Today is the day of the automatic deposit of $10 to savings. I am still on a holding pattern as far as sending money to ING goes. I am waiting until 1/26 to send any money off, just to make sure I make it through this long stretch of no pay. I think I do have enough to make it through now, but I had to take quite a bit out of ING to make it this month.

I am glad I had it available, I just really want to get back to building it up again. But bills obviously had to come first.

Today school was delayed an hour because of the snow and then the kids had early release 2.5 hours early. I don't have a clue why. They usually have early release on the last Wednesday of the month, which this is not. I hope they aren't still going to do it that day, too.

We went into my mother's house to do some laundry. When I was there she told me she had closed out an old joint bank account we had that I had forgotten about. It was mine, but her name was on it as she used to make deposits for me when I worked nights and slept days. Anyway, it had $85.75.

Oh, I also spent $36.06 filling up the car with gas. I thought I'd be under my gas budget this month, but I just met it. Darn. Oh, well.

I spent under $12.95 and $16.95 on books, plus $2.34 sales tax for a total of $32.24. I bought Smart Couples Finish Rich, which I have read previously and The Automatic Millionaire Workbook, which supplements another one of David Bach's books, both in paperback. I feel like I am ready to face working through the workbook now and getting all my ducks in a row.

The rest of the money I have set aside until 1-26 and I won't make any decisions on where to put it until then. I am tentatively thinking about putting it in the vacation fund. My trip to California is coming up in May and the convention for my disease lasts 2.5 days and then some of us are going to Disneyland for 2, possibly 3 days.

My airfare is free through DH's miles and I will have a roommate both at the convention and at Disney. So I'm trying to save $1000 to cover hotel and food. I'm not interested in souveniers other than my one lapel pin that I get no matter where I go. So far I have $116 saved up. I will have $500 from the tax return that I get to use. Well, technically its $800, but I want to push to save as much as I can and only use $500 from the tax return, so I can use most of it to pay debt.

So I have $116 saved, and $500 dedicated, which means a total of $616 and I need to come up with $484 in 3.5 months. Without dipping into the $10 a week that goes to the EF no matter what.

I saw an ad for donating plasma in the paper today. They are claiming up to $200 a month. I don't know if I can donate or not. I have high blood pressure but it is completely controlled with medication, diet and exercise. I will have to look into the requirements. If I could do that and max it out, I could earn $600 in the next 3 months. Oh, plus a $10 bonus if I bring in the advertisement.

...a $3 payout from ReadRevenue for PTR's. I cashed out on Wednesday at 1 a.m., well technically that is Thursday and it is still not at paypal. They are usually pretty good about 24 to 48 hours, so even with the holiday (and they are Asian based, so come on, they don't celebrate MLK) this is slow for them. If it isn't there tomorrow I will pursue it. They have a 72 hour minimum they claim and it has never been this late before from them.

And an $8 payout should come in the next four weeks from ACOP for doing an online 4 day food journal for my family. I love ACOP. I get the occassional $5 surveys from them but its the free product trials that pay. The last one I did paid $15.

I'm close to cashing out at GTM. MySurvey is taking forever to build up. I know Ima has had good luck with them, but I've been signed up since April and have only cashed out a $10 check once. Lightspeed is slow right now, too. Ironically.

But thanks to Jeffrey and Nate it is now back to normal and I can post again. I was in the middle of a bunch of posting when it decided to not recgonize the fact that I was logged in and when I re-logged in and hit new entry, it kept taking me to the log in page. Argh. But they fixed it with their cyber majicks! LOL

I am hoping that is the symbol for rolling eyes, as I did that a lot tonight and want to get it right as I figure I may be wanting to use it a lot. That's what it appears to be for the forums, so I'm going to see if it translates into the blogs. And if it does, then I'll go tell Baselle.

Today I made a loaf of bread and a batch of hamburger and hot dog buns. I'm getting better at the buns, though next time I will double the time of the second dough rise. My hot dog and hamburger buns are flatter than I'd like.

Still the kids like the way they taste and will eat them up, so a little flatness isn't causing complaints.

I am also going to throw the makings of turkey soup in the crockpot tonight, just fill it up with turkey necks, an onion, a carrot, some celery leaves and inner stalks, garlic, salt, pepper and water and let it go all night. Then tomorrow strain it, pick all the meat off the bones to add back to the broth, add fresh carrots and celery and homemade whole wheat egg noodles, and have it ready for the kids when they come home from school for dinner, served with warm homemade bread. Yummy and cheap.

I am really glad I bought a pasta maker in my formerly less than frugal life. I didn't use it much then, but I sure use it a lot now.

It snowed about 2 inches today. This is on top of the foot that is already on the ground. It was a real pain because last night was garbage night, so although it was really easy to get the can out to the end of the drive, getting back in when the path was covered with 2 inches of snow was not a lot of fun. At least the recycle bins were easy as I don't have to drag them through the snow.

It also meant that school was delayed for 2 hours. I am starting to think I live in an area of whimps. I mean, come on, I get closing down for lots of snow and/or if it is really cold, but it was 32 today, as opposed to the 20 its been so, what are they thinking? The highway is still bare and they weren't operating on snow routes so what gives?

I swear my kids haven't had more than five full days of school since mid-November, either they close down completely or they open late, or if there is a good day its a holiday. They're going to end up going to school until July to make up all the missed time at this rate!

It started to thaw a bit around four and rained just long enough to get the roads slick and then the temp dropped to 32 again and it is snowing, kind of, again. So that is the makings for black ice fun. Probably another late day tomorrow. I swear my daughter put in more hours when we were homeschooling than she does right now.

It totally messed up my plans for the day of going to Curves and driving to the little bank branch nearby and paying my credit card bill. I will go tomorrow. I don't like going to Curves in the afternoon as there are always too many people there then. I did shovel out my driveway again, so I got some exercise, and I walked on my treadmill for 20 minutes. I'll probably have to shovel again tomorrow.

If I can't get out tomorrow I will pay the CC on line but since I am paying out of two different checking accounts it is easier to do it in person.

I really don't like El Nino years. It is great for the southeast coast as the El Nino weather systems tend to rip apart hurricanes before they make landfall, and nice for the mid-west as they get milder winters, and easier on the east coast, too. But the west coast and the rockies get socked by very cold winters. Oh, I knew it was coming. You don't have a summer as ridiculously hot as ours was this year without it being followed by a bad winter with lots of snow and windstorms. And we are supposed to have an early spring and another hot summer. It can't come soon enough for me.

Still, I'd rather get socked with cold and snow here (as long as we have power and heat) than have the southeast endure those mind-shockingly horrific hurricanes. Just wish there was a happy medium when I'm up to my knees in ice.

I haven't updated my spending journal since Thursday, I think. I was so gung-ho on this when I started and now I'm kind of...eh. That's partly because I really don't like what the spending journal is revealing about my own personal habits. Which is that I am weird about food.

I will often buy food I don't need, even though there is plenty of food in the house because I am stressing over something. I'm not talking junk food or dumb purchases, either. Just...quantity. Like I'm afraid there won't be enough in the house or something.

This is particularly difficult now as we are no longer using the full size upright freezer. I am confined to a half size cubic chest freezer and the freezer that comes with our fridge, which is quite large for its size. I think it may be bigger on the inside than the outside, very tardis-like.

Well, I've managed to curtail the freezer spending, but seem to be trying to make up for it with pantry items. What is up with that? I did not grow up poor. Even the year my dad was on strike from the mill (he went to work pumping gas and my mom, a retired teacher, substitute taught nearly every day that year), we always had adequate food. We were never deprived. So where is this coming from?

Oh, I have issues with food. I'm a recovered bulimic, 11.5 years free of the disease, which conincides with my getting married and moving out of my parent's house. But its never been over not having enough. It was always over being in control of my life, or not being in control of it. I'm starting to wonder if my need to have such great quantities of food in the house is my way of dealing with how out of control I feel the debt situation is and the whole life on hold will he/won't he get a raise issue with DH.

And as issues go, well, I'd rather be buying too much food than ever go back down the road to an eating disorder. But when we are trying to cut back on our grocery budget and save some money here, it is very counter-productive to be coming up on this sort of thing.

I'm hoping putting it out here in black and white, may help me to recognize what I am doing and find a less destructive thing to do.

My last straw with myself was tonight when I emptied my change jar and went down to the convenience store and got a 16 inch pepperoni pizza for $6.49 when I could have very easily made something healthy at home, or even a homemade pizza of better quality for less money with what I had in the house. It went over from healthy food buying to junky food buying. Uh-uh.

This has to stop. No more money is to be spent on food between now and January 26th, unless it is for milk or for the kids for making cold lunches at school. No more mindless buying. I must be mindful in my buying.

Seems like a lot of people on the blogs right now are waiting for raises. I hate it, waiting. Last year, DH got what his boss called a partial raise. Contracts had not been signed and it was promised to him that when they were signed, which was supposed to be last summer, he would get the rest of his raise and it would be substantial. And retroactive.

I am not a greedy person by nature, but I really don't like waiting for what was promised. See, the raise last year was pretty much eaten up by the huge jump in medical premiums. Add on the new taxes for bumping up a tax bracket by just a few dollars, seriously by $5. Afterwards we were left with about $25 more each month net. Now this year the premiums went up again. Not by a couple hundered a month like last year, just by $28 a month. So now, DH is bringing home $3 less than he was a year ago before the raise. Ain't life grand?

So anyhow, last week we learned that the contracts were finally signed. Then his alternate called to say that there had been a meeting and raises were not being given out across the board. Which means selective raises will still be given out, but not everyone gets one this year.

Now I am worried that his boss will go back on his word. Not because he wants to but because of pressure from higher-ups. And of course, it'll probably be week's end before we know anything at all. He had a great direct boss, who will fight for him, but that doesn't mean he will be successful.

Meanwhile, DH's alternate was just offered a job for another company up there doing the exact same thing she is doing now. The starting wage for this same job there is $1.50 more per hour than what DH makes now. The wage range ends at $11.50 an hour more than what DH makes now. DH is currently at the top of his wage range with the current company after 11 years.

Now we are both starting to wonder if his company is actually paying the differential or not. Because there is supposed to be one for working up there, the employees are supposed to make a lot more money than the ones in town (like $10 an hour more) as they are working outside civilization and all and are away from their families.

Finding out something like that is close to impossible as the company won't release the information, so the only way to find out is to ask an employee in the same job how much they make. Awkward. Finding it out from another company, a bit easier, but not by much.

So anyway, his alternate may leave for this other company. If she does, he's back to doing the work of two people again. Which he's usually done for at least half the years he has worked there. And never been compensated for. And I feel he should be because it means more time away from the family. Its all just very frustrating. I feel bad for DH because I think they take advantage of him. He is extremely loyal. It's been a good job and a good company, but...its things like this that make you question your loyalty to the company.

I know I'm probably just blowing everything out of proportion and that it will all work out just fine, but if it doesn't...I'm going to encourage DH to actively pursue other opportunities, because we can't afford not to get compensated appropriately.

We will survive, raise or not. But I was looking forward to actually making some headway this year, instead of walking in place.

Today has been a pretty long day. I had to take DH to the airport today so he could fly back to Alaska. He left early as he is covering a few days for his alternate so she can go on vacation with her husband for a little more than 2 weeks. He'll be a couple days late coming home, too. It'll mean extra money in his paychecks, which I'll probably use to rebuild the Emergency Fund, which got pretty decimated.

We stopped at the grocery store on the way home as I had some rebate coupons that expire on the 27th. One was $4 off any purchase of $5 or more and the other was $2 off any purchase from the meat department. Total spent was $29.16. I went a bit over my grocery budget. My normal grocery budget is $250 and I was trying to make it be $200 for a four week period. I think I've gone over by about $20, I'll check on it later. I did buy some staples this month that needed replacing and that may be why I couldn't quite do it. I'll try again next cycle. The next four week pay cycle starts on the 26th, so I'll be able to use up the rest of my rebate coupons then, unless I have to buy milk between now and then.

I did put $250 aside for groceries regardless, so I'm not taking money from elsewhere. It just may end up that I can't get it under $200 with so many organic purchases. If so, so be it.

We had to be very careful when we left the Fred Meyer parking lot. A couple of cars weren't and they were slipping and sliding around on the ice. One did spin. It reminded me of a figure-skating spin. Fortunately they were perfectly clear when it happened and finally pulled out okay. Its okay to laugh since no one got hurt. Just because the main roads are clear and bare, people assume that parking lots are just as safe to drive on, despite the layer of thick ice. I don't get folks sometimes.

I will only be driving to town once this week, and once halfway in to the game on Saturday, and maybe to Curves, which is 12 miles from my house, 3X per week. So I may possibly be able to knock down my gas budget anyhow, even if I can't do the grocery one. We'll see.

It was bright and sunny today and got up to 30 degrees F, which was better than yesterdays 20 (-7 to the Celsius people). The combination padlock on our shed is frozen and won't turn so we couldn't bring in the ornament boxes to take down the tree before DH left. It is supposed to get up to 40 sometime this week so hopefully I can get it open then. I'd like to get that tree down. Soon.

Today was game day and we spent 3 hours at the gym, with packed lunches. As usual, Rose's team lost the first game, but it was much better, it was 28 to 24. I really thought we were going to win the second game and I'm not a hundred percent certain we didn't win, because the person manning the scoreboard kept "forgetting" to put our points up when we made a basket but the other team's went up right away and never seemed to get forgotten. People had to keep going over to tell her to put the score up five times during that game. I wish they had someone impartial
running that thing and not one of the parents. Hire a high school student or something.

Anyway, the other team's last basket was made after the last buzzer sounded. It didn't even leave the girl's hand until the last buzzer had started but they counted it anyway. Sometimes we have good refs and sometimes we don't. They weren't calling much traveling or double dribbling in any of the games on any of the teams. Just fouls when they happened, usually. And the refs judged the basket good so the other team won by one point, final score 19-18, though there was a lot of disagreement from the coach and the parents. If we'd had instant replay, I think it would have been different. This is the only team we had already beaten once this system and they just weren't that good. I have no illusion about Rose's team, I know they are less skilled than most of the other ones that are more evenly divided between 5th and 6th graders but it was just a very fishy thing all around.
Regardless it was a good game even if a huge case of ditsiness seemed to overcome both teams at times. It was exciting and fun to watch and that's all I really care about as long as Rose is having a good time.

They had their team photo taken today so hopefully that turns out well. I forgot to ask DH how much it cost as he's the one that filled it out and handed it in. Probably $10 as that is usually how much these things cost. DH took me home after the game and then took the kids off to his mother's house to do laundry and visit, while I rest. Doc said to rest for the next 48 hours, which puts me pretty much to noon tomorrow. We still haven't gotten the dryer fixed or replaced. We probably will when the tax refund comes. Now that we are catching up on clothes, I can do a load a day and hang it on the drying racks.

Oh, I forgot to post yesterday that I went to the doctor. I have a problem with getting chronic kidney infections, its a side effect of the whole medical mess that tried to kill me a few years ago. We have to stay on top of it and I have to go in at first sign of symptoms to prevent further kidney damage. I came close to losing my right kidney at the time, so I'm very careful about this.

So I'm on medication, 2 RX's at $10 each, and these are different ones from the ones I was on last time. I insisted on that as the ones I had last time made me gain 15 pounds of water weight in 2 weeks time. Not fun. It went away after I went off them, but really didn't want to go through that again. It was really uncomfortable.

As for other things medically related, I have been kind of ignoring my exercise program lately, pretty much since before Christmas, so starting on Monday the doctor said I could do stuff again but to pace myself and watch for kidney pain, I am going to get back to it. I will start walking on the treadmill 20 minutes a day and hopefully get back up to an hour by month's end.

I keep wavering on whether I should cancel my Curves membership or not, but if I can just get back in the swing again I know I'll really start using it. Then again, with the treadmill and the weight bench and weights, it also seems like a waste of money sometimes. I don't know. It's kind of my last hold out between financial necessity and what I need to do for my health. We'll see.

I think I'll update my spending journal tomorrow seeing as it is almost midnight.

Sorry that last post today probably came across as very negative, and I've managed to shake off that negative vibe and just try to realize that you can only help those who want to be helped, not those who say they want it but don't, and next time I'll just walk away from it.

On to happier news. Yay, for us! DH and I finally finished the laundry room today. It has been bugging me for so long so I am very happy to be done with it. It is so nice to be able to get from the kitchen to the laundry room instead of having to go through my bedroom and then through the master bath to get there.

It's going to be so much easier to keep on top of the laundry now and to hang clothes on the drying racks as they come out of the washing machine.

The kitchen floor and laundry room floor got mopped today, too. It is nice to have a clean house again.

...to the clueless person on the forums, but didn't because I sort of thought it would be stirring up trouble no matter how badly it needed to be said, and plus it sounded too snarky. Or maybe snarky isn't the right word, I might be bordering on...well, worse than snarky. Anyway, I wanted to get it out of my system so here goes:

I am sorry you don't want my financial advice. I was very careful to read the entire thread before I posted to get a grip on what you were and were not willing to do, and I tried to give you friendly, thoughtful and encouraging advice that would fit into that category. Imagine my suprise when it was completely miscontrued, shot down, or twisted into something that bore no resemblalnce to the actual advice given.

I thought that since you asked for help in the beginning of the thread that you actually wanted advice on getting out of your situation, but it certainly comes across more like you just want to defend the choices you've already made, despite calling them horrible decisions yourself and that you are unwilling to recognize that this pattern of destructive financial behavior continues with your inability to cut luxury items and the belief that its going to sort itself out by itself if you can just get to the next month or to the tax refund and get caught up. Unfortunately these are many of the same choices that have put you where you are today.

And now the unforeseen has happened and you have had a car accident, and I'm sorry that you had it, don't get me wrong, for which you are going to have to pay out money for and your bills will likely remain behind and you will struggle for another year with the vain hope that if you just make it to the next tax return you'll survive. There is an expression, "If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always gotten." You need to face up to some hard truths. What you are doing isn't going to cut it. You must change or you will not survive. That is the reality.

Beyond that, know this: I wasn't telling you how to raise your child. I don't really care how you raise your child, because I don't know you from Eve. But you know what? If I did and was actually telling you how to raise your child, I'd definitely have a lot to say about how sacrifice builds character and giving something up for a year or so until you can manage necessary bills will make her appreciate it that much more when it resumes and that by allowing her to continue you are setting a less than stellar example of setting financial priorities that she'll remember when she is a parent herself. Now, that would be giving parenting advice. But I won't say that, because you have absolutely no interest in hearing it, you've made it clear that you will not give up paying for the lessons or taking on an inconvenient or even a convenient 2nd job even if it means you will lose your car or not have electricity because of it. And I respect that. That is your choice. Raise your kids however you want, even if it means doing it in the dark.

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

So umm, am I right? Too snarky? Or just too truthful?

Sometimes I wonder why I read the forums. I could just give my head a good crack against the wall for all the good it does answering some threads. Oh, its not most of the time, I do know this, but some days you run up against someone who says they want help but all they really want is "Oh, look at me, poor me, feel sorry for me, let me be the center of the universe." And against your better judgement you offer some common sense sound strategies knowing the will find a way not to take it.

Stubborn, bull-headed people in debt up to the hair folicles on the very tippy top of their heads, who say the have a problem but won't really admit to themselves that it really, truly exists or that they really need the advice. Won't consider the remote possiblility that their luxury items need to be cut out pronto so they can pay their real bills.

No cable? The horror. Child has to give up an acivity? Heaven forbid spoiled junior has to give up anything. $50 haircut at the salon? But I need that for me, I must have something for me when I'm cutting back everywhere else (but not really). But I don't have money to pay my (insert mortgage, car payment, power bill, sewer, garbage, water, etc.) whatever that I actually need to pay! Help me.

Sorry, this isn't brought on by any one post, just been building up. It's saving advice, but some people really just don't want any. They want a way to shoot down any that is given though and then wonder why they can't get ahead.

No more fruit flies! We managed to kill the buggers off without using bug bombs. It took a week, but with fly strips, scrubbing down the kitchen, putting all food in sealed containers or Ziploc baggies, and DH vacuuming up stray ones, our kitchen is now fruit fly free. Try saying that 5 times fast.

We decided not to chance anything tonight by cooking in the kitchen so we grabbed fast food. Not healthy either physically or financially, but that's the choice we made. We just did fast food drive thru after going to the chiropractor and making our milk run to town, then back to the school just in time for Rose's basketball practice.

I made bread last night in the bread machine and I shouldn't have to make any now until Sunday. Tomorrow we shall cook again. It's spaghetti and meatballs night, with salad and fruit (either apples, blueberries, cherries or pineapple as that is what we have on hand). I need to make up a new week's worth of menues as I misplaced the other ones I'd done. Oh, to be organized.

We did do some cleaning in the laundry room, the bit that still hadn't been done yet. There's a little bit left but its almost done, will probably be done before we go to bed tonight. Which will be really nice. Hopefully tomorrow we can work on taking down the Christmas tree or at least getting the ornaments and lights off. I want it done before DH leaves for Alaska on Sunday. I want my living room back before he goes and the tree itself is to heavy for me to haul out to the shed for storage (its fake).

One of these days I will be organized! And I believe that slightly more than I believe my neighbor will ever pay me back the $11.55 he owes me. Anyone have a bridge for sale?

So far this year:
we have found 3 pennies on the ground
we were given our nickle back because the convenience store didn't have pennies, netting us 2 cents
we have found one nickle on the ground

That is 10 cents, almost a penny for every day of the new year so far. Sure would be fun to keep that rate up!

I received an email back from the assistant superintendent of our school district today, saying I could call a number and talk to someone about setting up an appointment to go and view the curriculum we couldn't go and see because of the roads. I wasn't thrilled with the way it was handled, very holier than thou email, I was way more polite than they were, but at least I got my way and can review the course material when it is convenient to me.

Rose has another 3 hour basketball practice tonight. And math homework. And half a page of spelling homework. I never had this much homework in 5th grade. Or this much athletics practice. But its what she wants, so until it overwhelms her, its okay with me.

$1121.81 YTD spending
8.97 grocery spending
15.36 fast food
+ 1.29 sales tax on fast food
---------
$1147.43 New total YTD Spending

____________________________


$180.30 Month to date grocery spending
+ 8.97 1 gallon organic milk and 2 gallons regular 2% milk
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$189.27 MTD Grocery spending
_____________________________

$10.73 Left in the grocery budget

Yeah, right. So far we have one foot of snow, but it was supposed to be not as bad as last time. Silly meterologists, predicting the weather is not for mere mortal men.

We did not end up going to the meeting tonight, the roads are like glass. Did they reschedule the meeting? No. Did I write a disgruntled email to the school district superintendant? Yes. I shouldn't have to risk my life on the roads to meet their stupid state law standards.

As of 4 p.m. six school buses had slid off the road, 2 semi-trucks had jack-knifed and several cars were in ditches county-wide. But no, we aren't going to reschedule. I don't think they actually want parents to attend. Hence them not even sending the information notice home until last night. Not the brightest people in the world, those who run our school district. Scary thought, isn't it?

Today ended up being a no spend day as we weren't about to go out on the roads just for one item at the grocery store.

Dinner was a smorgasboard of leftovers for everyone but me. There wasn't enough for me, so I had whole wheat pancakes, ham, some cherries, and a salad. Weird, I know, but I do try to balance my meals.

Our neighbor had the nerve to ask us if he could borrow money again. He still owes us $11.55 that he has said at least 3 times he will pay back on "payday" but whenever payday came he never did.

Even if we had the money we wouldn't loan it to him. When DH said we had no cash on hand (well, except $7 or so in the change jar and we need to save that for milk in case we can't get to town we can use it at the gas station) he had the nerve to ask for us to write out a check to the store for him. Yeah, right. I don't give my mother a blank check for anything, let alone some guy with a history like his. I don't believe some people.

Ugh, more snow. And it is still snowing. I was hoping we were done for the winter. At least it is pretty. The schools are open today but are running 2 hours late and are on snow routes, which means we have to hike out to the highway for pickup and drop off.

I'm grateful we didn't lose power last night, though we had several surges.

Tonight is supposed to be the night when parents can go review the AIDS/HIV curriculum that will be taught soon but it may be cancelled. By Washington state law you cannot excuse your children from the course unless a parent has reviewed the material. I just want to know what they will teach so I can mitigate the information with our religious beliefs and family values.

I taught Rose about puberty, sex and pregnancy when she was 9, but we haven't really gone into STD's and prevention of STD's and HIV/AIDS. I wasn't really ready for that conversation when she was 9.

I just hate that my kids have to grow up so fast in certain areas. I know that if they don't, though, they are at greater risk. We can teach them abstinance until the cows come home, and that sex should be saved for marriage according to our religious beliefs, but it depends on the child as to whether that is the route they will go and that not everyone waits or even saves sex for a committed relationship.

So if they do go and do something stupid as a teenager, it won't put their lives at risk if they know how to protect themselves. At least we've already had the some people are gay conversation, what our religion says about it, what society says about it, and what the reality is about it (as in cousin so and so is gay and so is Mom's old friend L), so if that is brought up in the course as a risk factor its been covered.

I can't be the type of parent who will bury their head in the sand and assume my kids are the ones not doing it when they are older. It's not worth my child's life, health or safety to not be straight with them. But gosh, its an embarrassing conversation, talking about how HIV is contracted through sex (which they aren't supposed to have) or blood and how to prevent it for sure (abstinance)or how to mostly protect against it, (maybe) through safer sex. And how it can be contracted through injectable drugs (which they aren't supposed to do) and sharing needles (which they really aren't supposed to do.

My daughter still believes in Santa Claus (or says she does, she might just be greedy for the stocking). I am so not ready for talking about hanging another type of sock to help prevent this disease.

I'm sorry this is so off topic. Though financially, it does tie in. HIV/AIDS treatment is horrifically expensive. So is teenage pregnancy. And drug use and rehab. Avoiding these things, will save money. It'll save more than money. Not talking about them will cost more than we can ever bargain for as parents.

DH just went down to the gas station and filled one of our gas cans for $12.50 so we have it on hand for the generator. We have already had one brief power failure today and winds are expected to be nastier tonight, plus there is a very good chance of heavy snow if the temperatures plummet. Nothing like the 2 feet we got last time, but several inches.

I hope it doesn't hit us, but at least we have a back-up energy and heat supply. That generator may not turn out to be just an expensive piece of porch equipment after all. Though I am still feeling the pinch of buying the thing!

Rose's basketball practice was upped to 3 hours tonight. I hope the power does not go out at the school, though there are emergency lights I don't know if there are any in the gymnasium. I don't like these 3 hour practices. Especially on nights they assign math homework.

Dinner tonight is my lower carb version of Chile Verde.

Ingredients:

1/4 lb sugar-free bacon, crumbled
1 lb boneless pork roast, cubed
1.5 cups chopped scallions
1 T minced garlic
4 oz green chile peppers, diced (fresh or canned)
1.5 T jalapeno peppers, diced (fresh or canned
2 cups water
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

In large skillet, fry bacon crispy. Set aside. Start browning pork in bacon fat. Add bacon crumbled. When pork is browned, add scallions and garlic.* Saute until tender. Add remaining ingredients and stir. Simmer for 30 min. Turn up heat to medium for 15 min to thicken. If you want to add some thickener like corn starch or flour you can, but I don't.

*Optional: if desired, julienne chop a green bell pepper and add with scallions and garlic to stretch meal further. Serves 4 without bell pepper, 6 with.

Can serve by itself or with 100% whole wheat tortillas, veggie wraps, etc. Added cheese or sour cream also optional.

Recipe responds well to doubling, tripling or quadrupling for the freezer.

$1118.21 YTD spending
+ 3.62 milk
--------
$1121.83
- .02 store had no pennies to make change with
--------
$1121.81 YTD spending

________________________________

$176.70 Month to date grocery spending
+ 3.60 groceries
--------
$180.30 Total MTD grocery spending
_________________________________


$19.70 Total left in grocery budget

$1114.61 YTD Spending
+ 3.60 eggs
---------
$1118.21 Total new YTD Spending

_______________________

$173.10 Month to date grocery spending
+ 3.60 1/8/07 grocery spending
--------
$176.70 Total MTD grocery spending

The evening saw a lot accomplished. We found the floor in Tobias' room and unburied the dresser and put all his clothes away in it. That helped a lot. So now he has a perfect dresser and a perfect desk with his computer on it, which was perfect to begin with. One thing he does keep neat is his computer area. Just like his sister. These are old computers by the way, leftovers. They don't have much on them besides Word and Works and games.

I swear I did not buy 75% of the junk in his room. Grandparents. Enough said.

Dinner was an old stand-by: Tex-Mex Chicken and Rice. And I cheated, too as I had leftover chicken and leftover rice. So I just warmed up the chicken and rice, dumped in two jars of salsa, stirred it, reheated it and stirred it again. Presto, chango, dinner. Cheap, fast, easy.

DH and I are going to try to finish T's room tomorrow while he is at school. Who knows how succesful we'll be? At least his closet was still completely clean and organized from the last time I did it. Of course, that was because he couldn't get into it because of all the stuff in front of the door, but I'll take what I can get.

I don't know about you but spending my morning upside down in a chair while a nice lady pokes my gums with sharp sticks is not my idea of a fun time. I'm not afraid of the dentist or anything, I just find clinging to the arms of the chair for dear life so you don't slide headfirst onto the floor to be sort of uncomfortable. And I'm not a great fan of the suction thingy either. That goes back to when I was little and you used to spit the flouride into a suction device that grabbed onto my chin one time and left it a big purple bruise. Now they use a little vacuum tube, but still I get tense when I hear the noise.

DH went to the big library to poke around while I was at the dentist. Afterwards we took the long way home so we could stop by a farm in Lynden that sells fresh brown organic eggs. We got 2 dozen jumbo eggs for $3.60. Some of them are huge double yolkers, I'm sure. I usually eat 2 eggs for breakfast but with some of these babies I'll be having just one.

We are spending the afternoon cleaning in T's room, excpet Rose, who has algebra homework. I don't think I care for algebra and geometry to be taught in the 5th grade. The basics sure, but this is getting complicated for a ten-year-old.

Aside from the eggs we spent no money today, so it is a low spend day.

Cause if they do, I want to put them to work. Gotta earn their living just like the rest of us.

I've put out 3 apple cider vinegar traps and there are a couple caught in them. DH got impatient with the traps and he decided he was going to suck them up the vacuum hose. And as long as he moved slowly, it worked. Apparently fruit flies are stupid. And they do vacuum.

T's room is going to take more time than I thought. Probably won't be able to do much tomorrow as I have a dentist appointment smack dab in the middle of my child free hours at 11:30. Well, there is always Tuesday.

And then there is my daughter's room. What ever time it takes to do T's I will probably have to triple for Rose. For someone who spends almost no time at home or in her room when she is home, how did she become such a mess maker? I have a song I sing to her to the tune of the song Matchmaker from Fiddler on the Roof:

Mess Maker, Mess Maker
Make me a mess
Fill up the corners
And give me some stress
Cover the floor
Until there's no more
Mess maker
Make me a mess!

I don't get it. Her bed is always neatly made and her desk and computer are in perfect order. But there is nowhere else in the entire room except a little area that is a path to her bed from the door that is free of childhood debris.

Serious purging time. I just hope I can get it all done this week. DH is helping. DH is doing more than helping. He's doing more than I am. He also cleaned out, well half of, the laundry room and took the old freezer out onto the back porch. That opens up so much space in the laundry room. I can now set up the drying racks there and have room for the hampers, too! Love that. Anyway, there is room for the repairman to get to the dryer if and when I decide on fixing it.

Today was a no spend day, hooray. Didn't go anywhere, didn't shell out one cent. DH found a nickle last night that I forgot to mention. It went into the change jar.

I am on here posting so much today as I am trying to avoid cleaning and organizing my son's room. It is a disaster area and we are going to do some serious purging of old toys and clothes. He was given a big organizing unit for Christmas from his paternal grandparents but we can't even get it into his room to start! So, I suppose I should really go get on it and stop procrastinating. Who knows, maybe there is something e-bay saleable in there? Okay, into the breach I go.

My 4 week grocery budget is $200. 173.10 is how much I have spent on groceries so far. I have $26.10 left from which I will only need to buy milk and eggs. I have everything else I need for the month. I think this is going to work. Previously my grocery budget has been between $250 and $300 per 4 week pay cycle, so this is quite a cut for us. But with the right planning and the right management of leftovers, I think we will be just fine on this new budget.

$ 952.13 Previous YTD spending
$ 192.48 1/6/07 spending
---------
$1114.61 Total YTD spending

Grocery shopping:

@ Haggen

$10.89 2.73 lb uncured organic half ham
$ 5.49 1 pk Isernios Italian chicken sausage
$ 3.19 1 pk 100% whole wheat hoagies
-------
$19.57

@ Terra Organica

$11.58 2 packages organic additive and presevative free roasted turkey slices

@ Cost Cutter

$11.99 for 12.11 pounds chicken legs
$ 8.99 for 8 bottle case of apple juice
$ 5.99 for 12 can case of tomato sauce
$ 5.99 for 12 can case of green beans
-------
$32.96

@ Costco

$13.45 6 lb bag of preformed Sirloin patties
$ 9.99 3 lb box of bing cherries
$ 8.99 4 lbs kosher beef hotdogs
$ 5.99 1 pint of blueberries
$ 5.99 4 pack (non-cubed) butter
$ 7.99 3 pound box of fresh cut pineapple
-------
$52.40

$116.51 Total grocery spending for the day

Non-grocery spending:

@ Costco

$50.00 to cash card for gas

Dinner out

@ Rount Table Pizza

$23.76 meal
$ 2.21 sales tax
-------
$25.97 total cost of meal

--------------------
$116.51 groceries
$ 50.00 gas card
$ 25.97 eating out
--------
$192.48 Total spending for day