Without what you may ask?

A. Credit Card
B. House Keys
C. Camera

Well, both A and B are very good things to have with you, the answer today is C.

Until this Christmas I had been without a good working camera of any kind for, oh I'd say at least 4 years. I had a camera on my phone of course, but eh..., easy to take the pictures but not so easy to transfer them somewhere useful. So, I got out of the habit of picture taking.

Now though, I have been taking more and more pictures of various things.

So, this afternoon I headed over to the library to pick up a book that was on hold, and drop off a couple other books.

As I headed into the library, I passed by this car and had to do a double take. In the car there were not just one, but TWO large dogs. One dog was sitting in the drivers seat, and the other was sitting in the passenger seat.

It would have made for such a funny picture - but alas! my camera was still at home.

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My post today is:

Simple Pleasures - A Birthday To Remember .

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So E never called me today like he was supposed to do. This doesn't really surprise me too much. Now I guess we'll have to see if he actually remembers to come up with a plan. On a scale of 1 to 10, I'd give the chance of it happening a 3, and that's being optimistic.

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Did you read about the model who had a UTI that got into her bloodstream? The doctors had to cut off her hands and feet, but the infection still ended up killing her. She was only 20. So very sad.

She probably thought she had it all.

Life is so precious. We really need to treasure each and every day we are given.

Work was good today - kept pretty busy throughout the day. Got the letter sent off to the RRC to fix my mistake.

I went to the deli for lunch. They have two selections that I can eat - Egg Salad or Spinach & Swiss in a Pita. I very much prefer the Spinach & Swiss, but they don't have much demand for it, so don't have it very often.

I hadn't been to the deli since probably sometime in November.

Today I walked in and got in line. As I checked out what they had laid out, a "YES" escaped my lips because I spied the Spinach mixture. One of the men behind the counter smiled at me and asked "You want the Spinach and Swiss right?"

The other ladies behind the counter also knew what I wanted. Then I got to the register, and the manager saw me, smiled, and said, "Spinach and Swiss, right?"

I chose a good day to treat myself to the Deli.

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After work I stopped by the gym to talk to E. I basically told him that I couldn't continue working for the gym when I never knew whether my check would bounce or not. Then I handed him my key that opens the other gym.

He pretty much apologized and said that he understands where I'm coming from. Then he told me that he really hopes I would change my mind because my few hours a week is pretty important - not many are willing to do a 3 hr shift once a week.

After talking for a bit more, I told him that I would be willing to keep working for the gym, IF I could be 110% sure that whenever I am paid, that there are NO chances of a bounced check.

He said that he will work on a plan for that to happen. Since my pay is roughly $45 or so every two-weeks, he may just make an exception and give me cash.

I felt much better after talking with him, but time will tell whether I am in the gym next Friday afternoon or not.

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My post today:

Friday Funny - Did You Forget Something At The Office?.

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My poor grandma. She was scheduled to have a colonoscpy (sp?) yesterday. She stopped eating the night before and -cleaned- herself out. Then yesterday her appt was for 2 p.m. Her and my dad were still waiting at 3:30 p.m.

Finally Dad got the attention of someone, and the doctor saw her. She was told she didn't need it because they don't usually give them to people over 80. Polyps take 7 years to grow, then another 7 years to develop into cancer -- plus if they did any kind of surgery in that area, it would be much more difficult -- and really not worth it.

So, after nearly 24 hours of not eating, she and my dad went to the local Souplantation and ATE!

This morning I felt much better, so I went to work. I was *very* busy all day long.

I made a pretty big mistake though. There was this report I was working on to send in to the Railroad Commission. I had all the numbers figured correctly after having painstakingly entered a years worth of them for two different companies on a spreadsheet - then calling the companies to verify my numbers.

I needed to finish that report today, and get it sent off. So, I figured out the total, and started entering it on the first line. However I caught myself making a 6 instead of a 9. Fixed it with a little white out.

Sent it to the manager who has to sign the paperwork. He signed it and gave it back to me. I put it in the mail.

6 hours later . . .

Sh, the person who asked me to do this project, came to me and showed me the folder I'd filed the copy of the form I'd mailed. Changing the last 9 to a 6 wasn't my only mistake. I had also replaced the 9's in the thousands place with 0's - and hadn't caught it.

I *really* thought I'd done a good job on it. And yet, I muck up again. Ugh!

I've written a letter to the RRC to explain the accounting mistake, and hopefully rectify the situation. We'll see what happens I guess. (I had the numbers written correctly on the draft sheet - but somehow got 0 in my head!)

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So E calls me tonight - leaves a voicemail. Not word one about the bounced check - just 'Laura could you help me out by opening g2 in the morning?'

I called him back and left a voicemail telling him I'd do it - but that we needed to talk tomorrow - in my most serious unhappy sounding tone possible.

He leaves me a voicemail (this time I purposely didn't answer) and tells me thanks, and sure we can talk tomorrow. All in a cheery voice.

I don't think he gets it does he?

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I bought groceries tonight.

$11.67 from Walmart - fruit, frz dinners, pizza, chocolate

I could have just gotten the fruit and been fine - but yesterday got craving pizza and almost ordered delivery - so decided to buy myself a Totino's for $1.12 instead tonight.

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My post tonight:

How To Save Money on Your Home Phone.

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Sorry for kind of a downer post.

Um . . do you remember my post on Friday about my second gym paycheck bouncing and how mad I was about it? I wrote E kind of a brusque note letting him know I wasn't happy about the situation - I was very formal in my writing, not my usual style. I think he got the picture that I was really upset.

So, today I got an email from him telling me that I wasn't needed to open the gym for the next two Friday mornings, but still needed for closing. Hmmm ... There's only two reasons I can think of for that - he's decided to open later or he's replaced me with someone else.

I have been considering quitting altogether before all of this happened. It's been difficult not having my Friday afternoons to get errands done before the weekend.

What do y'all think? If I did quit, that would be the end of my free membership - but I do have plenty of exercise equipment at home that I could use. It would also be the loss of about $100/mo -- but I could probably make that up via ChaCha or other resources.

If I did quit, then I also wouldn't have any need for using Chase anymore, since the main reason I opened my account there was to deposit the gym checks.

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I stayed home sick again today. Felt a bit better than yesterday, but still not good enough to go into work. Ugh.

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My post today:

Like Music? Want It Free? Try This!

I wasn't feeling very good today - in fact I think I caught some kind of a stomach virus - cuz last night and this morning, I saw a lot of my bathroom. Ugh.

So, I stayed home from work today.

Since I was home anyway, I decided to go ahead and watch the historic event happening today. The inauguration of our new President.

As you may have gleaned from me before, I don't have cable. I suppose NBC would've been covering it - but I ended up watching it live on MSN.

It was so beautiful and inspiring. (even with my internet connection hiccuping at least once every 10 minutes!)

I hope President Obama hasn't set his sights too high, too lofty. But, I also hope that WE The People will be willing to help him bring about the goals he set before us today. THAT is the only way true change can come about.

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As I was watching the broadcast today, I was also thinking about September 11. I was trying to think if it would have been possible in 2001 to have watched a live feed via the internet.

I remember being glued to my tv that night, and all of the next day - watching MSNBC transfixed. I had cable then.

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I was checking stats on my today.com blog, and saw that I had had another hit from Google! I checked to see what the search terms were, and was SHOCKED to see that they were 'quinoa pancakes'!

I clicked on the search link, and found out that my blog was THIRD in the search results!!!

I think I'll have to post my recipe for it. Too bad I ate them already, otherwise I would already have a picture to use.

ETA: I double checked it, and it was actually google.ca the one for Canada that my site comes up third. Interesting.
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My post today is

What To Do On A Tuesday Night - For Free .

Okay, I'm going to start with the good.

Work was good today. I stayed very busy the whole day, and a vendor bought pizza for all of us. Free food.

If you remember, I lost my TollTag sometime between Dec 24 when driving to my mom's and Jan 6, driving back home. I had the feeling that it would be okay for me to continue to go through the Toll Tag area, even though my tag wasn't on my windshield. I had found my tag on the floor of my car a number of times before *after* getting to work, and had never received any violations.

However, Tuesday night my mom made me worried that maybe I had been wracking up violation fines. So, W, TH, and Fri I went through the pay booths. Ugh.

Tonight I stopped at the Toll Tag office on my way home from working at the gym. I explained the situation, and was told that I was right. Since my license plate is registered to my Toll Tag, it automatically goes against my account - no violation fines. Whew!

I had to pay a $25 fee (can be refunded if I find my tag) to deactivate my old tag since I didn't have it to turn in. Thankfully they have gone to a new type of Toll Tag that is similar to the car registration/inspection stickers which stick to the inside of your windshield. I guess enough people complained about how often their tags fell off that they changed the design!

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I was looking at my stats today for my today.com blog. It shows you what websites your unique visits are coming from, and if any of your posts are showing up in Google searches.

Guess what? I had TWO unique visits from a Google search which gave them my post on

MyPoints Visa vs Chase Rewards Visa! Woo hoo! I've been indexed!

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Unfortunately my day turned less great when I got home and checked the mail. In the mail there was a letter from Chase telling me that my last gym paycheck had been returned for NSF.

That by itself really made me annoyed.

But, it's worse. By the 13th, I figured the check had cleared and it was safe to go ahead and move it, plus some other money to ING. So, I scheduled two withdrawals for the 14th. There would be about $20 left in my account after the two withdrawals.

The check bounced on the 13th. (Must have been after I checked my balance.) The first transaction went through fine. However, there was only $88 left in the account when the 2nd transaction of $100.00 went through.

So, in one day's time, due to one bounced check, my Chase account is now in the negative.

This is the second time I had a gym paycheck bounce. The first time it *only* cost me a $10 NSF fee, which was eventually refunded by E. (It took until the next payday to get the bounced check + fee refunded though!) This time however has cost me $35 in NSF fees and caused my account to go negative.

I was NOT a happy camper.

I sent E a screen shot of my bank account page showing the numbers so he' have "proof" of the numbers. I also told him that I wanted to have the full $82.xx in CASH by no later than Wednesday so that I can bring my account back in the positive.

I also told him that I had lost any confidence I had in him telling me the truth when he says 'the money is there to cover it.' From this point on, I will be calling their bank to see if the money is actually there to cover it.

I was pretty close to telling him that I had had enough - to find someone else for the job. But then I got to thinking about the average $150/mo (including the cost of free membership) that I'd be losing . . and bit my tongue enough to give him a chance and see what he'll do.

I vented my frustrations in as positive a manner as I could by writing about how the Economy is Hurting Gyms .

Personal Goals:

* Find a balance between making more money and having a life.

--What this means:
-----Limit myself to 10 hrs a week doing anything related to ChaCha.
-----Accept only one extra gym shift per week.

Well... I have kind of been on a ChaCha hiatus since a bit before Dec. 15. But instead I've added my today.com blog which is taking a lot more time than ChaCha ever did. BUT I have kept to just one morning a week at the gym.

* Build existing friendships
----Contact at least one friend each week via email or telephone.
----Invite a friend(s) to my place at least once a month.

I have contacted a friend at least once a week. However, I haven't invited anyone over just yet. My excuse is that I was in CA for two weeks!

* Build new friendships
----Attend at least one Vegetarian meet up per month
----Join and attend bookclub once a month

Um . .. moving on.

* Give Back to Others
-----Participate in at least one volunteer activity each month

I did sign up for something this past weekend, but then overslept and missed it. Ooops.

* Have home be able to be company ready in 15 minutes (similar to flylady w/o the emails)

Nope - not even close.

---Do an initial cleanup run - trash, dishes, etc.

Did do that before CA. Need to do again.

---Divide apartment into cleaning and decluttering zones. Focus on each zone for one week.
Not Yet.

Financial:

Car Fund: Finish funding to $4,000.00

DONE! (After this month's interest from HSBC at least.)

House Downpayment: Save $5,000.00 towards it.

Cruise 2010: Save $500 towards it

Vacation(s): 2, possibly 3. I'm estimating needing roughly $1,000.00.

Okay, definitely a case of progress but not perfection.

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Today was a SPEND day!

Gas: $17.27
Walmart Groceries: $26.25
Target Groceries: $16.90

I made it out of Target without picking up any junkfood! All I got were Amy's Burrito's for my work lunches (10 @ $1.69 each!)

Today was also a good day at work. A coworker and I went out to lunch at a mall (she treated) because she needed to exchange something. That was fun.

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My today.com post today is about

How to Get Healthy Without Spending A Lot

It was pretty busy today at work. I was the Queen of the Copier for a large part of the day, which made me very glad I wore my flats!

Today marked my 6th No Spending Day for this week, and a total of 10 for January. This really is remarkable for me. I've had some uber stressful days this past week, and my coping mechanism has usually been to get something to eat on the way home from work (i.e. junkfood.)

Tomorrow also marks one-month of no soda.

I've only made it to the gym to workout once since getting back to TX. Mainly I have slacked on going because I haven't been feeling 100%, and of course, jet lag. I'm hoping that by next Monday I'll be feeling more back to normal and get my routine going again.

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I had my first comment on my today.com blog last night! Woo hoo!

Tonight I wrote a follow up post of sorts to yesterday's called:

How a Pocket Notebook can Save You Hundred's of Dollar's a Y...

I'm so happy with the camera I got for Christmas from my mom and stepdad. It is SO easy to transfer pictures from my camera to the computer - just need the memory card and then plug it in. Voila!

I've been without a good camera for so long, it's going to take me awhile to get into the habit of taking pictures again.

I'm also trying to figure out what I could do videos of . . . .hmmm??

I really wasn't feeling very well today, so didn't do my gym run time this morning.

Work was ultra busy today. Ever get the feeling like you can't do anything right? Well, yeah, had that today. Got better by the end of the day though, so that was good.

So tonight when I got home I decided that I probably ought to check my mail. Most of it was the usual junk, but there was one very interesting item.

Some of you may remember how at the beginning of 2008 I was hired to be a part-time SAT tutor at the company my mom works at. (Or, should I say -worked at- she quit yesterday!!) I only went to the first training session, because for numerous reasons I realized that the job wasn't a good fit for me.

I never got paid for the two training hours. After a round of emails back and forth between myself and the person handling the money, I finally decided to just let it go. $20 wasn't enough for me to go real hardball - esp. since I didn't want to make things hard for my mom.

So, in the mail tonight I received a W-2 form for $20!! I *never* received the check - and I certainly *never* cashed it!

I sure don't want to pay taxes on money I never had - even if it is only $20. Now I am in the mode of contemplating how I want to handle this.

Perhaps a certified letter with copies of the email exchanges, as well as a reassertion of my never having received the check? Perhaps ask them to provide me with both proof of payment as well as proof that *I* signed the check?

Perhaps to have a CC to a fictitious lawyer?? (Actually, I think I may know a real lawyer who'd be willing to do me a favor. Hmm. . )

I'd love to hear any suggestions you all may have. Even if it is for me to just let it go.

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Today was a no spend day. (I think this makes 5 days in a row!)

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Oooh! Oooh! Good news!

I was just getting my supper ready a few minutes ago. While I waited for the microwave to finish I checked some mail I had on the table. One of the items was that letter from the PA District regarding the class action suit against Wachovia.

I thought the deadline to claim your refund was January 9, and that I had missed it. But, after re-reading the paperwork, I saw that it actually is MARCH 4! Even better, you can submit your claim online! Yes!

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I know from previous posts here that many of you can relate to feeling like you are sometimes subsidizing the librarian's salary.

Today I posted a blog about

How to NOT Pay the Librarian's Salary. As a bonus, there is even a picture of one of my favorite pieces of furniture in my apartment.

Looking on the bright side:

1. No spend day
2. Didn't eat any office goodies
3. Made it back to the gym this morning
4. Had library books to pick up
5. Was really busy at work

The eh . . part -- some things at work really got to me. Probably more so because I didn't get much sleep due to going to bed at 1 a.m. I was working on my other blog, figuring out advertising, etc.

I did make a surprising discovery though in the process of writing my post today

}MyPoints Visa vs Chase Rewards Visa There ended a preconceived notion for me.

I can only say this now, since there wasn't much damage done and there was no loss of life (as far as I know at least) but someone asked me in a previous blog entry if the Mobile Home was on a fault line.

Apparently the answer is, if it's not ON one, it is NEAR one!

I talked to my dad this afternoon, and he told me that they had experienced an earthquake on Thursday evening! It was only a 4.5 or so, but it's epicenter was in San Bernadino which is near Loma Linda.

Even though he'd lived in CA when he was younger (late high-school/college) this was his first earthquake. He said it felt like an explosion or a large crash.

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Ugh. Some one thinks I want to hear their rap music. They're sitting out in the parking lot with their windows open and car stereo loud.

It would be nice to have some kind of electronics scrambler to point at vehicles of people who insist on sharing their version of music with the world. *evil laugh*

(Someone must have said something, the decibels moved down a couple notches -though I can still hear it.)

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Today was a no spend day.

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E asked me if I'd like to take over opening the gym on Monday mornings. I told him that I had made a promise to myself not to do more than one morning a week (unless an emergency.) That my exercise routine just suffered too much when I did the extra shifts. He was understanding. -- The extra $13/wk sure would be nice, but my workout days are already reduced to just Monday to Th - not worth $13/wk to lose another morning.

Yay! Two days in a row where I was busy the whole day! Plus, I have enough left over to keep me occupied for at least the morning tomorrow.

My company switched HR companies as of Dec. 26. As soon as I got the email with the sign up information, I filled out all my info and signed up for all the benefits I'm eligible for.

I didn't get it done though early enough for my Jan 2 check to be direct deposited. Our Office Manager has been out sick yesterday and today. So this afternoon I asked the owner's daughter if she could see if I had a check in our OM's desk. I did! (I was slightly worried because she told me that our OM hadn't gotten a check on Jan 2.)

I realized tonight that January is a 5 paycheck month.

I'm considering putting $400 of it to my Car Fund, which would finish it. Then in February I'd be able to concentrate really hard on my house down payment savings.

But, I'm also wondering how much I'm going to owe in taxes this year. Last year I owed $144. I made pretty much exactly the same this year at my main job, but from ChaCha and the gym I've probably made an extra $1500, plus I've made a lot more in interest income. So, I'm wondering if I should set it aside for taxes, then whatever remains of it can go towards whichever savings goal I have that needs funding.

OR, I could just go ahead and put $400 of it into my Car Fund, then once I know how much my taxes are, I can just fit it into my budget for March and April.

Hmm.. . I think I like the last idea the best. I deposited my Jan 2 paycheck, and my gym paycheck, plus some cash my dad gave me (for the baggage fees) into my local checking. Once I have transferred them to ING, I will count my Car Fund as fully funded! Woo Hoo!

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I have found another way to make a little side income. (So, yes that means I'll have 3 places I'm earning side income from.)

The website today.com is accepting new bloggers. It can be about any of a variety of topics - but need to be at least 100 words or more per entry. (Ha! No trouble for me!) They pay you for one post per day, plus for page views.

I've been coming up with ideas of things to write about there that are somewhat different from what I post here, although still on a similar vein. It will be challenging for me to keep my posts close to the 100 word mark - but probably good for me too.

If you'd like to check my blog out, it is:

http://thesinglefrugalton.today.com/

I'm going to add it to my sidebar as well.

Oh, if you do join, and get accepted, let me know and I'll add you to my blogroll!

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spending today:

Wal-mart: $9.96 (bananas, Rice Dream, sweet potatoes, 1 frz dinner, sm box Jr Mints)

Updated sidebar. I'm within $400 of fully funding my Car Fund! Woo hoo!
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I pulled into my parking space around 7 p.m. last night. It was so good to be home. I had a really good trip, and was really really spoiled . . but it was so good to be home.

I didn't sleep very well at all last night, even though I was really tired. Even so, I managed to make it to work this morning on time.

Most people seemed happy to see me back, and I was happy to see most of them.

There was a good stack of work waiting for me on my desk, and more was added to it through the day. Yay!

I seem to be missing my toll tag. I noticed it this morning just after I breezed through the first toll station. Ugh. It's not in my car - it has a habit of dropping off the sticky tape and falling on the floor. I need to do a through search of my apartment in case I for some reason decided to put it in here for 'safe' keeping.

After work today I stopped by the library and dropped off about 10 items, and picked up 7 new ones. Most of the new items are part of a series I started reading out in CA and wanted to finish, the others are by the same author.

--

Of the 5 applications I submitted in CA, 3 of them have already been filled, and the two others I have not heard about yet.

My dad and grandma *really* want me out there in CA with them.

While I was out there we stumbled across a really great deal on a mobile home. It was in the same mobile home park as another home they really wanted me to see. (I think they get that I'm not too excited about sharing living space with them.)

The Mobile Home park itself is *very* nice and very well kept. They are in the process of remodeling their Social Club building and swimming pool area.

The lot fees are $600/mo (may possibly be less). (For comparison sake -- a cheap/very trashy mobile home park in the same city has a $350/mo lot fee -- another slightly more upscale mh park w/smaller lot spaces has a $1200/mo lot fee.) The lot fee includes sewer, water and garbage, plus community upkeep.

I fell in love with this home. The land around it is mostly covered with gravel = minimal outside upkeep. There is a fully grown and producing orange tree. There is a roomy covered porch (where I could place a porch swing!) There are two good-sized storage sheds, plus a covered parking area on one side of the house. In the backyard, behind the storage sheds, there is enough space where I could put in a veggie garden if I wanted to.

The house is over 1500sq. It has 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. The dining room/family area has a gas powered fireplace. The kitchen has a really good sized pantry. The laundry area is more spacious than at my mom's house! The master bath has a double sink with a curved counter (very pretty) and a spa tub. The appliances (fridge, stove, washer/dryer, dishwasher, etc) go with the house. They would also be willing to sell me their dining set (mine is falling apart.)

The roof is less than 4 years old. The AC unit is less than 4 years old. The flooring is parquet (sp?) throughout, and ceramic tile in the bathrooms, less than six-months old.

It is very well kept inside and out.

The family who is living there right now, is wanting to move back to Argentina to be near the husbands mother. They are an SDA family (I'm SDA as well.) The house is mortgage free. My dad broached the idea of them possibly carrying the note . . . they sounded very willing to discuss that idea.

My grandma has stated that she'd be happy to help me out with a loan. I'm not sure if that means she'd match the loan she gave my brother (which he's already paid back) or possibly more.

I haven't totally played with the numbers . . . but here's what's kind of running in my head.

Homeowner is asking 55k.

I would offer 53K (including dining set) with a down payment of 30k. The remaining 23k would be paid in monthly installments plus 5% interest for 7 years. (I'll ask for 10, but be willing to settle for 7.)

The 30k down payment would break down like this:

$7500 - First time Homeowner Credit (have to check if I could get this for a mobile home where it is not a bank mortgage)

$5500 - From my savings - would have to use part of my emergency fund, plus housefund - but would still be left with at least 3 months expenses (with house).

$13,000 - I would borrow from my grandma with a payment term of 10 years at 5%.
(Depending on how the First Time Buyer Credit works, may have to initially borrow 20,500k.)

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Property taxes are $300/year. Average utilities for a family of 4 running a home based catering business $180/mo.

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I'm guessing it will run me around $1300 - 1400/mo for the first 7 years.

On what I make right now, that would not make ANY sense at all. (Be roughly 80% of my take home!)

BUT, the only way I'll even move out to CA is if I find a job where I make a good bit more than I make right now (and has comparable or better benefits.) So . . if I could get that amount to be more like, oh . . 60% or less . . I might bite.

Yes, I do know the wisdom of keeping housing to 30% or so of salary (is that take home or gross though?) *Remember, I have no debt - no car payments.*

I'm also aware that Mobile Homes aren't known for their appreciability. I'm willing to take the chance that in another 5 years if I wanted to sell, I'd be able to at least get my money back, plus possibly some more -- or at least get most of it back. To have a place of my own . . .

Needless to say, this all really is probably a huge pipe dream - because in order for it to have an iota of a possibility --- I have to find a job in CA while living in TX!

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You may have gathered that I don't have a strong belief that I will be able to find a job in CA. My dad on the other hand strongly believes that I will. LOL

I have to tell my apartment management by January 30 whether or not I will be signing a new lease. My actual lease isn't up until March 30 - but they require a 60 day notice.

If I don't sign a new lease, and am still here, I would have to go month to month. That would mean an increase of at least $120/mo (maybe more).

However, if a miracle were to happen, and I *did* find THE job in CA, then having the flexibility to move within a few weeks time would be very handy.

--
Seriously, I wish I hadn't seen this place. I told my dad I thought it was really silly to go looking at housing (especially to be talking to homeowners!) before even having a job lined up! Talk about putting the cart before the horse.

Le sigh.

The damage is done though. I am besotted with the idea. Maybe though I'm so besotted with the idea that the reality of that much money going to housing isn't hitting as hard as it should.

Sure, I'd be more than doubling my living space (including yard/storage areas) -- but I'd also be nearly doubling my housing costs.

I'm writing from sunny Loma Linda, CA (well, it was sunny and warm today - lets not mention the previous few days!)

My dad and grandma have been spoiling me with way too much food ever since I've arrived and neither one of them will let me pay for anything!

I really hope I still can fit in my clothes by the time I head back to Dallas!

Friday we hit the after-Christmas sales and got some good deals on clothes and a few other items.

My mom and stepdad gave me a digital camera/camcorder which can also be used for a webcam. I was in shock! It didn't come with a memory card, so my stepdad loaned me a 2gb card so I could take pictures and video. I've been having fun with it. Today I found a 4gb card for $15 at Circuit City, so I'll be able to give him his card back.

When I get home I'm going to transfer all my pictures and videos, and maybe share a few.

If you've ever played the "I Love Lucy" board game --- we (dad, grandma and I) took videos of everyone who got an "Ai Yi Yi!" card. It was fun.

-
We visited the local gym today (finally).
I was dissapointed because the inside track I was looking forward to using is closed for rennovations until Jan 5.

I can purchase a "One-month" membership for $15 instead of daily guess passes. Although I'm not sure if I'll even be able to get there more than 3 times .. . we'll see.

---
My dad took me by the library yesterday, and I checked out 6 books. I finished one last night a bit after mid-night.

---
Tomorrow we are going to go visit President Nixon's Library. It should be interesting. We may go to President Regan's Library as well while I am here.

----
I haven't heard anything back from the applications I put in yet. It probablly is due to the holidays.

My dad and grandma have this idea that maybe I could buy a mobile home in the local mobile home park here. They took me through it on Saturday and it does look like a nice place to live. It may be a way for me to get into a home of my own - even if it's not a "house" like I'd been thinking about.

---
I'm not sure why, but my Asus laptop has a lot of trouble connecting to the city-wide WiFi here in Loma Linda. If I did come out here to live, I'm not sure I could be content with not having easy access and probably would be willing to pay for my own personal access.

But of course the whole thing of moving here to Loma Linda or not has one big obstacle (other than me being 100% sure this is the way to go) and that is me finding a job here.

---
Yesterday my dad and I were doing some engineering work. We needed to cover the top of the back porch lattice roof with two tarps. The covers needed to go into the middle of it. My dad was talking about getting up on the roof and throwing the tarps out. I didn't want him getting on the roof, so I came up with the idea of tieing a rope through the holes on the ends of the tarp and throwing them across, then pulling the rope through, and the tarp across. It worked. Although in the end he still did have to get up on the roof to do the final straightening.

--
Since Dec 24 I have spent:

$15 -- Checked one bag on flight
$1.50 - library fee (dad's - checked out a video - have to pay a rental fee at the library here)
$2 - 2 packs of Eclipse gum

Yep, that's all I've spent - and the checked bag money will probably be reimbursed to me - although I'm not going to say word one about it considering how much I'm being treated to already.

---
One week till I have to go back to work.

This afternoon I got a call from T's husband inviting me to a Cookie Party at Mr. B's house. (Mr B was my teacher aide for a year, and was also T's aide for a year - amazing, giving, selfless man - such a hard worker.)

Of course I said yes!

Mr B had baked 4 or 5 dozen sugar cookies in star shapes and tree shapes. He'd also made several kinds of fudge, several types of regular cookies, and loaves of 'friendship' bread.

It was really good to sit and chat with everyone. At first the kids were decorating the sugar cookies, but then they got tired of it. So . . us adults got to get in on the fun.

Mr B sent us all home with a huge bunch of goodies.

I can't have that in my home for more than tonight, so am going to take it into work and share the bounty. (Have already eaten a few too many of the goodies.)

I've invited both T and her family, as well as Mr B and his family to my place at the end of January for a Danish Aebleskeber brunch. I had them all over to my place maybe a bit over two years ago - so it's way past time to do it again!

(Mr B has a long last name that is hard for kids to say. So everyone just called him Mr B--. It just kind of sticks.)

----
On my way to the party I stopped at Half Price Bookstore.

I dropped my bag of Spanish materials at the sales desk, then started looking around.

I found a nice calendar for my stepdad, and a book for me.

Finally, I was called to the sales desk. I was offered $6.50 for 5 Spanish learning books/dictionaries, and 3 computer programs (1 of which cost $100.) I just couldn't do it.

I think I'm going to try Craigslist again after I get back from CA. There has to be *someone* who wants to learn Spanish!

----
I earned $13 this morning working the morning shift at the gym.

I didn't get any exercise in today, other than the stairs from the garage to the office and back.

I spent $10.48 (calendar and book - but it was off of a gift card I got for my birthday.)

Didn't really do much today so far. Guess you could say I'm catching up on rest?

Got a call from E asking me to open G2 tomorrow morning. Said I would. An extra $13 before going away for 2 weeks doesn't hurt.

Finally about 4:15 I made myself get dressed all nice and warm (27 degrees) to go pay my rent and check the mail. All there was was junk mail. Oh well.

When I got back I made myself a cup of hot chocolate with the second packet of specialty mint chocolate mix. Yummy!

There's still a good number of hours left in the day - somewhere here I'll get motivated to actually do something productive.

Tomorrow after work I'm going to stop by Half-Price books, see what they'll give me for my Spanish language materials, and see if they have any train calendars. My mom says stepdad would like something like that.

(I give my mom and stepdad the turkey that I get from my company for Christmas, and a gift card for an expensive steak and crab place that one of the three honcho's gives us (they used it the last two years for their anniversary dinner.) Then I give them something I actually bought for each of them.

--I could use the gift card for myself - just buy 3 or 4 of their desserts and take it home. But that would kind of defeat the whole thing of trying to live healthy.


ETA: Yay me! I did manage to get busy (sort of) and got all the clothes picked up and put away from around my apartment. Also got all the dirty dishes from various places to the kitchen. Progress!

Let's see here . .

* Found out today that I more than likely will be keeping my Friday morning gig opening the gym. I thought it would only be through today, but apparently the person who used to do it isn't available anymore. So, that means a continued 5 hrs a week at the gym in the new year.

* Gulp. Submitted an application and resume to two places in CA today. The first one was ALL online.

It was quite aggravating because after I completed the application, pasted in my resume, pasted in a cover letter and submitted - it then had a background check form asking for drivers license, car license, places lived for last 10 years . . . You had to do it right then - no way to save it and go back later. I finally managed to finish the last bit of it at 8:29 a.m. I'm supposed to be at my Real job at 8:30. Argh!

* Updated my sidebar totals, and added an Extra Monies tracking page for Dec.

* Today was a No Spend Day
(Not for lack of thinking about things I would like to go buy - mainly food items.)

* A good friend of mine from college friended me on Facebook today! Hi DJ!

* I got paid for an unused sick day today in my paycheck. After taxes, ~$74 going to Extra Monies! Yay!

* I contacted an old friend today via email! -- I'd received an email from an address I thought I recognized saying something about "I have a prayer for you". But when I opened it, I saw it was from fanbox something or other site, and recalled getting strange emails with that website before. So, decided not to open it. SO glad I didn't open it, because about 30 minutes later I got an email from my friend telling me that it was a virus! Ack!

* The Beck Diet Solution is being held for me at the library. This is the book that has a bunch of ideas on how to fight negative thinking with positive thinking. I'd sparkmailed the person who had blogged about it to find out the name of the book, and she got back to me right away. So, I'll pick it up tomorrow and start making my keychain cards!

* A funny at work today. {Backstory} We have a 'consultant' doing some auditing for us. Yesterday he'd asked me for 5 paperclips. So, I reach into my side drawer and pull out the DW created 'paper clip pocket made out a notebook paper and staples'. He gave me a funny look, and I explained to him that I tend to give DW a lot of paperclips in the various things I do for him, so he likes to give them back to me at various times and in various modes of container.

{Today} Consultant guy comes by my desk again, and asks to use my stapler. Then he says he needs more paperclips. So, I pull out a second, more full 'notebook/staple packet' and give it to him. He then puts it down on the filing cabinet next to my desk which holds the letterhead and envelopes, and is about 6 inches or so higher than the top of my desk. He tells me he'll be back for it, but needs to go meet with head honcho.

About 30 minutes later I notice J, our CFO walking by my desk casting strange glances towards my area. Then about the same time, A, who's desk is next to mine also starts casting strange glances my way. I figured out what they were staring at.

After explaining what it was, D, our shipping manager (deal with brokers person), says "It's like you're at an airport and you see a strange package."

(After all that, I just went ahead and took it to the office the consultant was working out of!)

Maybe not so funny in the retelling - but it was pretty funny when it happened.

Today we had a meeting where we learned about the new HR company that will be administrating payroll and healthcare benefits for us.

My insurance will be going from United Health Care to Aetna Std. It will still be fully covered by my employer.

We still have the FSA option. Unfortunately, this new company has not gone into the realm of the debit style FSA card but are stuck in the realm of faxing in receipts and getting reimbursed. Yuck. I've been very spoiled.

We were told that we can not enter any of our information on the website until December 29. There will be an email sent to our work email with the link and password info.

A coworker of mine is going to forward that email to my personal address, so that I can fill out the info even though I'll be out in CA at that time.

Unfortunately, even if I get the info all filled out on Monday, the 29th, it is highly unlikely that the direct deposit will be functional by Friday the 2nd (payday.)

So, that means I will receive a hardcopy check. I will still be in CA on the 2nd. I won't get my paycheck for the 2nd, until the 7th - almost in time for my next paycheck!

This is why I'm so glad I don't live paycheck to paycheck. For me, this whole matter is just a small annoyance - a loss of a bit of interest. It would be so much worse if I was counting on that money to be IN my checking account to cover a rent check or some other expenses.

---
Today was a NSD.
30 minutes on bike at gym this AM.
Did a trash run.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

My main job is one where there are periods of time where I am so busy I can hardly think, and then times where I can go HOURS at a time with absolutely nothing to do.

Before the new desk arrangement, I was able to manage the down times by surfing the net, or doing fake spreadsheets based off of other ones I'd done before (for real), etc. But now, with the new arrangement (where everybody and their mother can see my computer screen), the option of surfing the net in more than quick little spurts is gone.

Let me preface this by saying that during down times, I do mention to various people that I'm pretty well caught up, and if they have anything I can help them with, I have time.

So, 6 days or so I've had more down time than busy time. I have all the filing done, I have all the logs put away, I have the insurance as up to date as I can (have to give vendors a little time between contacts), etc.

I've pretended searched on the various work-related websites - played with the maps on the computer, created various fake spreadsheets, etc., etc., ad nauseum!

I've about had it up to my eyeballs with pretending to be usefully occupied!!

Right about now, I'd even welcome DW giving me a 600 page book to copy!

So, I mentioned my availability to at least 3 people once (one being my Office Manager, the other being the president's daughter, the third being a friend and co-worker). The first two I *really* don't feel comfortable mentioning my availability more than once in a great while to -- don't want them to start thinking that I'm not a necessary employee, the third person I work pretty closely with, so don't worry about it.

I want to be truly productive and be an asset all the time, not just when DW slams me with a ton of things to look up and print out, etc.

So, my question is, what can I do to truly be productive, or at least better ways of killing time between assignments, without making it look to those in charge like there isn't enough for me to do, and if they need to let someone go, I'd be an easy one to do so.

Days like today feel like an almost complete waste of time. From 8:30 - 5:30, I would say that I had actual productivity for *maybe* 2 1/2 hours. Towards the end of the day I was starting to feel so frustrated, that I wanted to go walk outside and scream!

Good news and not so good news.

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

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

There are two shower stalls in the ladies locker room.

Now, good news part.

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

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

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

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

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

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

I made the leap.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

---

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

How expensive are car stereo speakers to replace??

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

After that mom and I went our seperate ways.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

First, the good stuff.

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

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

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

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

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

Rant.

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

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

It is however on the children's menu.

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

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

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

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

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

OY VEY!

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

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

So I watched CSI:Vegas online this past weekend. It was a very good episode, but I was getting annoyed by all the starts and stops.

I decided it was time to go up to the next DSL tier. It was only $5 more and I felt it would be worth it.

So a few minutes ago I called to upgrade my DSL speed.

YEOW!

There is no $25 option anymore. They don't even have my $20 option anymore. The next higher speed than what I have is now $35!!!!
I just about hung up.

The lady kept trying to tell me that AT&T had given me free installation and that they'd felt like they had lost money with the free installations which is why it had gone up so much. Then she tried to tell me you don't have a phone line charge . . . etc, etc.

Finally I told her, that may all be true, but I don't have $35/mo in my budget for internet. That finally got her to back off.

I guess I will be living with the hiccups of watching tv on the lower speed.

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In other news. E asked me today if I'd be willing to fill in on Friday mornings at one of the gym locations from the end of Oct to Dec 19. It will mean an extra $13/week! Yay! It also will mean that I'll have to get there by 6:20 a.m. which is an hour earlier than I usually get there for working out. For 8 weeks, I can deal with it.

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

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

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

My paycheck today was for $98.25.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Yesterday the furniture was finally moved back into place.

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

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

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

I updated my tickers on my sidebar for September. For details you can check out my September earnings page. There was some actual good movement - thanks to ChaCha and my gym job.

My ING interest increased this month (by $.48) but my HSBC interest went down, even though the actual amount in the account increased, the teaser interest rate dropped on the 15th.

In October there will be a good deal more movement due to a 5 paycheck month. Although, I am considering using *some* of that extra paycheck to help update/upgrade my wardrobe. I haven't fully decided on that one yet though.

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At work the chaotic week - week two has continued. Only the fun was compounded by my main manager being back from vacation. On Monday he was understanding. Yesterday however when I told him I wasn't able to get some information he needed because that program was on my computer which of course wasn't set up - he became the opposite of understanding.

So I spoke to the president's daughter, who I guess you could call the company liasion (sp?). She told me that I could go ahead and set up my computer on the floor until the furniture got moved back in.

Um ok. Miss ingenious here really didn't want to sit on the floor in her skirt and use her computer. So I thought about this little rolling table we have back in the Engineering copy/file room. It has a double purpose - holds extra paper for the copier, and when I do my filing it holds my filing book and the files.

So I cleared the table off and set up my computer on it. For the rest of the day I had many people laughing at me and my setup - good naturedly of course.

I will admit it is a funny setup. But it is much better than trying to use my computer on the floor. Or continuing to share the computer with the receptionist when this particular manager asks me to get something for him and expects it yesterday and doesn't want to hear that I can't do it yet because receptionist is having to use the computer to do something for another person.

Fingers crossed - furniture is supposed to be moved back into office area and set up in the morning. Anxiously awaiting a return to some semblance of normalcy.