I am getting very annoyed with Puget Sound Energy. This is the 3rd power failure in less than a month's time. Okay, I know there is a big windstorm (again), but I didn't even see any trucks in our area working to get stuff up and running again and this was 3 hours after it had gone out. You would think the portion that has a school on it would be considered a priority, but no, it's not.

It's been out for several hours and if they don't get it back on tonight, I'm going to end up losing food again. I think I'm going to insist that they knock some off my power bill as they've cost me an awful lot of money in ruined food with their slow (lack of) service.

I did spend just under $15 on taking the kids out to dinner. I am just getting so tired of this. I also didn't do any of the other things I had planned to do because I didn't want to get stuck on the wrong side of a downed tree from the school.

Today, well technically yesterday as its after midnight, was a no spend day. We didn't go anywhere so that makes it pretty easy to achieve.

I cashed out a PTR today, $5 from TinklyCash. They generally have 24 hour payout, but after that last time with the owner gone on a trip it took a couple weeks, so who knows?

I was able to put up a few more light displays, a nutcracker and a penguin on tree stumps in the garden, and the seal that spins a package on its nose I decided to try to put up on top of the arbor. It was a little difficult to hoist it up there, but I got it up there and cabled it to the arbor and it looks great. I like having...I guess I'd call it texture in my display. So stuff isn't all just flat and at one height.

I'll have to wait until DH comes home to do the train. It is just too heavy for me to lift with one hand and where it goes, I have to climb a ladder to get it up there. Fortunately he will flies home on Wednesday morning.

I wanted to go out to eat today but told myself no and we had a smorgasboard of leftovers. They need to be eaten and money certainly didn't need to be spent. I really didn't want to cook and I think that is why I was wanting to go out, but I really only had to warm stuff up in the micro so its not like I had to cook.

I am planning on going to town tomorrow as soon as the kids get on the school bus. I have a few groceries I want to pick up and I need to deposit a check that came in the mail yesterday. Depending on my energy levels I may pick up the gifts for MIL and FIL and my mother. I hope to be back home in time for lunch. If I eat a good breakfast before I leave I don't think I will be tempted to go out for lunch, but if I leave the house without eating, which I am prone to do, I will have no resistance at all. Now is not the time to be wasting money. Especially with a fridge full of homecooked leftovers.

Now onto less of the boring in this, my third entry of the day...

I spent a good 3.5 hours at the high school today watching Rose play basketball. After today she will only have one game a week until week 6, 7, 8. It should have been two games back to back, one scheduled at 1:30 and the next at 2:30 but one of the refs never showed and since there were supposed to be two games on at a time that didn't work out very well. So the 2:30 game didn't start until 3:00.

The first game was so-so. We lost 16 to 6. It took our girls awhile to get into the groove, but they finally did in the last quarter. The second game was much better, the girls got their rhythm down and had a great passing game and we won 28 to 18. Rose made 2 baskets. She's never made a basket in a game before so we were all really excited. This is only her second year playing. I was a little worried as she missed two practices this week due to the barfing thing. But she's got her groove on.

Most of the other baskets were made by one player. The girl who used to bully Rose made one basket off a pass from Rose, and she and Rose were passing back and forth and acting like real teammates. They even smiled at each other. I am so glad that whole thing seems to be in the past now. Rose's skill level has come way up since last year, but she spent a lot of time this summer shooting hoops, so she's much better at that.

I did spend money today, since it took us so long at the high school. I spent $2.95 at the vending machine for pretzles and peanuts for Tobias and Rose. Afterwards we stopped at the Casino store and got sub sandwich kid meals, so spent $8.65 there, then we stopped at the convenience store closer to home and I got a few things and paid $8.88.

Most of the evening was spent being a slacker. Okay, I did PTR's while I watched a Buffy dvd. Did do some cooking, well, really just some warming up of leftovers and a load of dishes and a load of laundry. Okay, not that much of a slacker, just I have so much else I could be doing, but I am really uncomfortable with moving around much after sitting on those gym bleachers as long as I did. And why do today what you can put off until tomorrow?

More of the boring...

Money left to pay off on the house mortgage--$35,724.84.

Time left: 10 years, 6 months, and $25 left to payoff date. But I pay a little extra each month, so sooner than that really.

I didn't get a chance to come on again last night and blog the boring stuff so here goes.

$800.00 Bank of America Visa
$165.00 MBNA MC
$ 70.94 Cell
$ 41.64 Phone
$ 38.67 Water Delivery
$ 37.36 Garbage (2 months)
$180.50 Car Insurance (3 months)
$ 43.75 Vehicle Registration Tabs
$100.00 Propane (into savings for now)
$ 34.00 Security System Monitoring
$ 29.29 Life Insurance on DH
$ 50.00 Costco Cash Card for Gas
$100.00 Christmas presents

I guess I've gotten out of the habit of keeping a running total on savings since I started diverting some of the money that was going there to paying off debt. But I did do a tally today and the grand total of all my savings accounts is now at $1600.98.

I am so anxious for January to get here. I am so anxious about what DH's raise will be so I can plan out the year. That is just about driving me crazy, not knowing yet. It is supposed to be substantial this year. Supposed to be. I hope so. Last year's raise was more than eaten up by the insurance rates going up. And they are going up again this year by $6 a week. Not nearly as bad as last year's increase which was about $150 a month if I recall correctly. It might have been more.

Gas and propane costs are out of control here. It really doesn't help that our gas tax is 30.1 cents per gallon. I think I may order a cord of super dry firewood to help with the less seasoned stuff that does not want to burn. Almost all the snow has melted off the wood pile and it has thawed out enough to break it apart again, but it still is quite damp from the soaking it took back during the bad rain/windstorm where we lost power.

I have added more Christmas lights. I ran green twinkle lights around the picket fence that goes around the garden and did the arbor in red LED lights. They don't appear to have green LED lights yet, or at least don't have them in our area. Over the last couple days I also did one tree in pinkish purple lights and one tree in amber yellow lights.

I stil have a ways to go. I have to do 4 windows, put up the penguin, the nutcracker, the seal that spins a Christmas present on its nose, the lollipops, a star, the rope light train and the blowup Santa Train. I'm getting there, though. The place where the rope light train goes has almost melted down enough that the snow won't be in the way anymore.

I'm hoping to get some done tomorrow. Rose woke up feeling great today (hooray for zithromax!) so we will be going to her basketball game, or rather games (2) tomorrow. They are back to back, thank goodness so it doesn't mean going to the high school twice in one day. I dislike that the 5th/6th grade teams play at the high school. The 3rd/4th play at the elementary which is where they all practice and it is closer. It's driving 10 miles instead of 1.2 miles one way. But the gym is nicer and the bleachers are better, so there is a bright side.

Today was payday so I will do a seperate entry on bills paid today, later. Otherwise, I think that is it for today.

I sent $86.80 to ING this morning from CU#2. That leaves $500 in that CU, which is the amount DH and I agreed on to have immediately available for emergency use.

I am also building savings in CU#3 that will eventually go to opening a second ING account in DH's name so he can get the $25 for the new account and I can get the $10 for referring him.

After that I will work on building accounts in the children's names of $250 each so again we can get the total of $70 for that. That will take a bit more time as they save pretty slowly. But they are young yet so they have time.

I cashed out $3 at ReadRevenue last night. When that shows up it will go to the CC payoff account. All these amounts sometimes seem so tiny against the bigness of the debt it has to go against, but even little dents mean something.

Today was also the day of the weekly automatic deposit of $10 to savings, so that will be transferred to ING eventually.

Rose stayed home from school today. Her stomach is still sore but no more barfing since last night, so yay. I think she will be able to go to school tomorrow. No basketball practice tonight though.

Oh, I forgot to mention yesterday I wrote each child a $20 check to fund their hot lunch accounts, so that was $40 more out then was listed.

$50 for Physical Therapy appointment.
$15 co-pay to take Rose to the doctor.
$10 perscription of Flonase.
$10 perscription of generic Zithromax.
$23 at KFC.

No shopping after all today, and ended up taking Rose to the doctor. She has a sinus infection. Plus something else. She managed to take her medication, then 3 hours later she threw up. Sigh. I hope it was down long enough to enter her system. Obviously she missed basketball practice today.

I was going to try to go to the doctor myself tomorrow as I think I also have a sinus infection, now I will most likely just stay home with Rose. Maybe he will call me in something without my having to see him. He does that sometimes just because I know the symptoms so well. Or maybe Rose will be okay enough for me to drag her with me.

I so do not have the energy for a sick child right now. But if it has to be one of them, Rose is the better patient. She'll stay in bed and rest. Tobias just gets hyper most of the time when he is sick.

The school rescheduled conferences again for next week, on Wednesday and DH flies in next Wednesday morning so it looks liike he'll get to go after all. Of course, I'm thinking the school setting a schedule for them again is just them asking for another natural disaster or weather incident. We will see.

I sent an ING referral to Alianora (Thanks!) and she signed up so I earned my first $10 for doing that, today. That brings the total in my ING account to $586.38.

If anyone else wants an invite, I have plenty.

Today is a no spend day. I got a call this morning reminding me of a follow-up physical therapy appointment for tomorrow, so I decided to try to do my shopping before the 1:15 appointment instead of maing an extra trip to town. I have to go in again on Friday so if I don't get it all done before the appointment, that is okay.

I put up some more Christmas lights today and did some basic housekeeping chores. I've been thinking a lot about goals for next year, but until I know what DH's raise is going to be, which I won't know unitl January, I'm kind of unable to plan well. I don't like that. Still there is no help for it.

The most frugal thing I did today was cook a potroast and chicken at the same time in the oven. I have enough meat for the rest of the week and will just have to add veggies and potatoes each day. I have enough leftover veggies and potatoes from today that I won't have to make any tomorrow. And plenty of chicken gravy. I will save the beef drippings to make beef gravy later this week.

I think I'll go ahead and cook up all the chicken sausage tonight so that I can just reheat it in the microwave for breakfasts through the week. I like the whole reheat and eat thing. It makes my life much easier and I tend to waste less food that way.

I've almost got the freezer completely cleaned out. Garbage went out this morning so I have an empty can again. I have one full shelf of stuff to throw out still and one partial shelf where everything is frozen to it. I'll probably have to turn the freezer off and pull it out in the morning. I need to turn it off to get all the ice out anyway, then wash it down and unplug it.

I think I can switch with Mom as soon as DH comes home and we will have the smaller one that is actually ours and she can have her old pain in the butt bigger one with a door that doesn't latch right ancient ugly freezer back.

I'm not sure if I will use the one I am getting back from her or not. The half size chest freezer and the one in our fridge seems to be doing the job fine now that we are not buying processed foods. TV dinners, 3 kinds of ice cream, frozen pizza and other easy boxed fast food takes up a lot more room then meat, chicken, fish, vegetables and fruit. But I might be able to sell it. Or maybe we will keep it outside by the shed and use it for over flow or if we get a quarter of a beef or something. I'm not sure yet.

I wonder if our electric bill will go down once we get rid of the one freezer and don't plug in another? Well, this won't be the month to tell with the Christmas lights and all.

Three more things for the list.

10. DH and I got a little ornament of two foxes snuggled in a snow-covered log that says Our First Christmas Together the first Christmas we started dating (we were engaged by then). Every year we hang it on the tree together and then kiss and listen to the kids go ewwww. It used to be the first ornament on the tree before we had kids old enough to be too impatient to wait, so we just do it now when we come to it in the box of ornaments.

11. We have an ornament we buy each year from Hallmark, in the Puppy Love collection. We have collected them from the start, which was the year after Our First Christmas Together.

12. Each one in our family has a giant bulb that I have used gold glitter glue to write their names on. I've had to replace a couple over the years, DH's has been broken twice and Rose's once. We each hang our name ornament as a ritual at the end of decorating the tree.

...that DH's 401K has more money in it than our mortgage has left to pay off. I've been watching the amounts come closer to meeting for awhile, but this last month just blew it right past it. It's a good feeling.

Today was a very lazy day for me. I read a little, did dishes, and cooked a bit. Spent $10.60 on food, so an almost no spend day. Yesterday was a no spend day.

The $3 from Paypal was deposited today so that will go to the CC payoff account.

Tomorrow I am going to go to town and try to get the rest of my Christmas shopping done. I know what I am getting for FIL and MIL, I have one neice left to shop for but I'm pretty sure I know what I am getting there, also. The nephews just get a $5 gift certificate for McD's, so I need to pick up 3 of those. I don't buy for my sister or her husband we just do the kids 18 and under.

I need to pick up the ingredients for making lasagna pretty soon. I am making two pans for SIL and BIL to have as their present, they love it so much. Then I have to make a pan for Christmas Even and a pan for Christmas Day.

Plus I need to knit 6 square potholders and finish Rose's scarf. That shouldn't take too long, I just need to find the time to do it. If I hadn't been so lazy today I probably could have finished the scarf.

Since the last statement date in October, DH's 401K has increased by $2792.09, bringing the account to an ending balance of $41,454. The account has more than recovered from the 2nd quarter slump, it is barreling along. When DH gets the raise in January we will raise his contribution to the account. Right now it is only at 3% so I'd like to see it go up to 5% or 6% in the next year.

We are going to visit MIL and FIL today. I am packing along a beef potroast, potatoes, and broccoli and cauliflower to make for dinner so that I won't be tempted to go through the drive-thru and spend money later on. The last thing we need right now is to be putting that poison into our systems, what with everyone sniffly and all. I remember reading a factoid once that said something like for every teaspoon of sugar (or maybe tbsp) in your food, it reduces your immune systems ability to fight by 16% or something like that. So eating right during cold season is crucial.

So with this advance planning we should be able to make this a no spend day.

Okay, so Ray asked, and I'm still awake, so I'll put down ours.

1. The James Street Estates--this is an upscale manufactured home park in Bellingham where nearly every single house is done up in lights, standees, and blowups. It is amazing. Every year we drive through it at least twice, once as soon as DH is home to do it and once on Christmas Eve night. It's set up with blinking arrows that show which way to go to control the traffic.

2. The Santa Train--in Birch Bay there is a miniature golf/go cart track/miniature train place that they do up completely in lights, tens of thousands of lights and everything decorated. It is not too expensive and the cost of the ticket comes with hot chocolate and cookies. After riding the train you get out at Santa's house and go in and see him. You can also get your photo taken with him. The mall Santa pales in comparison to this for my kids--and me and DH, too.

3. The Lasanga--Every year for Christmas I make two big lazangas, one to take to my mother's house on Christmas Eve night and one to take to MIL's house on Christmas Day. I'm not allowed to not make it anymore.

4. Christmas Eve morning--We read the Christmas story from the Bible and then the kids open their stockings and we then do presents and they have plenty of time to play before we must pack up to go to my Mom's house in the evening.

5. Hatchery Road--Another massive light display, with several blow ups. They have trees that are several stories high that they have lit, I don't know how, maybe with a cherry picker. This is a side jaunt from the highway and the road leads back to the highway as well. We drive down this road on the way home every time we see it lit.

6. Every other year we get a real tree. We go to Peterson's Christmas Tree Farm and they have hot apple cider and hot chocolate. We get to wander the grounds and pick out a tree, cut it down and haul it back ourselves.

7. On the year we don't have a real tree we put up a seven foot tall artificial white tree that is decorated completely in silver, white, crystal and blue. On the year we get a real tree, its everything goes on the ornaments and either tree we string popcorn for it. After we take the tree down we hang the popcorn strings outside for the birds to eat. One year we had both the artificial tree and a four foot tall real tree that the kids decorated all by themselves and we may do that again this year.

8. Totally go crazy decorating the outside of the house with lights. We didn't when I was a kid and it was something I swore I'd always do for my kids when we had a house. Although I think I do a lot of it for me, too.

9. Put up a Christmas village inside the house, along with a Nativity and some Christmas snow globes.

I spent a couple of hours putting up part of the outdoor display. I got the two rope light standing panda bears up, the 7 foot tall green and red rope light tree which will flash in alternating red and green at various speeds, or stay solid, up, got the 2 penguins riding on a sled rope light up and hung the blue snowflake ropelight from the honeysuckle trellis. I cabled those together and locked the cable around one of the big cedar trees.

Then I had to wrestle with the deer. One of them has a broken antler so I tied it in place with a couple pieces of clothesline. I have two deer that move their heads, one up and down and the other side to side with it lowered as if grazing and then a baby one stands between them and doesn't do anything. I finally got them all assembled and set up and cabled them together and locked them around a 12 inch diameter fir tree.

I had wanted to get more done, but I had to spend some time unburying extension cords, some of which had frozen to the ground, and then untwisting them not only from around each other but from themeselves. I ended up breaking a prong off one of the three head extension cords, was not happy about it, though it might still work with non-heavy duty lights. I'll wait until DH can look at it, he's handy with electricity and has the knowledge. Anyway, I ran out of sunlight.

I hope to get the trains up, the blue tree up, the bush blankets and tree blankets up, the red and white lollipops and silver star up, do the garden arbor (now that the snow has melted off), run lights along the picket fence and put icicles on the shed, during the next week. We'll see if the weather holds.

But I'm not going to. I'm posting on here for accountability. Instead I will make whole wheat spaghetti with homemade sauce and garlic cheese meatballs and have that with a nice green leaf and purple cabbage salad and some of the berries I bought yesterday at Costco. It will taste better than eating out, it will be better for me, it will cost less and I won't waste gas going to a restaurant.

...what I want for Christmas. Well, my in-laws, really. I really hate that question sometimes. There isn't really anything that I truly want that I would feel comfortable asking someone else to get for me.

Like the $780 knife set that I want "someday"
Or a new car

But as for things, I just don't need things. I'd ask for money but I know that they don't want to give me money, they want something they can charge and not really worry about paying for RIGHT NOW. And that's a whole other reason why I don't want to answer that question.

I do not need more stuff to clutter the house with. I do not need another stuffed penguin or figurine (despite my collection, I am much more selective on what I choose to add to it then anyone else is). I do not need another candle holder. I don't need clothes and don't like other people picking them out when I do.

Really, the only thing I want is cash to put into savings or to pay debt down with. I wonder if I could get them to put money on a Costco cash card that I could use for gas, or a grocery store gift certificate. I doubt they would think those are "real" presents. But that is what I want. If they don't want to give me what I want then why do the keep asking me what I want?

The ReadRevenue money showed up in Paypal last night. They are getting fast. I used to have to wait 3 days until it showed up at Paypal, the last two times have been within 24 hours. I went ahead and transferred that to CU#3.

This is, I think, my 5th entry today, do go and read my SheRa post if you must pick and choose, it has a lot to say in a spending way.

I read on someone's blog that ING has gone up to 4.5%, cool. I went to check my account and I have earned 98 cents for the month of November, bringing the total in that account up to $276.38. I have earned a total of $1.38 in interest beyond the $25 bonus, since I opened the account in October.

I did notice a few people asking around for referrals to ING in some of the blogs. I have some, so if you want to leave a reply to this entry I can send you out one. I only ask that you are serious about opening the account as I don't want to waste them.

I have been lax about transferring money from my CU to ING, I kept planning on it, but never did, so tonight I got on the ball and transferred $250 on over. Procrastination loses me interest, so I really need to stay on top of that whole thing.

I think I will be setting up an ING account for DH next payday so I can get the $10 referral for me and the $25 for signing up into his account. Right now we want to keep a certain amount of cash in the brick and mortar CU so I haven't done it yet.

I think some of savings may have to go into a car repair. My goal is to not let savings dip below $1000, though. There's a cable or bunch of wires that are hanging down under the front dash and I keep bumping them with my foot when I brake, so whatever is going on with that needs to be fixed and then the check engine light is on, though I think it may just like to be on. They couldn't find a reason for it at Midas last time I had it in for brake pads, but I'll check with the dealership when I get the wires put back where they are supposed to go.

Did my big Costco run today. I went in with a list, I came out with 3 items that were not on my list. Sigh. We go in with such big expectations sometimes. But the three things I did buy that were not on the list were okay.

Blackberries
Blueberries
A Duracel charger pack with 6 rechargeable batteries ($30)

The fruit was a complete and total impulse buy. It looked very, very good and I rarely buy Costco fruit but these just jumped into my cart of their own accord, so what can you do?

The charger pack was so I could have my own charger that DH doesn't know where its at so that he can't put it somewhere that I can't find it. Oh, he claims its in the room with the books, but um...can't prove it by me. This way I'll also have a set of rechargeables for the digital camera and a set for each of the childrens' Christmas presents charged and ready to go. I was planning on this purchase anyway, just not today.

I put $40 on the gas card while I was there. But I spent more than I planned and this is the first time I've gone over $100 (not counting the gas) in months. I had to buy Ziploc baggies and T.P. though and that does get pricey. It should last quite awhile, though. I also bought slipper socks, 10 pounds of chicken and 10 pounds of beef, pot pies, eggs, cheese, lettuce and yogurt. I am restocking a bit after the loss of the big freezer last week. So I guess the higher amount is to be expected. Didn't over do it because everything must fit into the half size chest freezer. Ended up with a total bill of $187.33 (including the $40 onto the gas card). I would have made it under $100 without the impulse buys and before the cost of gas. So I still feel I did okay.

Anyway, at check out I asked for boxes and they packed the one ridiculously full. It had all 20 pounds of meat in it, plus 4 pounds of cheese and the package of pot pies. We're coming up on 35 pounds of food. I just looked at the guy and I said in a good-natured tone, "Tell me something. Do I look like SheRa: Princess of Power to you?"

He gave me a blank look and I said, "It's too heavy, I can't lift that into my car."

Then he laughed, I guess he finally got it, said "Oh, nope, not really, I'll repack it." He didn't look older than me, he should have grown up with the same cartoons, should have been a little faster on the uptake. But oh, well. He did repack it so I could then lift it easier. At least, I didn't have to rescue my Omega-3 eggs from this one.

After that I got gas. The machine kept shutting off, even though I know it should have gone to 15.5 gallons as I had just over 2 gallons in the tank and its an 18 gallon tank. That gas gauge is computerized so I don't have to guess. I finally gave up at 12 point something gallons, so not a full tank but close enough to end up with 15 gallons in there. Spent just over $30 and have enough left on the card for another full fill up.

I spent $15 (including tip) for lunch at the Mexican place, had beef fajitas without the tortillas, about half a cup of the rice, no beans (they gave me lettuce instead), lettuce, and some chips and salsa. Ended up bringing half of it home for a whole other meal.

Deposited $15.50 in rolled coin at the bank with the CC payoff account, but forgot to deposit the $5 check from Your2Cents.

Went to Haggen and bought bananas, organic milk, shrimp, hamburger, Isernio's mild Italian chicken sausage (Fern, they have a website if you were interested in these nitrate/nitrite free and sulfate/sulfite free suasages, www.isernio.com, its a Seattle based company), 100% apple juice, 100% whole wheat hamburger and hotdog buns, a magazine for me and some Ocean nasal spray for Rose. Spent $73.29 there.

Then I went and picked up the kids and came home. The roads were really good. The highway is completely bare and the main roads in town were a lot better. Mom's street is still bad and my own street is still bad, but things are melting and it got up to a balmy 41 degrees F today, so all's good here on the weather front.

More people have put up Christmas lights now that they don't have to freeze to do it. We even had two new houses on our street put up lights so the kids were excited. I suppose I'll have to go work on finishing our display. For normal people, we'd be done with what is already up, but we aren't normal people. We get our address submitted to the paper of lights to go see in the county, though after last year I may request they not print it since we had $90 worth of lights stolen. We budget twice as much for electricity for the month of December. You can see where I'm going with this. I'm not much of an indoor decorator, though we do put up a tree and a little village, but we all love the outdoor Christmas stuff and the neighborhood kids adore it. One kid asked at Halloween when we were going to set it up.

I think I've covered everything for the day now.

Today is payday. So far I have paid:

$1000 Medical Mortgage
$400 House Mortgage

I'm on my way to Costco to pick up a few things and to get gas, so I will update with the rest of my spending tonight. I don't reckon there will be too much as I only need a few things. I have gotten better and better about not buying extra "stuff" at Costco just because it is there, but going in with a list and sticking with what I need instead. It used to be I couldn't leave Costco without spending at least $100 in groceries and maybe a book or movie. Now if I spend $100 there it is because I am putting money on my gas card.

Just posted and then went to the main page and hey, I'm the most active blogger! Ooo. Probably the only time I've ever been in first place. And the only one to post so far today, being a night owl and all. And of course, it won't last, but if we can't take joy in the utter inanities of life, then why have a sense of humor at all? It cheered me up anyway. I know I've been whining a lot this last week, so I will try to put a more positive spin on this, the first day of December.

And shh...don't tell anyone, but things are looking up for DH at work. Can't go into it until January but cross your fingers and send good vibes our way that something very good may be in store, soon.

Did a $3 survey today. Can't get the money until I build up to $5 in the account though. I dislike that, but its one of the better sites for payout, so can't begrude it too much.

Kind of a slow day today.

Had the auto deposit of $10 to savings.

Cashed out $3 at ReadRevenue.

Discovered all of my five gallon water jugs that I keep on the porch had burst out the bottoms, so that's four @ $7 each. $28 down the drain and they just delivered Monday of last week, so I have just under one bottle's worth to get me through 3 weeks. Very frustrating.

I've been keeping them on my porch for 3 years and this didn't happen 2 years ago when the weather dropped to 9 degrees, so I didn't really think about it when it dropped to 8. They were fine even this morning, but now that it has warmed up to 39 degrees they exploded. Big sigh. I know that this can happen, but since it hadn't under similar situations in the past, didn't do anything. Plus they weigh 40 pounds so if I don't have to lift them, I don't.

The good news is that it didn't snow more than one inch today and then it warmed up. Things are starting to melt. I hope this is a warming trend that will continue. Still no school tomorrow, even though the roads are pretty good, mostly bare on the highway. Still people don't know how to drive on the ice. They don't slow down for the bad patches, just assume they're as good as the bare ones. Saw a nasty accident tonight, truck was off the road on its side down in a ravine. Emergency vehicles were just responding so I didn't stop.

I went in to Mom's today to do some laundry and the kids finagled an overnight invitation, so I'm kid free, which after being cooped up with them with no school all week, and too cold to play outside the last few days, I am sorely in need of. I love my kids a lot, I do, but right now they are just getting on my last nerve and on each others.

Tomorrow is payday and I know I am not officially through the no eating out 2 weeks, but I don't care. that was more about being lazy and not cooking. I'm taking myself out to lunch tomorrow and I'm going to enjoy it. This is about nurturing my spirit before I turn into a raving nutter.

I'm currently taking a break from the book I was reading, too much gratuitous swearing and that grates after awhile, I can handle it if it has a point, but when they use it as an adjective the same way you might use really or very, it is so not necessary to the plot.

So now I am reading the 23rd annual collection of The Year's Best Science Fiction. So far I have read The Little Goddess by Ian McDonald, bizarre but good, The Calorie Man by Paolo Bacigalupi, a future we might actually be seeing some day if we're not careful and not a good one, and Beyond the Aquila Rift by Alastair Reynolds, kind of interesting plot twist near the end but mostly...eh.