Keeping It Frugal

Well I spent the majority of today researching how to set up my new Tivo without the benefit of a landline. I spent several hours searching the internet for information (as well as checking out kashi's bf's instructions). In the afternoon, dad and I went to Staples and asked the sales rep in the computer area if he knew much about Tivo - he said he didn't, but that so and so did. He went and got so and so. I told s&s what I was needing, and also showed him my list of what I thought I needed to get from my research. He was fairly knowledgable, although not so much about setting up Tivo withou a landline, but tried to be very helpful. He found both the usb adapter and the router I wanted but hadn't seen when I was looking on my own. After checking out of Staples with the $30 usb adapter and the $50 wireless router
along with the $9 coaxial splitter, we headed over to Walmart. AT Walmart I purchased an extra coaxial cable.

Total spent was ~$110 - but there is a $15 rebate on the wireless router.

When we got home we started working on getting everything put together. First of course I had to install the wireless router (which my dad was really excited about because he now can use his laptop on the net at my house). Then some experimentation with how to install the usb adapter. I ended up plugging it into my comptuer in order to install the drivers, then plugging it into the back of my Tivo. Next, after a phone call to Ryan, we figured out that the TV had to be on "Aux" in order to get the Tivo display.

THEN, I went to the website to activate my account and gift subscription. Unfortunately, my gift code did not seem to want to work after numerous tries by both me, and eventually by the customer service agent I managed to get ahold of. He told me to call the sales line and they could give me a new gift code. So I did. 25 minutes later someone finally picks up. I explain my situation to him. He tells me that HE can't do anything about it, but I would need to talk to customer service about it. But, customer service was EXTREMELY busy - so he took my name and number and said they'd call me either tonight or in the morning. Haven't heard from them yet, so I'm still in limbo not knowing whether or not this is going to work!

Luckily most of my purchases today were covered by the birthday money my grandma sent me.

Something else I did today was to work on my day off! Wesley, the person coming from the survey company, called me this morning and told me that he had left his access card and badge in a bag at home because he had changed bags. He was at the airport within half an hour of taking off so couldn't go home to get it. So, over the next couple hours a whole slew of phone calls took place. It all ended in that Linda (the lady I sort of report to at the bus garage) let dispatch know that Wesley would be calling tomorrow morning and would need to be let in - and I think she's leaving him an extra access card too. I hope it all works out as planned, but I'm not going to stress over it if it doesn't.

I had something really cool happen this evening. First of all I got a phone call from one of my best friends, Tammy. While I was on the phone with her I heard a knocking that sounded like it was *maybe* my door. I decided to go investigate, even though I couldn't think of anyone who would be stopping by. It was my neighbor's! They had a tin of Christmas cookies for my dad and I! I thought that was so sweet. I'll have to have dad make up another one of his bread machine loafs, and maybe I'll make them a tin of banana bread.

Okay, well its getting on the late side here so I probably should go check for some sheep to count.

Keeping it Frugal in Texas,
Laura

PS - My second Ing invite got used today! Woo Hoo!!

I had a very relaxing morning - sleeping in, reading, computer time.

I decided not to do a movie because there wasn't anything I wanted to see badly enough to spend the $5 on. I had decided to head on up towards Fort Worth around 3:30, but stop in Burleson and do some browsing in the stores. But then my mom called me and asked me if I would stop by her friends office (wife of a dentist) to pick up something for her at 5pm. I told her I had been planning on leaving much earlier than that - finally, 4 pm was agreed to. On the way up there I missed the Burleson exit, so just went ahead to the restruant, and arrived about 40 minutes early.

While I was waiting, I got a call from my grandma. I thanked her for the birthday card and the gift inside then she proceded to slip up and tell me what was inside the box the UPS delivered the other day. When my dad arrived we both went inside and got a table. It was getting close to the time mom was supposed to be there so we called her. She had gotten lost, and then stuck in traffic. We went ahead and ordered our food (and her food). She arrived as I was taking my last bite of my entree (stuffed mushrooms - listed as an appetizer - mmmmm mmmm!) Shortly after, came the humoungus piece of chocolate cake with a birthday candle, and of course the happy birthday operatic singing waiter.

THEN I got to open the box!! It is a TIVO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Not only a TIVO - but also a ONE-YEAR gift subscription for the monthly service!!!!! It wasn't just from my brother - my grandma, my dads sister and brother, Ryan, mom and dad all went in together for it -- it also is a combo Birthday/Christmas gift. The coolest, most awesomest thing about it though was the fact that it was my brother who came up with the idea, and then presented it to all the other people and got them excited about it. I've said it before, but I'll say it again - I've got the BEST brother!!! (I got to talk to Ryan for about 20 minutes tonight. )

My parents also got me 10lb and 15lb dumbbells. And my mom gave me a Dr Phill book about Love and Relationships (can't remember its title right now.)

Dad had to leave for a committment, but mom and I stayed and talked for another hour and a half or more. Big surprise (NOT ) she's got a guy in Oklahoma offering to get her a job and a place to live. I really don't know how she does it.

Oh, I did do some work related things today. Wesley, the guy from the survey company who came to help out last weekend, is coming again this weekend with a couple friends. So we shot a few emails back and forth to set the details in place. I also had to call Linda at the Bus Garage to get day passes for the friends - I hadn't even thought about them needing that yesterday when I was there. I also got a call from the employment agency asking if I'd be available next Friday to work -- of course, I said YES!!! So that will help my January budget out a bit.

Spending Log:
Gas station: $2.38 (2 sodas)
Walmart Gas: $19.68 ($2.04/ga) UGH!! 10 cents more than what I paid two fill ups ago!
Walmart: Chocolate $4.93

In the morning I'm going to work on setting up my Tivo!!! Wahoo!!!

Keeping It Frugal in Texas, (the 30 year old)

Laura

Today at the office the head honcho of the department where I do my supervising from, brought in a huge plate of holiday delecatables. A bunch of different kinds of cookies - snickerdoodles, lemon tarts, the cookies with a Kiss, another kind of chocolate cookie, and a number of other things. One of the sweet treats was particularily interesting and creative. It was made out of Bugles and vanalia frosting drizzled over to make individual clumps! I'd never seen anything quite like it, but believe me, it was VERY good.

You just have to laugh. Yesterday I was still waiting for one surveyor to come in and bring his material to download. Well, this morning when I walked into the office I found his bag with all his materials sitting on top of my desk -including his access badge. On top of his bag was a note. It essentially said that he hadn't been able to remember how to find the program on his Palm, so he wrote all the information down on paper. Now, if I hadn't given him a piece of paper with my PHONE NUMBER on it, or told him to CALL me anytime if he had ANY questions - that could ALMOST be understandable. Of course, finding the program was a simple matter of scrolling down from the main page! So, anyway, that just made yet another assignment to add to the que of assignments to be completed in January.

Tonight while dad and I were cleaning up from supper (we had our free Mac and Cheese) someone knocked on my door. Lo and behold it was the UPS woman! Apparantally she recognized my name on the package from my brother and realized that it had the wrong address. Wow! What customer service! The box itself is kind of heavy to be a Pilates mat - I can hardly wait till tomorrow when I can find out what;s in it!!!

I started reading Dan Brown's "Deception Point." So far, I am really enjoying it. I really like the thick books better than thin books.

In the mail today I got my snail mail confirmation from Emigrant Direct, then went online and confirmed my account. I also sent Jeffery two of my Ing referrals (about 6 pm) and by 10 pm tonight I had an email telling me that I had already gotten my first bonus!!!! I should probably transfer it over to my ED account, and I might just do that on Friday. After hearing about all the problems people were having getting their ED account setup, I was pleasantly surprised at how easy and relatively quickly it all happened. Now I've got to make a decision - should I keep my Long Term Savings in ING at 3.75%, or transfer it to ED at 4%? With the bonus, my LTS is at about $45 (yeah, paltry, but that was the first account I hit for living expenses, then I hit my Contingency Fund.) I'm just not sure if percentage wise it would make that much of a difference.

Well, I didn't get called in for a job tomorrow. So, I'm considering taking in a matine in Burleson, which is near Fort Worth where I'm meeting my parents for supper. Maybe get a haircut (last haircut was when Scott helped me move out of my Dallas apartment last May.) Or, maybe I'll just relax the day away, watch "Polar Express" brought to me by Netflix, and then mosey on over to Macaroni Grill in time to meet my parents. Hmm... one way would be no spending .. the other way would be around $20 or so, but how many times in life do you celebrate going from one decade to another? Probably the deciding factor will be if there is any movie at that theatre that I want to see badly enough to fork up $5 for a matine ticket.

Today was a no spending day. I came very very close this morning to buying something from a gas station. It's almost habitual with me, if I go inside a gas station to use their bathroom, I feel almost obligated to buy *something*. But today I fought my temptation and won. I was glad I held out too, when I found out about the cookies in the office -- I mangaed to limit myself to only four treats.

30 minutes left in the 20's!!!

Keeping It Frugal in Texas,
Laura

Well the decision was officially made today. The project I have been supervising since mid-October is going to be extended till January 14. Of course, this coming Saturday will be the last Saturday of 2005, then the remaining assignments will be done on January 14.

The two surveyor's who got jobs with Fed Ex came in today to drop off their bags. I genuinely like both of them, but I wish they would have showed even a *little* remorse for so badly dropping the ball. Between them, they could have completed 8 more Saturday assignments - which would have made us finished on the 10th. Oh well. Hope they don't play the same game with Fed Ex - won't keep their jobs very long if they do.

I'm a little worried about the weather this weekend. The forecast is calling for rain and/or snow. I'm really hoing it'll wait till at least Sunday night so all our assignments can get done.

Today I asked Jan if she could see if there were *any* temp jobs available on Th or Fr - even if they only pay $8/hr, I'd take it - esp. on Thursday. If I could get a temp job on Thursday, then using 1/4 tank of gas to go out to eat for my birthday would serve a dual purpose.

My brother Ryan called my dad tonight. Apparantally he had gotten my new address from my mom - she had told him my street number was 709!!!! I'm not sure where she got that number from. So my brother and my dad started trying to figure out how to get the package he's sending me to the right place. I think he got me a Pilate's mat - dad was kind of hinting at that.

I started reading "Digital Fortress" by Dan Brown last night, then finished it this evening. It was really good. Just as spellbinding as "Angels and Demons" but in a different way. My dad didn't like it as much as "Angels" he said that he thought it was too disjointed. I told him that if he didn't like that style, then he for sure wouldn't like the book "Holes" by Louis Sachar (one of my all time favorite books - read it to my 5th graders the first year it came out - it's a FANTASTIC story - the movie follows the book very closely too.)

I was very tempted to stop and get junkfood tonight on the way home. I resisted. So, no spending for me today.

I did do my weight training today. I decided to replace the tricep extend exercise with the French Dumbbell Press. I like that better - although I had to reduce the weight slightly to be able to do it properly. I also did 20 minutes on my Gazelle.

Keeping It Frugal in Texas, (with my Monkey on my lap snoring away)

Laura

26 hours left as a 20 something - I'm almost old! Just kidding.

Let me sum up work today. Two of my surveyor's got jobs with Fed Ex sometime last week (must have been on Friday, since I talked to them on THURSDAY) and so did not do their Saturday assignments (thanks for the heads up - real professional.) A third surveyor had yet ANOTHER "family emergency" which made him for the *4th* weekend in a row NOT do his Saturday assignment. THEN a fourth surveyor didn't take her Mega Battery, but took her older one - the one that's given us so many problems. So her Palm ended up dying on her - losing the program and all the data she had collected that day.

We did not have room for *anything* like this. We don't have enough equipment to hire enough surveyors to finish all the assignments next week. So, it looks like despite all the effort we've put into finishing by the 17th, we're STILL going to have to come back in January. It makes me so mad I could just SPIT! Oh yeah, the first three surveyors - the ones who have done NOTHING for FOUR weeks - they were told they were no longer needed. Should've done that last week, then maybe we wouldn't be so hard up now.

It really makes me wonder if people understand what it means when they take a job - or how to use some very simple tools, such as the TELEPHONE to keep their employer's updated. I would SO love it if any of those first three surveyor's asked to use me as a reference!!!! For two of them I could say that I really enjoyed working with them, although towards the end of the project when we were getting to major crunch time, neither one of them were able to help us finish the project because of various reasons. The third surveyor - don't know that I could even honestly say I enjoyed working with him - he would always keep me waiting - like today, he was supposed to come drop his stuff off. At 3:45 he told Jan he was on his way over. I called Jan at 4:15 to see if she'd heard from him. He told her he was just a few minutes away. At 4:30 I called Jan to let her know I was leaving for the day and had not seen or heard from him.

I just don't get it, don't get it at all.

Dad and I went to Kroger's tonight. Bought some of the things I had coupons for, plus Milk and bananas. Dad paid $4.97 for ~$10 worth of items.

Dad got a bit miffed with me. I asked him if I was supposed to meet him and mom on Thursday at the Macaroni Grill (they're taking me out for my birthday.) He was like, yeah, since we'll both be in Fort Worth. I told him that no, actually *I* wouldn't be. He goes "Since when have you not been working on Thursdays?" I *wanted* to say -- I TOLD you that my schedule changed THREE WEEKS AGO!!! But of course I didn't say that - that would be calling for outright war. So instead I calmly told him that a couple weeks ago my schedule had been changed to just Monday to Wednesday - although last week I worked on Thursday instead of Wednesday. He *still* got miffed at me and was all "So what! You want to cancel out on the whole thing, or go somewhere else?" I told him no that I didn't want to do that, I was just wondering about what the plans were. ARGHHHH!!!!!!! How much longer???????????????

No spending for me today. But a huge headache.

Keeping It Frugal in Texas,
Laura

What I did today:
1. Read the book "Forgiven" - second book in the Firstborn series by Karen Kingsbury. Am anticpating seriousl withdrawals -- the third book doesn't come out till Summer 2006!!!

2. Did laundry (just the colors.)

3. Bought a double newspaper and cut out the necessary coupons.

4. Stopped at Taco Bell. UGHH!! How hard is it to understand when someone orders a 7 - layer burrito with NO guacomole and NO tomatoes????? Unfortunately, I didn't realize this till I got home and sat down to eat nearly 30 minutes later. It's not like this is the first time I've ever ordered that SAME exact thing from that EXACT Taco Bell!!! UGHH!!

5. Watched Survivor - the whole three hours of it (finale shows + reunion.) Yay!!! Danni!!!!!!

6. Paid for my coupons that I had ordered.

7. Loafed on the computer.

That about sums it up.

Spending Log:
Coupons: $2.87 -- taylortowncoupons.com
Dbl Newspaper: $1.99 -- walmart
Lupper - Taco Bell - $3.79

One thing I didn't do today was exercise. I was going to do it during Survivor, but then I had to end up fixing something to replace the 7-layer burrito, and it just got to close to bedtime to get my heartrate up. I know, I know - excuses.

Hopefully the fact that no one called me this weekend (other than the one person just double checking what to do) is a good sign. I hope with all my heart that tomorrow that ALL 13 surveyors who had assignments completed their assignments with NO problems! THAT would make me SO happy!!!

Okay, signing off.

Keeping It Frugal in Texas,
Laura

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

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

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

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

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

Keeping It Frugal in Texas,
Laura

Today all three people who I was to train, actually showed up!! I got all three of them trained. I also got Candice's palm pilot back, and found out it had died, so any data she may have collected was lost - so that answered that question. What I'll do with her three weekdays is give two of them to two surveyor's on Monday, and take the third one for myself (an extra 6 hours sure won't hurt my pocketbook!).

After training the 3 new people today and giving them their assignments, I recounted how many I have left for next week. There are only 8 left! So, as long as there are no mishaps this weekend, and EVERYONE does their assignment - we will have EVERYTHING finished on Dec 17!! Yahoo!!

When I got home tonight, Dad was watching the classic Seinfield episode where they are in a parking garage and can't find their car. I used to be so into comedies - Seinfield, Frasier, Friends, Home Improvement etc. But now most of what I watch are the hour long dramas/reality shows - Lost, Everwood, Survivor, CSI, etc. I wonder why that is? Is it because I'm getting older? Or is it that most of the half-hour comedies nowadays just don't interest me enough to spend time watching them? I like Scrubs and George Lopez and Reba - but I can count on one hand the number of episodes of all three of those that I've actually watched in the past couple of seasons. Strange isn't?

I started reading the book I picked up from the library yesterday - "Fame" by Karen Kingsbury. It's a new series that is a continuation of the "Redemption" series. I haven't finished the "Redemption" series (waiting for the last book) so some of the info in this first book is kind of spoilerish - but I think I'll still enjoy reading it when it comes into the library.

Well, I'll need to update my YNAB, since I spent some money today, and I picked up my paycheck for last week. I am just so thankful that I had a healthy savings account and was able to pay the 6 months rent upfront here. Because if I was trying to actually pay rent + other bills on what I'm making --- well, let's just say that that would be impossible. I have two more months before I have to be making enough to pay the rent + bills --- sure hope I have a good paying, full time job by then!

Spending log:
Walmart:
Gas: $20.99 -- $1.99/gal --- Only got 310 miles out of this last tank, almsot 50 less than normal. Guess it was the cold.
Food Items: $4.97

Keeping It Frugal in Texas,
Laura

Today was a *cold* day - at least for this part of Texas. I think it actually got down to around 12 degrees. My car windows were *completely* covered with a thick layer of ice. My dad was very generous, and went out and started my car and started scraping at the windows while I finished getting ready. By the time I got outside my windsheild was uncovered enough where I could see out of it, the passenger front window had a medium sized circle I could sort of see out of. the rear window had a good sized line to see out of -- but the rear passenger side window was COMPLETELY blocked with ice. w
Well, I started out on my journey. The first 15 miles of my drive is on a state road with a bunch of driveways in various places. During the 15 miles I stopped twice to try and break some more ice off that rear window. I got on the freeway and went a little while - luckily there wasn't much traffic - but then I got off the freeway and finally managed to break the ice off the rear window so I could see to change lanes. 20 miles or so later, as I was pulling off on my exit and got a phone call from my dad. While I was talking to him I started to SLIDE across the ice. Again, luckily, there were no cars around me. I managed to get myself stopped, but boy howdy was my heart going a million miles a minute!

Of the three surveyors who I was supposed to train today, only one actually showed up - and he was the one who could only do an assignment next Saturday. ARGGHHH!!! Then we went to the wrong bus stop to get on our bus - but eventually we made it on a bus, so he got his training in. I talked to Marcelo and suggested that we see if the two people who were supposed to come today could come tomorrow (they had good reasons.) He okayed that, and then also got someone from their company to come down this weekend and do an assignment. So, maybe, just maybe, we will be able to finish on time.
On the way home I got a call from the person coming tomorrow, and we agreed to meet tomorrow at 1. Then I got a call from Jan (emloyment agency) telling me that they finally had Candice's Palm Pilot, etc!! So, hopefully when I download it tomorrow, it will have 3 weekday assignments and one Saturday assignment on it - THAT would take so much pressure off!

I got off this morning without any water, so I ended up buying a water bottle from the vending machine - then broke down and bought a bag of skittles as well, so not a non-spending day.

Water: $.85
Skittles: $.65

Keeping It Frugal in Texas (and trying to keep it warm as well!)

Laura

Today I didn't go into work since I'll be training the 3 new surveyors tomorrow - have to keep my hours to about 20 hours. I didn't mind really, because it was really rainy and icy and cold out.

Last night I knew it was supposed to go below freezing, so I decided that I would turn my heat on so none of my pipes would burst. I put it on 50 degrees and then put it on auto -- nothing happened. So, I put it into the "On" position. Still, nothing. I switched it over to the a/c, and the machines roared into action, though no air. Finally I just decided to have all my faucets drip all night - not sure which is more money - dripping faucets, or using the heat.

So this morning after dad and I had eaten breakfast with Charles (a family friend) my dad took a look at the furnace. It's electrical, so he didn't have any idea what to do. So I called my apartment manager and told him that my heat was not working. He told me he'd send someone over to check it out. An hour later noone had come, so I called again to find out when the person would be coming and was told they were on their way. About twenty minutes later the guy came. He checked things out and then said that he thought it might just need a new thermostat. Dad also told him about my back door needing weatherstripping (something I'd called the office about at least 5 times!) By the time he left he had relplaced my old thermostat (with the unreadable Heat/Cool functions) with a digital thermostat, had the heat working, and had weather stripped my back door. I thought that was pretty good for about an hour's work.

I stopped by the library this afternoon and picked up two more Dan Brown books, plus a couple of other ones. I also put my name on a waiting list for James Patterson's "Mary, Mary" as well as the last book in the Karen Kingsbury series "Redemtpion."

I had a bit of fun today getting out my ol' ice scraper again. The ice this morning wasn't too bad, but this afternoon it sure took a bit of time and arm power to get it off. I'd love some suggestions from folks out there who deal with iced over windsheilds on a normal basis - also, what to do if your door lock is iced over. We're supposed to still have freezing temps in the morning.

My brother called my dad tonight. Dad took the phone into the office and shut the door trying to be all private. But the thing is, I think he's getting hard of hearing or something, because when he talks on the phone, he always talks so LOUD - I could hear him pretty easily through the wall even with the tv on. I really tried to not listen, especially once I figured out that they were making some plans involving me and my birthday. *I hope that maybe this means that Ryan will be coming here to visit for a few days!** THAT would be an AWESOME birthday present.

Growing up, he and I had a lot of sibling rivalry. But when I went away to college and he started high-school, our relationship changed for the better, and since then we've become very close friends. There's nothing that can make my day more complete and happy than getting a phone call from my brother. I do call him, but he's *very* hard to reach.

Well, no spending today. I'm now going to go back to my book by Gilbert Morris, "The Charade" about a man who was extremely obese and how he felt about himself, then made a computer program, got rich, got kicked in the gut by two people he trusted -- and now is on a revenge path - but will somehow be put off it before the end of the book by God. The first part of the book really got to me because I was relating so much to so much of what he was saying/feeling about his weight/how people looked at him/how he hated miorrs, etc.

Didn't exercise today - overslept, then my dad was around the place ALL DAY - so didn't even get much internet time - but I did finish Angels and Demons (SO GOOD!)

Keeping It Frugal in Texas,
Laura

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Keeping It Frugal in Texas,
Laura

Ooohhh!!! I had a FRUSTRATING day at work today!!! First of all, I find out that three of my surveyors had trouble on their Saturday assignments. So that meant three assignments with trips needing to be redone - I was able to attach two of them to other assignments, so that wasn't so bad. Then, by the end of the day I still had FIVE surveyors who had not checked in. So I started calling them. I was able to get ahold of three of them. I found out that two of them (the two who had gone to New Orleans last week) had not gotten back till Friday, and that when they got back they were sick as dogs - so of course they didn't do their assignments! Then the third one supoosedly had a family emergency and so he didn't do his Saturday assignment. Then of course there is the fourth surveyor (Candice) who'd had emergency surgery about a month ago, but who won't return any of our phone calls - and so today Lynn at the employment agency left her a message letting her know that if she didn't call or come into the office to download her assignments by 4pm that she would be considered to have not fulfilled her job committments and not be paid for any assignments she actually had done. Guess what?? She didn't call or come in!!!

So what this basically means is this. Today I had 16 assignments left to hand out. With the three redo's, that gave me 19, but I was able to attatch two of them, which left me with 17. Then I assigned 6 which left me with 10. Then I found out about the three undone assignments, which put me at 13. Then, add Candice's assignment, and that gives you 14. Without Candice I have 10 surveyor's right now. I have two surveyors without an assignment - that would leave me with 12 assignments for Dec 17. Do you see the problem??? We really were supposed to be finished on Dec 10 (this coming Saturday.) A few weeks ago I had it planned out perfectly, with even a little wiggle room for redo trips. What I didn't imagine in my wildest dreams was that more than one of my surveyors would just plain NOT do their assignments!

When I was picking up my check this afternoon I was telling Lynn about how frustrated this made me, and how it just boggles my mind that people could treat their job like this. She told me that I'm feeling the frustrations they feel everyday. I told her that what frustrates me the most about it was that I was really looking forward to being finished with the limited hours and be able to have a chance for a full 40-hour work week. She basically told me I could count on one as soon as this job is finished.

I guess I was just raised differently. When you say that you're going to do something, you get the job done, and you do it to the best of your ability. If something comes up that is unavoidable - you use the new fangled invention called the TELEPHONE so people who are counting on you know what's going on and don't have to make guesses or get worried. Maybe it's because I've always worked with professional level people that makes it hard for me to accept this kind of work ethic. I hate to say this, but of my 10 remaining surveyor's, the ones who've NEVER let me down are the ones with college degrees. Maybe that has something to do with it. Maybe not. All I know is that it is SO frustrating!!!

Ok, stepping off my soapbox. I sure hope I'm not coming off sounding holier than thou or anything. I sure have my vices and not so good points. Just when it comes to how I'm going to pay my bills, that's not one of them.

No spending today.

Keeping It Frugal in Texas,
Laura

Today was yet another nice relaxing day.

Early this afternoon I went to Walmart to pick up a double newspaper and fill up with gas. Then I stopped by Big Lots to see if I could find what I needed for a couple Jar Gifts. I didn't find anything for the Jar Gifts, but I did pick up two more things for my Manicure/Pedicure Home Spa kit.

I was very hungry and really craving Taco Bell. So I stopped by TB and went through the drive through. As the lady was handing me my change, some of it dropped on the ground. It was "only" two pennies - most people would've just drove on and not worried about it. But nope, not me. I unbuckled my seat belt, unlocked my door, and opened my door. Luckily they both were within easy reaching distance. I got a bit of a strange look from the lady, but I didn't mind - I wasn't about to lose one penny of my money - especially when spendng it on fast food!

This evening while watching tv I did my manicure and pedicure. It was a fairly relaxing thing to do while watching shows that you didn't have to pay much attention to in order to follow. Although I was really wishing for a second person to do my right hand and foot - I'm right handed, so doing cuticles/cutting the nails, is somewhat difficult with my left hand. I think I now have just about everything I can think of that comes in handy for a Home Spa kit. Those foot massagers/circulating water things - I've had two of them before, and neither one of them worked very well. Just a plain old dishpan filled with warm soapy water works just as well.

Ok. Spending Log today.
Walmart: $4.31 - newspaper + junkfood
$19.25 -- gas - $1.94/gallon
Big Lots: $3.37 -- manicure stuff + coke
Taco Bell $2.67 -- lupper (lunch/supper)

Keeping It Frugal in Texas,
Laura

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

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

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

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

Keeping It Frugal in Texas,
Laura

Today I slept in very late - well, didn't really sleep, just lounged in bed. My kitty was so sweet and funny. After I got up to feed him and he ate, he jumped back up on the bed and meowed at me. So, I lifted up my arm (which was under the covers) and he went under it, underneath the covers. Then he popped his head out on top of my arm, and had a good little nap under the covers.

Dad and I went to Albertson's to pick up a couple good deals I'd seen from their advertisements. We were getting ready to checkout when he asked me if I'd ever been in their 80% discount store area. I hadn't. So we both went over there to have a look. There was a lot of things in there that were understandably hard to sell, but some of the things were quite surprising. We picked up some shoelaces (to make a cat toy), a bag of sour gummy bears, a nail buffer, a tube of chapstick, sugar-free syrup (for mom), several boxes of jello pudding (chocolate mint), a box of beligian waffle mix, a couple of hair clips, a bottle of spice (don't remember what kind right now), plus other stuff -- all for $7.32!!! We were about to leave when I noticed that they had the kitty litter trap - I'd seen it advertised online for ~$30 and thought it looked neat, but wasn't about to spend $30+shipping. I took it up to the counter for a price check - it was $39.95+tax -- but after the 80%, it was only $8.62!! I decided to go ahead and get it. Hopefully this will help stop the complaints from my dad about the bathroom stinking because of Monkey's litterbox.

I got my latest copy of TV Guide. I think it was here last May that I signed up for the offer of a free one-year subscription. It sure isn't a magazine I'd pay for, but I do really enjoy getting it. A week from Sunday looks like it will be a night meant for multiple VCR's - Survivor Season Finale + reunion show 7 - 10 p.m. -- Extreme Makeover: Home Edition 7 - 9 p.m. -- and Crossing Jordan 9 - 10 p.m. I've never understood why they put Survivor's (and Big Brother's) finales on a different night than the normal show - though if they kept it on Thurday, then that would mess with CSI, Everwood and ER, so that wouldn't really be much better. Ok /tvaholic.

Spending:
Albertsons: $8.62 -- Kitty Litter Trap
Post Office: $2.39 -- shipping an Ebay item LONG overdue

Keeping It Frugal in Texas,
Laura

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Keeping It Frugal in Texas,
Laura

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

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

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

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

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

Keeping It Frugal in Texas,
Laura

Hi! I just couldn't help but post early today. A friend of mine sent me a link to this blog on the msn.com site and I've been reading it here (at work -going slow.) I just thought it looked like something ya'll might be interested in.

It's called "Women In Red" blog: http://spaces.msn.com/members/MSNMoneyWomenInRed/

I hope ya'll check it out - I think you'll find it quite interesting!

Keeping It Frugal in Texas,
Laura

Work was okay today, though I did feel quite frustrated. Candice (who called me yesterday) ended up not coming in to download her assignments. Then two of the other surveyors were no shows - though I had talked to them on Friday night and knew neither of them had done their Saturday assignments - but I thought they'd be coming by. Then another surveyor came by and he hadn't done his assignment!!! So, with the surveyor who quit last week, that left 11 surveyors. There are 16 Saturday assignments left. *If* Candice deigns to show up so I can give her a new assignment, that will leave 15 assignments. So, essentially that means that we *won't* be finishing on Dec 10. Everyone was told from the beginning that they would have to do weekends. Two of the surveyor's who didn't do their assignments - it was their THIRD time not doing their Saturday assignments. They both are from New Orleans and have amazing stories to tell. But the last time they asked for the weekend off because the woman's son was playing in a football game at UTA - I told them that I could not give ANY more Saturdays off or we weren't going to make it. But they went ahead and took this weekend off anyway.

If I were truly in total charge of this, and I didn't need every warm body possible to finish the project, as much as I like both of these surveyors, they would be gone right now. I guess I just don't understand this kind of work "ethic." Maybe its because they're getting the supplements from FEMA and so aren't relying on the money for living expenses. I really hope that previous statement doesn't sound mean or heartless. I don't begrudge any of the victims of Katrina or Rita getting helped back on their feet. I guess I just really don't understand how you can say you're going to do a job, understand totally what that means, know that time is running out, and yet still just take off.

What this does to me is it puts me in the position of a fourth week of only 20 hours unless they're are some temp jobs on a Th/Fri. I was truly looking forward to this project ending so that I could possibly get a 5-day a week job - though maybe that wouldn't have happened right away, so instead I should look at it as though giving me another 20 hours for sure.

In other news ... Last night I got a call from my college rommate/best friend Tracy. She interviewed for a K-1 position in Atlanta, GA and she was hired!!! She was SO very happy. Such an answer to prayer. She's not sure how she's going to handle telling her school kids, but at least she's got one less thing to worry about. The school she's been teaching at for the past four years is having to go to just one teacher for grades k-8, and she didn't want to take that on. She'll begin her new job in January.

Spending Log:
Dry Cleaning: $23.56 - 4 dresses suitable for professional office wear + 2 blouses
Walmart: $4.25 junkfood
Cell Phone: $49.26 (450 minutes/Cingular)
Credit Card: $61.00 ($39 - min payment; $11 - extra; $10 - Netflix sub)
Car Insurance: $61 (Geico)
Pet Insurance: $9.95

Keeping It Frugal in Texas,
Laura

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

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

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

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

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

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

Keeping It Frugal in Texas,
Laura

Today was another nice lazy day. I didn't even get around to doing any cooking or anything else really productive. I did read a Karen Kingsbury book - the first in her series called "Redemption." I'm now reading the second book in that seres called "Remember". So far, so good.

This evening I got on my computer after finishing "Redemption" to check my email. My computer wasn't connecting to the net however, which I found quite strange since I have cable internet, and it's an always on type connection. So I ended up rebooting my computer. After logging back in, a screen came up for a program called "PowerScan." I didn't recognize it as anything *I* had put on my computer, so I googled it and found out it was a spyware thing. So then I realized I hadn't updated (or ran) adaware in awhile. But alas, adaware somehow wasn't on my computer anymore!! *I* sure don't remember removing it! So, I put it back on from the Lavasoft site (the free one of course) and ran it. It found 263 adware files!!!!!! Needless to say, I think I'm going to have to get vigilant about running that thing again. I've fallen down on my duty of protecting my computer.

I need to record Desperate Housewives for my dad, and maybe watch Crossing Jordan, then get to bed at a decent hour tonight. Can't sleep in tomorrow - back to the old work grindstone. I hope I get called for temp jobs for Thursday and Friday to help pad my paycheck - January might just be a pretty lean, lean month if all I have is three weeks of 20 hours a week (plus of course this past week since the paycheck doesn't come till Dec 2 - would count towards January.)

No spending today - didn't go anywhere either.

Keeping It Frugal in Texas,
Laura

Today was essentially a very lazy day for me. Spent most of it on the computer. However, yesterday my dad had asked me to mail a card for him, so that meant I had to go out to the post office. Since I had to go out anyway, I decided to stop at Taco Bell and then at Walgreens since I had a little grocery budget money left.

After stopping at the post office, I went to Walgreen's. I picked up my pint of Dreyer's Nestle Ice Cream and a Coke, then went to stand in line. One of the employee's came over and told me she could get me in Cosmetics, so I gladly followed her there. While ringing up my purchases, she mentioned that they had some lotions left that were free after rebate, AND that if I bought one, THEY would send in the receipt + rebate form for me!!! I'd been thinking that it was about time to get some more lotion (with Vitamin E) and since it would be free, I went ahead and bought it. All I had to do was fill my name and address out on the rebate form (I also entered my rebate card # to get the extra 10%). She kept my receipt and marked my purchase, and she will send it in for me! I have to say that that is some remarkable customer service! I hadn't done any Walgreen's rebate shopping in awhile, but that was easier than pie!

Tomorrow I am going to try and figure out a couple things I can make with my stockpile of food. I'd like to make Special K roast, but I'm not sure I have enough cottage cheese. Maybe I'll make lasagna or some other kind of cassarole with my oodles of noodles.

Found out that at Kroger's this week you can get our friday night pizza for $2 a pizza if you buy 8 of them. That is almost $3 less than Walmart's price. I'll have to let my dad know about it so he can get some on Monday - that is, if they have enough of the plain cheese ones left by then.

Spending:
Walgreens: $6.39 (junkfood + lotion)
Taco Bell: $2.39 (7-layer burrito + pintos&cheese)

Keeping It Frugal in Texas,
Laura

Got to work an hour early. Wasn't a very exciting day. Spent 8 hours sitting at a desk answering the phone maybe 3 dozen times, transfering calls to various places when needed. Easily finished my book two hours before the end of the day. Spent the last two hours reading msnbc.com and cnn.com since those were the only two websites "allowed". Those last two hours really dragged!

Got home and got to hear how disgusted my dad was at Albertson's. He'd gone there to buy a couple Red Barron Pizza's (on sale 3 for $10) and the one we've been eating for Friday night supper wasn't on sale. Smart guy ended up getting a no epiration raincheck. I will definitely have to look into some coupons for that!

Otherwise a pretty slow day. I am so looking forward to sleeping in in the morning (if Monkey doodles who's sitting in front of my monitor will let me!) Ha ha! Just as I was writing about him, he turns his head towards the monitor like he's reading what I'm writing. Cat's are just too funny!

Spending:
Wal-greens: $2.34 junkfood (chocolate bars on Black Friday sale, couldn't resisit - really!)

Keeping It Frugal in Texas,
Laura

Today was pretty good. Dad and I went up to my mom's place. When we got there dad gorillia glued the pieces of the top piece for her desk. Then we started on our journey to find a place to eat. Most of the places we were thinking of were closed, so we ended up eating at Furr's Cafeteria. I owed my dad half of the Sam's Club membership renewal, so I told him that I would treat for the meal. All of us were being fairly conservative with what we took. Then when we got to the register we found out that they were charging one price for all you could eat! So when we got to the table the watier told us that he would bring us anything we wanted so we wouldn't have to cut in line. I ended up getting some more veggies, but was satisfied with what I already had. Dad gorged himself quite simply. Mom ate her three nibbles and pronounced herself "stuffed."

When we got back to Mom's apartment we watched "The Fugitive." I'd given my dad the DVD for his birthday (back in July) and he hadn't had a chance to watch it yet. Mmm mmm, Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones.

Got back home and had an email from a good college friend of mine. She sent some pictures of her kids - she has two girls - adorable of course. I hadn't heard from her in awhile, so it was good to get a bit of an update.

Tomorrow I have to get up super duper early - no not for Black Friday sales - but for a one-day temp job as a bank receptionist. I have to be there by 8, and I figure with holiday traffic, I'll need to leave here no later than 6am. Ugh! I am NOT a morning person!

I finished reading "There's Something About Christmas" on the way to my mom's place. Sniff, sniff. I think I'm going to have to stake out the shelf in the library with more of Debbie MacComber books. Am now starting on a new book by Melissa Bank called "The Wonder Spot." So far, so good.

My calves have been really, really sore today. I guess I didn't stretch them enough last night after gliding on my gazelle.

Spending today:
Furr's Cafeteria: $28.97 -- 3 meals + 1 IBC Rootbeer (that was me, my special treat on Thanksgiving, couldn't resist.)

Keeping It Frugal in Texas,
Laura

Woo Hoo! My Gazelle arrived tonight a little after 6pm just as I was fixing supper. The estimated delivery date was Nov 30 and I didn't think my patience would hold out that long. After dad and I ate, we worked together to put it together. It wasn't really too difficult, but it was good there were two people working together. I already did my first workout on it -- ~20 minutes. I LOVE It!!! Now I can get my cardio in while watching tv shows and not having to mess with videos or worry about what the weather's like or how dark it is, etc.

I had a short day at work today, which was good because I had NOTHING to do!! After work I picked up my check. Then I stopped at Walmart. Instead of just putting enough on my shopping card for one tank of gas, I went ahead and put enough on it for the tank of gas, plus my December gas budget. That way I don't have to go in there every time I want to fill up (and be tempted to buy something else - like chocolate!)

I watched some of my Lost Bonus Disc DVD when I got home. So far it's pretty cool, but I don't think I'll watch all the parts. Then tonight Lost was on an hour later than usual, which was good because we weren't done putting together my Gazelle till nearly 7:15pm. It was AWESOME!! I bet posters on television without pity.com are going to be complaining loudly about the charachter Ana Lucia having flashbacks - but I still thought it was a very well done episode.

I read some more of my book "There's Something About Christmas" last night. In fact I had to force myself to put it down so that I would get a good night's rest. I'm going to read some more tonight, probably knowing me, I might even finish it.

I'm really liking using the program "You Need a Budget." Since my income each month right now is who knows what - depending on what assignments I get/# of hours - basing my next month's spending on what I earn in the current month is the way to go. Customer service is awesome also. I had a question about something, and emailed Jesse (the creator of the program) and had a response the next day that gave me a through explanation. I think it was well worth the $20.

Spending Today:
Walmart:
Junkfood - $2.14
Gas ---- $19.08 ---- $1.96/gallon w/card !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(I'm not counting my December gas budget until I actually spend it from the card.)

Keeping It Frugal in Texas,
Laura

Happy Thanksgiving Everybody!!

Woo Hoo! Walmart has their gas for $2.02/gallon, and with the shopping card discount, it becomes $1.99!!! Maybe it will even go down another cent or two by tomorrow night when I need to fill up again.

Work was ok. When I got there this morning my access card wasn't working. Luckily one of the people who works in my section pulled up behind me and opened the gate with his card, and let me in the building. The security guy fixed my card for me, so hopefully it will work in the morning. Otherwise, nothing very interesting happened today.

I stopped by the library on my way home and picked up four more books. I was really looking to see if I could find the first book in a series - I had inadvertantally picked up books 2 and 3 last time. They didn't have the first book.

When I got home I clipped the necessary coupons, and made up our shopping list (using the grocerygame list plus a few other things we needed.) I divided the coupons between my dad and I and we went shopping. They had restocked on an item which was still on sale, and I still had coupons for (making it free.) Dad added a number of things that weren't on my list, otherwise we would've had a better percentage. My list - $15.50 shelf total -- Actual Cost $4.08 (12 items). My dad's list -- $32.03 shelf total -- Actual Cost $22.10 (17 items). Total shopping trip: $47.58 shelf total / $26.18 actual cost (29 items) = less than $1 an item!! Pretty good considering that we bought milk, frozen vegetables, a frozen pizza, 3 boxes of cereal, plus other stuff. Also, my dad's Kroger card now has over $100 spent for November, so he's earned the $.10/gallon gas discount. He drives by a Kroger gas station at least once a week, so he'll be able to use the discount without doing any extra driving.

As for me, today was a no spending day.

Oh, for supper tonight we had mashed potatoes (free), vege chicken strips ($1 - 1/2 box), cream corn ($.25), and cinnamon rolls ($.50). Free and cheap food tastes so good! And, I am taking the leftovers for lunch tomorrow.

I finished Amy Tan's book "Saving Fish from Drowning." It was really good. I actually ended up staying up late to finish reading it. Tonight at the library one of the books I got was "There's Something About Christmas" by Debbie MacComber. I've only read a few pages, but it looks pretty good.

Keeping It Frugal In Texas,
Laura

I had a late start this morning. Just couldn't make myself get out of bed in time to exercise. Made it to work with plenty of time to spare though.

Work was fairly busy all day long. One of the surveyor's came in in the late afternoon and told me that she had to quit. Her mother in law's alzheimer's was getting worse, and she was needed to take care of her. I told her I was sorry to see her go, but that I understood.

I got a call from the employment agency offering me a temp job as a receptionist on Friday. I very gladly accepted. It will definitely make next weeks paycheck much better than I was expecting.

Dad mentioned to me that my grandma and his sister might be coming here for four or five days over Christmas. I'll be happy to see them, and I know he will be very happy to see them too. But ever since I've moved out on my own, the only Christmas decorating I've done is in my classroom - and even that was just basically a paper chain and some garlands and one strand of white lights - plus kids artwork. I don't have any Christmas decorations. I don't have money to spend on decorations or the extra electricity for lights. I don't have the storage space for any of that either. So, anyway I hope that they won't be too disspointed to come and spend Christmas in a home thats NOT decorated - and if I'm offered any temp jobs during that week, I feel like it would be necessary for me to take them. So I guess he'll have to be their main host. I hope they stay in a hotel, because if they stayed here they'd have to share my bed (a King) and I'd get to sleep on the futon in my living room. No privacy at all. I guess I really have space isues don't I?

Today I wore one of the tops I bought at Goodwill in July for $2. It's blue, and soft, and has ribbing? going vertically. I wore it with my red skirt thats kind of fitted. When I looked at myself in the mirorr I was really surprised. Either I'm actually slimming down some, or the effect of the outfit was very illusional. Even my dad made a comment tonight at supper asking me if I had lost weight. hee

k, time to be heading off -- no more sleeping in, ya hear! Weight lfiting here I come!!!

No spending today. Yay!

Keeping It Frugal in Texas,
Laura

This morning I somehow took a lot longer to get ready, and ended up having to speed all the way to the Garage to meet my bus on time. Did not like doing that very much at all. I kept having visions of getting stopped by a cop and then missing the darn bus anyway and having a ticket to boot! Thankfully I got there a minute before my check in time. I had some trouble getting a GPS reading on the first trip, so I have the feeling that first trip will need to be redone.

So anyway, this assignment should be the last one I have to go on, and I sure can't say that I'm sorry to say that. It's not hard work, sitting on a bus counting how many people get on and off. But it makes for some awfully short nights, and can just get to be quite tedious after awhile. I much prefer being in the office supervising.

I picked up a double newspaper on the way home. The coupon inserts are pathetic, but maybe one or two coupons might be worthwhile later on. I checked out the TV guide and to my surprise all but one of my regular tv shows (Everwood) is going to have a new episode this week. I also checked out the Career Builder, but there really wasn't anything very interesting in there.

I finished watching the last disc of Sex and the City. Although I've read where other viewers were very dissapointed with how it ended, I thought they ended it well. However, I am sad to know that there is no more where that came from. But now I can move on to the other 60 movies in my Que.

Today while I was on the bus I started reading Amy Tan's "Saving Fish from Drowning." I've enjoyed other books by her such as "The Bonesetter's Daughter" and "The Joy Luck Club" etc. So far I am also really enjoying her latest book as well. It's on a 7-day loan from the library, so I do need to get it back by Wednesday to avoid late fees. I used to read so much more than I have been lately. I guess I'm spending more of my reading time on the internet than I did before. I guess its a good thing in a way, because I was starting to run out of books that I enjoy that are also available at the library. I checked out frugalreader.com but I could see that getting quite expensive with the shipping - plus I really don't know if I have very many more books that I could part with, at least for now. Between all my moves this summer I got rid of ~45% of my library, maybe more.

Spending Log:
Dbl Newspaper: $1.99

Keeping It Frugal in Texas,
Laura

On Friday morning I got a call from Lynn at the employment agency. She told me that they had finally managed to get in touch with Candice. It had been nearly a week since we had heard from her, and I for one was really getting worried. It turns out that she had to have emergency surgery. I don't know what it was for, but she'll be able to be back to work this week. I'd started to really let my immagination run wild on this, so am glad to know concretely what happened!

On Friday afternoon I stopped at Walmart and picked up some more supplies for my personal foot and hand spa kit. I had picked up most of the supplies for the hands in October, so this month I picked up the supplies for my feet. In all, the supplies cost ~$35. A little more than the cost of a professional maincure/pedicure, but will last much, much longer, so the actual cost will probably be more like 10 cents per mani/pedi. All my supplies fit quite nicely in the dishpan (for soaking my feet in) and really doesn't take up much room. I got this one nail polish for $.88 - it's kind of clear with sparkles and little confetti type stars. I thought it was pretty cool.

Today I went out to lunch with some of my Pathway classmates. It was really great seeing them and catching up. They were talking about going to the Christmas banquet ($40 per person!) and the Step Beyond training ($349 - not including hotel!). Although I would dearly love to go, I just can't justify it. For the banquet you're supposed to dress up really fancy. My one "fancy" dress fit me 30 lbs ago, so I would need to get something else. Even if I could find something at Ross or at a consignment store, it would be at least $20, plus the cost of the banquet. So today's little get together is what will have to do for me until after the holidays when we have another get together.

For Thanksgiving my mom, dad and I are going to eat at Jason's Deli. Then we're going to go to mom's apartment and watch a movie. My mom wants to see On Golden Pond, so I told her that I'll make sure I watch my two DVD's I have right now from Netflix and get them in the mail on Monday, and then put On Golden Pond to be next in my Que. It should easily be here by Wednesday. Our family used to have a traditional Thanksgivng meal. But in the last six years, I don't think we've had one traditional meal. We've either been invited to someone else's meal, or like last year dad and I ate at Golden Corral, and then I ate with my Mom at Jason's Deli (they weren't on good speaking terms then.) I do sometimes miss making the meal and eating some of our traditional foods, but I don't really miss the cleanup!!

Oh! I almsot forgot to mention! I relisted my LAN cable on Ebay that didn't sell last time. This time I put a buy it now price - and somebody bought it! Woo Hoo! I'm going to get it out in the mail on Monday. I really need to get some other items listed - like the Oriental scarf, which would probably make a good Christmas gift for someone into scarves (which I'm not - and received it as a gift from someone who actually bought it in the Philipines I think.)

I received my refund from the dating site on Friday afternoon. Yay! I also ordered the Gazelle from target. It says it will arrive here by Nov 30. I'm hoping that's a generous estimate and that I'll get it much sooner than that!!

Almost forgot! Dad checked out this gym that is near where I live. He found out that they do offer Pilates classes twice a week - Mon: 7 - 8 p.m. and Wed 5:30 - 6:15 pm. You can do the classes without having to actually be a gym member. A one day pass cost $10.87, but you can get a 10 day pass for $50 which makes each class only $5! So what I am planning on doing is going to the class on Wednesday to check it out, and just buy the one-day pass to start. Then, if I like it and think I can handle it, I'll get a 10-day pass, and then go once a week. So for ~$60 I'll have 11 weeks of Pilates classes where I can have someone tell me directly what I need to improve on. I'm hoping that by the end of the 11 weeks, I'll be well versed enough that I can continue on without instruction.

Ok, I need to go watch my DVD so I can mail it out on Monday.

Spending Log:
Friday:
Walmart: 19.70 -- pedicure stuff

Saturday:
Walmart -Gas: $20.50 --$2.01/gallon w/giftcard
Abuelo's Mexican Resturant: $8.87 (meal + tip)
Walmart: $3.14 -- junkfood

Keeping It Frugal in Texas,
Laura

Mmmm mmmm good! Campbell's tomato soup and a grilled cheese sandwich - not much better on a cold winter's evening. Though it's not that terribly cold yet - at least not like they were predicting (Freeze warnings, etc.) It at least gave me a good reason to make some soup tonight.

I did my weight lifting routine today. To make my routine a little shorter, as well as work a little harder, I upped my weights and lowered the reps. It felt like a pretty good workout. Two of the exercises I think I'll increase the weight next time, but keep the rest the same.

Work was okay today. I am worried about one of the surveyor's though. I talked to Candice on Thursday, but have not heard from her since then. She was supposed to come into the office today or yesterday to download her work, and get her new assignments. I left a number of messages, as did the employment agency. I really hope she's okay. She's a single mom with the cutest little girl.

After work I stopped by the employment agency to pick up my check and I talked to Lynn. I mentioned to her about wanting to make sure that I'm able to get some temp jobs to fill in the hours in case my hours get cut back again in the supervisory position. She told me that wouldn't be a problem, just let them know what I need. Then I also mentioned that I although I'm more than happy for any and all temp jobs, what I would really like would be a long-term permenant job. She told me that she thinks that may be a very good possibility!! Before I went in I was getting the down in the dumps, despairing feeling, but after talking with her for a few minutes I felt so much better and so much more hopeful.

Dad was in a bit of a mood tonight. We went to Kroger's to do some grocery shopping and he asked me how much I thought we would spend. I was at a bit of a loss as how to answer. Finally I told him that it depended on how much he decided to get of the things that weren't free after coupon. Dad "grumble, grumble" "grumble, grumble". Then finally I just said, well well, the milk and bread will be about $5, then if we get lets say 5 boxes of GG veggies, that'd be another $5, then however many pudding boxes you want ... That at last seemed to mullify him. He ended up getting ~$35 worth of groceries for ~$16.

When I checked my bank account today, I noticed a renewal charge from one of the dating sites. Well, I definitely didn't want to renew at that site, and hadn't even realized that my membership was up for renewal. So I went to the site and it took about half an hour to figure out how to contact them. I wrote them an email teling them that I could not afford the renewal fee and that I thought it was rotten that 1)there was no notice sent to me letting me know that my account was up for renewal (thus giving me a chance to cancel if need be) 2) that there was no option in the account settings where you can say you don't want to auto renew, and 3) that there was no phone number to contact a real human being to discuss this. Oh, I also mentioned that another very rival site *does* do all those things. Within about two hours I had an email telling me that they had refunded my renewal fee and cancled my account (like I had asked.) Once I have a permenant job I might start looking again, but until then I think its pretty much a waste of time.

Oh! When I checked my bank account I also noticed that a transfer I had made from ING had already arrived. I'm using that money for my credit card - the purchase of the Gazelle, along with paying some more of it down so its not so close to its limit. I pay twice or more the mininum every month, although I do have the money in ING where I could pay it off all at once - it's just hard giving up the numbers in my ING account. I know money wise it makes more $cents to not have CC debt (esp at 21%!!!) versus the minimal 3.5% savings rate, but I still like seeing those numbers in my ING account. So anyway, the transfer went much faster than I thought it would, so I upped the date of my CC payment which will save a little bit of interest.

BTW - I've had this card now since 2002 and have never had a late payment. I have asked three times for my interest rate to be lowered - and each time it ends up going UP instead of down!!! I would dearly love to get a different CC - but again, that is where a real, steady permenant job comes into play.

This is quite long enough now. I probably ought to be heading off to bed. Tomorrow is my Pilates day.

Keeping It Frugal in Texas,
Laura