Keeping It Frugal

I walked home again today from work. By taking a bit more direct route, I was able to shave off almost an 1/8th of a mile and nine minutes. So I made it in about 31 minutes.

I'm thinking about walking TO work the whole way in the morning. If I get there early enough, I can go into the bathroom and "freshen" up.

Our local library is going to be offering Hoopla soon - which is a source of ebooks, audiobooks, movies and tv shows. So I'm planning on downloading an audio book to listen to, and of course there is Brian Harding's Daily Audio Bible podcast. So plenty to listen to while I walk.

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We had a Social Styles training today. Essentially it was a personality test and then everyone had to share their strongest results. My result was Amiable-Amiable. That just meant that almost all my answers fell into the Amiable category. I was the only one who had a double.

It was somewhat interesting, and the big bonus was it got me off the phone for 90 minutes!

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There's two movies I really want to see. Avengers 2 and Pitch Perfect 2. PP2 I think I'll wait for it to come out on DVD - but I'd really prefer to see Avengers 2 on the big screen. So .. I'll probably go see it Monday afternoon - a matinee. (I have Monday off! Sweet!)

Okay, so this wasn't SO short, but it was ... shorter.

This morning I walked from 17th to 10th street (plus a little maneuvering due to some intersections being torn up.) I got to the spot I wanted to pick up the bus at about 7:27. The bus came by about 7:36.

When I got on and showed the driver my bus station id, he looked at me like I had two heads. I told him - I work at ..... this id is the same as a bus pass. He told me I should be wearing my uniform ... I told him I don't wear a uniform! He let me on ..

Later when I was getting off, he asked me my name and introduced himself. Must be new or something.

I got to the office (after walking another 3 1/2 blocks) about 7:47 a.m. That gave me time to freshen up in the bathroom, fill my water bottle and get settled before I had to start my day. I kind of liked it actually.

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After work I decided that I would just walk all the way home to see how long that would take me. I also wanted to see what the walking mileage would be.

Turns out it took me about 42 minutes to do 1.66 miles. There were a lot of busy streets I had to cross, so some of that time was spent standing at a corner waiting to cross.

I don't think I'd walk it every time (would have to do laundry more often ... only own two bras ..) but maybe once a week would be good.

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I had misplaced my big medical bill from the ER visit and so was waiting for them to send it again. It came today ... and OH NO! They don't take American Express as a payment form!! I'm not sure how I'm going to do $1000 in 3 months on that card now ... will have to switch all my spending to it from now on. (Want the $250 cash back!)

I should have considered that possibility when I was thinking about getting the AE card. Ugh.

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I've been asked to help out as a Sabbath School Secretary once every 8 weeks (collect the offering envelopes from the various classes) and to help out in the Kindergarten class once or twice a month. I have already accepted the SS Secretary job, but am going to ask some more questions about the Kinder job. It kind of sounds like I'd be the lead teacher?? I really don't want that much responsibility.

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The last time I was at my doctor's office I asked them if I could have copies of my lab test results. So often when someone calls me with them, they run through the numbers like a bear is chasing them.

The ones that were off a bit I already knew, but I was happy to see that all the vitamins/minerals etc. were in the normal range. I guess the fruit smoothies most mornings is doing their job.

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I think I'll probably continue the bus riding, at least on days I don't have obligations/appointments after work. Especially since gas prices definitely don't seem to be falling!

Oh .. the total time in the morning --- Left house at 7:15 arrived at work at 7:47. So 30 minutes.

Walking took about 42 minutes.

Taking the bus home took about 42 minutes (waiting for the bus to come by, then walking home)

Driving ... around 8 - 15 minutes depending on traffic.

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Work was much better today.

Possible solution to issue was discussed.

Last week I started thinking that I'd like to do an experiment. When NE and I went on our little road trip, we took my car. Which meant that my gas tank is much lower than it normally is for this time of month. I did go ahead and add $10 of gas to it on Sunday just in case I didn't like the results of my experiment.

So .. what was my experiment? Riding the bus to work and back home!

Today was day 1.

I caught the bus that goes within a few blocks of my home about 7:35 a.m. That's only ten minutes earlier than I usually leave in the car.

We got downtown at 7:49 ... according to the person I spoke with last week, the bus should have gone on to the bus garage. That person was wrong.

At 7:51 we left with new passengers .. at the first stop I checked to make sure he wasn't going to the garage. He wasn't.

So I got off and preceded to walk roughly 12 blocks to work. I arrived about 8 minutes late.

After work I debated my options. I could catch the inbound bus at 5, go to the transfer center, catch the bus that goes within a few blocks of my house and then be home by 5:40 or so. Little walking involved.

Or I could catch the outbound bus two blocks away from work a bit after 4:45, take it for five or six minutes, get off and walk about ten blocks home.

I chose option two - and got home about 5:10.

Tomorrow I'm trying again - this time I'll start out with the bus that is about ten blocks away from me (nine blocks inbound) and will end up being early for work. However, I will be wearing my tennis shoes and carrying my heels in my bag!

I'll have to leave the apartment by 7:15, which is about 30 minutes earlier than my car time, but I'm also getting in a good bit of exercise. Two birds, one stone.

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I am SO frustrated with the afternoon dispatcher at work. Today I had at least 3 people calling me asking me about a particular bus route. The bus wasn't showing up on the locator screen, so I tried calling dispatch to find out what was going on. It just kept ringing and ringing and ringing. So I had to tell the people that I didn't know what was going on. Ugh.

Finally a 4th person calls and I try again - get the dispatcher. I ask him if anything is going on with that route - he mumbles one word that sounds like yes, and then hangs up on me.

I get that he was probably uber inundated with the drivers calling in, etc., but I have to have information to work with to handle callers! It made me (and our company) sound idiotic to not have that info. This isn't the first time I've had this issue with this particular dispatcher.

I told the office manager what happened - making sure she knew I didn't want him to get into trouble, but that we have to figure out some way for me to be informed of accidents (which is what happened) and other disruptions on the routes fairly soon after they happen. Because people DO call!

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I also had this one caller today whose phone kept cutting in and out and was difficult to understand. So I thought I figured out what he wanted, and gave him the info. Later he called me back and accused me of lying to him! I was flabbergasted! Told him that I hadn't lied to him, but had misunderstood what he was wanting.

Seriously!

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I made a good number of sales on the FB garage page this weekend.

Crockpot - $5
Rice Cooker - $8
iPhone portable charger - $10
Inflatable couch/sleeper - $40

I think there was something else too ..

I also had my share of head shaking moments. One person who was "in line" for a friend - said her friend would be here by 2. Then by 3. At 3:40 I messaged her and told her the friend hadn't shown up. She messaged friend, and told me 'she passed." Ugh!

Then another item that had six people in line for it - first one passed *after* I agreed to lower the price. Then the next 4 ignored my PMs. The 6th one told me she was at a graduation and would get back to me - then did, and asked me my location. (which was posted in the ad - general location) When I told her it, she said she worked on the other side of town and so couldn't come get it. Come on! Reading comprehension, anyone???

I'm going to give the items another go on Tuesday (3 day waiting period to bump posts.) Hopefully some more go!

I ended up going home early from work today. I just was not feeling well at all. When I told my boss, she told me that she wasn't surprised because one of the other ladies in the office had told her it sounded like I was getting sick again.

I decided to go to the doctor because some of what was being coughed up was colored ... She listened to my lungs and said they were clear - so just really bad allergies. I told her I'd been taking Allegra D for three weeks or so with little effect which was weird for me since it used to be really effective.

She asked me if I'd tried Flonase - I told her I had one time before but it gave me nosebleeds. She told me it was all in how you sprayed it ... So I agreed to try a nasal spray. (Which I found out tonight is $60!!! after insurance. It better me a miracle worker spray!)

I haven't gotten the prescriptions yet because by the time they were ready I just didn't feel like going back out again. (I called three times from 2 to 5, and they weren't ready til 6!)

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I listed a bunch of things on the FB group yesterday, and had three items get picked up quickly .. supposedly. One person backed out of the purchase today completely, and another gave some excuse as to why they couldn't come today, but scheduled a time for tomorrow. ugh I could have taken a nice nap if I hadn't had to worry about being awake to hear their knock!

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I was sitting and reading when I heard a strange gurgling sound. After checking around in the bathroom and kitchen, I noticed some very smelly water in the bottom of my garbage disposal. So I turned on the water and started the disposal thinking it was clogged up. To my dismay and disgust, brownish very stinky water started to come up on BOTH sides of my sink (divided sink) - roughly an inch of this nasty stuff on each side.

I called my landlord, and when he got back to me he told me he'd have someone come over tomorrow afternoon. He said it was probably the dishwasher drain plugged up, and not to use my dishwasher or kitchen sink.

I'm just glad it isn't sewer water or something like that which was my first thought - there were some horror stories in the paper last week after the flooding of problems with sewage flooding basement apartments in some areas of the city (of course I don't have a basement apartment ...)

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I almost forgot! One of the email replies to my last blog was very weird. When I looked at it on my phone there was no written content, but some object that I was supposed to touch/click to download. I didn't click on it of course! I checked my blog for that person's response, and there was a normal looking comment from that person - no smiley's or anything that looked like it could cause a download thing. Kind of worrisome ... anyone else get anything like that?

So just as Riddles seems to maybe be coming out of the health woods, down to two visits a week for fluids, more bad news.

NE came out of his room tonight to give Riddles his potassium pill. As he walked out the door, he saw Baby, his second oldest cat, laying on the floor stretched out (on stomach) twitching and shaking and eyes all glazed. He ran through what might have happened and the only thing he could come up with is the flea meds he'd given the cats that morning when he got home from work.

None of the other cats seemed to be having any reaction.

On his way to the emergency vet he called me - I threw some clothes on (was in my comfies already) and rushed over. The vet agreed that it was the flea meds - it was some he'd gotten off of eBay that apparentally had a pesticide in it meant for the fleas, but that Baby somehow had gotten internally - which is what was causing the tremors/paralysis.

Baby is staying overnight at the emergency vet - they gave him two baths to get rid of the toxins and will be giving him fluids, etc overnight. $527 if all goes well.

NE was saying to me while we waited for the bloodwork to come back he told me that he is definitely not getting any more cats until he's down to one or two again (considering that the youngest is 4, that could be awhile.)

NE just called me ...
00 He stopped at home before going to work and rechecked his other cats - Munchkin, his favorite, seems to be having a slight reaction. He gave her a bath twice and then headed to work...

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Question - do all vets/vet techs automatically call cats "her" or "she"? Both Riddles and Baby are male, yet they both keep getting referred to as females?? I never noticed that with Monkey (male cat) and with Kari (female) I wouldn't notice it.

So NE and I did a road trip to Glenwood, Iowa on Sunday. It was really quite enjoyable. All the rain we've had recently has made everything really green up. We stopped at Mills Lake on the way there - a small, but pretty lake in the Loess Scenic Byway? We also ate at a Mexican restaurant El Portal. It was an awesome place because .... they had veggie fajitas!!!! Usually at a Mexican restaurant I have the option of enchiladas or quesedilas or .... It was SO nice to have something different to choose. It was really yummy too - they included a pineapple ring - so good that flavor plus the other veggies.

Right as we got our check the waiter brought out a desert and told me Happy Mother's Day. Uh thanks ... maybe someday, but probably not.

I didn't end up getting to bed til nearly 11:30 .. on a work night. Still, it was so worth it.

(NE paid for dinner - it was his turn. )

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Anyone else getting that super annoying ad covering the bottom of your screen for CoverGirl? I get it on the blogs and on the forums - it slows the forums down majorly, and when logging in I accidentally clicked on it twice!

I don't mind ads as long as they're not obtrusive like that!

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So it seems my allergies are back at it in full force, even with taking Allegra D. The last couple days not only have I been overtired, but I've also been miserable with sneezing and coughing and just feeling generally ill.

Ugh and double ugh.

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I was reading on a blog or forum or something about how someone felt like their home finally looked like an "adult" lived there and not a college kid. It made me kind of think ... if someone were to come into my apartment, they probably would think "college kid" and not 39 year old.

There's not a whole lot I can do to change that look I think without spending money I don't want to spend. But ... I'm wondering if maybe getting rid of all my moving boxes which are currently stored in my bedroom - some under the bed and some next to it against the wall .. would help. When I move again I'd have to buy new boxes, but boxes aren't *that* expensive ...

I also am thinking I need to let go of my stereo. It was a college graduation gift (half from my dad, half from my pocketbook) which has definitely seen better days. Kari's claws definitely did not help its look.

Then there is the baby dresser which I have hauled around with me since I moved out on my own in 97. It was used for me and my brother ... I'm thinking maybe it's time to finally let it go.

There also is the portable dishwasher ... one of my last major gifts from my dad. I have it sitting next to my loveseat right now as sort of an end table ...

Getting another bookshelf or two, finishing hanging pictures, getting rid of the foldup table, etc., probably would also go a long ways toward "adultizing" my place.

Growing up all our houses were set up so nicely - decorated, good furniture, etc. So I know what it could/should be ... but for some reason I can't make it like that. Somehow the gene of dressing well, doing hair well, caring about makeup, creating a home instead of just a place I live in ... skipped me.

I don't know ... I guess I'm feeling like here I am almost 40 and I'm not married, I don't have kids, if it wasn't for inherited stocks I'd barely have any retirement money (they are 1/2+ of my assets ...) and my place looks like a college kids. This so isn't what I hoped my life would be like at this point.

Not to mention when I see articles say something like "on the low end of the scale are salaries of $35,000/year ..." and I'm thinking - I'd be jumping ecstatically if I made that much! (And at one time I actually made more than that .. had no idea how good I had it.)

And then there is the factor of not really having anyone to talk to/hang out with other than NE here ... and all the friends I've had over the years that I kept in touch with for the longest time .. have kids, have families, have way busy lives ..

Riddles is still in the land of the living. The past few weeks or so NE has been taking him to the Vet to have fluids and Vitamin B? injections. The first week it was nearly daily, the last two weeks was two or three times each. Each visit costs $50

The fluids definitely seem to be helping. Riddles is eating some again, and hasn't had another seizure since about two weeks ago. NE is very happy about that, although not so happy about how much this has cost. I suggested he ask about whether he could do the fluid injections himself at home (and that I'd be willing to assist) but he hasn't asked. Oh well ... it's his money. (I had a neighbor once who had to give her cat daily or weekly fluid injections, so I know it can be done at home.)

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We had some major flooding here Wednesday/Thursday. Some have called it a 50 year flood. Thursday was incredibly crazy at work - so many bus routes had to have detours because of the flooding. Most people were understanding, but some were outright jerks. One person got mad when I told him that he'd have to walk eight blocks to catch the bus - "YOU are making me late for work!" Uh, yeah sure mister. We made the roads on the route get flooded and be closed, just so you could be late for work. Yepppers. A few others asked me to get out my crystal ball and predict whether or not the bus was going to be on time two hours from then or the next morning ... I'll get right on it buddy!

Thankfully by Friday morning the waters had gone down all over for the most part, and by noon all the flood related detours were done. Of course I had one caller complain about a bus that didn't arrive at the scheduled time after our office was closed and wanted to know why. I explained that since I wasn't there at the time I didn't know exactly why, but the best I could guess is that it was related to the voluntary evacuation of the area that bus route goes through!

Wednesday night I was walking through my hallway in my bare feet and stepped on a wet spot. At first I was worried that maybe Kari was having bathroom issues (never has before) but after smelling it, I knew that wasn't the issue. I found quite a few more areas of carpet that were quite wet.

As I was trying to figure out how this happened, I realized that the dripping sound I'd been hearing off and on the past few days might have had something to do with it. So I called my landlord. He said he'd send somebody by the next day.

Of course with all the rain/flooding issues on Wednesday/Thursday it wasn't til nearly 6 p.m. that somebody came by (I shut Kari in the bathroom in case they came by while I was out) The problem was the condensation pipe? for the a/c units in the apartments above me being blocked. (I haven't turned my a/c on yet, but apparently my upstairs neighbors have.) The guy that came by couldn't get it unblocked.

So I had to shut Kari in the bathroom again on Friday. The A/C guy came again and the carpet cleaners came while I was gone at work - so Kari didn't have to be shut in the bathroom the whole day. I think she actually didn't mind it too much because I gave her canned food both days ...

The carpet is pretty much all dry now - although now I need to figure out how I'm going to move my dresser back - don't know if NE will be able to help me with his shoulder issues.

We're supposed to have another major storm come through tonight. Our creeks and lakes can't take too much ...

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Tomorrow NE and I are doing a little roadtrip to Greenwood Iowa for our anniversary. We'll probably go out to eat somewhere around there. He was in that area a couple years ago for some speakers and thought it was really beautiful. It will be nice to get out of the apartment and do something together (doesn't happen often ...)

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Texting with my mom last night I found out she'd been in a fairly major car wreck three weeks! ago. It was her fault -- she and a friend were traveling to San Antonio and had gotten off the highway for gas or something. As they went along the frontage road there was some construction and hard to figure out how to get back on the highway. Her friend spotted a way and told her to go ... there was another road that criscrossed the pathway and a car coming - which my mom did not see. The car clipped the front passenger side of my mom's car.

Nobody was seriously hurt - banged up knees, elbows and wrists. But my mom found out she only has liability insurance - apparently someone talked her into changing her insurance plan a few months ago to save a bunch of money and didn't explain HOW she was saving that money. (As she's telling me this, I'm wondering HOW IN THE WORLD did she not know this???)

So ... her insurance company told her that her 6 month premium was going up to $5k! She's had a number of not-fault and at-fault accidents in the last six years or so, and is now considered high-risk. She kept looking and now has insurance through USAA for $165/MONTH!!!! She also has been without her car for the last 3 weeks.

It sounds like it's going to be around $2500 to fix it (and that is a long time family friend who has fixed our cars many multiple times over the years - the shop her car was towed to estimated $5k+ to fix.)

She just last night got a letter from an attorney for the person who hit her suing her for damages.

She's in a mess.

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I finally got my $25 AGC from PerkTV.

I was really craving delivery pizza last night ... and gave in to it. $17 for the pizza, $5 for my "Zone", plus delivery charge and tip ... $28 .... Ouch! The pizza was good at least.

Monday was one of those days you can be so glad to not have to repeat.

Work was awful. People calling in very crabby and impatient ... getting told that the cash was $19 off over a 4 day period last week (person who reconciles it was out sick for 4 days ..)

Then I go to the gas station to get gas. First pump doesn't have the cheap gas, so I cancel my card and go to a different pump. Put my card in, and my rewards card ($.42/gallon off) and it shows that I lost the $.42/gallon. I go inside ...by the time I get back to the pump my card has been canceled. I redo it, and my card is rejected. Am about ready to scream like a banshee.

Go inside again, guy runs my credit card and my rewards card. Both work! I fill up for $2.09/gallon.

Then I go to Walgreens to use my $50 cashback. What an ordeal it was to use that money! I'd tried over the weekend in store and online with no luck. Then Monday I decided to see if I could buy ink - of course they were out of the ink I needed. Finally did end up buying a huge thing of cough syrup and a huge container of extra strength pain meds, plus a few miscellaneous items.

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Tuesday was ok at work. Had a different project to work on along with my usual. Balanced cash box myself to reassure myself. (Can I just say how I think the cash box is almost worse than the crabby callers?)

Came home just so tired and didn't accomplish anything.

I take that back ... I stopped at Goodwill and bought something I can use as a bean masher for my black bean burgers (it's actually a pastry cutter I think) and ... a 3rd chair for my dining table! (I didn't have any cash on me, and hated to charge just $.99 for the pastry cutter ... so was very happy to find a chair that worked for $6.99!)

Oh, I also voted in the city elections.

I also got $25 PayPal from Swagbucks
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Wednesday was good at work. Was given another different project (after finishing the other one.) One that will be ongoing. Also got away from the office for the last 2 1/2 hours making a presentation to the public librarians - actually got up front and talked a little without totally losing it. Impressed myself.

Was heading out to the grocery store when I noticed a wet spot on the carpet. At first I was worried maybe Kari was being naughty ... but then after moving a chair I realized that the furnace was leaking ... Called my landlord and they'll send someone out in the morning to fix it and clean the carpet. (said something about something or other being blocked)

Tonight we're having heavy rain, lots of thunder and lightning and I've gotten an Emergency Alert on my phone about flash flooding. NE is out delivering tonight ...

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I've been reading up a storm the last few weeks. Last week I read a series of 9 books by Marta Perry (Amish stories) and this week I've read around 4 or 5 various books. Instead of getting anything really done with my extra time (while NE is working 5 nights a week ... ) I seem to be spending most of that time reading.

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I better hit the ol' bed soon otherwise I'll be way tired tomorrow!

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Sunday is NEs and I two year anniversary. Hard to believe it's been that long. A few weeks after that and it'll have been one year since I moved here to NE. Wow. (And I still haven't gotten the necessary stuff to put my front license plate on my car ... thankfully no cop has decided to pull me over )

I had seen this mentioned on the YNAB forums but when I looked at my AmEx account I couldn't find it. But today I was looking at my account and decided to browse the offers, and there it was!

The deal - Spend $20 at Sam's Club and get $20 cash back on AmEx card.

(You do have to be a Sam's Club member already.)

So I thought about what I could get - it had to be something online - not store pickup.

Everything I was thinking about was either store pickup or would have shipping added. Then it hit me - gift cards! I checked their gift cards and they have a good selection.

I chatted with an AmEx CS person to make sure that a gift card purchase would work for the deal. She said it would.

One deal I could've done would be to purchase two $10 Sam's Club gift cards. That would've meant no money spent, and $20 in items I could purchase at the store.

However, I decided to go with something else. NE loves to go to Chinese restaurants, and the Hu Hong place here is one of his favorites. There was a deal where you get two $25 gift cards for $39.98. So ... after the $20 is taken off, you get $50 of food for 19.98!

That will be almost 3 meals out for NE and I.

(Plus it counts towards the spend $1k in 3 months for $250 cash back.)

I spent a lot of money in April. Mostly medical, some overspending in groceries and treats. Bought a couch.

Thank goodness for a 3 paycheck month! I barely squeaked by with putting my 10% of net (of 3 paychecks) into my EF this month. But it got there!

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Must Spends:
Giving: 10% + 30.00
Rent: 430
Gym: 41.73

Flexible:
Groceries - 160.66
Internet - 65.75
Natural Gas - 23.57
Electricity - 26.93
Auto fuel - 24.26
Restaurants - 14.47
Medical - 877.59
Clothing - 13.48
Household Goods - 113.56
Treats - 52.40
Entertainment - 15.00
Misc. - 26.00

Savings:
EF - 10%
ROTH - $200.00

Extra Monies:
$25 - Swagbucks
3rd Paycheck
$17 Pact
$5 AGC from Bing

Savings Percentage - 17% Gross to Employer Pension, 10% to EF (3 paycheck Net), $200 to ROTH
Roughly 40%

Total EF - 7,992.77

-- $4,007.23 to go to make goal!

Let me start off with the good stuff ..

I've mentioned that I had lost the large non-keytag grocery store rewards card and had spoken with the people in the customer service area about getting it replaced. The first time I talked to them was a good while ago. Since then I went back a number of times and each time got told that "they were really behind on the cards"

So Sunday I went again. This time though I think I must have gotten a manager back there. She checked for my card replacement, and then checked for my order. NOTHING! They had lost my order form - never even sent it out!

So she confirmed my contact details and then told me that she personally would take care of it.

I got a phone call on Monday letting me know that she'd be at the store on Wednesday after 2:30 with my card.

So after work today I stopped by. Not only did she have my card, but she had had the person who made it (coded it?) add 41 cents worth of gas savings. That is .. 41 cents PER GaLLON.

I'm going to wait til Thursday to use it - but boy howdy, is that ever going to be some cheap gas!

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The bad.

I had finally made enough PerkPoints to redeem for a $25 AGC. I got an email this morning telling me my reward was on its way.

Then this afternoon I got an email telling me my reward had been canceled. That there cheating detector or whatever had detected I was doing something violating TOS!!!!

I sent an email to them stating I HAD NOT done anything to violate TOS!

Kind of doubtful they'll backtrack, because there is no way to prove a negative (that I didn't do something against TOS.)

So very frustrating. I guess my devices won't be getting quite such a workout anymore.

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No news from NE about Riddles. He was taking him to the vet again today at 5.

Tomorrow is payday - so that will mean May is totally funded. (My 3rd paycheck or really the second one for April funded my medical expenses category plus some ...)

I feel really bad for NE right now. His oldest cat, Riddles, is 18ish and he picked him out as a kitten. The last two years or so Ridds had gotten pretty thin (total opposite of all NEs other cats) and the past six months or so NEs had to do more to tempt Ridds into eating.

A couple days ago Riddles had a seizure. Then he had another one yesterday. NE took him into the vet and they did bloodwork. His kidney's are functioning at 15%. NE is preparing himself for possibly having to make a hard decision.

The stress of everything got to him last night at work, and he lost his temper. I really hope he doesn't get fired ... (my assistant teacher was fired for less one year, of course, he's not working around kids.)

Riddles is a pretty special cat. I'll be pretty sad too if the hard decision has to be made.

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My brother placed 76th out of 507 people in a 75 mile bike race this past Sunday. He was pretty stoked.

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I finally got enough points on Perk to cash in for a $25 AGC. It was really slow going this time around.

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I got the medical bill for my Urgent Care visit - $51.xx.

I also got my American Express card - I've never seen a credit card like it - kind of a clear plastic? I won't be running it - just using it to pay the medical stuff and maybe one months tithe/offering to make the $1k spending, so I guess it doesn't really matter too much what it looks like.

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I texted my IT friend from NM tonight (the one with lung cancer.) She texted me back (thankfully!) and told me that her health has been touch and go, but she's still kicking. She also told me that some local yahoos burned down the Family Dollar store this morning!

What serious morons! That town has two places to buy general merchandise/food at - the local mom and pop store (small!) and Family Dollar. Otherwise you have to drive at least 30 miles to get to either big G town.

I have to wonder if they got the idea from the intelligent rioters (sarcasm) ruining Baltimore right now ... Ugh.

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A position opened up at the local bus company. They had interviews last week and again today. Of the 7 people who were slotted for interviews ... only 4 actually showed up! None of the 3 no shows called or emailed or anything to let us know they weren't coming. All I can say is .. Wow. Must be a pretty hot job market out there to blow off an interview.

Today I was voted in officially as a member of the local church I've been attending. I had my membership transferred from the church in Texas (never transferred it to NM.)I had to stand up front with a few other people and receive my membership "packet" (a membership certificate and a packet of info on spiritual gifts.)

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I talked to my grandma this afternoon. She was busy packing and getting ready for a flight tomorrow - flying to Florida where she's meeting my aunt and uncle and then getting on a cruise ship! She'll be gone for two weeks. (She turns 94 in September - but still cruising along. Heh heh.)

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Guess who FINALLY called tonight?! Yep, that stinkaroo of a brother, that's who. We managed to connect with our mom, and it looks like the third weekend of June will be our rendezvous time - they'll both be coming here.

Mom was wanting to do a dude ranch or a 4 day cruise ... I'd love to do a dude ranch if they offered a vegetarian menu, but somehow I don't think that is a possibility ... a 4 day cruise would be fun, but I doubt my brother could take that much time off (and I really don't want to spend that much.) So, they'll be coming here - I'll show them where I work, take them to my church, maybe go to the vegan restaurant in O (they're both meaties, but are used to vegetarian fare.) Maybe take in the zoo, etc. Should be fun. (My mom is into pickleball - I checked and found a place here that has pickleball!)

We decided that they'd each take care of their own plane tickets and then we'd split 3 ways any of the costs here. Mom is going to see if she can amass enough hotel points for a hotel here.

Now it'll be interesting to see if bro actually purchases a plane ticket before June ...

My brother is participating in a 100 mile bike race next Sunday (May 3) supporting Diabetes research. He estimates it'll take him about 6 hours and burn around 15,000 calories. He's going on a 75 mile ride tomorrow ... More power to you bro. More power.

He's pretty stoked about some major companies that have been seeking him out to do their social media advertising.

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I stopped at Walgreen's tonight and picked up some Allegra D. My cough which had almost gone away seems to be coming back. In talking with the pharmacist it sounds like I should be able to get a 30 day supply of Allegra D OTC with a prescription so that I wouldn't have to come back every ten days AND I can use my FSA money. Next time I see my doctor I'm going to ask for a prescription and try it again! (tried it years ago and was told I couldn't do it)

$18 for a ten day supply ... Will have to look for coupons, etc, but it's better to spend the money on it than get bronchitis or worse ... (Checked the price for the generic version ... was actually more expensive! and not available in the 24 hour version.)

Still no call from brother. Although he did text me today and let me know that he knows he's being derelict. Will see if it results in actual plans being finalized this weekend or not. Sigh.

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Field trips on Wednesday with the homeschool groups went well. Got to ride a bus through a bus wash twice If you've never taken a tour of your local bus station, you really should.

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Wednesday also apparently was Admin Asst day. My boss gave me a large glass vase full of chocolate. Does she ever know me!

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Thursday night had some excitement in the parking lots around my apartment. A mob of people were shouting and cussing at each other on the lawn near where I park my car. They were at it at least fifteen minutes before moving to the side of the building, and then finally ending up in the parking lot behind my bedroom window. About when the police showed up.

I saw through my peeking out the curtains a guy get patted down by the cop. That's about when I left the window (didn't want to get seen looking out.)

Some of the people stayed out there loudly talking for at least another 15 or 20 minutes. Cursing, talking about tire slashing, knives, guns, kids harrassed at school, gangs ....

Yeah. Not exactly conversation conducive to a restful evening.

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My Fitbit stopped working this week (Monday I think.) I sent an email to Fitbit support and never heard back. I decided to try it out again tonight, and lo and behold, it was working again! (This is the new one I only got less than two months ago.)

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NE had his six week shoulder evaluation on Thursday. His doctor had xrays taken and said everything looks good. NE has added up all the bills for the surgery - $61,000! Thank goodness for insurance!

He will be starting a new work schedule this coming week - nearly 45 hours a week, 5 nights a week. I don't know how long he'll be able to do 5 nights a week. (He used to do 4 ten or 11 hour shifts per week and that was exhausting enough for him.)

He really needs the money for the medical bills, because his eBay sales have been pretty dismal.

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I haven't bought any junkfood this week at all, but I've sure had plenty on a daily basis at work! I've seriously got to stop eating the junk left out "for sharing." I have a bag of Pepitos to snack on, but I think maybe I need something else to keep me away from the "for sharing" temptation.

As I look back at the 40 days I challenged myself to not buy any junkfood, and then the 18 or so days since the challenge ended, I have come to a realization.

For me, there is no middle ground. It has been utterly ridiculous the last 18 days.

The 40 days of the challenge I was able to complete it with very little problems. In fact, I got to the point where I didn't really miss the junkfood. I wasn't exactly any healthier during that time (ER visit and bronchitis anyone??) but that probably would've happened one way or the other.

So I have decided that from this point forward I am not going to purchase any junkfood. I am also not going to participate anymore in the office Treat day (this is partly where I think I got myself in trouble ... all that leftover Easter candy people brought to share ... made me want more, more, more!)

I am going to allow myself three exceptions: 1) If someone offers me something/offers to treat me; 2) If I'm out at a restaurant and I *really* want something (such as the vegan place in O - they have some delectable looking deserts) and 3) If it is my birthday, or some other *very* special occasion

None of these exceptions happen very often.

I also cannot go into Family Dollar or Walgreen's or CVS for anything food related. Period.

I have some pretty big financial goals I'm trying to achieve, and spending $50+ a month on junkfood is not going to help me achieve them.

Junkfood = soda, chocolate, ice cream, pastries, candybars, cookies (sugary kind), pies, cakes, etc.

Whenever I start thinking about buying chocolate, etc., I need to think ... is this worth an extra hour answering the phone? Is it worth putting off the house a little bit longer?

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I updated my net worth in YNAB today. My one stock has been quite volatile the past few months and I haven't wanted to see just how bad it was ... but today I decided to bite the bullet. When including the stock, my networth decreased $15k from January. Not including the stock, my networth increased about $2500 since January. (I'm not going to sell the stock. Even with the volatility, it still is worth WAY more than the original purchase price of around $22 - 28.)

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I went to a free concert Saturday night at my church. It was pretty enjoyable. I even bought a $15 CD from the artist - he is just starting out. (is a member of our church) I was needing a good CD to listen to in the car while the local radio station is doing its pledge drive (didn't they just do that at Christmas? Yikes!)

I think this is the first CD I've bought in at least 4 or 5 years.

I got an offer in the mail today for Blue Cash - spend $1k in 3 months get $250 back. I think that's the one I'm going to go with for my medical bills. That way I don't have to fiddle with trying to make sure I get to $3k in spending, even though it probably *could* happen. $250 is enough reward to not bother with the hassle.

Anyone know if they count Walmart in the grocery category?

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So shockers ... my brother never did call this week.

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I've not been doing well with the whole thing of staying away from buying junkfood this week ... My treats category is through the roof, and it's only the 17th. Ugh.

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I got a notice of a package from UPS sent from Best Buy. I didn't order anything from Best Buy, so have no idea what it is or who sent it. I tried making it where they hold it at the office, but they were wanting to charge me $5.00 to change shipping locations!!! Uh, yeah, no. Whatever it is, it can get sent back (because you know the likelihood of them actually dropping a package off at a time people are *actually* home is, right?)

In reality I'll probably try calling again on Monday and speak to a real person to 1. make sure it is actually for me and not for someone else in the apartments, and 2. make sure there isn't a way to have it held there (I'm sure I've done it before!)

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I'm so glad the work week is over. So very tiring. (read .. boring ..)

In other news ... I read a book this week - Zoo - by James Patterson. Very interesting and page turning. A little bit gory. Something's going on with the animals of the world ... and noone's listening to the main character. This is bad news.

I love James Patterson, and this is one of his stand-a-lone books. (He wrote Alex Cross series and Women's Murder Mystery Club series and and and and and ...)

Next week on Earth Day my boss and I will be doing TWO bus station tours for homeschool groups. They'll be my very first tours. I'll probably have to do them by myself after these two groups. Gulp.

On Wednesday I had a trio of skater kids (long hair, pierced lips ... etc) come in and ask about their "wheelies" they'd left on the bus ... Two MONTHS ago... I told the main one that I remembered them (because I was so flabbergasted when they came in) but that we only keep things for two weeks. So they were long gone. The kid looked so dissapointed.

I like it so much better when I can tell someone - Yep! I've got it right here for you!

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NE hadn't done his taxes. He asked me to print off the forms for him - but my printer was out of ink and the cartridge I'd bought wasn't being recognized. So he was going to print the papers off at the library on Tuesday. Didn't go.

Wednesday he decides he'll just file for an extension. We go to the library and he signs up for a computer. As we're walking around waiting we see a display of papers. One of them is an extension form!

Unfortunately it wasn't until we got to my place and I was filling it out for him (his patience level wasn't very high right then and his eyesight isn't good in dim light) that I realized he'd gotten a state extension form instead of a federal.

Instead of rushing back to the library before it closed, he decided to file the extension online. He thought it would be free. It wasn't - it cost 19.95!! Towards the middle of filling the extension out, he had to run home to get his W-2 form (didn't help his mood at all.) But .. got the extension filed.

This is definitely one area he and I are SOOOOOOO different on. Even if I knew I owed taxes, there's no way I could wait so long to file. I also would not want to do them on paper - I SO love TaxAct, etc. for ease of filing. It would stress me out way too much to wait til April 15!!

I tried to casually suggest setting aside 30% of the money he makes from his eBay sales to cover taxes so he wouldn't have to stress out ... yeah, didn't go over too well. If we ever get to the point of seriously talking marriage .. that is something I'm going to insist on. No way am I going to let something so stupid as taxes get me uber stressed out.

(He might have had the money to pay his taxes this year if it weren't for the shoulder surgery and all the costs from that.)

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Redeemed Bing points for a $5 AGC (just couldn't justify the IHOP card for more points.)

So I've been stalking the FB garage sale page for months and months. One time I came really close to getting a futon/couch for $25, but NE couldn't come help me that night, so I lost it.

Sunday night though I saw a post from someone selling multiple things - no prices listed and no location. One of the items was a loveseat. The post was three days old with a "bump" comment saying everything was still available.

I PMd the person and found out she lived fairly close to me and wanted $90 for the loveseat. That was a little more than I was really wanting to spend, but I LOVED the look of it and it looked small enough to fit into my space well.

So I asked her if it would be okay to come over after 7 Monday night. She was okay with it.

--
NE calls me Monday about 6:48 to let me know he'd be there in ten minutes. I let him know about the loveseat. He wasn't exactly thrilled to have it sprung on him like that ... (oops - I really meant to email him that morning, but forgot ...)

I didn't have any rope (to tie it to his roof) so we stopped at Walgreen's and then Family Dollar to get rope.

He needed gas ... I texted the person to let her know that we really were coming. (It was nearly 7:30)

Finally we get to her apartment building and I give her a call .. she comes down the stairs. Thankfully she was only on the second floor.

After we got to her apartment and I saw it in person, I knew I'd made a good decision.

NE and I wrestled it out to his car, and managed to get it up on the roof. Then we tied it on and drove the few miles to my place with me holding on to one end of the rope (in the car.)

We wrestled it into my place, and I got it to where I wanted it while NE parked.

Kari right away was super interested in this new thing. She actually slept part of the night on it last night.

So anyway ... here is a picture of it:

It's super comfy, well worn, but otherwise in good shape. I'm glad I stayed patient and didn't breakdown and order a futon from Walmart or something ...

I've been way too loose with the pocketbook so far this month, especially considering I have some large bills coming up (medical expenses.) Fast food, junkfood, Trader Joe's, Goodwill, WalMart, Family Dollar .... Over the course of the past few days I've spent at least $150. Ugh.

Trader Joe's, GoodWill and Walmart are at least shopping trips which were mostly necessary. I think part of what spurred the fast food visits was being really tired of what I had in my house (and my pantry was starting to get pretty empty ..) So I bought some ready made dishes at Trader Joe's, and a few at Walmart. Hopefully that'll curb my inclination to get something out instead of from home.

At Walmart they were having a big clearance sale on all sorts of stuff - an asst manager was there and if there was something you wanted, you made an offer and if he ok'd it, you got it. I bought an ice scraper (more heavy duty than my other one) for .50, a long handled snow brush for $1 (something I'd really wished I had this winter a number of times), and a mandolin for $13 (had a $50 one on my Amazon wishlist for at least 6 months ...) They didn't have a potato masher (something I've been looking for, but not wanting to pay $8 for!)

I also bought a few things for something that the bus company I work for does in partnership with the local women's shelter - called "Stuff the Bus" - about $8 worth of items (paper towels, hairbrushes, etc)

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Wonder of wonders, my brother actually called me today! (We'd set up a time for him to call Saturday night ... which of course didn't happen.) He's talked to mom and told her about our plans, and also told her that he'd try to get the 3 of us on the phone either Monday or Wednesday night. He's also said he has another weekend free - one in June - so I told him I'd really prefer the June weekend over the May one.

So ... we'll see ... Is this really going to happen? At least there's some movement forward - and now mom knows ... (Of course she called me after talking to him and never let on that he'd told her - she was going on and on about wanting the 3 of us to get together sometime, and I was being all non-committal. The turkette!)

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So much for my weight loss ... along with the spendiness the last week or so, there's also been a lot of junkfood consumption. 3 lbs found their way back. Sigh.

So my goal is for the remainder of April - no more fast food purchases and only 1 serving size worth of candy/junk on a regularly scheduled grocery trip.

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I did get in 3 exercise sessions this week. 2 x walking on the track at the gym (today I actually did a bit of walk/jogging) and a 4 mile walk with some ladies from church yesterday.

The indoor lap app I'd found was worthless. (tried it today) So hopefully I can find another app I used to use on my other phone - it won't count laps, but it does the timing thing (run 30 seconds, walk 90 seconds, etc.) and estimates distance. (I think it was called iTreadmill)

On that walk one of the ladies who runs Women's Ministries and knows I've been a librarian, asked me if I'd be interested in being the Women's Ministries librarian. I told her that sounded like something I'd be interested in doing.

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Oh, at Goodwill I bought 4 t-shirts. With exercising at the gym, I realized I needed some oversized short-sleeved t-shirts to work out in. Spent $7.47 on the 4 shirts ($3.99 for one, then $1 each for the others.)

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Got $25 PP from Swagbucks today.

So ... I got a wild hair and decided to see if my EOB's were online yet for my ER visit.

Yep, they were. At least some of them.

So far my part is at least $840. There's a few other EOB's pending.

So, I'm thinking this might be a good time to go for one of those cards I usually could never do with my normal spending .. i.e. $3k in three months.

I'm thinking maybe one of those travel rewards cards - something I could fund my next flight to CA with.

Any ideas? I usually ignore posts about these kinds of cards since I usually would never come anywhere near it.

Thankful for my 3 paycheck month ... my ER visit will take pretty much that whole 3rd paycheck, and maybe more. Sigh...

I got a bill from my ER visit a few weeks ago - just the ER stuff, not the doctors. $3,572. Gulp. This is thankfully *before* insurance kicks in. I'm not sure why they're sending me the bill before they file it with my insurance ... Get this - the two Tylenol they gave me? $72! Ridiculous.

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The event my boss and I worked today was pretty much a bust. The weather was wet, cold and windy. There were only five other booths there. We had maybe a dozen or so people come by ... in 4 hours (we left early.)

I did get to go into the Student Union which I'd never been in. Wow, SO different than the Student Unions at the colleges I went to.

My boss and a co-worker got coffee at a Starbucks clone - I got hot chocolate. (It was really cold, otherwise I would've stuck with water.)

All of us had packed lunches. I'm glad I did, because there was a Subway in the Union. I would've maybe been tempted ...

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Not much else I can think of, so I'll go off to read up on ya'll.

On Sunday I decided to not do a Sam's/Walmart run and instead just filled in with what I needed from the grocery store I could walk to. This was partly because I didn't feel like driving all the way out there, and partly because I thought they'd have my large rewards card ready.* (they didn't)

*I got two rewards cards from this grocery store - a keytag and a large card. I've misplaced the large card - which you have to have in order to use for gas savings. I went to customer service a week ago to ask for a large card (with my points) - they told me it'd be ready by Sunday. So I waited to fill up my car, and of course it wasn't ready. The lady I spoke with said something about them being months behind ... ugh!

I have 11cents/gallon savings currently on my card which I can't use.

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Monday I had a recheck on my Vitamin D levels. Got the call Monday afternoon letting me know my levels were in the normal range.

I don't know if it is because of this or not, but somehow I'm all of a sudden being able to actually lose weight! Even with eating fairly normally. And low activity level.

I'm down 14lbs from my high in January, and almost 2lbs down from my low when I was so sick a few weeks ago. Whatever the reason, I'm NOT complaining!

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I filled up at the gas station for $2.31/gallon (would've been $2.20/gallon if I could've used my card!) I don't forsee any major driving this month, so hopefully that will be it for April's gas.

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After work today I went to the gym for the first time in over 2 weeks. I walked on the track for 30 minutes. I need to figure out a way to keep track of laps or distance - 1 lap is 1/16th of a mile. I didn't push myself too hard, but still felt like I got a good workout in.

Afterwards I stopped at Walgreen's and picked up my Vitamin D and some Easter candy (on sale.)

I have just over 1000 points to get my $50 cashback at Walgreen's. That's just two prescriptions, or a prescription plus a month's worth of walking/logging weight. So I'm starting to ponder what I'll get with my $50 ...

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Tomorrow I get to be away from the office most of the day. My boss and I will be manning a booth at an event at the local university. It would be better if it wasn't going to be rainy and cold ... but still, it's a day away. Plus I get to wear jeans.

I wonder how much free junk ..er...stuff I'll walk away with from the event .. all the vendors give free stuff out - pens, notepads, cups, food, etc.

I put in my first full week at work this past week in a few weeks.

This morning as I woke up and rolled over I was thinking, "What day is it today? Oh yeah, Saturday! I don't have to get up anytime soon."

Health wise I'm feeling much, much better than a week ago. I still have the deep hacking cough which makes people look at me like "why is she out and about spreading germs?" But I've finished my antibiotics so shouldn't be germy.

I somehow have managed to maintain the weight I lost last week, even with a return to almost normal eating habits. I haven't done any real exercise in nearly two weeks now.

Friday after work NE and I went to "The Mother of All Garage Sales" held at the local events center. It cost $3 each to get in. Mostly, it was 30 minutes worth of slow walking.

Most of what was being sold in there was overpriced junk and stuff to clutter your home. Neither NE nor I bought anything - he was hoping to find home/car audio deals. There were a couple vendors in there that made me think of Brooklyn Girl? with all her CVS finds that she resells. Tons of shampoo, etc products.

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I'll be heading off to church here soon. Hopefully I don't annoy people too much with my coughing.

Am debating about whether I'll join the biking/walking group this afternoon. I want to go, but I'm just not sure if I should go - really don't want to exacerbate my cough.

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I'm really frustrated with my brother right now. Back in early February HE raised the idea of having him and mom come out here to NE in May. Since then it's been a game of tag for us to actually connect to finalize plans and let mom in on the plans (you know, so we can make sure she doesn't have plans for that weekend.) Over the last six weeks he's set appointments to talk with me at least 5 times ... which when I text him an hour or so beforehand to make sure we're still on, he cancels for one reason or another.

The last time this happened was this past Sunday. I haven't texted or tried calling him since .. mainly to see if he's going to do anything. Nada.

Times running short if we're going to get reasonable plane tickets - and possibly the hotel accommodations too. He only has ONE weekend available between May and August (otherwise has friend's weddings or work shindigs.)

I feel like saying forget it! But I would really like to have them come out here to visit, etc. Ugh.

I really thought that I had spent a lot more than February in March, but it really wasn't that much more. I only spent about $30 more! There was a whole lot less extra income at the same time though, so the extra to send to savings of course wasn't as nice of a big number as last month.

Overall,I think I did okay. I'll definitely be glad to not have the round trips to the hospital to deal with in April (gas, time, exhaustion ...)

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Must Haves:
Tithing - 10%
Giving - 60
Rent - 430
Car Insurance - 36 (sinking fund)
Gym - 20.21 (prorated first month - new category)

Everyday Expenses (Variable)
Groceries - 129.18
Internet - 64.90
Natural Gas - 51.55
Electricity - 26.43
Auto Fuel - 60.31
Restaurants - 31.00
Medical (non-FSA)- 38.02
Clothing - 33.16 (shoes I wish I hadn't bought ...)
Household Goods - 4.92
Kari - 62.39 (food, litter - doesn't include AGC $ I spent on her)
Toiletries - 5
Treats - 19.68 (mostly from the hospital, and one other slip up)
Electronics - 70 (my Fitbit One)
Beauty - 3.27

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Savings
EF - 430.79 (10% + leftover budget money)
ROTH - 200
403a - 9% of gross

Savings of 630.79 +9%

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Extras
$25 SBs PP
$14 Pact
$15 Pinecone
$100 Achievemint
$50 Disc. Chking bonus
$80 Disc. CC bonus + Cash back
-- $284 in Extra Income

So, a savings rate of only about 40% this month. Yikes. Hopefully the ER bills won't be the big bite I'm expecting, and I'll be able to have a much better savings rate next month.

April will be a 3 paycheck month. I had planned on putting it straight to EF, but will probably put it in the slush fund until I know what bills the ER visit is going to create.

I had my followup appointment today with my regular doctor. Of course I forgot to ask her some questions and forgot to mention things. Having NE at the Urgent Care place Friday night was good because he was my backup brain. Anyway, she said that it doesn't look like there is anything to worry about - just rest and get better (I accidentally typed read Freudian Slip?)

On my way home I wanted to stop at the library because my copy of Laura: Pioneer Girl had finally arrived! When I got to that intersection traffic was backed up because of an accident just past the intersection on the side going away from the library.

I ended up going and paying my rent first, and then came back that way. I finally got to pull in and get my book. Now here was the fateful decision I made ... I drove out the backside of the library and debated on whether to go straight or right. Habit made me choose right. For about 30 seconds I thought it was going to be just fine.

Then as soon as traffic cleared coming my direction, there was traffic from the other direction. This went on for 3 or 4 minutes. It only got worse though the closer to 5 it got. Now 90% of the traffic on both sides were those huge honking SUVs.

I had people on my side stop for me several times, but when I'd look to my right, I could not see a thing of what cross traffic looked like.

This went on for ten minutes. There was a line of traffic behind me probably cursing me out. (If no one had been behind me, I would have tried backing up and going the other way ... it's generally a very quiet street.)

Finally someone stopped coming my way and realized that I could not see if the other side was clear AND SO signaled me that it was clear!

This was a good reminder of why I prefer to go to that location on Saturday afternoons instead of a weekday!

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Work was ok today. Very busy and left me feeling pretty drained. I didn't have a sit down with my boss, but she seemed to be in a better mood or something. The vibe was just better I guess.

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I did something I kicked myself for last night. I decided to spend some of my perk tokens on drawings (that's all they're good for.) I saw a drawing for $100k cash. 500 entries for 5000 ... tokens I thought. I had around 30k tokens, so started entering. My token value didn't go down. Weird. I entered again, My token value didn't go down. Stupidly I entered again. Only this time a horrible thought occurred to me ... and I checked my points balance. The balance you can exchange for giftcards ... and it was 15k points less!!! I wanted to throw my phone across the room. Those 15k points represent about 3 weeks worth of running those Perk videos.

So ... no $25 AGC from Perk for me for March. Sigh.

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In good money news, I received my $50 bonus from Discover Checking. I haven't been able to find anything that says how long you have to keep the account open, but I think I'll be safe to withdraw all but $500.

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It is now Friday morning. I sure didn't get much sleep last night. Oh well.

NE brought some bleach over last night and I poured some down my bathroom sink and tub. (opened windows and used the blower too) Worked like a charm. Btw - anyone know where I can get a hair stopper for the tub? I've tried one before, but it was too big for the drain.

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End of 40 day personal challenge!

Although I had a few slip ups, overall I feel pretty satisfied with how it went. I really didn't miss buying junkfood all that much. Going forward I don't think I'll put any restrictions on myself, however, I would like to limit myself most of the time to purchasing only one serving on a trip, and that trip should be one where I have to walk to get it. So if I *really* want something, I have to put forth extra effort to get it.

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I'm going to be adding some projects to my sidebar. Let's see how long it takes me to check them off.

So .... I ended up going into work on Friday. Managed to make it the full 8 hours too. Only by spending all of lunch with my head on the break room table, and my 15 minute pm break too.

Even so, I was hacking out my lungs and made use of the mute button quite often so as to not make my callers listen in.

I really don't know what's up with my boss. Part of the reason I made myself go in on Friday was because she sounded so put out when I called in sick on Thursday. But then on Friday several times during the day she said if I needed to go home, to go home.

I really need to sit down with her and have a chat to see if there is something going on. I am wondering if she thinks I got sick *because* of helping out NE during his shoulder surgery. (I'm pretty sure it's allergy related - this is what happens almost every time I have a really bad allergy season. Which has been this year for sure.)

Ugh. Is it 2031 yet (so I can retire?)

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Then after work I came home and slept for a while, NE called and we talked for a bit, then I slept some more. Finally got up about 30 minutes before he came over.

He brought me a thermometer and and an icepack (for headache). When I took my temp, it was 102.7! So off we went to Urgent Care. It was so nice to have him with me.

Their thermometer read 103! They ruled out flu and pneumonia and said it was bronchitis. Great. Doctor gave me a scrip for antibiotics and sent me on my way.

We stopped at Walgreen's and NE went in and got my prescription - and a little extra, a Cadbury egg

Took the first antibiotic around 9 pm Friday night and am already feeling much better - in fact, dare I say it, but my headache may be gone too!

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Gotta say it's frustrating to eat a pretty healthy diet (lots of fruit/veggies/whole wheat, little processed, etc. and recently very very little junkfood) and be getting this sick again. Plus pretty much all I drink is water. Once in awhile Rice Dream, and in a rare instance (like this week) juice. (Soda I go back and forth on - months and months where all I'll do is have a sip or two of NEs and maybe one or two bottles, and then times where I slip back into drinking it much more often. Currently on the rarely drink curve and hope to continue!)

Oh well, if I improve even more by tomorrow, I might even have the energy AND the desire to clean my place. It's in bad, bad, bad shape. 4 days of having the desire but having absolutely no energy .... doesn't make for a pretty sight.

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Bing must be in trouble, or may be in the process of fading out their rewards. When I joined and then up until 3 or 4 months ago, I was able to earn at least 40 points a day. Now only 25 points a day - which made reaching the 475 points needed for the SBs feel interminable. Today I found out that they've increased the price to 575!

I've changed my reward goal to the IHOP giftcard. I need to check if they're stackable, but a few months of those will get me a free meal at IHOP. (not that healthy I know, I know ... )

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On YouGov I'm up to 62k points - I have some good options of rewards, but I still think I want to wait for the $100 AGC (100k) because it's the only one that is penny to point value.

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I have been perfectly abysmal at entering my spending for at least two weeks in YNAB. I'll be able to enter stores and amounts, but will have to guess at what it was for.

For some reason I've gotten into the bad habit of throwing away a receipt as soon as I snap it for Receipt Hog (finally reached 1100 points, but am going on for a higher amount.) Anyway .. I really need to save those receipts until I've entered them in YNAB (mostly grocery type receipts, I don't buy much else.)

All of that to say, my categories are probably going to be a little off for March.

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Ok, so off to catch up with y'all!

Oops, I went back to try to edit the lengthiness and ended up adding length!

I'm thinking that part of the reason I got so sick this week is because I went a little too gung ho on my exercise. I went from one 2 mile walk a week and sometimes a second one to exercising 5 days in a row - one of those days a killer group workout.

So ... my plan, starting on Tuesday (give myself plenty of recoup time)

30 minutes of cardio Tue/Th/Sat for 6 weeks.
Add 20 minutes of ST on Tue/Th for 6 weeks.
Add a 4th day of cardio for 6 weeks.
Add a 3rd day of 20 minutes ST for 6 weeks.
Add a 5th day of cardio for 6 weeks.
Add a 6th day of cardio for 6 weeks.
Then reevaluate - maybe increase ST time or increase cardio time, etc.

This way I'll work up slowly to my ultimate goal of 6 days of cardio and 3 days of ST.

So I woke up this morning totally planning on going to work. I wasn't sure how I'd handle sitting upright for 8 hours or constantly being on the phone, but I figured I'd try.

Then ....................I made my morning bathroom visit. Instead of the usual 2 or 3 minutes and blast off, it turned into 25 minutes of quality time - the kind where you lose 3 lbs. Loved seeing the number on the scale

I still was going to try though. So I made a slice pb applesauce toast and got a banana. It too me ten minutes to force down the banana and another ten unsuccessful minutes of staring at the toast. At that point I was like forget it, I'm taking the day off.

Later I did manage to eat the toast.

I walked over to the local grocery store to get some apple juice and stronger pain relief. Took those about half an hour ago, .... waiting.

I think my boss thinks NE and I live together because she asked me if he was there when I fainted.

NE was very nice last night - he only stayed for a few hours - I really wasn't up for much more than that.

I'm a bit anxious about what my ER bills are going to be - At least $150 copay (EKG, CT, etc.) Guess I'll just have to wait.

So Monday I started feeling really sore - thought it had to do with the exercise class I did on Sunday. By Monday night I was so sore I could barely move.

Spent Monday night under an electric blanket - made it so I could move by Tuesday morning.

Tuesday though I wasn't sore, my skin hurt. Thinking flu.

Went home after work and slept for 3 hours straight, got up for two, then went back to bed.

This morning I called in sick. I was feeling pretty light headed / nauseous and decided to make a fruit smoothie to get some nutrition/calories in. I was just working on pouring the smoothie out when I blacked out. I think I must have been out for at least ten minutes.

My head landed in Kari's water bowl. It took me a while to figure out that yes, I had fainted. The blender was on it's side with some contents spilled out, and the lid on the floor. Thankfully I didn't hit the edge of the counter or something.

Kari was definitely spooked - as was I. I've never had this happen before. I'm keeping myself awake in case there was a concussion or something. My doctor's office doesn't open for an hour.

I think I was dehydrated - yesterday I barely drank 32 oz of water, plus all the sleep and taking cold/flu medicine.

This was pretty freaky.

So Friday night when NE came over we went out to pick up his prescriptions and also got Chinese food. (I'd eaten earlier, but he was hungry ... I went ahead and got veggie fried rice - which I ate on all weekend.)



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Anyway ... I went to church Saturday (had missed the last two weeks due to sick and overtiredness.) Saturday afternoon I joined a church group doing a bike ride in a local park. I went there to walk ... one of the ladies walked with me instead of riding. We had a nice time talking and walking for 4.4 miles!

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Saturday night I spent some time updating YNAB. Ugh. I will not be making my $300 goal this month. If it weren't for some of the extras coming in, I probably wouldn't even have $100 to put in extra to the EF. Gas is one of the major budget busters this month - 4 roundtrips to O does not make for a happy gas tank.

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I got my $75 Discover CC bonus on Friday - have already requested a check (total of $80.xx)

I also cashed out for a $25 PP from SBS today.

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This morning I went to the church exercise class - cardio/pilates combo. It was a tough workout! I think it will be good for me though - both the exercise and possibly making some connections.

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Went grocery shopping this afternoon (walked to the store) - bananas, apple (free w/coupon from health fair), broccoli salad, cat food, 3 cartons of Rice Dream on clearance, etc. $30.29 (after coupons)

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Brother called this weekend - supposedly mom has big bad news that she has to tell us in person. I called her yesterday (not letting on that I'd talked to brother) and she didn't mention anything about BBN. So .... manipulation anyone?? Ugh. If so, she's shooting herself in the foot because he and I were already in the process of planning a weekend here for her and him and I. This whole thing kind of puts a sour taste on it (esp. for brother - who only started talking to her again maybe 18 months ago or so.)

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I'm going to be making the oatmeal cookies again fairly soon. I think I'll add applesauce to the batter though. I have two fairly ripe bananas, so will be making more. They'll make great after work / before workout snacks I think.

Today was my second day going to the gym. I used the stationary bike on Wednesday, and today I used the rowing machine. I'd never used a rowing machine before and didn't do my due diligence to find out anything about it ... just sat and started rowing. For 30 minutes.

Apparently I should have adjusted the damper (flywheel) thingy from ten to 3 or 4 ... also there WAS a way to adjust the foot straps. Oh well, I now know what to do better next time. And there will be a next time - I really liked it. Just have to figure out what to do with my phone - it was really awkward holding it AND the pull bar thingy. I don't want to use one of those armband holders, but I also don't want to use my .. er... assets holder ... either.

Tomorrow I plan on using the walking track.

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Today I took a couple hours off from work to take NE to a follow up appointment. It went pretty well.

Work also has been much better yesterday and today. I really think I was just overtired. I slept the best I have in a long time last night. Hoping tonight will be a really good sleep too (definitely tired from the rowing!)

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I'm thinking of joining in the church exercise group on Sunday mornings. It's $2/week. It would fulfill an exercise day (6 days a week of exercise) and it would also possibly help with the "connections" aspect.

I don't know how much longer they're going to be running the group though .. if it's not going to be much longer, I might not do it. Not worth getting started.

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Just ten more days of my 40 day challenge! It's hard for me to believe but it really hasn't been all that difficult for me. I think once it is over I will truly be broken of the habit of buying junk food all the time. Especially if I really get myself to continue on the exercise - just last night my SO offered me a bite of his cake and I was not tempted at all - wasn't worth the calories!

Although I did have a donut at work today ... That was worth it. (treats day)

This weekend I plan on measuring myself so I have a good baseline (even though I've already lost 6 lbs or so since starting the 40 day challenge and will have had 3 good workouts in) I'm not going to use weight as a huge measure though because it is the most frustrating one.

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We stopped at Hardee's on the way back to L today. The sandwich I had definitely wasn't worth the calories. Especially after I saw a posting on FB tonight by the restaurant Ceejay mentioned in O ... oh my word! Their sandwich looked SO good.

I really hope CCF, Ceejay and I can get together there to check it out before CCF moves too far away. I don't really want to go there with NE because I'm afraid that he will be all food critic on the place .. and that can ruin a place I like otherwise. (It's also why I don't like to make food for him too much ...) I'd much rather go there with people who will enjoy the food and the experience without needing to analyze and dissect every aspect ....

Anyway .. if I'm going to catch up with everyone else, I better get going.