As part of our contract we are able to take credit classes as long as they have something to do with our job responsibilities. We get reimbursed up to $1200/contract year.

So today I was thinking about the recent project which I tried to help out our purchasing agent. There was a big time crunch, and what she wanted me to do was something I hadn't done before - create a clickable table of contents. So I was on a huge learning curve under a time crunch. Then had to send it on to the main pa before I was finished.

That felt very stinky to me. I absolutely hated sending on a document which I knew wasn't finished.

What could I do to change that for the next time?

I figured out that I could take classes on the various MS Office products and then take the certification tests! That way I'd KNOW I had a very good/advanced grasp of all the inner workings - plus it might be helpful if later on I decide to try for a higher level position.

So I checked with the local community college. I saw they had a program focus for those wanting MS certification, but there was no list of required classes.

I sent an email to one person, then got a friendly response with the name/email of who I needed to contact. So I contacted the first person.

Their response seemed like they hadn't read my email very well. So I sent another polite email repeating one of my questions.

What I got back totally blew me away:

I DON’T KNOW BUT YOU CAN CONTACT OUR OFFICE PROFESSIONAL PROGRAM ....

The rest of the email was in normal writing (not all caps.)

Is it just me, or does that seem like an uber unprofessional response? I can't imagine ever responding to someone in all caps like that in an email. Especially a business email. I kind of feel like emailing the person she mentioned and suggesting that they may want to make sure that the people answering emails know it is impolite/shouting to write in all caps.

Anyway .... while I was waiting for responses I kept looking for other avenues. I am almost thinking that I'd rather just buy the MS Word Study Guide ($14.29) for the certification course and go through it on my own pace. Then take the certification test for it. Then do the next one (Excel probably.) and so forth.

I still want to take some classes though - so maybe Spanish (we have some Spanish speakers that come by), or ASL (had a mute person come by today!) Or something else that I can figure out how to make it fit with my job.

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On FB today I read an article that Amy's is opening a fast food restaurant in CA near San Francisco!! I LOVe Amy's food! (vegetarian/vegan) Next time I'm in SF, I will have to make a point of going there.

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Today at the gym I talked to one of the personal trainers. I first asked him about the barbel weights - he told me that the barbel in the Smith machines was lighter than the one in the power rack - which explained why when I tried to use the pr one, I couldn't do it. He gave me a couple ideas on how to get a barbel that was weighted between decade amounts (I'd been using the fixed barbel weights after realizing I couldn't do the regular barbel.)

I also asked him about Pilates classes. He basically told me that they don't have very many because there isn't much interest. He suggested Yoga. No thank you ... (although maybe I should try one class of it to see if it is all new agey, or just straight poses and no nonsense.)

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I got home pretty late due to having talked with the pt guy. I made a pot of spaghetti with a bunch of kale and 1/2 cup of Morningstar crumbles. It was SO good. I had in my meal plan that I was going to eat the pie that I'd bought at Dollar Tree on Sunday (one slice frozen) but after eating my spaghetti I was so full that it doesn't even appeal to me. So I'll save it for another night.

I'm reading Judy Beck's Diet Trap Solution which is all about retraining your brain - CBT or cognitive based therapy. I'd heard of an earlier version of it (this is a 2014 or 15 copy) but never checked it out. It's pretty interesting so far.

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So I asked my boss today if I could have the Friday and Monday off of the weekend my mom and possibly brother are coming. She said yes, but then reminded me that I had signed up to work an event that Sunday!

It's a 4 hour event.

What would you do?? Should I ask my boss if I can get out of it, or have my mom/brother drop me off and do whatever, then pick me up later? I kind of feel bad either way.

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No spending day #6!

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One more question -- How do you easily measure 1/2 cup of dry spaghetti?

On the local FB sales group, sometimes people list houses for sale. I've seen houses on there for anywhere from 94k to 489k. Mostly they are between 110-40k.

On my income it has taken me roughly a year to save about 5k in my EF (the balance was already there, leftover from my moving fund/EF from NM.)

I pay $430/month in rent, plus between $50 - $100 in utilities. I put about 15% of my post-tax income in a ROTH (which doesn't even get close to maxing it out.)

So if I ever want to buy a house and have the payments be something I can manage on my income, I will probably need 40k+ for a downpayment, plus another 10 - 15k for closing costs, House EF/fix up.

At my current savings rate, that might happen ... oh 9 or 10 years from now? And that's assuming that the simple, not fancy houses (1000sq ft w/basement home for $138k type places) will not have gone way up in price.

And I'll probably be needing another car about that time too ...

I don't make minimum wage - but maybe close to 2x minimum wage. I don't have much in the way of extravagances - no cable tv, watch my pennies. I do have my iPhone and my Internet (which I cringe paying for - so expensive!) I'm also only supporting myself and my cat.

So ... how do people with families do it? How do they buy houses???

I was looking at the calculator for the 138k house, assuming a 20k down payment at 4.5% interest. My payment would be something like $900/month!! No way on God's green earth I could afford that and still save for retirement, or for car replacement, or have any extra left for once in a while vacations, or for home repairs ...

I guess it kind of makes me a bit discouraged. I know, I know ... I could get a teaching job making twice what I make here (or close to it.) But as stressful as the bus job is sometimes, it is only 40 hours a week and I'm done. Teaching .... just not the case. Plus a WHOLE nother level of stress.

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PS - I have an ad for Sam's Club below. They just have to be advertising that they have Nutella on sale this month. Note to Laura - DO NOT ENTER Sam's Club this month.

So yesterday I talked a bit about my car registration expense of $170 and how I was thinking I'd pay it in July, but not count it til August's budget. The more I thought about doing that, the more I didn't like it.

I knew the expense was coming up (couldn't remember exactly how much, but I knew it was probably a July expense.) So ... I could have set money aside for it. I think I didn't do that mainly because I was working off the idea of just "cash-flowing" these kinds of expenses. Which would work fine if it wasn't for the fact of my making a new goal/challenge of taking half of "extra" money for June and July and putting it towards a getaway.

When I thought about having to subtract $170 from my extra amount for the month, it made me not want to do it!

But the more I thought about "cheating" the budget, the more I didn't like that idea.

So I spent some time today reworking my budget. And putting the $170 for car registration in July's spending.

I then figured out that even with taking that out of the equation, if I was really careful this month, I should still have at least $200 for my getaway. $102 for two nights lodging. $36 for park admission, $15 for living history farm - leaves about $50 for gas and food. Might still be doable. Plus maybe in August I can just budget an extra $30 or so to the Vacation category to give me a little leeway.

I also decided that maybe I should just go ahead and go back to setting aside monthly amounts for known, or possibly known expenses which don't occur regularly. So, I readjusted my July budget to reflect that. It drastically reduced my "extra" funds, but I think it probably is also a better reflection of reality.

My system worked for six months, but now some of those "irregular" expenses are coming up and like with the car registration, I almost feel resentful taking them out of my extra cashflow. If it's set aside already, then it won't (maybe) feel so painful/annoying.

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Oh about the shoes! I was almost ready to bite the bullet and purchase the DSW shoes when I decided to give Amazon one more try. (I'd looked on there several months ago when first looking.) I found a pair that aren't *quite* the same, but very close. In the size I need. $37.98. I had $26.xx in my gift card balance (thanks Perk and Bing!) and $1.xx in Discover cashback. So my final cost was 11.78. They'll be here sometime this coming week. (Womens shoes also just happen to be in the 4SBs per dollar category right now.)

If they work, then I will return the other shoes. If not, then I will return them to Amazon and go back to DSW for that pair.

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Doing Stronglifts the weight increments go up by 5 - 10 lbs a workout. That is a lot of increase for a woman. What is suggested to make the increase go a bit slower is to use fractional plates. I checked at the gym on Friday and they do not have them.

On Amazon they have a set for about $50. That's not too much, but of course I wanted to check first to see if there was a cheaper alternative. There is. I bought 6 2" washers for a total of 11.67 (don't know shipping yet - but probably about $7.) They'll be shipped ground, so might be a week or two before I get them. Until they get here, I'll probably just stick with only using the barbell (the barbell by itself is 45lbs.)

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People were shooting off fireworks til at least 1 a.m. last night. Then for whatever reason I woke up about 6 and could not go back to sleep. Got up, but was so tired I ended up skipping church and church picnic/ walking group. Still feeling really tired.

(eating the chocolate desert bread meant for the picnic probably didn't help my tiredness .... no more junk food for me this week!)

So today was the day. I finally made the trek to Dollar Tree to find out if they had the frozen fruit deals like Laura (other Laura ) had mentioned awhile ago.

The first Dollar Tree I ventured into did not have anything other than ice cream. It did however have a mom who was being incredibly rude to her daughter and the mom caught me giving her a dirty look while pressing my lips together to keep from saying something.

So I headed on to the next Dollar Tree - the one that is about 8 miles from my home. (It's a LONG way when you work only 1.5 miles from home and have a grocery store within 1/8th of a mile!) That one had the frozen section!!!!

I bought ten bags of frozen fruit (mangoes, strawberries, peaches, and pineapple), 3 bags of mixed frozen veggies, two vegetable samosa thingys that looked good, a little Hershey's pie, and a bag of chocolate covered pretzels. (I was getting really hungry at this point ... my earlier shoe expedition took WAY longer than expected.)

In all ... I spent $17!! The frozen fruit should probably last me a good 6 weeks, maybe more. The veggies should be enough for July. I'm thinking about taking the frozen fruit out of the bags, putting one cup servings (mixed up) of them in sandwich baggies, and then putting those baggies into a large freezer baggie. That way I'll really know how many servings I have (and it will save me ten or 15 seconds in the morning ...) Maybe I'll do that with the veggies too, that way my servings of them are a little more ... even. (somedays I have a lot more than other days.)

Next time I go up there I'll need to stop at Walmart and/or Sam's first to get non-freezer items to help make the trip a little bit more gas friendly.

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I did buy shoes today. They're not exactly what I'm wanting, but they're the closest I could get at the mall. I spent over an hour going into every store that had a shoe section in the mall. Sears had the shoe I wanted, only not in WW. Online they HAD it in WW, but it was out of stock!! ARghh!!

If anyone knows where I could find black MaryJanes with medium/low heels and a rounded/box toe, in an 8 1/2 W or 9 W, PLEASE tell me or buy two pairs of them for me and I'll paypal you the money and shipping! Seriously.

Why do stores make it SO darn difficult to find WW shoes?? With as many ... larger ... people as there are, you'd think there'd be an incredible market for them.

I SO hate shoe shopping! When I got my last pair, I KNEW I should have gotten two pairs right then and there.

Here is a link to the exact shoe I'm wanting:
http://www.sears.com/i-love-comfort-women-s-mary-jane-girly-black/p-05487533000P?prdNo=22&blockNo=22&blockType=G22

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Okay, so besides Dollar Tree and Mall walking, I also got my library books dropped off, filled up with gas, did some more grocery shopping (at the store 1/8th of a mile from home) and got in a great workout at the gym!

Groceries: $27.80 -- canned black beans (for black bean burgers for lunches), loaf of Orowheat Everything bread, bananas, big bag of washed/cut kale, bag of apples, zucchini, Amy's frozen entree (my Friday night treat), loaf of chocolate bread (for church picnic tomorrow) and a can of Off! spray. (holy cow! Nearly $6 for the Off! spray!!! it better last a good long time!)

Gas: $25.70 - got .07/gallon discount from local grocery store loyalty card.

Shoes: $26.73 (am going to hold off on wearing them until I just can't possibly wear the other ones ... in case I find the ones I really want and can take these back!)

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Workout! I did my second Stronglifts 5x5 workout today - first one using the app. Even though I did it only using the barbell (not adding weights) and it didn't *feel* like it was very hard ... I was sweating majorly by the end.

When I was done though, I did about 15 minutes more of walk/jog/run intervals. Was *really* sweating by the end of that!

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Now I think I'm going to finish my Alex Cross book (Hope to Die by James Patterson) and just have a nice relaxing evening.

Tomorrow is church, church picnic, and the church biking/walking group. Might finally watch "Boyhood" tomorrow night (borrowed from library.)

Sunday will be my oatmeal banana/greek yogurt pancakes, making a triple batter of black bean burgers to freeze, laundry, another workout, and then going out to eat somewhere with NE (his turn to treat this month!)

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Almost forgot! On the way to the gym I stopped by my PO box (need to close it - was about to close it this last time, but got charged for it before I'd sent in the forwarding order.) I got my bill for my car registration. I knew it was either July or August. Apparently it is July. $170.

Oops. I kind of forgot to budget for that. I'm kind of thinking of cheating just a little bit ... I'll put it on my Discover card for the July spending requirements, but I won't actually count it out of my budget til August. (the CC won't be paid til then anyway, especially if I wait til July 20 or so.)

The reason for this of course is that if I take it out of July's budget, then I'll have very little to put towards my getaway or extra for the EF.

In August I know I'll be getting at least ten hours of overtime (which would count as at least 15 hours of pay) so that would pretty much cover it.

Note -- I will be making sure to set aside $15/mo for next years registration!

I almsot posted this on FB today, but then decided not to.

What I did post: Enjoying my day off!

What I almost posted: It's so nice to have a day off where I can get up when I want to, do what I want to, and not have any phones to answer! Makes me look forward to retirement all the more!

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I almost have my first daily goal finished for SBs. Once that's done I'm going out shopping. Dollar Tree for frozen fruit, and Sears possibly for my new dress shoes (for work.)I may also hit up an oil change place that's in that area to see if they still have oil changes for $19. Also need to get gas and drop off my rent check.

Once all that's done, I plan on putting some time in at the gym and doing laundry.

Off to finish up my daily goal!

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I closed a credit card and a checking account today. I'll have to wait til August when I have a day off during the week that isn't also a holiday to consolidate a couple investment accounts.

Speaking of investments ... Thanks to the surge in the electric car stock yesterday, my networth increased nearly $14k from the beginning of June. Keep it up electric car stock, keep it up!

I think my personal challenge / getaway goal worked pretty well.

In my Everyday Expenses categories:
Groceries - $103.92
Medical - $40.64 (Allegra D)
Kari - $9.05 (food and litter)
Treats - 18.78
Movies Out - $5
Gifts - $39.50

SO much better than May!

I earned extra income in June:
$78.xx - parking garage job
$50 - PP GC from Swagbucks
$25 AGC from PerkPoints
$10 - AGC from Bing
$10 - Pact

Besides my usual ROTH contribution and my 10% to my EF, I had $313.06 left over! That means I have $156.03 to put towards my getaway in August. (The other half goes to my EF.)


In July I'm going to do the same thing, really try to keep my spending down as much as possible. There are a few things I know I'll have to spend on though:

new shoes!!
higher electricity bill than the past 5 months or so
possibly have to renew car registration?

I know I have at least one shift at the parking garage in July, and I might be able to manage $50 from Swagbucks again. I'm also going to put some more things up on eBay and FB ... see how that goes. I think $100 more should make for a nice trip.

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My EF is at $8220.25 of my $12k goal. Sloooowwwlllyy moving towards the goal.

I couldn't believe my eyes ... when I was waiting to make a right turn from the gym again today -- the same lady in the humongous SUV was next to me making a left turn! How bizarre! At least it didn't take 5 or 6 minutes this time.

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I went to the gym today (as I said above ) and *almost* chickened out of going into the weight room. I walked for nearly ten minutes on the walking track "warming up" ... (read . getting my courage up) It was full of guys - finally I saw a women go in there. My warmup was over.

With the warmup and a five minute cooldown, I did about a 40 minute workout. I decided to go with a full body compound move workout. When I got there I tried to find out if they have fractional? plates, but I couldn't find a trainer to answer my question.

I think for now I'll just do the dumbbells for now (except for the deadlift - they have extra weighted bars for that.)

I can definitely feel that I put my muscles to the test! My arms are all shaky.

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I got my $25 AGC reward from Perk today - already spent it on my next installment of pea protein powder (for my smoothies) and a drain cleaner thingy someone suggested before (was waiting to get free shipping.)

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For those who read and/or made suggestions/comments ... the boat was not (and won't be) purchased. This came about without me saying a thing. Medical debt will be wiped out. (or nearly so) That's more like what I thought this person would do!

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We had something unusual happen at the bus station today - NO callers or visitors making complaints! That is kind of a rare occurrence.

3 more days til the long weekend!! Can hardly wait!!

Saturday afternoon I went to a local park to join a group of church members - some bike, some walk. Yesterday I was the only walker. It was pretty humid and the sun was beating down, so I thought I'd take the path with the most shade. However, after the short jaunt from the parking lot to the path where you decide your direction, I changed my mind.

Why? Skeeters!! I was being attacked by hordes of mosquitoes. So I chose the more open route.

45 minutes later I came back. One of the bikers was there at the parking lot and told me I had a swarm of mosquitoes all around me. I didn't even know ... I guess the sweat on me made me not feel them or something??

Will definitely need to be getting some bug spray before my next outdoor adventure!!

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This morning I made oatmeal-banana-greek yogurt pancakes. They are so good! My first pancake turned out really good. I was able to spread out the batter in the pan with no issues. The second one though ... as I was spreading the batter around, half of it ended up falling out of the pan onto the burner!

I quickly turned the burner off and used one of the back burners (not as big as the pan and a little off kilter.) I'm just glad I didn't set off my fussy smoke detector!

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I cashed out for a $25 AGC from PerkPoints last night. Now let's see how long it takes to get enough points for the next one ...

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My weight had gone back up for awhile ... but the past month or so it has been going back down. Today I weighed in at the lowest in 3 months. Now if I can just keep that trend continuing!

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I'm considering making a new savings goal - enough to pay for 8 30 minute personal training sessions. That would be enough for 4 weeks of 2 sessions. I would use it for strength training only. I need to find the gym's brochure with the actual costs, but I think it was around $350 for 8 30 minute sessions. (It's $50 for one 30 minute session, but you get a break on multiple.)

Maybe starting in August, I can "pay" myself $10 every time I go to the gym more than 1x in a week.

Before I'd actually commit to a trainer though, I'd want to interview them thoroughly. I've been doing a lot of reading on it (strength training) and know exactly what I want - so would want to make sure the trainer would fit with what I've learned.

I had a pt once before, only for strength - liked him a lot, but I don't think I really made that much progress. I think I'd be a lot more pushy now about getting exactly what I want out of it.

I don't know if I'll really be able to bite the bullet on paying for it again or not ... last time I think I used part of a tax refund. Just thinking about it right now.

After working out today I was trying to make a right hand turn from the parking lot, and ended up sitting there for five minutes because a lady in a huge SUV was trying to make a left hand turn. I couldn't see over her and she made no attempt to let me know when I could go. I don't know, maybe it's just me, but it would seem to me like if you are in an oversized vehicle you might be aware that you are not see through ...

Ugh.

Anyway... I stopped at the grocery store today and spent $10.71. My last shop for the month. It does put me over my goal of $100 by about $3, but I'm okay with that. SO much better than the $350+ I spent last month on food/junk, etc.

Bananas, apples, frz. veggies/fruit and 1 candy bar. So, 5 items.

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This afternoon I got a call from a man who was wanting us to see if his father was on one of our buses. His dad is an 80 yo and very frail - he'd said something about wanting to go to a particular location in our city, and then later was nowhere to be found.

I got a physical description of the man and the time he was possibly missing since. At first our bus driver supervisor said the man should contact the police first. But then the asst. living home where the father lived called asking the same thing and confirming that someone saw him get on a bus.

There followed a bunch of bus drivers getting descriptions of the man, and a confirmed sighting of him being left off downtown, but not having gotten a transfer. I received a third phone call from someone else looking for him after we had the sighting confirmed.

By about this time it was time to close up, so I don't know the ending of the story.

I really hope they found this mans father though.

Sunday was my first shift for my part-time job working as a parking garage attendant. Pretty much what I did for 8 hours was stand at the back of a parking garage and help people get out of the garage by putting their ticket in and paying, or swiping their hotel parking key.

There were a few mishaps that kept the day somewhat interesting. Several hotel parking keys not working, a CC getting stuck in the machine, someone not have a CC to pay and the floating supervisor not being available because someone in another garage couldn't get out and was threatening to drive through the gate ...

All in all it was okay - not a bad way to make $11/hr. Once in awhile.

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So NE and I went to HuHot last night. The food was good, especially once I found the tofu. But OH MY WORD it was expensive. $13.99 per person not including a drink. By the time I paid for our meals, NEs drink, tax and a tip, it was about $40! So .. I have $10 left for next time. Ugh. If I would have realized that, I probably would have ordered a dessert or two to go just to finish off the card. In fact, that might be what I do anyway. NE wasn't overly enthusiastic about the place, and would much prefer a buffet. We can go to a buffet with tip for $24, which would be less than what another meal at HuHot would cost minus the $10 on the giftcard.

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Work today was much, much, much better. Seems like the grumpy sauce ran out even though the rain didn't.

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Made it to the gym tonight for the first time in too long. 30 minutes walking the track.

I've been thinking about trying the Stronglifts program, but feel intimidated to go into the weight room and figure out how to do the stuff myself. I asked NE last night if he'd be willing to come with me once or twice to just basically talk me through the form, etc. He basically said no without saying no ... Said he didn't think it'd be safe to do without a spotter. My question is ... what do other people do that don't have a spotter???

I'm going to try something similar with just dumbbells and a bench. Maybe also see if they have a pullup bar. The outside pool is also open, so I really need to try my swimsuit on to see if it still fits and get in there! Make use of my gym membership!!

I really wish it didn't take me 20 minutes to get there and 7 to get home ... That makes it more difficult. But if I were to say I'd go later ... yeah, wouldn't happen. I can't sit down other than to put my shoes on.

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I put in for vacation for August 7 and 10 today. Now I just have to figure out what exactly I'm going to do ...

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Spending Sunday and Monday - $0 (other than gift card)

This afternoon after church a group of about 20 of us participated in a Kids Against Hunger event. It was a blast! Within the space of two hours we were able to put together enough food packages to feed 6000 people!

It's setup in an assembly line fashion - each part of the food bag is supposed to be manned by one person, then one person weighs the bag, one person seals the bag, one person puts a sticker on the bag, and another person puts it in the box.

At my table we had a 7 yr old and an 8 yr old. For the first hour they were pretty good, but after that they started goofing off a bit. We put them to different tasks and that seemed to help - but for the last half hour or so their grandma and I were doing 5 jobs between us - it actually went a lot faster and smoother with just the two of us doing those jobs.

I didn't get much sleep Friday night (again) and almost decided to not go today. I'm SO glad I went!

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Stopped by the library on my way home and dropped off 4 more entries for the Adult Reading program, and picked up the movie "Boyhood" which was on hold for me. I might watch that tonight.

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Tomorrow I'll be doing my first shift for the parking people - from 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Afterwards NE and I might be going to eat at HuHots (with my gift card.)

I'm hopeful today was the last day Walgreen's has their candy on sale 2/$1 .... $3.89 gone again. Sigh.

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Talked to my grandma tonight and found out my brother has been interviewing for a different position. If he gets it I have the feeling that will put a crimp on him having vacation time to be able to come out here in September. Supposedly it's a good bit more money and he won't have to move. They came to him.

So Tuesday night after much hemming and hawing I decided to go for it - or at least see if I could find a parking space in a safe area and reasonable distance from the jazz concert.

I left for the concert about 5:40 with my phone at 56% ... Not smart.

Had to use Google maps to find my way there. Even so, got turned around. Finally found a parking spot that was somewhat reasonably close, and had lots of people / other cars.

Put $.25 in the parking meter - after 6 the spots are free, and I parked about 5:50.

I started walking in the direction I thought it was ... only went two blocks when I saw a woman at an outside restaurant - asked her where the place was and was told to turn around and turn left.

About ten minutes later I found the Jazz concert! I was carrying a book, a water bottle and a blanket. The temperature was a cool 97+ degrees ...

I had brought a $5 bill with me in case there was some vendor food that tempted me, but I didn't even see where the vendors were (although I saw a lot of people with vendor type food.)

I found a place to spread my blanket out and preceded to try to be comfortable sitting on the ground on a blanket in the "cool" weather. Not too long into this my phone died. Oops.

Shortly after 7 the band began playing. It was pretty good music. After about 6 songs though, I'd had my fill of sitting on the ground. (I have circulation issues with my feet ... sitting on the ground for very long makes for sleepy feet.) Amazingly that was the same time they broke for intermission - so it made it easy to slip away.

I'm really glad I went, even though the weather made it almost miserable (saved by good breezes.) However, if I were to go again to something like this, I DEFINITELY want to procure a lawn chair! It also would be nice to have company ..

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Walking into work today I found a quarter laying on the ground. Thought it was pretty funny since I had just spent a quarter the night before.

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Today was kind of stressful at work. The phone was going constantly - with quite a few memorable calls. Not all for good reasons. I also had a slew of mail in pass orders for the football bus shuttle. I had to really pay attention so I didn't put an bus shuttle order into the front desk receipt book.

I decided to treat myself after work ... Walgreen's has their candy bars on sale 2/$1 - not a great price considering that's what the NORMAL NON-Sale price used to be ... but better than today's "normal" prices.

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My rent check hasn't been cashed yet. Usually it's cashed within a few days of my putting it in the box. I sent the property manager an email tonight to see if I can find out what's going on. I'd sent her an email a few weeks ago too though, which I haven't gotten a reply on. Hope nothing is wrong.

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I got two more medical bills stemming from my ER visit. One can be paid with AmEx and the other can't. Sigh. I still am not sure how I'm going to get to $1000 spent on that darn card. I'm at about $300 right now - it's so hard finding places that take it. The lure of the $250 cash back made me not consider carefully HOW I could actually do it. I'd always heard that AmEx is'nt accepted everywhere, but the reality is now sinking in ...

I *really* don't want to go the route of gift cards - but I'd rather do that than lose $250! Maybe I can purchase gift cards for the airline I'll most likely book for my CA trip in November .. hmm... (haven't figured out which airline yet.)

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Tuesday spending:
$.25 - parking meter

Wednesday spending:
$3.89 - treats from Walgreens

Earnings: $.25 from in front of bus garage

So today I wore my sandals to church. (went better with my outfit than black heels .. really need a pair of white sandals, but I've never been able to find a pair that stays on my feet.)

As I was walking to the building, I walked over wet ground and may have stepped in a small puddle.

I get to the church, greet the greeter, and then start down the stairs to go to Sabbath School.

As I reach the second step down, I did my own version of slipping and sliding. My left wrist, forearm, elbow and left side of the ol' gluteas maximus(sp?) took the brunt. Both of my ankles seemed to get into the action as well.

Thankfully no clothing was ripped or dirtied. Also, thankfully I was able to get up and walk (...limp a bit) to the SS group.

Have some majorly sore areas on my left side now though! (One bruise has already shown up on the gm, and I have the feeling another one will be appearing on my forearm.

---
I just signed up for an offer with a $200 bonus after 90 days. All you have to do is open an eChecking account with Nationwide and have one direct deposit of $200+ within the first 60 days, and then two-three more of $25+ (to avoid the fee.) You can close the account after getting the bonus with no penalty. The interest rate is abysmal (although not bad for a checking account) Ooohh... reading the fine print a bit closely ... to avoid an $8/month fee you have to make 8 debit card transactions a month. Yuck. I'll have to figure out how to do that without messing up my trying to spend very little (or you have to have a 10k balance. Can't quite do that.)

Well .. if you're interested, here is the link:
http://www.nationwide.com/sem/nf-echecking-personal.html

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I signed up at church today to go to a Kids Against Hunger food packing event next Saturday afternoon. I didn't realize at first, but you are supposed to make a donation to participate. Minimum $10. I already did my charitable giving this month, but I guess I can take it from next months category. I suppose I really should wait til closer to the end of the month to decide where to put the non-tithe charitable money to be sure I have some to put in things that come up.

---
Tonight I'm planning on going to a free concert at my church - The Allen Family. I'm pretty sure I went to a concert of their's here last year in June. The name sounds familiar (and so does their picture.) If it is, I remember I really enjoyed the music.

I had been planning on going to help one of our elderly church members pack their moving truck tomorrow morning, but I'll have to see how my arm is doing.

--
NE and I will be going out to eat tomorrow night - it's my turn to pay, so we'll be going to Hu Hot's where I can use my $50 gift card. We also are going to do some driving around the local lakes. Hopefully it won't be too muddy.

---
I decided to bake a frozen pizza I'd bought back in Jan/Feb from the local store that was closing. Let's just say that it's not a brand I'd get again even if I could.

Today at work I was talking with the Office Manager about yet another frustration which occurred due to my not knowing about a detour. She suggested I talk to the transit manager about it, but should have an idea in mind to solve the issue. We talked a bit more, and then came up with the idea of using a Google spreadsheet like what we do for the Lost and Found items. That way detours, accidents, delays, etc., can be updated quickly by whoever hears it on the radio .. and I can then see them without my first knowledge being a phone call from a bus rider wondering where the bus is at!

So .. I did talk to the transit manager. He told me he had had a similar idea, and that he would be working on getting something put together. I really hope this does truly happen, because it would mean a lot less having to deal with one particular dispatcher ... I also pointed out to him that my being able to know this stuff would help to make our bus company look better.

---
I already have two entries for the Summer Adult Reading Program. The Life List - Lori Spielman and Two Testaments - Elizabeth Musser. Both very good books.

I was asked what some of the prizes were:
Weekly branch drawings - giftcards to various places
Booklover's Gift Bag - filled with goodies and a bookstore giftcard
Grand Prize - Booklover's Gift Bag and a Paperwhite Kindle

Ooo la la!

----
Thursday spending: Nada

Friday spending:
Gas - $25.xx
Groceries - Apples, cat food, cat litter, bread, Morningstar Corndogs, frozen veggies, frozen fruit, Apples, Bananas, treat -- $31.19 -- My ten things.

---
I had someone ask me something strange on Thursday. An older man came to purchase a bus pass. As I was helping me he asked me what church I went to. I told him which church. He then told me that he'd thought I was a Pentecostal because I seem to like to wear long dresses/skirts and have long hair. Ha!

I told him that I just like to wear those kinds of things sometimes, and that I like long hair. (Although my hair is hardly what I consider "long" right now! He should've seen it before I cut it in September!!)

I just thought that was so funny. Most of the time I wear dress pants or on Friday's jeans, but once in awhile I'll wear a dress or a skirt. And yep, the ones I wear at work anyway are fairly long (my skirt was barely mid-shin on Thursday) - but there is a good reason for that! I never know what kind of bending, stretching, etc. I might have to do ... hence a skirt that only reaches my knees would just not do unless I want to put on a show for other people ..

Say what you want about the actual Bing search engine, but their Customer Service rocks! I replied to the email from the CS person yesterday letting them know my issue was fixed, and thanks! This morning I got a reply back from a different agent thanking me for letting them know AND giving me ten bonus points as a thank you! Sweet!

---
At work today I got a replacement headset for the one that quit working on Friday. What a welcome relief it was to get it! The phones were nuts at times today and I felt like I was going to get a permanent crick in my neck from holding it in place with my shoulder while looking for info.

---
Went to the library to pick up some books on hold. While there I found out about an Adult Summer reading program! Prizes for reading books! For adults! Wheeeeeeeeee!!!

---
I may have my first shift at the parking garage this Sunday. It's from 10 - 6:30 for some Soccer Bash thing. Before taxes, that'll be about an extra $100. Sweet! I'll have to do my grocery shopping on Friday after work or Saturday night though, because NE will be here as soon as I get home on Sunday.

---
I am going to be making brownies for the Treat day tonight. My turn. As soon as I finish this post. (From a mix I bought on sale a few weeks ago.)

---
Spending Today:

Walgreen's - (medical) $19 (Ten day Allegra D)
Library - $2.60 (late fines, hold not picked up fine - finally had cash with me to pay this.)
Dropped off rent check

Those that do Bing, have you ever had a monthly bonus? I was just working on Bing and saw a June bonus if I do 625 searches.

So ... I did all the searches - mobile and desktop and got 20 credits. Hmm .. 31 x 20 = 620 not 625?? Anyone know where those 5 extra credits are supposed to come from?

I tried contacting support, but got an error message.

---
I got credit for another Pinecone survey, and so was able to redeem for $15.

---
My coughing is WAY better .. not gone, but better. Although I still feel uber tired. Didn't help that Kari thought the sun coming up at 6 this morning meant I should be awake and feeding her either ...

--
Looks like NE has strep - we went to the local urgent care place last night. I better not get it! (I get strep so easily ...)

---
Spending outside of regular bills today: $0

---
Saturday night I watched "Disaster Wars" on Hoopla. It was so badly written and badly acted! I loved it.

Tonight I might watch Thelma & Louise A recent Mental Floss article made me think about watching it again, and of course the library had a copy.

---
I saw on FB yesterday that Bette Midler is going to be in Omaha this coming Friday. All the tickets I found were on resale sites and only being sold in pairs ... so $88 minimum. I have no one to go with me, and .. it's a Friday night. (I am an SDA, so my Sabbath starts on Friday at sunset.) Bullet dodged there, otherwise I might have been able to talk myself into doing it - even though I have no idea who I would get to come with me.

Now if Kenny G or Jim Brickman come into anywhere within an hour and a half radius ... (on a non Friday night or Saturday afternoon) all bets are off! I haven't been to a real paid concert since 2008 shortly before I was laid off from the oil and gas job.

I love going to concerts. Maybe I could find a concert happening in a 3 - 5 hour radius in August and make that my travel bug/savings goal ... hmm... Two birds, one stone.

So ... I spent about an hour entering all the transactions for May into YNAB. I hadn't entered anything since the 12th ... Let's just say it wasn't pretty at all.

The good: $207 in extra income (FB sales, SBs, Pact, Perk, etc.)
Sent 10% of net to EF + $37 ...

The bad: Only had $37 left after an extra $207 in income. Which means I came dangerously close to having to dip into my 10% deposit ... for no real reason.

The ugly: Spent roughly $360 on food/fast food/treats
The most I think I can ever remember spending in one month in those categories ...

-----
So ... June goals.

The past few months I have been doing an experiment where I did not set out any particular amounts in my flexible spending categories for my budget. For a few months this seemed to work okay ... May though has totally busted this idea. So for June I have decided to modify this approach - I have given myself budgeted amounts in certain categories (Groceries, Treats, Restaurants) and then left the rest unbudgeted (since it isn't the other categories tripping me up.)

My plan/goal for June and perhaps July is thus: 50% of the unbudgeted money will go towards my normal goal of the EF extra deposit (above the 10%.) The other 50% will be used in July (maybe August) to go somewhere for a few days - i.e. get out of town.

As I mentioned in my last post, I have been feeling the travel bug. Feeling kind of restless, listless ... bored in a way. So my idea is that the less money I spend in June (and possibly July), the nicer my little out of town excursion will be.

I could say NO FAST FOOD in June - but I'm hoping that knowing that every time I get Fast Food or get some junky item that it is reducing the quality/length of my getaway, will work better for motivation.

We'll see. (Snafu - the cash thing might work, except I have a bunch of cash on hand right now thanks to the FB sales this month. Getting to the bank to deposit it is a major hassle. So if I did cash only for fast food, etc., I'd have a lot of leeway for it.)

--
I'm hoping to get a training shift for my part time job this coming week, so that money could definitely help the "extra" category - and help me also maybe to not be quite so bored ...restless.. listless. Hopefully.

This is just the cough that won't go away.

The doctor said my lungs were clear, but sometimes it feels like something is pressing down on my chest or something.

The cough *may* be getting better ... not sure if it is wishful thinking or truth. Although now the cough medicine that was helping me sleep is not being effective, so 3 out of the last 4 nights have had very little/bad sleep.

My mom suggested coconut oil to kill off viruses/bacteria. Not sure if I believe it would help, but maybe if I can find a small amount for not too much ... worth a try I guess.

--
My little earphone/headset at work seems to be dying. I came back from my afternoon break and had ten dropped calls in 15 minutes. (New battery - put in a month ago.) So had to use the handset for the remainder. It's kind of funny because at first I really didn't like the headset, but now I am so used to it that the handset just feels SO awkward.

On Monday we're going to figure out where to order a new one (and I'm going to ask if we can get two - one for a backup - apparently these only last about a year or so ...)

---
I have been super frustrated with the Swagbuck video apps lately. Either they're having those stupid ads you have to interact with in order to move on, or they're crashing every time you blink. If this keeps up I may focus my video earnings on just Perk. Which stinks because Perk takes F O R E V E R to get to the $25 level.

---
My mom was telling me tonight how flooded it is in her area (she lives in the Dallas/Fort Worth metro area) That the swimming pool/rec center in her complex is locked up because of it being flooded.

She said she was kind of feeling aimless after breaking up with latest guy ... so I gave her an assignment. She has to find her local library, GO to the local library, talk with a librarian to find out any volunteer opps, and check out any activities the library may offer -- by Tuesday. She liked my idea/assignment.

---
Finances .... I haven't done any looking at my credit card balances in a couple weeks ... or updating in YNAB. I know it isn't going to be pretty. At all. I haven't been saying No to myself a lot .. more like a whole lot of , why not? and go ahead.

Tomorrow I will be working on getting this all updated so I can see how bad it is. My groceries and restaurant (face it, Fast Food) categories are going to ginormous. Since mom and brother aren't coming to visit in June, maybe I might make June a limited spending month. Will think about that more tomorrow and what it might mean.

I do kind of feel the travel bug though. I haven't really gone anywhere further than Kansas City (and that wasn't a "fun" trip) since moving out here a year ago. I'm used to at least one or two out of state flying trips each year.

So maybe I need to think about some kind of short trip I can take - maybe use one or two vacation days. Would have to go alone since NE couldn't take off that much time. This of course will have to wait until I'm feeling much, much better.

I withdrew $15 from Pact yesterday. Payouts this month were pretty low. I *might* be able to cashout $15 from Pinecone this month depending on how quickly todays survey credits. With the $97 I got from FB sales this month and $50 Swagbucks PayPal, I'd be close to $200 in extra money.

Seems like my headache has finally gone away ... so maybe I can sleep some.

Off to the haystacks! (hitting the hay ... catching some zzzz's ... sawing logs, etc., etc.)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ugh and double ugh.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Oh, I also voted in the city elections.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Savings:
EF - 10%
ROTH - $200.00

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

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

Total EF - 7,992.77

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

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

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

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

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

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

None of these exceptions happen very often.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Savings of 630.79 +9%

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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End of 40 day personal challenge!

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

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

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



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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The last few days I have been reading the book "Younger Next Year for Women" which I found recommended in the YNAB forums a month or so ago.

It is written for somewhat older women, but even so, I think it is a good read for younger women too.

It is written by two men - one is a practicing renowned in his field doctor, and the other (at the time) was a retired 69 year old lawyer.

The essence of the book was saying that our bodies were not created for the modern world of sedentarinism (made up word ) and overabundance of food. That when most of our life is spent not doing anything much more strenuous than pushing the chair away from our desk, that it sends the message to our bodies that we are in "conserve" mode. This is especially compounded when we eat large amounts of food.

The "conserve" mode actually starts breaking down our body ... or aging us.

How do we fix this? By exercising HARD for 45 minutes 6 days a week, at least 2x heavy weights. What this does is send our body the signals it needs to send out the stuff that repairs our body ... or reverses the aging process.

He also talks about stopping eating crap (processed foods, saturated fats, etc); being careful with money, and ..

The importance of human connections. "social connections are a more powerful factor in health and mortality than smoking, alcohol, exercise, nutrition or age." (pg 313)

And the importance of giving back/being part of a community.

All in all a compelling and fascinating book. Which caused me to make the final leap to ....

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I joined the $39/month gym!

I went and took a tour of it this afternoon, and already signed the contract.

It has WiFi, up to date cardio equipment, sweet up to date weight machines, two pools, three exercise class studios, tennis courts, basketball courts, racquetball courts, saunas, hot tub, walking track, etc.

My goal is to go there at least 3x a week to feel like I am getting my money's worth. It is about a 20 minute drive from work - so I'll just have to make sure to have my gym bag ready to go. (and have an after work snack ready too so I have some fuel for the workout)

All this working out is going to mean less time on the computer (especially while NE is still in recovery mode and coming over here most nights ...) which all in all is probably not a bad thing.

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I've been having a really hard time at work this last week or so. I don't know if my boss is annoyed with me for taking so much time off (even though she KNOWS why I've been taking the time off.)

I've not been getting the sleep I need - I go to bed at ten and wake up at 4 a.m. NOT ENOUGH SLEEP

So ... I've made some mistakes at work. I hadn't made any mistakes for weeks. Then Friday I made one. KE (my boss) came down hard on me about it. Then yesterday I made another mistake. KE was pretty snippy about it. Today she came out and looked through the receipt book a couple times without saying anything .. I asked her if she was looking for anything. She said she wasn't.

I know I'm probably just feeling overtired which is making me blow things out of proportion, but still ... the last few days have made so badly want to say I QUIT! I'm done dealing with people cursing on the phone, yelling at me because buses are late, telling me I don't know what I'm talking about (when I do know what I'm talking about, they just don't like what I'm saying), etc.

Just so blasted tired and tired of work.

I think the above is partly why I joined the gym too ... hopefully if I can get some more consistent/good exercise, I'll sleep better and feel better about work.

We'll see ...

I've been on a bit of a roll here today (and last Sunday too I guess.)

So far today I made the pancakes this morning, finally opened up my crockpot and started a sweet potato in it for dinner, finally opened up my rice steamer pot and put in some fresh asparagus to steam later, cut up a zucchini into thin slices and baked for ten minutes (didn't burn it!)

Then just a little bit ago I made these pretty good cookies!

You only need three ingredients:
1 cup rolled oats
1 ripe banana (the riper the better)
1/2 cup raisins or other dried fruit

Put all the ingredients in a bowl and mash the banana with your hands. This will take a few minutes to get everything mushed together.

Heat your oven to 350 and place round dollops of the "dough" on a cookie sheet. Bake for 15 minutes.

Makes 4 cookies.

You can make these without the raisins, but I think they wouldn't be quite as good. And they are good!

You can also make these in the microwave - heat for 30 to 60 seconds.

So easy peasy!

I'm not totally sure what got into me today. I still wasn't feeling very good, but I also wasn't feeling like sitting around being lazy.

I contemplated walking to the library - especially with the beautiful weather we're having, but ended up not doing it. Why? Because I spent most of the day cooking!

The first two things I made today were black bean/oatmeal burgers and quinoa/spinach/mushroom burgers.

The black bean burgers recipe I doubled (1 recipe made 4 burgers.) They could be baked in the oven. So while those were baking, I fried up the quinoa burgers. The recipe supposedly makes 14 patties, but even with adding a can of mushrooms, I was only able to make 10.

While I was frying them up I had to keep contending with my smoke alarm. Thankfully it is a beautiful day, so I opened my windows.

I forgot to take pictures of them before I put them in the freezer - they don't look all that pretty, but they are good.

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Now I was off to the grocery store within walking distance of home.

I picked up eggs, a bag of broccoli slaw, a bag of frozen diced onions/g & r peppers, zucchini, cornbread mix, swiss cheese slices, shredded cheese and cat food. Total of $23.xx after a $2 cat food coupon.

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When I got home I put 8 eggs, a bag of shredded cheese, 1/2 a bag of the frozen onion mix, and after shredding the slaw in my handy dandy food processor (Ninja blender sidekick) put that in too. I call it my Veggie Galore Egg Bake. Here's a picture of it (hopefully)


Then I put together my cornbread casserole (cream corn, regular corn, green onions, shredded cheese, 2 eggs, cornbread mix) Here it is:


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Finally I decided to make the zucchini recipe I found on FB yesterday. It's directions were to cut up a zucchini into thin slices, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle paprika. Bake for 25 minutes at 450.

So ... I thinly sliced my zucchini. I attempted to drizzle the olive oil (ha!) and miraculously found out that I actually have paprika!

Into the oven for 25 minutes at 450.

I go to my computer to rest my aching feet. 25 minutes later I head out to the oven to check on my creation .... This is what I found:


S'pose I should have checked on it a time or two ....

All this food is going to provide lunches for me for the remainder of March, and some might be dinners too.

I'm thinking that the black bean burger will be a staple product for me though - so very easy.

Here's the link for it: http://happyherbivore.com/2011/08/easy-black-bean-burger/ Although I did add diced mushrooms to it. I love mushrooms.

Today I was absolutely miserable at work - sneezing, coughing, blowing my nose. At least I got more sleep last night than I did on Tuesday night - mostly thanks to taking some Dayquil (the Nyquil works, but I don't like taking it on work nights - too groggy.)

I ordered a bottle of oregano oil capsules - something I've used before which seemed to really help. Then after work today I stopped by OH, a local whole foods/trader Joe's type place and bought 8oz of local honey. I already had a piece of PBH toast. Yum. (I'm not counting the honey as a junkfood purchase - I'm counting it as a medicinal purchase. Believe me I was tempted by some yummy looking fudge ... but I persisted and resisted!)

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I got my first paycheck with my raise / retirement deduction / new w-4 deduction. It was about $7 less than normal. So it seems that changing from 2 to 3 on the W-4 was the right thing to do.

I'm curious ... I know that you can start withdrawing from a 401k when you turn 55 penalty free - but what I have at the bus company is a 401b. On my paystub it lists the deduction as "pension." I know I have 15 1/2 years before really needing to worry too much about this .. but it's something I haven't been able to find too much about online.

Also I'm wondering if I'll still be able to claim the tax savers credit since I now have a workplace retirement plan?

15 days down of 40! Surprisingly it really hasn't been all that hard. Really the better word would be MIND BLOWINGLY.