have someone talk with you about your goals/lifestyle etc. and help you develop a plan. You also get enrolled in a DASH website (based on that diet.) You check in with someone there on a regular basis to collect vitals, etc.

It would make it so you are accountable to someone else, but on your schedule.

I'm wondering if this might not be something worthwhile - especially if insurance would cover most of it. I'm wondering if insurance would cover any of it ... Maybe DH would be willing to do the program with me?

Anyone hear of this program?

This past Sunday I made a roasted veggie dish with an avacado based dressing and a side of cauliflower rice. Suprisingly, it was a hit with DH!

So much so, he actually requested that I repeat it with the veggies I hadn't previously cut up and the leftover avocado. I did - didn't turn out quite as good, but still got a thumbs up from DH.

The only thing is ... cauliflower is EXPENSIVE! I paid $3 for one head, and that made barely enough "rice" for two servings. It was *really* good though!

I hope I can find it for much less than that. Could become a staple dinner item! (Maybe experiment with making pizza with it.)

--
I bought a pair of hair clippers from Aldi's a few weeks ago with the intention of cutting DH's hair. I've watched a few Youtube videos .... Why is cutting my hair so much simpler, yet in the salon, because of my length, I'd pay more??

If anyone has links to good videos of the most simple way to do a clipper hair cut, I'd love to see them. Or if you could tell me how you do it? I probably only have one chance to convince DH to let me do this ... so want to make sure I do it well!

---
Yesterday morning I woke up after just a few hours sleep, but was quite awake. Browsing FB I noticed some strange posts being put on the wall of a woman I'd met while getting my librarian degree in Texas.

I clicked on her page, and to my horror and dismay, I saw that she had been murdered (in front of their 5 year old daughter) by her husband, who then killed himself!

According to the article they were deeply in debt - student loans, mortgages, credit cards, etc., and were about to file bankruptcy.

She worked as a librarian at a university - not sure what her husband did.

You hear about this kind of thing on the news, and it's horrendous enough. But to actually KNOW someone this happened to? Wow.

The woman's name was Kate. I didn't know her all that well, just a few friendly chats when we were both on campus at the same time and some interactions in a few classes we took at the same time. till, from that little bit of knowing, she seemed like a truly quality person who deeply loved her little girl.

Lillian. Her world has pretty much exploded at 5 years old.

It shows you really don't know what is going on in peoples lives. I just wish they would have reached out to someone for help ...

---
Almost forgot. Tomorrow begins my 5 day countdown to my allergist appointment. Wish me luck (and low allergen counts for the next few days!)

So DH did go to the doctor, and we got the bloodwork results on Tuesday (last week.) High blood pressure, diabetes and another issue.

Sigh. He had been worried for awhile that he might have developed diabetes. His mom died of diabetes complications in the late 80s. One of his sisters died of complications from it (juvenile onset) a few years before their mom.

Right now he is refusing to meet with the diabetes lifestyle counselor. He says that he knows enough about it, and any questions he has can be Googled. He has agreed that if after 30 days of doing it his way, if he doesn't see improvements, that he will see the counselor.

He does seem to be a little more willing to eat veggies ... and is cutting back on soda a good bit.

I'm really, really trying to not butt in and tell him what to do. To let him set the pace. It's really hard though - especially when he started out by doing 90% protein calories ...

I spoke to a CVS pharmacist about a blood pressure cuff and an glucose meter. They told me that I should contact our insurance to see what was covered.

I did that today - found out that both the meter and strips - of any brand - are 100% covered, but the bp cuff would count towards OOP and deductible. I need to contact one of the local medical supply places here to find a cuff with a large enough extension piece.

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Work ... Sigh. The last week and a half has been extremely busy, hectic, stressful. Last Friday there was an incident where I had two people in a row come to the window asking for route info, logged off the phone, and still had 5 different people call and be placed on hold (then hang up) while helping the people at the window. Then had someone call moaning and groaning about being on hold for 25 minutes.

I kind of vented unwisely to my supervisor ... Usually there is at least one other person there who can help handle an over load of phone calls, but my supervisor was in a meeting and those present in the office weren't ones who generally answer the phone ..

We both left quite frustrated Friday afternoon.

I nearly got sideswiped on the way home which definitely did not help my perspective. Thankfully DH was home and was able to give me some much needed respite so I eventually felt calmer about everything.

Then yesterday my supervisor asked me to come back with her to the conference room.... One of the things she talked about to me about was Friday. We agreed that I should try forwarding more calls to the information line when I get swamped like that.

The other thing she talked to me about though really threw me for a loop. Apparently people have complaining about my area smelling bad. Sometimes about ME smelling bad.

I practice good hygeine - teeth brushed, hair washed, clothes washed, etc. The only things I could think of would be my shoes (which I leave at my desk overnight so I don't have to walk too much in them outside.) Or ... my clothes.

Yes, I always wear clean clothes (or at least clothes that still pass the sniff/smudge test after a wearing or two) But ... I think the issue could possibly be the cats. The smell from the cats.

When you have many multiple litter boxes throughout a home, it seems impossible to NOT have it smell. The chickens in the basement sure don't help either.

I asked my supervisor to alert me when she smells something off, so that way I can possibly pin point the cause better. (Such as - that top was hanging in the laundry room for the past week which is next to the workshop with the chickens and also in a room with a litter box. Or, that was the third time I wore those pants - maybe I was wrong about them passing the sniff test.)

I wasn't upset that she told me about this - in fact I appreciated it. However, at the same time, I'm now feeling mighty awkward around my coworkers wondering who had been talking about me behind my back.

Ugh.

I'm thinking it might be worth it to try to find a few hundered dollars in the budget to have someone come in here and help me figure out what to do to eliminate / alleviate the smell factor. (Supervisor's suggestion was get rid of most of the cats and all the chickens ... Yeah, that's not going to happen. Though maybe I can spur DH to get the chickens outside with the idea that their smell may be affecting me at work!)

(Shoes - I am planning on putting baking soda in them, and also maybe dryer sheets, and a few other ideas I found. Maybe also get some footies to wear with them. Probably also try to take them home with me each night.)

(Litter boxes - I use the scoopable kind with baking soda for multi-cat households. I completely scoop them ALL out daily. I have air fresheners in every room of the house, plus a couple of those things that are supposedly supposed to "refresh" the air ... I also use carpet freshener when I vacuum. The only other thing I can think of to do would be to completely clean out the litter boxes .. but I have done that a few times, and it is nearly an all afternoon ordeal and completely zaps any energy I have for the coming week. And that's only with doing half of them. *and no way would DH help with THAT - he's just barely agreed to take over scooping the basement boxes this last week.)

Speaking of energy ... I thought I was on an upswing and maybe the iron supplements were helping. Maybe I just way overdid it Sunday, but I am beyond wiped Monday and Tuesday. probably the busyness / stress at work isn't helping either though.

*I did see the counselor Monday. She basicaly told me that I'm doing a pretty good job of setting boundaries, but need to work on making DH take care of more of his responsibilities (like how he is eat) hour was barely enough time to scratch the surface. But it definitely was helpful.

The last few days I'd been noticing that my cat Kari had been in a litter box every time I turned around - and not just in and out quickly, but squatting and squatting and ...

I mentioned it to DH, and he also observed the same thing.

I'd noticed also that for about a week or so she had seemed to regress quite a bit in her acceptance of the other cats. Screaming at them and attacking them if they dared look at her ..

So I called the vet before work on Monday and got an appointment for her after work.

I walked her in her kennel (the vet is about a block from us) and took her in. The vet tech reassured me that it wasn't an urinary blockage, but said that they needed a urine sample to test for a bladder infection. They could keep her overnight (at no charge!) and take the sample in the morning, or I could try to collect it myself ...

With multiple cats and multiple litter boxes ... I chose to let her have an overnight away.

I got a call this afternoon letting me know that she indeed did have a bladder infection. My poor little girl.

The vet suggested strongly that I put her back on her old more expensive food (Purina One Beyond) and see if that helped, as well as the pills they gave me.

One 3 lb bag of this food costs almost what 3/4 of the 16 lb bag of Purina Complete which we've been feeding the cats since moving in here. DH probably isn't going to like this too much. Oh well. I have to give her her pills twice a day - only way to do that is crush them up and put them in some canned food. They cost 2x what the Friskie's costs for 1/2 the amount. Oh well. I'll be able to make one can last for 3 meals, so it wont be SO horribly extra expensive.

The vet visit and meds cost $102. A 3 lb bag of food and 4 cans after coupons, $16.xx My Kari hopefully feeling better in a few days? Priceless.

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I spoke too soon about my allergies being better/no more sinus headaches ... had a doozy of one yesterday. Of course starting the day with an argument with DH probably didn't help matters ... We probably won't see each other again til tomorrow night thanks to our schedules. Probably not a bad thing...

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My aunt texted me today telling me that grandma had gotten some form in the mail telling her that my dad had $100 coming to him from something. She's going to mail it on to me. I'm guessing it will be something like a defunct bank account or deposit refund on something or the other.

If it really is something, I plan on offering my brother half of it - although I doubt he'll take me up on it, because he's now making 5x? what I'm making per month ... and doesn't know what to do with all the money.

Those of you who've met him won't be surprised to know that he had been given the goal of making $250k in sales by the end of this year ... and he surpassed $300k in sales a month ago ... He truly could sell ice to an Eskimo.

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The next two nights I'll be working overtime at open houses - selling passes, answering questions about the school booster buses, and probably also fielding questions about the new routes coming in to effect in October. I've already got a little snack stash ready to go so I am not tempted to stop at the local grocery store near the school ... I just hope my energy can hold out and that I don't have a sinus headache either of the nights ... Will just have to power through come what may.

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I've reached out to the counseling services provided by my employer and made an appointment for Monday. DH and I have had some issues I haven't mentioned here, as well as some of the ones I have ... I'm at a point where I feel I need a 3rd party (disinterested) to bounce the issues/thoughts off of.

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Is it reprehensible that I haven't written the thank you notes for the wedding gifts yet?? I keep putting it on my to do list, and it keeps not getting done ... almost to the point where I'm embarrassed to send them ...

So I have a Credit Card that gives me 5% back on gas purchases. It was nice to have before when was only purchasing one or two fill ups a month. But now with DH filling up every few days, it is worth almost 3/4 of a tank of gas!

A few weeks ago I tried to start the process of changing my name on the card and getting DH added on to the account (so we each could have a card - right now he has it most of the time, and then gives it to me when I need to fill up.)

First, it was nearly impossible to figure out HOW to start the process. So I wrote to customer service.

A few days later I got an email with a link to a form I needed to print out and send back, along with a scan of my marriage certificate and another form of id.

So I managed to get my scanner function to work again, and scanned in the documents requested.

A few days later I get another email telling me that what I had sent wasn't enough. That I needed to send in a "certified copy of your driver's license." Say what?!

Another couple emails, and it was clarified that yes, they require this, and yes, they know that it is more than most places require - but they are a conservative organization and very careful.

Ugh.

So... yesterday after work I stop my credit union (where I get the 2.5% on checking) and asked about getting my driver's license notarized. Of the two notaries there, neither one had EVER heard of such a thing, and couldn't find any kind of form on the notary's website for NE.

So now I'm waiting for another email back from customer service to tell me if there is a particular form the notary can use, or what else they'd suggest I do!

Have any of you ever heard of such a thing??

If it wasn't for the 5% on gas, I would just forget this card! I guess I could just keep using it with my maiden name ... I still have my old driver's license to prove that was my name at one time.

Ugh.

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Dh's birthday was on Wednesday - the ol' 50. He worked that night, so we celebrated on Thursday. We went out to eat at this nice local Mexican restaurant -Tico's. It's been here in L town since shortly after I was born. Really good food (lots of veg choices) although a bit pricey. Their dessert - Ponzaneita (sp?) is utterly scrumptious, and their chips are addictive. (I don't normally eat the chips at a restaurant, but these looked so different, I had to try them ... ate half a basket!)

Once DH gets to Walmart, he's getting a new electric razor for his birthday.

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I think I've been spending too much money at CVS .. I got a postcard in the mail this last week telling me I was in the "top 4%" ... Then I proceeded to stop there Friday afternoon and spend $23 - after about $30 in a variety of coupon savings and a blanket 15% off. I also got back $8 in ECB. I just need to spend another $7 on P&G products to get another $10 ECB. I'm debating about it ...

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I opened up a new AmEx Charge card last week. Received the card on Tuesday? and went ahead and used it to pay $1k on DHs medical debt. 5 or 6 weeks from now I'll get 25,000 rewards points. They can't be used for cash back, and can't be used for statement credits (unless I use the card charge $250 worth of other budgeted stuff ... that actually work out ..) My other option is gift cards - Amazon might be one of the issuers. My card isn't listed on my account yet, so I haven't been able to explore the options yet (other than what the CSR told me.)

I also opened a new checking account. (DH rolled his eyes when I told him.) All I have to do is have one direct deposit of $500 within 90 days, and have some kind of transaction each month, and I'll get $150.

That's $400 to throw at debt! (eventually ...)

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I've been looking for large container to put change in for DH's boat fund. I'd thought about a used/beat up 5 gallon water jug (like what is used on water dispensers) but couldn't find anything like it for cheap. So yesterday I was at Dollar Tree and I found a 3 gallon container similar in shape to an old water bottle I had. That is now here at home and labeled with "DH's Boat Fund" and I already put in a couple dollars worth of change that's been scattered through out the house.

(As a delivery driver, DH has lots of change floating everywhere. I plan on offering to clean out his cars so I can get all the change out from them .. and hopefully he'll put his change in the jar at night instead of tossing his jeans on the floor and letting the change all go wherever ...

I don't really use cash, so I'll probably just add to it whatever money I find on the ground, etc.

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I don't know if it is just coincidental or if there is something there ... but a few days after I started taking the iron supplements, I also switched from Allegra D to just Allegra. I also stopped taking the cold medicine at night to sleep.

Ever since then, it seems like my allergies have gotten better! I haven't had a sinus headache in weeks! I've been getting slightly better sleep (my average has gone up to 5 1/2 hours! vs. an average of 4 1/2 - 5 hrs.)

So ... is it the iron supplements? The switching from Allegra D to Allegra? Whatever I'm most allergic to, getting less? I wish I knew the answer, but at any rate, I'll take it!

DH finally got up Sunday around 7:30 - I was just about ready to go and rouse the dead ... was getting so bored waiting.

It took about 25 minutes total, and I think he was surprised to see just how fast the money went. He told me that he's going to cream me as far as what he brings in for September. I told him I'd love to see it. (A little friendly competition never hurts, right? )

After our meeting was over, DH went to go get our pizza (date night in!)

Then as we were finishing up dinner, I told him that we still needed to spend some time working on the basement. Even if only 30 minutes. We needed to get a path through the living room to the basement kitchen/bathroom. Plus .. the dehumidifier buried in the back of the family room.

(Let's just say that the movers who moved DHs stuff in left a lot to be desired. Or maybe the difference was that I was out and sort of supervising the people moving my stuff most of the time, while DH was cocooning himself in the A/C as much as possible ...)

Anyway ... he finally agreed to at least make a path. So we went down there and got a path made. We came to the area where the dehumidifier was and found out that a subwoofer had been placed on top of it.

I said to DH, "Well, we've got the path. Maybe we can deal with this later."

Dh responded, "No, lets go ahead and do it now. Who knows how bad the humidity level is down here. So not good for all the electronics!"

I just quietly smiled to myself and helped him get the dehumidifier free.

Then we realized that the only available plug was a two prong plug, and the dehumidifier needed a three prong plug. I told DH that I thought I had one more adapter in my tool box. He says to me - "Get it PDQ (pretty darn quick) so we can get rid of this excess humidity!"

Oh DH. I've only been mentioning the humidity level in the basement, etc., for the last month... and offering to help clear a path for at least that long ... Now, it's all PDQ!

Although we've now been married just over 3! months, July was the first month where we followed a joint budget and I completely took over the bill paying. It also was the first full month where we only had one household - although we were paying the final bills from our former apartments.

Whenever DH wakes up, we're going to have a quick budget meeting for August. One thing we've kind of had to hash out this month is the when/how of him giving me the cash tips to deposit. He was used to to just going by the bank once or twice a month to make a deposit. I want to make a deposit every Friday (when the lobby is open til 6.)

He didn't see why I wanted to do that since our account balances have more than enough for our daily expenses. I explained to him that all my money is directly deposited and that helps me be able to guage what the next month's budget will be like. When I showed him how much was available to budget for August from my contributions versus what he'd given me so far ... he started giving me the tips as he got them. (He's a delivery driver - makes a small hourly wage, but averages 2x that in tips/delivery charges.)

So ... since we were putting everything together this month, it is difficult to say what our "income" really was - our budget was based off of all moneys from various checking/savings being put together. Expenses include final bills and deposit charges for new accounts. In other words, this isn't a typical month for us by any means.

So .. expenses:
Mortgage (loan only) $526
Extra Principal: $25
Natural Gas: 69.20
Electricity: 382.44 (includes June bill that got misplaced!!)
Phone: 239.04 (last month of DH needing to use phone as a hotspot for Internet - our bill for August is less than $60.)
Water: 51.43 (2 month bill)
Internet/Cable: 150 (deposit, extra house visit)
Groceries - Fast food: 29.81
Groceries - 265.08
Auto Fuel - 241.87 (delivery driver ....)
Tithe: 130 (DH isn't on board with tithing, but is ok with me continuing my same level as before)
Giving: 30
Car Maintenance: 14.97
Car tax/licenses: 421.69 (Tags for 3 cars, 2 new licenses)
Clothing: 20.40
Computer Replacement: (DH) 249
Garmin Replacement: (DH) 142
Household (blanket, toiletries, paper goods, fan, etc.) 148.36
Medical - Non-deductible (allergy, etc) 64.53
Medical FSA Reimbursed- 80.48 (copays, meds, heating pad)
Pets - Cats - food/litter -$80.97 (a LOT of litter/food)
Pets - Cats - Medicine(flea meds) $77
Pes - Non Cats - Food - 13.50
Pets - Non Cats - Medicine - 16.61
Fitness - 41.83 (my gym membership, hopefully can cancel soon)
Date Night: 14.77 (although will be getting pizza tonight)
DH fun money - 16
Laura fun money - 79.22
Student loan (DH) 55
Medical debt (DH) 372

Whooh! I think that covers it! Besides the money put into the above categories, there was also money put into a variety of other holding categories.

August will be spendy for car maintenance, and I just got approved for a new AE card which I'll be using to make a $1k payment on the medical (get back 250!)

I'm looking forward to what our first month of spending will be like without deposits and final bill fees. (also without needing to replace electronics!)

I have around 6 hours of overtime in August, and I think September will be a 3 paycheck month. DH is working on putting together some speaker sales. (To help fund his boat and tv wishes.)

Mortgage Principal Balance:
Start 7/1/16 - $112,000
As of 7/31/16 (2 payments) - 111,619
Medical Debt:
As of 7/1/16 - 3,668
As of 7/31/16 - 3,296
Student Loan - TBD

So I finally heard back from my doctor about the bloodwork results. My lymphocytes had gone back into the normal range, but my platelets had not. She also said that my ferritan levels were on the low side. So she suggested two options - try taking iron supplements for two months and retest; or, go see a hematologist.

I decided to try the iron pills first. Reading about the symptoms of low iron, it sounds a lot like me. Extreme fatigue, brittle nails, etc.

The problem is though, I eat a lot of foods that are iron rich! My smoothie five days a week has strawberries, etc. in it. Spinach, raisins, pumpkin seeds, and on and on are most of my diet.(outside of my chocolate addiction ...)

So I don't get how I could have low iron.

Right now I'll try just about anything to get my energy back. So .. iron supplements it is. (taken with OJ for now - vitamin C helps the iron absorb better.)

The supplements are pretty cheap - got a 30 day supply for just a few dollars. So .. worth it.

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DH and I had our first date night (just us) Thursday night for July. Ordered out from Ming's and ate in the bedroom with the door shut - to keep the cats out.

I had been supposed to cook, but just had no energy to do so. So DH suggested Ming's. I'm going to do the CC roast on Sunday instead (when it's likely I'll have the most energy, after two days of not working.)

We still have most of our date night budget left - since DH's friend paid for our meal at the Chineese buffet on Sunday.

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DHs friend who we dogsat for and who had indicated he'd reimburse us for the meds we bought for his dog ... well, it looks like he isn't going to follow through on that. Ugh.

I bought the meds knowing full well that we might not be reimbursed, but of course I was hoping! $150 out the door.

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Our electric bill ... OMW! Somehow I missed the June bill (amoungst the many final bills, etc) - that was $99. Then the July bill - $149! Ouch!!!

We had our a/c set at 72 - DH agreed to let me put it up to 78. I couldn't sleep at all at 78. So put it down to 76. That seems ok so far.

Hopefully our next bill won't be so huge!

DH helpfully told me that big electricity bills should be expected in a house in the summer. Really hubby? I had no idea. Doesn't mean I have to like it- or live with it!

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Our checks for our joint account finally came today. We bought them from Walmart - enough to probably last us the rest of our lives. (250 I think.)

It came in some weird packaging from someplace in New Braunfel's TX. At first I thought it was some kind of tourist brochure and almost tossed it without opening ... Glad I didn't do that!

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At work we now have 8 women and two men in administration. One of our men who retired at 53 was replaced by a woman.

I really like her so far. In fact, she helped me out big time with a project I was working on.

We are changing our bus routes and our time schedules completely in October. My boss gave me a spreadsheet with all the time schedules on it for all the routes that one of the dispatchers had created.

The problem with it was 1. All the routes and times were on one sheet; and 2. All the times were written without a colon. i.e. 843P instead of 8:43P

So, the first problem was easily fixed. It was the second problem which caused me a great deal of frustration. How to insert a colon into umpteen cells without having to click on each one individually?

I tried every thing I knew how to do, plus what I could find on Google. Nada. Then TN saved the day by suggesting a V Lookup - and made one for me too!

From there, it was just a matter of around 4 hours of copying and pasting. (There were a lot! of times needing colons ...)

Life is going pretty well overall.

I made an appointment with an allergy doctor for August 23 - the only caveat is that I have to stop all allergy meds for 5 days prior. Yikes. Hope I can survive that.

I got my refund of my security deposit from my apartment. They charged me for cleaning the carpet. Huh? It wasn't stained or worn more than normal? DH says that it's expected that you clean the carpets when leaving an apartment. Maybe just in NE? I never did that at any other place I lived, and always got my deposit back.

Oh well, I was prepared to not get any of my deposit back since these property managers have proven to be exceedingly picky ... so, getting back $117 of $415 is better than I hoped for.

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This afternoon I was walking in the park near our local zoo and got a bit lost. So I got out my GPS to get me back to my car. I stopped near a statue and was staring at my phone - when this young teen stopped near me and said, "Pokemon?"

I smiled at him and told him, "Sorry, no."

There were lots of people in the park with their nose to their phone ... assuming most were Pokemon hunting.

I'm glad the game is getting people out and about.

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DH seems to be adjusting to living with a budget so far. The real test will be next month - I've already done some projections, and unless he gets some really good tip money the next couple weeks, we're going to have to lessen the fun money categories. He probably won't like that too much.

I'm hoping I can get him to sit down with me as I allocate the money out, so he can see all the places the money has to go.

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We're having a quasi-date night tomorrow. Going to eat at a local Chinese buffet with the owner of the dog we dogsat for. Hoping he'll reimburse us for the medications ... but not holding my breath. ($150)

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Thursday night we went to Dollar Tree and picked up a bunch of frozen items - vegetarian stuff for me, and chicken for DH. Also, the fixing's for spaghetti. Which is what DH made for dinner. (We've agreed that we will take turns making dinner for each other on Sundays/Thursdays. His two nights he doesn't work at all.)

I'm going to probably make a cottage cheese loaf on Thursday night. Then next week will try out a new recipe.

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I still haven't used my Instapot. I'm not sure why really. Tomorrow though I plan on doing the water test, and then using it to cook a butternut squash and some sweet potatoes.

I am going to be volunteering at our VBS program M - W nights, so want to have something easy to fix for my dinners. (probably am going to make butternut black bean burgers and sweet potato burgers)

I also got some firm tofu, and am planning on frying some of it and baking some of it. Then cooking a cup or so of quinoa and brown rice for lunches. (along with a zucchini and yellow squash and onion - all on good sales.)

Will see what actually gets done tomorrow.

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Almost forgot - I had DHs and I's 3 car registrations/wheel taxes combined into the same month for renewal (August) For all 3, it was $392. That was a good bit less than I had estimated, so that was a bit of money back in the budget. Although DH wants to get a 4 Runner by November, so I need to have money set aside for that registration/wheel tax too. (Guessing $100 - 120.)

(The 4 Runner is for getting around delivering in winter, and also pulling the eventual boat ... He's funding both purchases by 1/3 of the inheritance check, plus 1/4 of whatever sales he makes via Craigslist, etc. We've agreed that 50% of sales go back into a "business operating fund" for purchasing more inventory, making repairs, shipping, etc. 25% goes to his car/boat/tv funds, and 25% goes to the general budget - i.e. debt payments for now.)

So today I took off of work early to go to my doctor's appointment. My boss came out to help someone at the window who'd come just as I was getting ready to go.

Before heading out, I stopped at the restroom. Then I had to pass near the window on my way out. Guess who was at the window being helped by my boss? Let's see if you can guess, "My problem is that I don't agree with the policy about lost passes ..."

As soon as I saw/heard this, I scooted out of there ASAP. Seriously, that lady is back already? Did she lose her pass already? I am SO glad I didn't have to deal with her before leaving, or my blood pressure would have been sky high!

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As it was, I left with plenty of time to get there. You never know how long it'll take ... I got to the turn off about 30 minutes early, but then missed the turn off.... So, got there about 20 minutes early.

They still had me in their system by my maiden name, so got that all updated. Then gave them the bill from the lab with my maiden name (got a call later from their coding department telling me I'll have to get back in contact with the original place. This may be fun ...)

Anyway, when my doctor finally came in to the room she told me that my platelets have always ran kind of high ... really? But that they don't usually get concerned til its in the 600's (mine was 580.) But still combined with the lymphocytes, it was worth looking into. So she's scheduled me for a repeat CBC and a blood smear (where a person looks at the individual cells?) That'll happen on Wednesday morning.

She also is referring me to an allergist. She said that I could possibly take allergy shots for a couple of years, and then be DONE with allergies! Oh joy! If that is truly possible... I'll deal with getting shot up every month for a few years!

She thinks that my tiredness, moodiness, nauseousness, lack of energy etc etc etc can all be attributed to my allergies (and insomnia due to allergies/taking Allegra D.)

All I know is I'd really like to stop putting all these chemicals into my body (especially when they don't seem to be helping all that much) and get my energy back!

We'll see I guess.

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On Sunday I made a recipe from the Stuffed at the Gills blog for Chow Mein noodles. It reminded me sort of of my favorite Amy's meal - Chinese Noodles with Cashew sauce. It was a bit of work ... but oh so good! Even DH approved. (We had a bit of a tiff because he was tired of my "trying" out recipes that weren't turning out that great ... we compromised that I'd limit my "trying out recipes" to 2 x a month. Otherwise we'll stick with ones we know we like already. Whatever. )

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I've started putting FSA eligible expenses on my credit card. I also downloaded the app for the FSA place - already have submitted two claims and been reimbursed for one. Pretty nifty! (Now if I can just find the receipt for the copay DH had back in May ... getting his 1 1/2 year checkup on his shoulder, that'd be another $25 back in the budget ... gotta be around here somewhere.)

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Our associate pastor preached this week. While I'm not too sure what I think of him overall, I did really like the story he focused on and how he related it to today.

He talked about the story of Jesus and the Samaritan Woman at the Well. His focus was on how Jesus gave a great example of breaking down walls and barriers. Jews and Samaritans were very close cousins, but hated each other. The Jews thought they were better than the Samaritans. Sound familiar?

What I wonder is how can I / we go about breaking down the walls / barriers today? How can we make everyone feel equally worthy of love, equally worthy of a good place in the world, equally worthy of respect, equally worthy of dignity? All of us bleed the same color ... no matter race, religion or sexual orientation. All of us are equal in God's eyes.

How can we get the blinders off of peoples eyes so they can really see this? If we could do this, the world would be so much better off.

Sigh.

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On an unrelated note - I got the iPad working again without having to take it in anywhere. It is now mine. Ha ha ha. (DH is quite happy with his Chromebook.)