Tonight I was in the cooking mood for whatever reason. I made a corn casserole, a big pot of quinoa, and am still working on roasting the butternut squash.

It's amazing I have any energy right now, seeing as though I woke up about 3:30 a.m. and couldn't go back to sleep ...

---
Work was so so today. Pretty busy at times, and had a meeting to discuss how we handle getting out route detour information to the public, as well as an issue related to the big route changes coming in August.

--
Speaking of work ...

Remember quite a while ago I mentioned that there was a librarian position open at the local community college? I kind of bailed out on actually applying for it - just couldn't do it to my boss.

Well ... the person they hired for that job didn't work out. The position is available again. Taking applications til the 18th.

A part of me is wondering if this is God nudging me to where I need to go. I didn't listen the first time, so He's giving me a second chance.

The job description DOES state clearly that they want someone with at least 1 year of *college* level library experience. If that is truly a big factor, then I won't have a chance anyway.

But I'll never know if I don't try. I am going to try. Gulp.

As much as I love my boss, I don't know if I can really take 15 years of giving directions over the phone ... and dealing with some of the people I deal with on a daily basis.

---
So ... on to the other topic. What am I talking about? 5% interest? Unheard of!

Well this is something I saw I the MMM forums a few weeks ago and decided to test it out for myself. I wanted to see how easy it would be.

Here's what I did - I signed up for a Brink's Mastercard PrePaid Card. Once I got it, I activated it and started the process of adding it as an external account to my checking account. Then I had to verify the transactions.

Next, I set up a money transfer from checking to my card. That went through today.

Finally, I moved the money from the card and set up a savings account.

The savings account pays 5% interest up to $5,000. If you ever want to get money back into your checking, all you have to do is move the money back onto the card, and then do an ETF/ACH transfer.

To avoid the inactivity fee, I also set up a recurring transfer of $2 to my card from checking once a month.

That's it. All there is to it.

A more detailed guide: http://thefinancebuff.com/netspend-5-percent-savings-account.html

Now, I also earned an extra $20 right up front - by using a referral code. That person (from the MMM forum) also received $20 after I funded $40+ on my card.

This is a great way to put away up to $15k per person (see detailed link) that you are saving for an EF or a house downpayment, etc.

If you are interested, and would also like to help me out My referral link is: http://www.brinksprepaidmastercard.com/prepaid-debit-card/applyNow.m?ctxName=b_raf&uref=3469171546

Mango is another card which pays 6%, but requires a lot more work. This card (Brink's) is paying you $270 (in a year) for less than an hour's work.

I know I've already put a picture up of Kari, but there are lots of things she does which make me smile. Some of them would be difficult to catch on camera though - but you can bet I'll try.

Kari just absolutely LOVES the tab from an orange juice container. I presently have two of them floating around the apartment right now, and am not sure what I'm going to do when they both are lost. (Have found out that Orange Juice is NOT vegetarian, except for certain varieties. Plus, I'm just overall trying to not drink juice.)

Why does she love the orange juice tab? I think it's because it has such flexibility and is so light. She bats it around and runs after it for many minutes. (In cat time, many minutes is a long time.)

But what I really love is when she brings it to me to engage in a game of fetch.

In this picture she is sitting next to the tab waiting for me to pick it up and toss it for her.

---
Today was crazy busy at work. I was so tired when I got home that I didn't want to do anything - but still wanted to accomplish my mini-goal. So ... I shredded stuff for about 15 minutes give or take. Goal accomplished.

(Kari got in the act by walking on top of the shredder and stepping on the forward/reverse button a few times ...)

So ... today at work they had to let go of one of the bus cleaners. He apparently was very unhappy about this - as in emailing threats to the big wigs.

Had two police officer visits - one to pick up the phones/wallets from lost and found, and then the same officer was back to deal with the fired employee threats.

Also had one of the newbie bus driver trainees come by asking about how to sign up for the health insurance. He wasn't too happy to learn he had to wait til he'd been employed 90 days. He had apparently already canceled his other insurance (assuming Obamacare.) Did he not read the new employee information??

--
The last few months I've been having trouble keeping my data usage in the small bucket. It was looking like I was going to go over again this month as well. But somehow, someway I was kept in the small bucket! Which means $9 less than I had budgeted. Yahoo!

--
Swagbucks was annoying me today. No bonus points on any of the apps, etc. But then I saw I'd had 60 points in coupon redemptions come in! Sweet! Now if only some more will come in on Thursday so I can get my 31 day bonus for sure.

---
The new YNAB is being officially released tomorrow. Which means I have until Jan 31st to decide if I want to upgrade for the 10% discount price. I know I'll probably go for it eventually, but I don't really want to have to WAM $45 to buy it right now. Sigh ... maybe I'll come into some extra money in January. Maybe I'll get away with doing my taxes for free this year (I think I can do the state taxes at least on the state website - will have to check into that.)

If you are thinking about buying YNAB4 - you'll have do it today. By tomorrow you'll no longer be able to purchase it. (It still can be downloaded by people who already have a copy, it just can't be purchased.)

After all the hoopla about the 6 - 10 inches and big gusty winds ... Yeah, we maybe got 4 inches? I will say though, it is cold!

--
I cashed out for another AGC from PerkTv last night - about five minutes before NE came over. So, that adds $25 to my 2015 extra money total.

--
I somehow managed (I think) to not go into the next data bucket on Ting this month. Which means I had $9 to put in my Remote Starter fund in January.

This is a good thing because ...

I'm probably going to have to WAM from that December category to put into groceries.

I tried to talk NE into just using what we already have on hand (other than for the Martinelli's sparkling juice) for NYE dinner. He was really set on doing the homemade pizza. Sigh.

So I'll be getting a Chef Boyardee kit, cheese, and a Martinelli's. He's picking up the hamburger for himself. (We'll split the cost.) I already have mushrooms and pineapple.

---
My mini-goal 1 update =
So far, so good! My place was pretty picked up today, so there wasn't much cleaning/picking up to do. So ...I spent about 20 minutes working on my to shred pile. There's still probably about 3 days worth of 20 minute sessions left to go.

---
At work today I didn't have a book with me and was desperately bored. So ... I decided to try to see if I could possibly get the Kindle app on my computer without having to download/install. It worked! So now I won't be quite so obvious about reading a book ...

---
I'm in two Bounts challenges this week. One is the 50k steps by Friday, and the other is walk/run a 5k by Friday.

I've got about 17k steps so far, and am hoping that Friday will be decent weather wise so I can go for a 3 mile walk in the local park. That would be a cool 100 bonus points between the two challenges.

---
It is SO cold in my bedroom/office. If I was planning on staying here another year (in this apartment) I'd invest in some weatherstripping or something. I put a towel at the bottom of the door (one that leads outside) but am not sure what to do about the windows. I think that's where most of the cold is coming from.

I can mostly cover up, but my hands are what bug me the most. I think I had fingerless gloves somewhere ...

After all the hoopla about the 6 - 10 inches and big gusty winds ... Yeah, we maybe got 4 inches? I will say though, it is cold!

--
I cashed out for another AGC from PerkTv last night - about five minutes before NE came over. So, that adds $25 to my 2015 extra money total.

--
I somehow managed (I think) to not go into the next data bucket on Ting this month. Which means I had $9 to put in my Remote Starter fund in January.

This is a good thing because ...

I'm probably going to have to WAM from that December category to put into groceries.

I tried to talk NE into just using what we already have on hand (other than for the Martinelli's sparkling juice) for NYE dinner. He was really set on doing the homemade pizza. Sigh.

So I'll be getting a Chef Boyardee kit, cheese, and a Martinelli's. He's picking up the hamburger for himself. (We'll split the cost.) I already have mushrooms and pineapple.

---
My mini-goal 1 update =
So far, so good! My place was pretty picked up today, so there wasn't much cleaning/picking up to do. So ...I spent about 20 minutes working on my to shred pile. There's still probably about 3 days worth of 20 minute sessions left to go.

---
At work today I didn't have a book with me and was desperately bored. So ... I decided to try to see if I could possibly get the Kindle app on my computer without having to download/install. It worked! So now I won't be quite so obvious about reading a book ...

---
I'm in two Bounts challenges this week. One is the 50k steps by Friday, and the other is walk/run a 5k by Friday.

I've got about 17k steps so far, and am hoping that Friday will be decent weather wise so I can go for a 3 mile walk in the local park. That would be a cool 100 bonus points between the two challenges.

---
It is SO cold in my bedroom/office. If I was planning on staying here another year (in this apartment) I'd invest in some weatherstripping or something. I put a towel at the bottom of the door (one that leads outside) but am not sure what to do about the windows. I think that's where most of the cold is coming from.

I can mostly cover up, but my hands are what bug me the most. I think I had fingerless gloves somewhere ...

Today I got an email with a link to the most recent newsletter for our city department. Each month people are chosen from across the city to be recognized based on a theme.

If I remember correctly from when my supervisor was recognized (I asked) you go to a dinner and get some kind of certificate, maybe a day off work and some money??

This month's theme was about community.

Guess who was picked from the bus company?

Here's what my boss wrote about me:

"Laura has been working for bus company for just over a year, and she has proven to be a great asset in the way she works with the public, both over the telephone and in person. She truly cares about the community, and has participated in several of our public events promoting ridership by assisting with route information and sharing her sunny disposition."

I asked my boss about it and apparently I wasn't supposed to know yet. Oops.

I'm guessing whatever will happen will happen after the new year.

Anyway, pretty cool I think.

---
So my property manager is coming to change my furnace filter tomorrow.

Guess what I did tonight? About another 45 minutes of focused cleaning/picking up. My place is looking pretty spiffy about now if I do say myself. Although I do have all the slides, etc piled up in a corner. (I told him that I had a bunch of stuff I'd brought back with me that I didn't have a good place for.)

So, hopefully no nasty email surprise later.

--
My brother sent NE and I a box of Harry & David chocolates for Christmas. It came today. I really appreciate it, although now I feel kind of bad because I didn't get him anything ... that's been our understanding for a long time. Not sure why he decided to send something this year. Oh well, it was thoughtful of him. (Been practicing that a lot ...)

Thursday when I got home from work I was SO hungry and SO cold ... but I knew we were going to be eating out, so I didn't want to spoil my appetite.

So .. I bumped the heat way up (it was COLD) and did about 20 minutes or so of cleaning/picking up. Then I started getting ready - actually putting on makeup! and actually fixing! my hair .. :big grin:

My manicure from when I was out in CA was still good on my left hand, but several of the right hand fingers were looking pretty sad. So ... I spent about 25 minutes taking the polish off. Then, just as I was finishing the second coat of polish, NE called saying he was on his way over! Uh ...

So he came over and I finished getting ready. Then before we left I used a coupon code that had come in my email from Restaurants.com to get a $25 gift certificate for $4.25. *Still have not heard back from customer service about my missing $200 credit!*

The fancy restaurant we went to is a repurposed home built in the late 1890s. The restaurant itself has been in business around 22 years. It is really beautiful inside the home. I kind of wanted to explore it, but thought that might be a little unclassy ...

A few minutes after we were seated, our waiter came by to get our orders. As soon as I mentioned that I was vegetarian, he went and got the chef! to come talk to me. The chef (who turned out to be the waiter's dad) sat and talked with us for at least 6 or 7 minutes. I think he was a bit flummoxed when I told him I didn't like spicy foods... When I told him that I do eat eggs, he was like "Oh, a fake vegetarian." LOL! (It was especially funny because NE teases me almost along the same lines.)

A little while later our entrees were brought out. OH MY WORD! The dish the chef created was this HUGE mound of spinach linguine with lots of veggies. I mean HUGE. I ate as much as I could last night, had some for lunch today, some for dinner tonight, and have enough probably for dinner tomorrow too! It wasn't the best tasting dish I've ever had, but it was pretty good.

The cool factor was mainly though that the chef came by personally to figure out what to make for me.

I wish we could have had someone along to take a picture of us outside of the place - very nice backdrop. Oh well..

---
So far so good with my mini goals. I've been getting in a lot of practice with Oh Well at work. I also have been making sure to get some cleaning/picking up in each of the past 3 days.

---
I cashed out for $12 from Pinecone today (thanks CCF and LibLady for alerting me about the $3 status!)

---
I think my afghan came from my aunt today - but I had to arrange delivery to a closer pickup spot for tomorrow. (Otherwise I'd probably never get it - since they like to come at 9 or 10 a.m. on weekdays ...)

Speaking of deliveries - I'm still waiting on the package from my mom - with birthday and Christmas gifts. She mailed them a week ago Saturday - I'm the only person who hasn't received their package yet.

It could possibly be in my mailbox right now ... but of course my mailbox key isn't working again! I stopped by the PO to mail my mom's package (I know, procrastinate much ...) and went to the window to ask about who I needed to talk to. I was told that it was my property managers job to take care of it.

So ... I made the dreaded call and spoke to PMs wife She said she'd have him take a look tomorrow. (Hopefully NOT a look in my apartment ... much better, but still needs work.)

I really do not like the cluster mailbox thing where you have to have a key to get your mail ... (Key was working just fine on Wednesday. But on Thursday neither I nor NE could get it open.)

---
My boss and I were talking yesterday and were discussing the person who retired from my position. I mentioned to her how I've had several people bemoan the fact that I don't decorate for all the holidays/dress up for Halloween, etc. She told me she was GLAD I don't do that. What was really funny though was that about 15 minutes after she left, one of the main bemoaners came by to buy a pass!

I'd also said something to her about how it seemed like finally after nearly 1 1/2 years that people have accepted that I'm a stickler for following policy (previous person *wasn't*) Then ... today I have not one, but TWO different people challenge me on the policy. Oh brother!

(For low income passes the only requirement is to show a photo id - plus only can purchase one pass per person per month - this gives a %55 discount from the regular fare pass. The policy used to be much more involved - people had to sign a log with name/address. Then before that they had to prove their income with bank statements/tax returns, etc. So it's NOTHING now - just a photo id!)

--
So anyway, I'm glad for the weekend.

On Sunday NE and I will probably do some shopping for our Christmas dinner / Rum cakes. He wants to do 4 this year. 1 for his sister, 1 for his friend, 1 for us, and 1 for a mutual friend.

Thankfully we have plenty of rum left from last year (that was the most expensive thing we bought last year!) He's probably going to come over here early on Christmas Eve to make the first two - since I won't get home til at least 4:45, and the CE concert starts at 6, then we'll be doing C lights looking.

We're doing tater tot casserole (vegetarian) for Christmas Dinner. I know, not exactly traditional, but he really doesn't want to do a vegge dinner roast or tofurkey. So ... we compromised.

---
I need to update my sidebar - maybe tomorrow.

---
I finally managed to get a doctor's appointment set up for the end of January. It took two days of calling during my breaks and leaving voicemails. But it's set up now. One of the things I'm hoping to do is have the doctor write me a prescription for Allegra D and Flonase so that I can use my FSA money for them. I'd much rather use pre-tax money for that stuff than post-tax .. or maybe pay for it with my regular card, then get reimbursed - so, pre-tax plus cashback.

Anyway, it's past 10, so I should be signing off here. (In preparation for that mini-goal ...)

Thank you everyone for your birthday wishes.

It was a pretty low-key birthday ovearall. Tomorrow night NE and I will be going out to a fancy restaurant here (still working on the gift certificate problem ..)

NE stopped by between deliveries to tell me happy birthday in person.

---
So ... what are my mini-goals for year 40?

I've been thinking about a lot of the different goals I've had, and how I've managed to do some .. for awhile, and others not really at all. I think maybe part of it was that some of the goals were too big / too much all at once.

So .. I decided that I'm going to try doing mini-goals. I'm going to choose one or two things to focus on for 30 days (or so) and not worry about the rest. Then if those goals are doing well, I'll add something new.

I'm hoping that by doing it this way, the mini-goals will become deeply ingrained habits.

So ... here are some of the mini-goals I'm thinking about:

MG1: Do something for 15 minutes (or more) every day that helps improve my environment. (Cleaning, decluttering, putting up pictures, etc.)

MG2: Say "Oh Well." When someone does something that gets you flustered or upset, or you're thinking that you'd really like something (junkfood) but know you aren't going to have it ... say "Oh Well." That's their problem / I'd rather be healthy / I'd rather have the money for ....

MG3: Do something active for at least 15 minutes everyday intentionally.

MG4: Do something for your spiritual health at least 15 minutes a day (read the Bible, pray, memorize verses, etc.)

MG5: Do something for your personal growth at least 15 minutes a day (play the piano, use Duolingo to practice Spanish, etc.)

MG6: Do something for others at least 2x a week (work on church library, volunteer, etc.)

MG7: Connect with others at least 2x a week (email/letter/phone call) Have at least 1x a week be someone different than the week before.

MG8: Turn off computer/phone by 10 p.m.

MG9 - Floss every day before going to bed.

MG10 - Give yourself a manicure or pedicure once a week.

Others may be added as I think of them.

---
Financial Goals:

Main Financial Goal - Make spending decisions based on category balances only.

I have 3 main savings goals for this coming year -

High Priority - House Downpayment. This is where my regular savings, 90% of Windfalls (bonuses, tax refunds, SBs paypal earnings, survey earnings, etc.) will go. I'm hoping to hit $4k by September, and then probably sell up to ten shares of stock to add to the amount. (Goal of house purchase in September. Starting the process in August.)

Medium Priority Car Replacement - This will be getting a set amount of $50/month til #1 isn't needed.

Low Priority Remote Car starter - Leftover amounts in groceries, gas and utilities will be funneled here. (Would like to have $350 by September/October.)

Other Goals/Decisions:

I am no longer going to be purchasing ready made treats/sweets for consumption at home or at work. I can purchase the *ingredients* to MAKE treats for myself (such as chocolate chips to go into cookies) but not store-bought cookies.

Eating out / Fast Food is only going to be something that happens WITH another person.

Soda is an OH WELL item.

----
Today I started with MG1 and 2. (My focus for the next 30 days.) When I got home from work, as soon as I changed into something warm, I spent about 45 minutes picking up, putting away, throwing away. The place already looks much better. (It will need several more days of 15 minute sessions to be looking "good.")

I'm hoping I can develop the attitude (in my mind at least) of Oh Well at work in dealing with some of the people that whine and complain. That way maybe I can deal with it for 15 more years.

The Oh Well is also going to be replacing my habit of Coke and Chocolate on stressful days. Oh Well - the day stunk like donkey balls - I'll live another day. (Thankfully there are quite a few short weeks in this coming 30 day period which hopefully will help make this habit easier to form! )

So ... I had lots of ideas and plans for year 39. Those plans and ideas worked about as well as most New Year's resolutions.

Nevertheless, a new decade of life means maybe plans and ideas and goals can be a bit better off than just another set of resolutions. We'll see I guess.

Financially I did okay. As of now I have quite a few LTP (long term planning) funds fully funded and have started on the Car and House funds.

Health/weight wise ... um ... If I remember what I started at last December ... Well ... I pretty much maintained I guess. I pretty much haven't been to the gym in at least 3 months (although I have been exercising - just not at the gym.)

Friendship wise ... While I still don't have anyone here I "hang out" with outside of church activities, I am a little more involved. Maybe eventually that will lead to something. Someday.

Relationship wise .... Mostly good, with some frustrations that rear themselves at times overly much. But that generally tends to happen when I'm way overtired.

Job wise - Most days/most of the time it's ok. I have a great boss, and a couple co-workers I also like. The co-workers who were causing drama before have pretty much completely laid off. So ... it's tolerable.

It's definitely helping being able to take time off now and then to get away. Like today - I took off to have a long weekend as my birthday present to myself. Although I might have taken today off anyway because Sunday I did something to my back, plus feeling miserable cold/allergies. (My back is feeling better tonight, as are my cold/allergies.)

--
Yesterday NE and I went to the local urgent care place because NE had a finger infection. (Most likely from him biting off a hang nail ... When I asked him if he was going to stop doing that - Why? 1st problem in 49 years? - Ohhhhkaaayyy.)

While we were waiting for his prescription to get filled, we went over to SuperTarget. I had $2 coupons for cat litter (Scoop Away 25lb) plus the Savings Catcher had 25% off it. I unfortunately forgot my Red Card though - asked at the front desk and was told to bring my receipt the next time and they'd make an adjustment.

Of course ... I wasn't used to having NE along on a shopping trip, so I also spaced using the coupons (but not the savings catcher!)

I went back to Target today and was able to get both the 5% adjustment and the $4 in coupons! (I also bought a 3rd box with a coupon. Kari is SET for litter for a long time!)

--
While I was out today I also stopped at Walmart - mainly to pick up a few iBotta items - definitely things I'll use, but didn't need right now. I also was really wanting to find a Terry's Chocolate Orange .... no luck. Stopped at a few other places too. All sold out.

---
I cashed out for $20 from iBotta today, and also for $25 PayPal from Swagbucks.

---
I got a postcard from my doctor letting me know that I need to schedule a baseline mammogram .... Oh the joys of my new decade. I was going to do it today, but then realized that I don't know what my bosses schedule is like ... so need to get that info first.

---
My aunt (who Thrifty Ray has met) has really gotten into knitting since retiring. While I was in CA over Thanksgiving she made me slippers, and had me pick out the yarn for an afghan. She texted me today to let me know that it was finished! I might have it here by Friday. So cool! (Or should I say, so warm!)

Now that we can post pics again, I'll post a picture of it when I get it.

---
If I'm on the upward mend of this cold on top of allergies thing, then hopefully within the next few days I'll have the energy to get my apartment back into shape. I'd really hate for the property manager to come in right now ... (not dirty, just really, really cluttered/messy)

---
Oh! I almost forgot. I logged in to restaurant . com today to buy the gift certificate for the fancy place NE and I will be going to on Thursday night. Only to find out that my $200 credit seemed to have completely disappeared!! I checked on Living Social to make sure they hadn't reversed the offer I'd purchased or something ...

I wrote customer service and got a form reply telling me how to redeem an offer. Ugh! I replied ... nothing back yet.

SO VEry Aggravating. (I bought a $200 r.com gift certificate for $35 from Living Social. I hadn't used any of it yet!)

NE and I went out for pizza Sunday night. I found a Groupon deal for $9 for $20 worth of food. The waitress was a little bit ... not with it. She wasn't very attentive to us, but when I got the check and was looking it over, I noticed a handwritten $1.75 on the bottom. Not even loudly, I said, "What's this $1.75?"

From across the room, waitress shouts out that it was the drink (NE's.) I figured that out almost as soon as I said it - but it being handwritten had thrown me.
(She'd forgotten to include it on our ticket at first because she thought we were getting the special which included a drink.)

--
I also bought a deal from Living Social which I think will be really good. It was $35 for a $200 Restaurant.com gift card. I already used $10 of it to buy a $25 gift certificate for a local fancy restaurant we're going to for my birthday. (It will be pretty easy to spend $50 there.)

--
There's a Steven Curtis Chapman concert here this week. I was really, really tempted to buy a ticket. $25. But ... I really didn't want to go by myself. Plus I just haven't seemed to pick up any energy - in fact I went home early from work yesterday.

I've decided to not go.

---
I did some shopping on Sunday - made back around $7 between ibotta and MobiSave. Spent about $35 grocery money and $20 cat money.

I also did some cooking. I've been buying single carrots and red peppers, etc., because there've been iBotta rebates on them - so wanted to use them.

I chopped up the zucchini, carrots, onion, broccoli, (actually put in the food processor ... )and then took two cans of Pilsbury's Grands and a can of Pillsubry Croissants (coupon/rebate deal) and made veggie hot pockets! Yummy!

Of course ... I still haven't gotten started on fixing the robe for the Nativity drive through that is happening on the 12th. It really shouldn't take too long to do, just have to DO it!

Other than Sunday, I haven't spent any money this week.

--
Hard to believe there is only one week left of my 30's. If what happened at work yesterday is any indication - my 40's won't find me being any less klutzy. (Dropped one of those big calculators and broke it completely. Offered to pay for a replacement - my boss told me not to worry about it.)

---
How many of you actually wear robes? I keep being given robes as gifts ... and well, I've never seen the point of them really. So ... they end up hanging around somewhere in my house for years, and then get given away. My mom is sending a robe for NE ... he isn't a robe person either.

Maybe if I was someone more into fixing up my face, etc. before getting dressed or something? Or if I had other people (other than partner) living with me?

Really, what is the purpose of a robe? Just curious really if I'm the oddball out on this one or not.

I obviously did not stick with the moratorium on purchasing junk food/fast food this month. However, I did much better than previous months. So ... there is that.

Some of the spending comes from budgeted money / reimbursed funds. For example, I treated myself and my aunt/grandma to manis/pedis and to a meal out.

I also made the decision this month to make my larger "savings" category more granular. I had nearly the $10k goal amount I set for my EF - but decided to reduce it and spread it amoungst smaller/more specific categories. Some of the money in LTP is new, most is not.

I forgot my password for iBotta, otherwise I'd have another $10 in my extra funds (which would go into the Remote Starter fund.)

I did buy several Christmas gifts, but they were all covered with AGC money. I still have over half of what I started with left too.

Spending
Tithe - 10%
Charitable - 30
Rent - 430
Gym - 41.73
Groceries - 124.65
Phone - 25.80
Internet - 85.07
Natural Gas - 22.36
Electricity - 32.68
Fuel - 15.58
Medical - 12.86
Kari - 22 (license renewal, new scooper)
Beauty - 106
Car Care - 229.65 (transmission flush, wipers, rotation, etc.)
Household - 22.49
Vacation - 75
Treats - 28.17
Restaurants - 61.49

Extra Income
Walmart: Savings Catcher - $5.18
Perk AGC - $25
MobiSave - $13.75
Bing AGC - $10
Swagbucks AGC - $25
Swagbucks PP - $25
Pact - $10
Pinecone - $15
SavingStar - $5.16
Interest - $26.xx

Long Term Planning
01 Income Replacement (expenses only) - Funded
02 House Downpayment - +40
03 Car Replacemennt - +25
04 Car Deductible - Funded
05 Health Ins OOP - Funded
06 Vet Emergency - +611.70
07 Travel Emergency +611.70
08 Future - +$50
09 Remote Starter +9.89
10 New Computer +65
11 New Phone +65

P.S. Thanks everyone for your comments yesterday/today.

PPS - Work was pretty good today.

We had our first real snow last night/today! It was so beautiful this morning when I finally made myself get out of bed and going.

I wasn't sure I wanted to go out driving in it however .. so settled in for a relaxing morning. One thing I ended up doing was signing up for a 3 month Spotify trial for $.99 on Swagbucks - 300 SBs. I gotta say .. I like it so far. Not enough to justify $10/month after the trial, but I do like it.

Early this afternoon the snow started melting ... so I made myself get out and do some errands.

First thing I did was deposit the money my aunt gave me for my airplane ticket. (cash) Then I went to a credit union I'd opened an account at when I first moved here and closed out my accounts - $37.

That $37 wasn't accounted for in my budget (in fact, I thought I only had $35.) So I decided I'd let myself play with the money a bit.

That sent me to Walmart. The first thing I did was take a sample video cassette of each type to the photo counter. I found out it would cost $25 for each 2 hour length DVD -- plus I wouldn't be able to do any editing before hand.

I got the name of two other places in town where I might be able to both watch/edit beforehand AND transfer to DVD. If memory serves me correctly, the videos are going to need a LOT of editing ...

My first priority really are the slides though. The cost at Walmart for 40 slides/DVD was about $25. Ouch. I'd be roughly guessing here, but I think I have at least 3 or 4000 slides. And I only took the ones starting in 1977 - the year my parents got married (I was 2 yrs old.) I don't plan on using ALL the slides, but even if I culled 10% ... this may be a multi-year project. Multi-year Christmas gifts ...

I bought about $20 worth of groceries, etc. at Walmart (3 of which work for iBotta rebates.) It won't come out of my grocery budget though, since it was unbudgeted money.

I had about $13 left. Then I stopped at the library to return some overdue books. I walked out with about $2. Darn you library fines!

---
Question ... how would you react?

Every week I do NE's and I's laundry. He only has a few pieces of clothing he wears all week. So I add in my own stuff to make a full load. He provides the quarters. I provide the detergent and labor.

Last night after he collected his clothes from where I'd left them, he made a remark about our socks being mixed together. I was a bit miffed, and told him all it took was 2 seconds for him to pick out his own socks. He replied something about "should do laundry right." I told him he was more than welcome to do his own laundry if he thought I wasn't doing it right.

He thinks I was making too big of a deal of it. Notice - no where in there was any thanks for doing my laundry, etc.

To me, I don't mind doing the laundry. What irks me to high heaven is being told I'm not "doing it right" - especially when coupled with no expression of appreciation for my doing it in the first place. (He thinks he shouldn't have to tell me thanks since he's providing the quarters and I'm doing my laundry at the same time. Notice - he didn't do his laundry while I was gone - even though he had a key to the laundry room here and could've used my soap ...)

Anyway .. just curious about how other's might react in this situation.

---
So not excited about going back to work tomorrow. At least I have several holidays to look forward to this month.

Two weeks left of Year 39. Yikes!

When 4:30 hit today I was SO SO happy. My boss isn't too excited about me being gone (she's going to have to do some of the things I usually do.)

From 4:30 today til 8:00 a.m. December 1 I will not have to answer the question of, "Where's the bus?"

Yahoo!!

---
I got my $15 Pinecone payment today, and yesterday cashed out for $10 from Pact. I'm still waiting for my $25 from Swagbucks (PayPal.)

---
I think I figured out why my sinus/allergy issues flared up badly again this week. My flonase was just about out! IOW I hadn't been getting any really good sprays.

Yesterday I opened a new one, and it worked wonders! (not that I got much more sleep ... but at least no horrible head splitting sinus headache at 3:30 a.m.!)

I am looking at that MyPurMist thing CB mentioned. Have to decide how to fund purchasing it if I decide to. I have more than enough in AGC, but really don't want to use those for that. But ... there is the AmEx deal of getting $15 back if you spend $60 on Amazon .. or the Chase thing of 10% back of what you spend. (Although AmEx is the better deal by far.) The AmEx deal is good through the end of December I think, so I have time to decide what to do.
---
NE and I have decided to do homemade pizza for our early Thanksgiving Sunday night. Since I already have the cheese, mushrooms, and cream cheese, he's going to buy the pizza kit and his hamburger (for his side of the pizza.)

My plane leaves at 7 a.m. Monday morning, and from what I'm hearing it's being suggested to be at the airport 2 hours early. So ... that means leaving here by 4 a.m. Yuck and double yuck. I can at least try to sleep on the plane though.

---
I haven't spent any money since Monday I think - except for gas on Thursday. $2.17/gallon ... not bad. (Although I've heard in some places it's under $2/gallon!)

I only bought $15 worth since there's really only a few days left in November where I'll be driving my car. I sent the remainder of my gas category to my Remote Starter fund. A whole $4.66. Yep, I'll get that sometime this century. ($350 needed.)

I am planning on buying some sweet potatoes this week. They are $.36/lb at Aldi's and one of the apps has a $.20 rebate on them.

Ibotta has quite a few real food rebates for November. When I get back from CA I plan on a grocery trip to make use of them. (Probably go to Walmart - have around $20 in gift card money between Savings Catcher, Bounts, etc.)

So yesterday I wanted to check my credit card account which I use for gas only (get 5% back all the time.) Only I couldn't remember for sure what my password was and got locked out.

So this afternoon I got on the site and was looking for the customer service number when the advertisements for the rewards cards caught my eye.

I for whatever reason decided to look at the different cards ... One of which was the same card I have.

I noticed something weird though .. the fine print for the card I have showed a $25 annual fee if you didn't have a qualifying account.

Say what?!

So when I called customer service to unlock my password I also asked about this. I found out that I had been grandfathered in to no account fees, but THIS was the end of the grandfathered period! (November!)

In the end I opened up a money market account with $25 so that I could keep a no annual fee (and the 5% - otherwise it would've gone to 3%.) I can withdraw the $25 from the money market account with no penalties. So stupid the shenanigans.

---
My sinuses are killing me, even with allergy meds. I'm beginning to wonder if I don't have a sinus infection. ugh!

Just 3 more days of work!!!!!!!!

My boss let me go early again today. Made a short week even shorter.

On my way home I heard the horrific news about the happenings in Paris. What is our world coming to. It just can't last much longer like this.

I'm relaxing now with a blanket and kitty covering me up and keeping me fairly warm. Haven't turned the heat on yet!

There is snow in the forecast for next weekend .. I'm flying out a week from Monday. Hopefully it won't cause any delays.

I finally got enough Mypoints to redeem for a $25 AGC card today. Now to start saving for the next one.

Anyone else with Inbox Dollars get reduced to one paid email per week? I was at almost $24 and am now earning a measly $.02 / week from emails ... It's gonna be 4ever! to get to payout.

NE and I are going to a Mexican restaurant on Sunday (his treat this month!) I'm hopefully going to be able to get veggie fajitas again.

--
Our new bus routes plan has been posted. Already getting some calls about it today. I forsee people being very happy about some aspects of it, and very upset about other aspects. Can't please everyone. I wish they'd mentioned on the announcement that any changes made won't take effect til August of 2016.

(I'm going to have to relearn everything I pretty much know about the bus routes when that happens.)

Hard to believe that in just one week I'm going to have TEN whole days AWAY from work. So sweet!

--
Can I just say that Pinecone is really coming through for me recently? After a few s l o w months of surveys, just this week I had 3 in a matter of two days ... and a surprise on my doorstep when I arrived home today. Plus another survey in my email.

So today was one of those days at work.

I had the person who kept interrupting me before I could answer their question ...

I had the person who started taking Jesus's name in vain all because they were going to have a 30 minute wait at the main transfer station ...

I had the person who came to the window on their cell phone and acted very annoyed with every question I asked / every time I spoke to them ...

Then I had someone ask me why we have a sign up about no cell phones at the window --- point to above reason ---

Then I had the person who had no earthly idea of their location and expected me to know where they were by just rattling off some business names (gas station, other places that are multiple locations ...)

So yeah ...

Not to mention that the office is super duper COLD. I think it's colder inside than it is outside! I wore a sweater today which helped, but my hands were still freezing!

Then CW who loaded a time sensitive project on me a few months ago started telling me about a new project she wants me to do. Supposedly NOT a time sensitive one - but to do whenever I have time to fill.

She of course went on and on and on off on different rabbit trails. I told her I'd be happy to do it - I just can't log off the phone very often nor for very long. (Like I had to log off the phone when she came to tell me about this project .. 25 minutes later ...)

Seriously, if she'd stop talking so much to people about how little time she has and how much she is overwhelmed, she might just get done what she needs to get done! I would guess she wastes at least 6+ hours a week talking about this to various people at the office (mostly me or my supervisor.)

She's a nice person, but I try to avoid her if I can just because she can be a time suck.

---
I think I've decided to NOT do the transmission flush for my car tomorrow. I did some more reading on it, and it looks like it's not recc'd until at least 100k. I am still going to get my tires rotated and my belts looked at (Toyota Yaris's don't have timing belts - the have timing chains, which almost never need to be replaced.)

---
So .. today was not a no spend day. I gave in to temptation. I stopped at Walgreen's hoping they had the chocolate oranges in.

Nope. But I did still end up buying a couple of candy bars and a Coke. Also bought toilet cleaner. ~$6 total

I was also WAY tempted to stop by BK. But I managed to resist that one. Yay me?

Thinking I'd have a sweet potato for dinner. Nope. Checked them and they'd all gone bad. Argh.

So .. finally opened up a box of Quorn Chic'n Cutlets I bought in September? Microwaved two of them according to directions.

Yuck. Double yuck. SO bland. I had to smother them in ketchup to eat.

I think the only thing to do is to fry them in breading or something. Which kind of negates the whole healthy factor (and since I'll need to use eggs to get the breading to stick ... makes them not vegan. Not that I really care about that.)

I've got around 5 more boxes of Cutlets left. 3 boxes of nuggets (which I *think* are breaded.)

These are definitely NOT going to be a good deterrent to my "stop at BK or eat at home" argument with myself ...

--
Decided to NOT go to a movie tonight. Just too tired (didn't sleep well last night at all.)

Tomorrow the weather is supposed to be nasty. I'm so glad I won't have to field phone calls on a day like tomorrow will probably be. Doubly glad to have tomorrow off.

--
Almost forgot - a bus funny -

Guy calls me and tells me he left a horse statue on the bus. I clarify with him until I get the picture that it is a 6 inch wooden statue of a horse. He had it sitting on the seat next to him. Not in a bag or anything - just out on the seat.

Another one - guy calls complaining about a couple who brought on two large dogs on the bus. Says that the bus driver told the couple they had to pay $1 per dog.

Um ... Had my supervisor talk to this guy. She figured out that he had no real idea what time this happened or for sure which bus route. She thinks he was making it all up. (No, we don't charge for animals brought on to the bus.)

Bizarre.

So I realized that I was about out of allergy medicine today. I remembered that I'd gotten an email from CVS a few days ago offering me $5 off $15. Usually they won't let you use those on psueduedorphine (SP?) products ... So I looked to see what else they had.

Toilet paper .. buy $15 worth and get $5 in ECB. Ok, I'm down to my last 4 rolls (from about a year ago or so ... big pkg from Sam's.)

So I go to CVS planning on doing the toilet paper deal, use the $5 coupon on the toilet paper, and then the $5 ECB get some chocolate. (Technically NOT spending money on it ... )

Well when I get there I ask at the pharmacy for the cost of the Allegra D and my Syntrhoid just in case it's cheaper than Walgreen's. The Allegra D is cheaper! (Synthroid is the same.)

So I buy the Allegra D - the lady uses the $5 coupon on it! I tell her that I didn't think it could be used for that .. but she says, "it worked" shrug. O....kay.... So instead of $16.96 ($2 cheaper than Walgreen's) it was $11.96.

I have a coupon on the MobiSave app to save $5 on Allegra D 24hr 10 count. So 2 weeks worth of Allegra is ending up costing me about $7! Suh-weet!

I also decided to go ahead and transfer my prescription to them. (CVS)

Then I picked up $15 worth of toilet paper (actually, $17 after taxes.) That should last me a year.

I did end up spending $2 after the $5 ECB for chocolate. I was really hoping to find a chocolate orange ... but they only had a dark chocolate version. So I got some other items.

It made me happy to do everything I wanted to do in one store. (The cheaper Allegra D also definitely made me happy! Here's hoping the MobiSave coupon keeps repeating indefinitely!!)

--
I also paid my tithe/charitable giving today for October and November.. Oops. Totally spaced doing it last month. It works out though, because I put it all on my Discover card and it puts me close to the required $500 spend for November. If I use it while in CA, I should have it easily covered. Then I can stop using it!

(I'll have completed the spend $500/mo for 5 months get $75 deal.)

---
I have Wednesday off. I was thinking about seeing a movie Tuesday night ($5 all day Tuesday) but just don't see any I care enough about to see.

I'm thinking of doing a cooking / freezing / cleaning day on Wednesday. So today I'm taking it easy. It will be so nice to have a 4 day work week.

Then not too long later, I'll have TEN days away from work in a row! Oh my, I won't know what to do with myself ... (5 of those days I'll be here, 5 I'll be in CA.) Not looking forward to that at all, nope, not at all.

--
Almost forgot:
Redeemed $5 AGC from Bing
Redeemed $25 AGC from PerkTV

Spent $45.xx AGC for 2 canisters of protein powder (bought 2 to get free shipping - instead of trying to figure out something else to get to $35 for the free shipping - will last a LONG time.)

Today I stopped by the grocery store after work and picked up some fruit and and an Amy's meal. It's gotten cold here (today!) and so I wanted something warm and easy.

Spent $9.98 and didn't pick up any sweets, etc.

When I was checking out, the cashier said, "Hi neighbor!" I had to do a double take - and realized that he was a neighbor I met a couple weeks ago in the laundry room. He and his gf live in the apartment above me.

--
Something kind of strange at work today ... about 4pm my boss calls me to her office. She tells me to go ahead and log off the phone at 4:15 and head out without saying anything to anyone or turning lights off, etc.

There was someone in the office with her, otherwise I would have asked what prompted this.

Instead I just said, Ok ... thank you!

I sure don't mind getting off work 15 minutes early.

--
NE called me this evening to tell me he finally sold his car! It's been sitting on Craigslist for 6+ weeks with progressively lower price. It sold for $300. He's just glad to be done with it. (A 2001 Subuaru Imprezza?? with lots wrong with it.)

Another piece of surprising news - we checked his credit reports last night and paid for one credit score. The number was MUCH higher than either of us expected.

We talked about him getting a Paypal credit card to add a revolving account (he's got lots of installment accounts - i.e. student loans) to improve it even more.

I'm now very curious about how our two credit scores would merge together for when we're house hunting next year. Do they just average the two scores?

---
I'm leading the SS discussion tomorrow. WAY WAY WAY out of my comfort zone. The only reason I said yes was because the person who usually does the first Sabbath discussion was in a major car accident a few weeks ago (is out of ICU now, but still in hospital - will be going to rehab next week possibly.)

It's about Jeremiah and the different symbols / symbolisim used in the Bible - such as the clay and the potter. It's a topic I really enjoy, but the breadth of what one weeks lesson covers ... Ugh. I much prefered the SS lessons for the early primary age kids - simple story, simple activities connected to it, a couple of songs.

Am hoping for a SMALL group.

I really don't get some of the regulations surrounding government employees.

One of them is about gifts.

Thursday a customer brought in a bouquet of flowers for one of the drivers to show his appreciation.

After letting my boss know what I was doing, I took them down to dispatch.

Grumpy old man dispatcher was on duty. He wrinkled his nose and said, "We don't do flowers down here!" Umm ... yes you do. I've brought flowers down before for other people. :roll eyes:

My boss tells me to give them to the bus driver supervisor. BDS is in with Big Boss.

Big Boss says, "Oh, we can't accept flowers from a customer." I barely control my mouth and ask how flowers are different from the cookies we got at Christmas (a HUGE platter of cookies.)

Cookies were consumable, but flowers aren't.

Um ... okay.

I'm told to either throw them away or find a vase to put them in and display them in the main office. My boss found a vase and I filled it with water.

I'm wondering exactly how I'm going to explain this to the person who brought the flowers. Ugh.

---
Cue Friday.

My afternoon break is at 3:00 p.m.

I get a phone call at 2:51 p.m. from fast talking lady. At 2:53 p.m. Customer who tried climbing the stairs on his backside when the elevator was broken last year rolls up to the window.

I tell fast talking lady that I need to put her on hold. She very grumpily says ok.

Customer takes several minutes to complete transaction. (I'm having to help him a lot.)

2:57 I get back to fast talking lady. She snottily tells me that this better be fast because she's going through her Tracphone minutes.

2:58 New customer (never seen before) comes to the window. I mute the phone for a second and tell him to ring the buzzer because I'm going on break shortly.

New customer says, "What, you're too lazy to take a few minutes to help me before going on break?"

I'm utterly flabbergasted and have lots of responses in my head. None of which I verbalize.

2:59 I finish with fast talking lady. I go to the window to help rude customer and see several people behind him. I ask him to ring the buzzer again.

3:01 I'm almost finished with his transaction when person covering my break comes out.

3:15 I'm still fuming.

3:16 I get call from "Hello, friend!" lady who always puts a smile on my face no matter what kind of a day. I actually tell her this today (she asks me how my day is - usually just say good or fine - today I said 'better now that you've called - you put a smile on my face) She was really surprised - thought she was a pest.

3:18 Still very annoyed by rude customer, but feeling somewhat less upset.

---
How is the above financial in nature? It's called MOTIVATION for SAVING for RETIREMENT!

At my dentist visit today I did end up having a filling done. It was going to cost $84 after insurance. Zoinks!

I handed over my FSA card thinking there was maybe $5 or $6 left on it at most. Nope! There was over $50 left! Yay!

So since I was in a celebratory mood ... (ya ya sure ... I was using any excuse) I headed to Target and got my fave Amy meal x 3. Plus a few other things.

Spent about $24.

---
BUT .. today I saw my last October paycheck. Which is the second one going to November.

After entering it in, and filling in the numbers in my various categories ... and knowing that I'll be getting reimbursed for the plane tickets to CA for Thanksgiving ... and knowing that December should also be a 3 paycheck month ...

I came to the following conclusion --

I will be able to meet my $10k in my EF goal by the end of this year!

This goal originally was $12k, but I realized that I wasn't funding some categories properly (i.e. car tags, etc.) and so reduced it to $10k. With some of the larger medical expenses I had this year, I wasn't sure I'd even make that one.

But it (knocks on wood) looks like I just might!

Then in January I can start aggressively saving towards the house downpayment! YES!

--
I have decided (once again ...) that I am going cold turkey on purchasing soda or any junky food for November and December. (Not saying I won't EAT any junk food - just I won't purchase it myself.)

I've let myself get way too lax with the junk, and I'm hoping by putting forth this moratorium, I will both save money (since many trips to the store are merely disguised trips for junk ...) and help me get back to LOSING weight. Maybe help with my lack of energy too.

---
Okay, so now for the funny ...

Our bus system has a number of routes which are interconnected. This means that when Bus A is South of O street it is for example #46, but when it is North of O Street, it is #45. A rider could get on Bus A when it is the #46 and ride it from the North to the South and get off of it as the #45.

So ... today I get this call from a woman who was at first and O St. She wanted to know when the #45 bus would be coming by.

After checking to make sure if she was wanting to go downtown or outbound, I told her that the #46 bus would be going by her in about ten minutes.

(The #46 bus goes out from our transfer center west along O St from 11th to 1st, and then the numbers start going back up (Nw 1st, Sw 1st) When it gets to NW 48th and O it heads North. This happens from 6:10 a.m. to 6:10 p.m. Monday thru Friday.)

She then started arguing with me that the #45 bus came by first and O in the morning, but not the #46 bus.

As she was hanging up I heard her say to someone nearby ... "The lady doesn't know her buses very well." LOL

---
Almost forgot!

I filled out a comment card at the restaurant the other night. Today I got an email letting me know that I'd won a $15 gift certificate!

I wonder how long that will be good for ... cuz' I'm guessing it'll be a long time before I'll be getting back that way.

I checked yesterday with our HR person about whether my union had any other retirement plans available other than the one the city contributes to for us. He told me he'd send me info.

I got the info today! There are three different companies offering 457 plans. Contributions are pre-tax, and count towards the tax savers credit (although I *think* my 401(b)contributions do that too ...)

So ... I decided to open a 457 with Ameritas (had the best options = lots of Vanguard Index funds) and put in there the amount that I'm currently putting in my ROTH right now. Of course, since this is pre-tax, it won't actually be the full amount.

So, I'm going to take the "leftover" amount plus a bit more, and continue to add $50/month to my ROTH. That way I'm still adding $600/year to an account I can access penalty free if an absolute emergency occurred before I'm 55 and retired ... but in effect increasing the total amount being saved towards retirement with very little effect on my actual net income. Then when I get my next raise in February, I can add a little to the 457 contribution amount very easily.

Overall, I think it adds maybe 1% to my retirement savings amount - 17% employer/employee match; ~10% to 457, ~.75% to ROTH. I have it set to start in November since my October ROTH contribution has already been set to go.

I love how it says "contribution limits per years are $18k" Hah, hah, ha ...... I'd be rolling in it if I made enough to contribute $18k a year .... Shoot, I'd be retiring in 5 or 6 years instead of 15 or 16 if I made that kind of money ...

---
I was wishing I hadn't checked my electric car stock today. Ouch. My net worth dropped by ... oh .. $5k or so thanks to stupid Consumer Reports.

---
Anyways ... I redeemed for a $5 Walmart card from Bounts today - got it in my email oh about 30 seconds later.

Between the Bounts cards and Savings Catcher I have a little over $15 to spend at Walmart. I'm probably going to save them up til I have more like around $50 or so. Or enough for a manicure and pedicure. Nice way to treat myself for doing lots of walking.

---
Got an email today telling me my Lane Bryant order is at the store! I'll probably go pick it up tomorrow after work. (I was walking home today, so once I got home, just wanted to cool off - not go drive to the store ...)

---
I found my lanyard with my library card and ID badge! You'll never guess where it was ... if it were a snake it would've bit me. Right under my keyboard on my desk. :roll eyes:

---
I joined a rewards program for the local Internet company. You can redeem points for cash or gift cards or money off your bill. Works for me. Whatever I can do to get that horrendous bill down a bit is good.

Today I received a couple snowflakes -

$50 PayPal from Swagbucks
$25 AGC from PerkTV
$5 AGC from Bing

----
I'm seriously considering dropping my gym membership. I don't know how much it'd cost me to break my contract, but I'm just not using it. And I really don't see myself using it ... the traffic to get there is just miserable.

There is another gym where I wouldn't have to deal with such miserable traffic - no contracts. I drove there today after work in 7 minutes flat, even with kind of guessing how to get there. (I didn't go in because I was in the wrong lane to get into it ...)

I need to find out how much both the new place would cost and how much it will take to get out of my old place.

---
NE and I were talking a bit more about houses last night. There really aren't too many in the price range I could qualify for by myself. I told him that if he really wants something in a higher price range, then the only way we'd be able to do it is by combining our income qualifications. Which means he really needs to work on his credit score.

He told me that he'd paid all his bills on time since the last time we'd started talking more seriously about this.

I was saying something about maybe looking into getting a small installment loan of some type to help build the score as well - he was wondering if the medical bill might not qualify as that. Hmm... He'd been thinking of paying it off in one lump sum once he gets his inheritance money, but maybe it'd be better to stretch it a bit longer.

It seems a bit of a catch 22 though ... the medical debt would count as debt (obviously) but could also be a way of showing on-time monthly installment payments. By the time we'd be doing the house looking, my one installment payment loan (car) would be nearly 2 years old, so wouldn't count too much I think.

There was this one house on FB yesterday that was just *perfect* Walk-out basement (so he could come home from work and go through the basement without waking me up at 3 or 4 a.m.) finished basement area, two bedrooms upstairs (my space!) and a finished attic space - 1 1/2 bathrooms. And a 2 car garage, porch, and good sized yard with mature trees.

Only problem was it was listed at $123k. I really need to stop looking at the home listings on FB ... at least for another 6 months or so.

---
When I was getting ready to walk to the library today I realized I'd misplaced my library card/work badge! Thankfully the library took my driver's license to check out the book that was on hold (Homebuying for Dummies) ... but I still need to find the card/id..

Only three places I usually keep it - my car console, my purse, or in the bag I take to the library to carry books. Hopefully it'll turn up soon.

---
It looks like my 401(b) is FINALLY migrating to Vanguard. I got an email notice today that they'd gotten a check - but it hasn't shown up in my accounts yet. It'll be so nice to have that all finished for once and all.

Speaking of retirement accounts ... I emailed the city's person who deals with that stuff to ask about whether people in my particular union have any other retirement savings options other than the one the city contributes to. He said there are two other options which he'll send me info on.

He also told me that I could contribute more than 7% (9% match) BUT it would not be pre-tax and it wouldn't be through payroll deduction (and no extra match). Hmm ... kind of takes away the desire to do it when it isn't pre-tax. (Not that I'm anywhere near being able to do that yet anyway ... need to get my ROTH to compacity first before thinking about upping other contributions.)

I'm curious to see what the other options are. The lady I met at my MMM meetup said she contributed $20 a pay period to a 457? and got a 100% match (up to $20.) She works for the city too, just in a different union.

This afternoon as a colleague was heading out the door ... she let slip the S word. No .. not a four letter word. A five letter word. Strep.

As soon as she said it, my radar pinged wildly.

I am someone who catches strep almost at the mere mention of the word.

I have been feeling more and more run down this week - which I thought was due to maybe overdoing it with the walking.

I really, really, really hope I do not have strep. In any case, I plan on taking it very easy this weekend. Which is kind of disappointing because there is a free concert at my church tomorrow night I wanted to go to, plus I've missed 3 weeks now of walking with the church group on Sabbath afternoon.

Ugh.

---
I redeemed 5k Swagbucks for a $50 PayPal card on the 14th - mistakenly thinking that was the day the swagups went into play. (They don' til the 19th.) I have about 1700 towards the next one, so hopefully will be able to make use of the swagups I earned (I think I earned 200.)

I also redeemed Bounts points for a $5 Walmart gift card which I have already received (ecard.)

---
I am considering making an extra trip out to CA in December. No, I can't really afford it without missing my savings goals for the year, but ... family is more important than savings goals sometimes. I'm going to call my aunt tonight and see what she thinks.

NE told me he's surprised I'm even thinking of going because his family experience is such that his sister didn't do more than call him when he was in the hospital for shoulder surgery in March (she lives in the same town, but we were in a town an hour away.) But he also said he'd fully support me if I decided to go.

My boss has also told me that she'd make it work if I needed to take a few days off to do this.

Pricing tickets, it looks like somewhere around $375, plus I'll probably have to do a hotel room ... in San Francisco....

If my dad were alive, I know he wouldn't let money keep him away from his kids who needed support.

I just don't know ... Part of my hesitation is that nothing is in stone yet. So dates could change.

All I can say about all this is ... I hate alcohol.

I participate haphazardly on the Mr Money Mustache forums and a few weeks ago there was a thread on there asking if anyone in this city wanted to get together for a meetup. I said I would like to.

Tonight was the first meetup! Including myself, there were three people. Someone who works for the city, and someone who works for the college CCF's daughter goes to!

We chatted and got to know each other for a little over an hour. (We met at a beautiful park near the zoo.)

We talked about maybe making this a regular thing. That'd be great I think.

They both were a lot younger than me, so I am a little envious that they've gotten started on the good path so much earlier than I did. Not really though ... without the path I took, I'd be a different person today. We all have to take our own.

---
I ended up walking to work today - barely. If I'd left any later I would have had to drive. Just as I was getting breakfast, I got a text from my boss telling me to wear jeans today - we were going to clean the schedule room!

I was glad to hear that because the last time I was down there, it was a mess! (I had told her that.) It made it a royal pain to get what I needed.

So today we spent nearly two hours cleaning, discarding and reorganizing the schedule room. It was so DUSTY and full of spider webs, etc. But now it looks marvelous! We jokingly bet each other how long it would take for it to get back to the way it was ...

---
So with the walking to work and back, the cleaning out of the schedule room, and then the meetup tonight ... I got in 14k steps! I can't remember where I was at yesterday, but I think I just surpassed 50k steps for this week.

Here's hoping this will mean a really good nights sleep tonight. Only got in maybe 4 1/2 hours last night.

Today we had an employee appreciation meal + safety meeting (blood borne pathogens .. such a good topic to pair with eating ...) I don't know where they got the food from, but they had a veggie wrap just for me. There was one more veggie meal left over too - that they kept out for me. So, I have food for two more lunches (the wrap was pretty good, and good sized.)

I've put my quinoa/sweet potato lunches in the freezer for next week.

----
So I just did not feel like going to the gym today, especially since my plan was just to walk on the track to get more steps in. Instead, I decided to walk to the library. I didn't have anything to return, nor did I have anything to pick up ... but I went anyway.

Got in over 7k steps (4k on the walk + work) so am now at over 40k steps for the challenge.

I'm planning on walking to work tomorrow - today was a major headache. The major road I turn on to get to my building was blocked off. I was already arriving with no time to spare ... the detour took at least another six minutes. THEN finding a parking space! One whole side of the street was blocked off for parking!!!

The only good thing was that my boss arrived at the same time ... I've never been that late to work before (nearly 14 minutes!)

So I'll be walking to work probably the rest of this week to avoid that mess.

---
On my way back from the library I stopped at Walgreen's because I really wanted some chocolate and soda. I'd brought my Swagbucks card with me.

I went up to the counter to pay for my stuff ... and it was not authorized! Say what?!! I tried again. Same thing. The cashier tried, but it required being read (chip card.) So ... I left.

When I got home I called the bank to find out what was going on. This is the same card which I'd overpaid and am waiting for a refund check.

Apparently the issue is with Walgreen's - they are updating their machines and there have been a lot of declined cards today.

I guess it was for the best, since I don't want the chocolate and soda badly enough to go back to the store! Money saved. Calories saved. Guess I should say ... thanks new chip technology.

---
Almost forgot - something pretty sad.

A woman who is a major contributor to our church and is part of my Sabbath School group was in a majorly bad car accident with her two granddaughters this weekend. She and one of the granddaughters are in ICU, the other one is just in the hospital. She was t-boned.

So .... I've been asked to lead the class discussion every other first Sabbath until she can be back with us. Hopefully this won't be more than once. I said yes with great trepidation. I just don't do adults well. Kids I can handle - adults ... I just don't do well with (leading discussion / talking in front of.)

So yesterday after going to the grocery store, I decided to go to the park and do some walking. This partly was because I wanted to rack up some steps for the challenge (50k steps by Friday) and partly because I just wanted to get out into the fresh air.

About this time I got an email from Bounts telling me that they'd reduced the time between GPS tracked activities from two hours to one hour.

This got my wheels turning.

So, in total I spent two hours at the park.

I did a GPS tracked walk for 20 minutes at 2.5 mph+ and then set my timer for 62 minutes and ... kept walking. It was pretty hot yesterday - in the low 90s! I was really feeling it by 40 minutes in to the 62 minutes. But I kept going. Finally it was time for the second 20 minute GPS tracked walk. I ended up walking around my car in circles (in the shade) for the last 3 minutes or so ...

But between walking to the grocery store, the walk in the park, plus a little bit more walking in the evening with NE (IHOP, Dollar Tree) I got in over 15k steps!

I also made lunches for the week - quinoa w/mushrooms/onions/tofu and 3 baked sweet potatoes which I divided up into 4 meals. (tomorrow we are supposed to have a free employee appreciation meal ... we'll see if I can eat any of it or not...)

---
Today I managed to get in another 10k steps = nearly 6k of them at work. I went down to dispatch twice for lost and found items (people were leaving so many wallets on the university buses today - it was ridiculous!) I also walked on the treadmill during my 15 minute afternoon break. Plus going up and down the stairs multiple times more than necessary to refill the brochures in the lobby.

So ... I'm at 33k steps out of 50k. I think I'm going to make it.

---
After work today I called Empower Retirement to find out why my 403b STILL hasn't been transferred to Vanguard. The person who I talked to told me that they had received notification of my termination date, but there was a 45 day hold. He saw the ridiculousness of this statement as he said it ... given that said termination date was on June 30, 2005!

So ... that should be set in motion (finally!) tomorrow.

---
I also called my Swagbucks card provider and after a bit of back and forth, they are sending me a check for the overpaid amount. (I had my paid in full amount taken once from ING and once from the CU account.) 7 - 10 days from now .... the check should arrive.

--
I also called the bank that had my Mypoints card - which I haven't used in 15 months ... mainly because the SBs card is a better deal, but also it doesn't have the option of automatic payments. I'd gotten a letter saying they were going to close it if I didn't make a charge. Well, I couldn't find the card (probably shredded it) so I called to claim it as lost and have a new one sent. In our discussion though, I realized that the deadline was the 14th to make the charge ... so I said go ahead and close it.

This will probably have a negative effect on my credit score since I think this is one of my older cards. But by the time I'm ready to do house hunting for real, it'll be right back up there I'm sure.

(Anyway, an article I was reading today said something about how if you're score is above 740, you really don't need to care too much about what the number is. Because it doesn't really matter at that point other than being a number.)

---
I got my Pinecone credit today so I was able to cash out = $15.00.

I've been using the website/app Bounts for a little over a month now I think. I'm really liking it. I did upgrade to a paid plan because I thought I could check in to my local gym here ... but so far, that's a no go. Anyway, I've earned nearly 1000 points so far. Just need 300 more for a $10 Walmart gift card.

A couple weeks ago they had a challenge where you had to do 5 activities in one week for a bonus 50 points. Got it.

Starting tomorrow there's a challenge to do 50k steps by Friday for a bonus 50. Will do it!!

You also get 10 bonus points for working out on Saturdays, and 5 bonus points for sharing your workout status on Facebook. (Note - you can set it to post only to yourself. That's what I do for most of the apps that ask to post on FB for me ..)

If you're interested in trying bounts out, and would like to give me some referral points My referral code is: laura1828 The website is bounts.com. If you are UK based, you'll have a much wider selection of giftcards and points opportunities.

----
I finally got another Pinecone survey today, so will be able to cash in for $15 by Monday probably.

I'm kind of wondering if I should have cashed out some of my stock when I was considering it earlier ... lost about $30/stock since I first considered cashing in for a house ... Oh well, I have faith it'll go back up. Eventually.

I had some woman from Madison call today asking about our shuttle service to the big game tomorrow. She spent most of the call letting me know how arse-backwards our transit system is here. How nice. :roll eyes: As if I don't get enough of that from city residents.

I had someone else call and complain because the bus was ten+ minutes late at a major transfer point. After finding out that it was coming off another route which ran late, I told that to the woman. She then starts moaning and groaning about how she was late for an appointment, and so and so was late for tutoring, and on and on. Seriously - do you really thing I can do anything about that?! Do you really think the bus is running late on purpose? Just to make your life miserable?

SO glad the week is over.

---

Stepping on slight soap box ...

NE and I were talking about what Ben Carson said about what he would do if he was in a similar situation as the Oregon state students. He agreed with me that if he were in a similar situation, that he'd hope that he would find the courage to rush the gunperson. I KNOW that if I was in that situation as a teacher, I would do whatever it took ... but when it's not my students lives on the line .. I would hope that I would choose to go down fighting.

We also talked about the backlash Carson got from this statement. I think that it was kind of an unfair question for him in the first place - making him put himself in those students shoes. I also think that he wasn't saying that he thought he was better than those who didn't fight, but that he thought he would do it differently.

NE and I agreed that the mentality of lay back and take it, or negotiate, negotiate, negotiate, here in the US especially may be coming to an end as these horrible events keep piling up. Soon maybe there'll be more incidences like on the Paris train where people choose to fight.

Let me make myself clear - I am NOT blaming the victims at all. I'm just saying that I think it is the generally taught/accepted mentality of people in the US - to NOT fight. Running and hiding are good first options, but by the time you are trapped in a room with a man ordering people to stand up and state their religion ... the time to fight has come. We just have to change our mindset to do it for real.

Tripping off soap box ...

So where I work I often get calls from people about items they've left on the bus. Lots of times it's wallets, id's, phones, lunch boxes, bikes, computers ... the list goes on. Many times I have been able to reunite people with their lost item.

Sometimes the person coming to pick up their lost item is extra enthusiastic. Sometimes even overemotional ... going as far as telling me "I love you!"

I get a kick out of these types of people.

Today though I had one which I think may be the funniest one so far. (I shared the above info to show that I find humor/pleasure from people of ALL walks of life and their reactions to being reunited with their item.)

About 9 a.m. I get a call from a man who is in an absolute panic about an item he left on the bus that morning - one he'd gotten off of around 6:40. What was that item? A hairbrush.

I dutifully called down to dispatch and told him what I was looking for. I could just hear dispatch rolling his eyes. Dispatch couldn't raise that particular driver right then.

So thence commenced five calls from this man in the space of about less than 2 hours. Until he finally got the news he was waiting for - his brush was found and in the driver's possession!

Near the third or fourth call, I got the song "Where is my Hairbrush" from Silly Songs with Larry Boy stuck in my head(Veggetales - if you don't know what I'm talking about - look it up. Seriously cute and funny stuff. Kids songs, yes. But funny!)

I was SORELY tempted to ask the man if he was familiar with Veggietales or Larry Boy. Somehow I refrained.

Around 4 p.m. the man came to the office to retrieve his hairbrush. It was a metal? hairbrush good for kinky hair I think.

As soon as I gave it to him, he immediately removed a bandana from his head - telling me that he'd kept it on all day because he didn't have his hairbrush to smooth his hair out.

Then he preceded to groom himself, almost like he was in ecastcy (sp?), there at the window.

I sat there watching him with a big smile on my face, and trying to contain my giggles. I wasn't laughing at him really (and I really hope he didn't think I was ...) but more laughing at the pure joy he was getting from a hairbrush and the bizzareness of having someone brushing their hair at my window...

Oh where is my hairbrush? Oh where.... is my hairbrush? Oh where, oh where, oh whaaarrreeee!!!! is my HAIRBRUSH?!

-----
I got a call right after work today letting me know that a 5:00 appointment at my dentist's office had opened up. So I made my way through traffic and managed to get there by 5:01. (26 minute of traffic torture ...) I had my teeth cleaned and x-rays done. It looks as though I may have a new cavity. Darn it!

I'll have to back in a couple weeks for an eval and possibly a filling. I really need to do better about flossing.

So ... my dentist's office isn't too terribly far from the Super Target where they have a large variety of Amy's meals. I *know* I said I wasn't going to spend any more this week. But I did spend more. And of course I didn't stop with just a couple of Amy's meals.

Part of the problem was that I was pretty hungry by the time I was done at the dentist. I'd forgotten my lunch box at work, so had only had a plain cheese sandwich and a twix bar. (so healthy, I know ...)

I would say that next time I just won't bring any payment methods with me, but I can't do that since I'll need something to pay the dentist with for the cavity if the cost exceeds my leftover FSA amount. Maybe just bring my checkbook. Hmmm... that might work.

-
I got my flu shot today. I also wore one of my new to me tops from Schoola. Although I LOVE the top, I'm not sure it is a keeper or not. The nurse giving me the shot asked me if I was pregnant. Nope, just fat, I told her. She was kind of embarrassed, but I understood she had to be doubly sure since if I was, I'd have to have permission from my doctor to get the shot. But ... that made me realize it wasn't my imagination that the design of the top might over enhance my stomach a bit..... It's too bad, because I really do like the top.

Maybe I'll take a picture of me in it, and see what you all think.

This past weekend I had a chance to talk to my Aunt and confirm my dates and her dates. She has offered to pay for my tickets. At first I told her I appreciated it, but she really didn't need to do it. She insisted she really wanted to. So ...

I'd checked ticket prices a few months ago, and for leaving on Monday morning and returning on Saturday or Sunday it was around $450. Apparently all the cheap return flights on Saturday and Sunday are gone. Returning either of those days added $400!! to the ticket price.

Returning on Friday though kept it to $460. So .. I'll be returning on Friday. Keep me away from the Black Friday sales. (Not that I do them anyway ...)

I'm looking forward to seeing my grandma and aunt again - it'll have been nearly two years since my last visit there. Grandma is 94, so who knows how many more times I'll get to see her. (Just as feisty as ever though!)

---
Today at work our accountant passed around a document that made me feel pretty panicked. It was a spreadsheet delineating the costs of having bus passes.

IOW it showed how much money / time would be freed up if we stopped doing passes and just did free rides. Relied totally on Federal funds I guess.

40-50% of my job is bus pass related.

So you can guess where my head was going with that.

My boss told me not to get too worried, that they are always coming up with ideas/plans that never get off the ground.

Still though ... All the more reason to have a beefy Emergency Fund!

If it were to come to that, they'd first have to try to place me in a similar positon/pay grade. Failing any openings (for people with less senority than me) there is some kind of severance package.

Ugh!

---
Stopped at Walgreen's today .... $13.xx later (meds, treats)

I'm now topped out at my $20/week spending. So no more money spent this week (other than bills, or stuff like the airplane ticket.)

---
I got my Schoola clothes! They all are in beautiful shape, and I LOVE two of them and like the third. I have $30 to spend today there ($15 + the code for 50% off - good through today.) I am going to see what I can find!

---
I also got the letter for Kari's license renewal - $21. Will pay it today.

---
Oh, another PANIC today ...

I have my credit cards set up on auto pay so I don't have to think about it.

Usually that is no issue.

However, with the new 2.5% checking account having the majority of my money ...

I paid my Swagbucks card in full on Thursday from my new checking account - thinking that would cancel out the auto payment for today from ING/Cap one.

I was wrong.

So this morning I applied for and was gifted a $1000 overdraft on my account. (Instantly!) Why did I need this? Because my rent check will be coming out from that account in the next day or two!

I've already set up a transfer from new account to old account to cover whatever isn't covered. So hopefully if I go into overdraft it won't be for more than a day or two.

Ugh! Ugh! Ugh!

(I also contacted my CC to ask them for my money back!)

On Wednesday I mentioned that my CU paying 2.5% interest only credited me with $.44.

I sent them an email trying to understand why I didn't get the 2.5%. I thought I had more than qualified.

Yesterday afternoon I got an email from them telling me why I hadn't qualified. The reason they gave was that I only had 11 transactions instead of 12.

That did not make sense to me, so I called them on my break. I found out that customer service had credited me with the 2.5% as a courtesy. And the reason my 12th transaction didn't count was because it hadn't completed before the 30th.

Needless to say, I will be much more careful about making sure I have my 12 transaction in well before the 31st this month!

---
I've had a rough few days at work this week. All of us have really. As I was leaving today I asked two of the people I work with if they'd felt like it had been an extra long week too, and they agreed it had been.

4 hours or less sleep 2 nights in a row also sure hasn't helped.

So .. I stopped at BK for dinner tonight. $6.89. Definitely not part of my meal plan, but works within my $20/week spending budget. (Groceries on Monday - $12.xx, and then BK today.)

I am really hoping to get caught up on sleep this weekend.