First I had to find the swing before I could make the attempt to get back into the swing of things. I pulled my CU statement off the internet today and balanced my checkbook for the month of December, so that's a positive step in the pay attention to my finances category!

Tomorrow's big step will be sitting down with the bill box and paying bills. Okay, more than that because I've been paying bills all along, but getting that aspect of my life organized. I'm going to be getting this nifty organizer thing from Lillian Vernon for my birthday in February. It's a box that has slots for every day of the month that you organize your bills into and then a couple little drawers for miscellaneous bill paying items like envelopes or stamps or whatnot. Always have a hard time keeping track of my whatnots, after all! But it should come in quite handy.

I'm working on my 2008 Budget Spreadsheet, too. Now I know that medical has not gone up for the first year in forever and that car insurance has actually gone down ('bout time, DH hasn't had an accident since '94 and I've not had one since '88 when I was 18 and that was only a parallel parking mishap!), and they've finally gotten the clue we're safe drivers! Security system monitoring has gone up by a buck a month.

Lots of little things. Property taxes should go down a bit this year as a levy came off.

Tomorrow I'll be making a trip to Costco and getting gas. Don't think I'll buy anything else there, except produce if it looks good. I've got plenty of canned goods and meat in the freezer. Well, maybe eggs, milk, and cheese. And dishwasher tablets. I think I'll make a list before I go. Since things seem to be magically popping into my head at the moment.

Just wanted to say thanks again for the warm welcome back. It was lovely.

I got shanghied by another website www.whofic.com called A Teaspoon and an Open Mind and have been off playing with them all week, since I had a cold and didn't want to think about reality. But reality is back and 20,263 words of fanfic later, and an empty spot in my head where a story used to be, I'm back to reality and blogging again.

Oh, I'll still play over there, but it won't be as time consuming. Anyone into Doctor Who and Firefly there is an amazing crossover story called Out of Joint. I usually don't like fanfic crossovers but this one is just done so amazingly well. Especially River and the Doctor, though there was a good bit between mechanic Kaylee and the Doctor's TARDIS. But I digress.

So, bills so far this week:

$1000.00 to medical debt
$1000.00 to Chase (last card)
$ 129.50 to BoA (leftover interest, but now its clear)
$ 9.58 to Citi (leftover interest, now clear)
$ 100.00 to the gas card
$ 200.00 to groceries and toiletries
--------
$2439.08

Otherwise its been a pretty low spend, low key week. We haven't done much since I was getting over the cold.

DH comes home tomorrow, finally. I haven't seen him in a month. There will be some spending as we are going out to eat at a nearby restaurant while we get a new car stereo installed.

I am starting to settle in to this new payraise DH has and I feel so much better about everything. Life has gotten a whole lot easier in the financial ring, but I really want to make sure we maintain our focus on getting out of debt and building up the EF. I am so close to $2000 and then after that I want to build it up to $2600 and that will be half a month's wages saved.

I haven't done much in the survey area this week. Too much time spent writing and reading instead. But I'm pretty close to cashing out again with Global Test Market for a $50 check. I think I need just 50 points to do so. So time to refocus and get on with it.

I've missed being around here and now I need to go and get caught up with you folks!

Today was a long day. I dropped the kids off at school a bit early today so I could take the car in to the dealership on time. They had estimated that the work would cost $679 but it cost $559, so I added that extra $120 to the EF, along with the GTM check and $2 I had in my purse. I'm coming up pretty fast on my goal of $1500 for the EF.

$1262.53 Old Balance
50.00 Survey Check
2.00 in ones
+ 120.00 car less than estimated
--------
$1434.53 New Balance

I can feel a real difference in how the car is driving now. It accelerates better and doesn't buck when it goes through the automatic gear changes. It makes it feel much smoother, like it used to be when we first got it. Definitely money well spent if we can keep it going for another year or two while we save up for a hybrid.

I'm glad to have this taken care of before winter hits. I really should have the other vehilce repaired before winter, too, but I'm not sure if we can swing that. I suppose I can take money from the EF if I have to, but I'm not sure I should for this. We just don't drive it that much with gas prices so high. And with Humberto and the Mexican gas explosions, it's only going to go up again.

So it is official, DH is working 28 days straight, then will come home for a week and then he may have to work an extra week again after that. But the two extra weeks are guaranteed now. So I won't see him until the 27th, when normally he would have been home today.

That will give us an extra $5250 net this month. I am planning on spending in this order:

$5250
- 700 car repair
-----
$4550
- 302 2 new twin mattresses for the kids
-----
$4248
- 400 new car music system
-----
$3848 to remaining credit card debt

I don't think it is going to cost $400 for the music system, though. The simple CD player/radio I want is around $100. I am allowing $300 for installation fee, but I don't think its anywhere near that. But whatever is left will go to the EF.

DH may very well get 2 or 3 more extra weeks between now and Christmas. There is a huge backlog of work due to the first guy quitting. So he is doing his own regular two weeks in the field engineer position and then in his extra weeks he is either training or helping with the backlog in his old position, but at his new rate of pay. Works for me. Especially if it means this card might be paid off by year's end and not with next years tax return. Sure would love that.

I took my car in to the dealership this morning for an oil change and for them to put it on their diagnostic machine to see why the engine light is coming on. It's been on for a year. Midas had put it on their machine a year ago and couldn't find anything so didn't charge for it.

I thought that maybe the machine at Ford would be better at diagnosing a Ford, so gave it another try. They found the problem. It is not a safety issue, but it will not be good for the engine if I let it go too much longer, especially if I want to keep the car running another two years. They used a lot of initials and said something about a whosit and a manifold thingie (yes, my knowledge of car bits is astronomical), and needing to order a part.

Anyway today's visit cost $135.12. I made an appointment for Friday to have the rest of the work done. It needed to wait until the next payday anyhow. The estimate is $679 and that includes tax. Well, we have an extra paycheck this cycle that was all supposed to go towards paying down debt. Now a big chunk of it will go towards fixing the car.

I am going to be positive about this, though. We have the money to do it, when we might have had to use a credit card a year ago. And even if we didn't have the money coming in I have over $1100 in my emergency fund. So we would have been able to cover the car cost with the EF without putting it on credit. And that is huge. Not having to use the EF is even bigger. It feels really good.

I'm doing pretty good for the month of September so far. That makes 3 no spend days.

I used the pre-paid cash card to buy gas today, but that was paid for last week so I don't count that. as spending. Filled up the tank for just under $40. Costco gas is still at $2.559 a gallon while everyone else but one ARCO is upwards of $2.799. I know Costco can buy wholesale and get a better deal, but that much better just seems suspicious to me. The other places have to be doing some gouging.

The wait in line for gas today was ridiculous, though. I didn't even go at a busy time. I suppose it was the after holiday fill up.

School went great for the kids today. I am always happy to hear that. They also did tae kwon do class today. Tuesdays aren't a normal class day for us but the dojang was closed yesterday so we made up that class today. Rose doesn't want to do tae kwon do on Tuesdays and Thursdays because she has 72 minute long P.E. classes those days. Can't say I blame her!

We came home to another crockpot beef roast, tender and delicous. Both kids were whining about wanting nuggets on the way home. Tough. I'm not taking them out to eat for a good while, and especially not when there is a meal waiting for them at home.

Tomorrow will be a spend day as I have a 1.5 hour physical therapy appointment. $75 for that. My hip is pretty much back to normal so this will most likely be my last visit. I'll see what the girl has to say, but I think she'll agree with me.

My appointment is at 10:30 and the school bus leaves at 8:46, which means I could get to Curves by 9:00, workout, and still get to my appointment on time. I think my hip is well enough now to do that. Though maybe I should wait until I see what the girl says about it. Oh, who knows?

Mom gave me 20 pounds of red potatoes from her garden so I'm going to have to start working those into meal plans along with all the green beans and blueberries. They are a very good tasting potato so it shouldn't be a problem.

Well, we've done it. We have transferred all of our Bank of America credit card balances and our Citi credit card onto the debt consolidation loan and they are now reading with a balance of zero. We have one credit card left with a balance on it and it is at 1.99% until October of 2008.

We are going to aggressively pay this credit card down now. DH and I decided we will not start saving seriously for a new car until after this card is gone. We think we can have it paid off by March or April if we throw everything at it as hard as we can.

As soon as it is paid off we will start saving for that car. We will be putting enough aside though to get our current primary vehicle in tip top shape so it will last another two years. And we will do some repairs to the Blazer and try to sell it. I don't know if anyone in their right mind would buy a vehicle that gets an average 16 mpg. It is a luxury version (and no we didn't buy it new) so its possible some dumb 16 year old out to buy his first vehicle might plunk down a few thousand for it cause its pretty and status-y.

Over all it is in decent shape, but the air conditioner needs to be refilled and the 4 wheel drive needs $200 in repairs and I think a new serpentine belt soon.

The only reason we bought a 4 wheel drive was to get out of the mountains when it snows bad, but we've come to the conclusion over the years that when it snows bad it is better to stay put until you absolutely must go out and by then the roads are plowed and the regular car is fine. So it really isn't needed.

I don't even remember why I ever thought it was so urgent to get out of the driveway and out of the mountains to begin with. I don't have an outside job and DH works in Alaska. There really is no real reason to leave during bad weather as we have a good store of food laid up especially in winter time.

Anyway, so if we can get two or three thousand for the Blazer and drop it from our insurance we can throw that money at the last credit card as well. And that is also where our income tax return will go.

It will be nice to get down to medical debt, mortgage, and debt consolidation loan.

I am starting a new little savings log for what I am calling my Safety Net. It is part of my EF, but it will be in an immediately accessible account, so no more drama having to wait 3 days for an ING transfer to go through if I mess up.

I am starting it off with $51.81 and keeping it in the GPCU account. I think for now I will aim for $250 in this account and maybe down the line double it.

For now I will add survey money from Lightspeed as it is set up to end up in that account through paypal anyway, plus rolled coin. Other survey money will continue to go to the main EF at ING.

The Lightspeed money showed up at paypal today so I am hoping it will show up at the CU by Friday. I also have some rolled coin that I can deposit that I was going to send to ING but hadn't done yet.

I spent $15 on gas today because I didn't make it over to Costco before it closed. I still have money on my cash card for gas, like $80 or something, so this was just a careless use of time expense. I'll fill it up on Friday.

Friday is Rose's birthday. I have already bought her one present, a Zelda game, Twilight Princess. And she will be getting her ears pierced and a set of nice earrings with stainless steel posts, but that will wait until DH comes home. I don't even want to be on the same block when she gets them done. That kid can wail when something hurts. Like an air raid siren. I kid you not.

We are taking her to a place that does both ears at the same time, though. And she's the one who wants to do it. Originally we were going to make her wait until she turned 12 but she's so responsible I think that she can handle the cleaning and stuff to avoid infection, without supervision, which was my main concern about her doing it when she was younger. So 11 it is.

She's already wanting to wear make-up but that's a no-go until junior high. Clear lipgloss and pretty nail polish is it until then. Okay, that kind of went off on a tangent.

Yesterday was payday. Bills paid were:

$820.00 to BoA Visa
$372.00 to Water/Sewer
$ 88.90 to Citi MC
$ 34.00 to Security system
$ 93.00 to Puget Sound Energy
$ 30.57 to Life Insurance
$ 60.00 to Medical
$100.00 to Gas Card
$ 76.83 to Costco groceries and toilitries
$105.89 to Haggen groceries
$ 72.00 to Cell phone

So quite a bit of money out yesterday. Water/sewer is 6 months. They've switched over to a new computer system and have their elbows up their noses when it comes to billing. Fortunately I've just been keeping the money in account until they got around to billing. It's supposed to be $104 every two months.

Next week will be a rather large payout as well, as propane goes out, garbage, medical and house mortgages go out, homeowner's association dues, car insurance and $200 to Comcast for hooking up the new digital phone, putting in a new cable system for the internet and moving an existing cable to a new location for the telly.

I'm still not a huge fan of having cable telly again. But I absolutely adore cable internet. Makes me happy. I also like having caller ID for the first time. It's not an extra with the new system, it comes standard. I ignore call waiting. I think its rude and always have and I will not use it. Well, unless its DH. That could be an emergency. So I would then. Just have to figure out how.

The PC went belly up this week. I'm not sure if I said that before or not. When DH comes home he will do some tinkering and if that doesn't work we will take it in to 3-D, the local computer fixer people and see if anything can be done. We'll at least retrieve the photos off the hard drive. Then we will be looking at saving up for a little Compaq desktop. Doesn't have to be anything grand or expensive.

Oh, gas prices have dropped again, here. I filled up at Costco yesterday at $2.99 a gallon. It didn't even cost $45 for just under 15 gallons. Last time it was $52! So that's nice. It's also nice to still have over $50 on the gas card.

I need to remember to call and make an appointment to have the steering fluid flushed in the car. It's in serious need and I will try to schedule for next Friday as I will be in town doing all the banking for next payday then. I have a couple more repairs to schedule as well. It seems it's always something, but I suppose when your car is 15 years old, you do what needs doing to keep it on the road. The repairs still aren't more than half a car payment averaged throughout the year, so I think we're still doing good there.

Not much else going on. Oh, I was able to watch Doctor Who Utopia today. Took a good bit of hunting to find a working download, but I finally did. It only aired on Friday in the UK. It'll start airing in the states on July 6. Not sure when the DVD will be out, but definitely not until after it finishes its run on Scifi channel. I'll need to start saving up for that, too.

I found out Torchwood starts airing on BBCAmerica in September. Not sure if SciFi will do the spinoff or not. Well, I've watched them all online anyway. No info on when the DVD of that comes out either, but it'll probably be just as pricey as DW, so I should probably just double the amount I'm putting away for DW.

I think that's about it then, for today. No money spent at all today.

Well, so far so good. I have managed to use up two boxes of fish, one filets and one sticks and one box of chicken nuggets from the freezer. They were all taking up a lot of space and were only partial boxes. Now lest you think my shopping habits have been really bad, these were all homemade versions of fast food items that were in big Tupperware freezer containers.

I have also managed to use up half a head of cabbage close to the edge and a head of lettuce rapidly approaching the point of no return. I didn't make it to the farm today to buy the strawberries but I will have to buy milk and bread tomorrow so will buy the flat of berries then. I think I have enough eggs to make it to next Friday as well without buying anymore from the farm.

Oh, wait, you know I am getting lazy again and forgetting. I am going to start a loaf of bread going in the bread machine tomorrow before I head to town. I don't need to buy bread, I have just gotten into that mindset again.

I will be helping my mother out a bit. She still has walking pnuemonia and needs me to go grocery shopping for her, otherwise I wouldn't be going to town. And since I will be in town I will gas up at Costco, pick up my refill on my thyroid medication, and purchase my monthly CD. No not that kind of CD, I wish! That would be my monthly music CD. Rose has put in a request for something by Rihanna, so I'll get the one with Unfaithful on it. That song is so pretty even if it is pretty sad. I think it has S.O.S on it, too, which is quite upbeat.

I don't care that much this month, but next month, July's purchase will be one I've been waiting for, the new Kelly Clarkson. Yes, I am hopelessly a pop junkie. But I watched her new single Never Again on youtube and she is just getting better and better. The trick is going to be waiting until July 1st when she comes out the last week of June. But my limit is one CD a month., so I'll do it. That's my piddly small allowance, but its what I want and does not take up a ton of room so that's okay.

I put nine gallons of gas in the car today at $3.19 a gallon. The last time we got gas it was at $3.32 so that is a welcome drop. I have $16 left on my gas cash card. I will probably have to add more next week.

So, I was supposed to have a dentist's appointment on Tuesday but they cancelled it. Only they didn't call to cancel it until after I'd already left for town. Ten dollars down the drain in gas. Never let them give you an appointment following a major spring holiday or long weekend. Apparently there are a lot of idiots out there who lose teeth on long weekends and must come in for emergency repairs. I wasn't happy but I made the best of it and did some grocery shopping since I was in town and without DH and the kids who tend to make the spending go up.

When I got home the cable people had finished and gone and we now have cable internet, TV again, and a digital phone with free long distance, all for the cost of the internet and digital phone. I like cable internet. I'm going to come down firmly on the side of saying that. 56K is becoming a fading memory.

Of course, I wasted a ton of time on Tuesday afternoon and evening and yesterday, finding places online to watch the first seven episodes plus the Christmas special of series 3 of Doctor Who, which doesn't start airing in America until July and hasn't even finished airing in the UK yet. That was fun. Also found the first episode of Torchwood, which is definitely not for children! Even if it is a Doctor Who spin-off. I am impatiently waiting for the next episode of DW to go up as it aired last week. My little obsession.

But hey, I wasn't out spending money. Anywho, today was my rescheduled dentist appointment was today. My jaw still aches. Top eight words I do not want to hear from my dentist. Go on now, take a guess. Okay, I'll tell you. "I think we can do this without anesthetic." Oh, really? Do I get an opinion on that?

Turns out I didn't need it, though so that is less money out. I had ground down the area around a couple of fillings and they had to build it up and sand and resurface and fix a small chip. But still, not words I ever like to hear. I don't like going to the dentist, it always makes me quite tense. And my jaw just aches from being open for two hours. But it could be worse. It could always be worse.

After the dentist I stopped at WalMart to get engine oil and some more Rubbermaid bins to put more stuff in to take to storage so spent about $40.

Tomorrow will be a spend day as well. We are getting the oil changed in the Crown Vic and then I will be seeing the P.T. for my shoulder, which got wrenched. Old injuries reasserting themselves. I dislike when that happens. But its not horrible and Ibuprofen cuts it down to bearable levels.

It has been wicked hot here this week. To make up for it, they claim it will rain all next week. I'm not against that at this point. But I'm not sure I believe it, either. I'd like some days were it just sits at 70 with a light breeze so I can get the yard and garden back in order. Here's hoping.

I sent the $10 weekly deposit off to ING today, making the amount in there a whopping $72.58. Well, slow and steady.

All right, I better go and fold the mountain of clean laundry I've been ignoring since coming home.

Well, today was payday and a lot of money went out today, but bills must be paid and life rolls on.

$1300.00 to Bank of America CC (they own my life)
$ 42.00 to 3 month newspaper subscription
$ 42.01 to phone bill
$ 64.54 to cell phone bill
$ 233.40 to Costco
$ 63.27 WalMart
$ 17.46 Haggen
---------
$1762.78 Total spent

$100 of the Costco money went on the cash card to use for buying gas so that is not really as horrible as it seems. I stocked up a lot of canned goods I am low on and cheeses, part of which I froze.

WalMart was relatively healthy snack foods for the kids, medicine, a reinforced set of garden gloves that will allow me to pull out the trailing sticker plant that is invading my yard from the neighbor's house (their motto: yard, what yard?) a small handheld ratchet pruner and the bigger one you need for pruning limbs on trees and one music CD I had planned for.

I usually get one music CD a month, if I get more in a month its because I lose my discipline and impulse buy more. I did that two months ago, so I am trying to keep a leash on it, even though there are two more CD's I want to get. They'll just have to wait their turns. Music has a relatively important place in my life, having learned to play violin, viola, flute, and piano in my lifetime and having sung in Concert Choir in high school. Music is just that important to me.

Another payday gone and another paycheck spent. Next week is mortgage and more CC payments. Lovely. Ah, well, life goes on.

I just about wanted to cry today when I realized that the $50 worth of gasoline I put into my car today only gave me 13.873 gallons of gas. There has never been a time in my life that a fifty dollar bill would not fill up my 18 gallon gas tank. And I'd usually get back at least $5 in change this last year. Until now.

I don't drink fancy (or any) coffee, at $3 to $7 a cup, so I guess I still get to complain about the price of gas. $3.59 per gallon. This has to stop. It is wreaking havoc on the budget. I have no idea at all how the minimum wagers are surviving right now. I hope they all live close to their jobs, because I don't think they could afford to drive to them anymore.

I absolutely hate doing this, but I have decided to double my gas budget. That means it will be $200 for each four week period. And with $50 not even filling the tank, that means I have 13 gallons to work with. Thank the good Lord that last week is the last of t-ball. That takes a gallon round trip to drive to each time.

If this keeps up, if it gets worse, I think it'll mean no soccer in the fall. Rose can still play basketball because it is only one mile from the house and we can ride our bikes in good weather even. But I don't see how we can just blithely drive 12 to 15 miles one way to 3 or 4 practices a week if both kids play and 25 miles on game days. It's just too much.

I had thought about letting them go back to the dance studio next year instead of sports and if I could get them in afterschool classes on the same day, I could combine it with a weekly trip to the chiropractor. One trip a week is still manageable for extra-curricular activities. But not much more.

Maybe I'm being a pessimist. Maybe gas prices will go back down. Hey! It wasn't that funny...Stop laughing at me.

April's interest for my ING account was $2.07.

I transferred $30 to that account today. That brings the total in there up to $42.58.

I borrowed $600 out of that account for an emergency car repair that will be going back in next Friday, so the true amount in there should be $642.58 and will mean interest will take a hit this month but that is okay. I needed the car repair to be done. And that is what an EF is for, anyway.

DH and I talked on the phone over an hour last night about cars. He thinks we should just start saving $400 a month in the bank until the Crown Vic goes belly up and then go looking with a sizeable downpayment. Reasonable. Better than a giganto loan. Rational decision, I think. Sigh. Okay, then.

Meanwhile, we need to get the two free and clear vehicles we own up to snuff. The Crown Vic needs a major at home detailing session and to find out why the darn engine light keeps coming on five minutes after starting the car. And the Blazer, well, the air conditioning doesn't work, the 4 wheel drive is a $200 repair short of working and something is wrong with the accelerator.

Come to think of it, the Chevy is probably closer to belly up than the Ford. But I don't want to own an SUV ever again, I don't think. Maybe one of those hybrid ones some day in the very distant future when cars run on water or something.

Anyway, DH is being far more reasonable than I am about buying a new car, I think I may be reacting too much from the I wanna factor of my brain. Even though I know I don't want the long loan, so he makes sense. So we will do that, save and save and hope that it works out the way we want by the time we need to buy a new vehicle.

So that means of the $800 net raise per four week pay cycle, $400 goes to car savings, $100 goes to EF, $200 goes to debt repayment and the remaining $100 will go to upgrading our internet connection and possibly getting satellite TV. The kids are begging for it. I'm on the fence, but more on the no side. DH isn't sure he wants to go back to our old TV lifestyle at all. We do want to wifi our computers, though, so that will be a one-time cost of $200. We will see.

And of course, if necessary, the amount in car savings can be treated as a secondary EF, but only for a really bad emergency situation.

My new laptop battery came today and I am now portable again. Love it. And my new flash drive, specifically compatible with my old Toshiba Tecra 8000, came along with it. I am a happy camper. I feel like this computer can go a few more years now without being so darn tempted by the pretty new Toshibas out there. My little workhorse is doing just fine, even if it is a bit slow. Once we have an upgraded internet and a household network, speed will pick way up, anyhow.

I don't think I will upgrade to Vista. I'm doing just fine with the old XP upgrade. I'm just glad I could get a compatible battery for a computer this old.

I've been looking at cars again. I've been looking at what we can afford and also what I'd prefer to do. I'd prefer to get a nice used car for $9000 and a 3 year loan. Even if we can now afford a $23,000 very slightly used car (7K miles, 2006) with a 5 year loan. I am very reluctant to lock myself down into a 5 year car loan.

In the past we had a 5 year loan that we paid off in 3 years, and a 3 year loan that we paid off in 2 years. But this would be a five year loan that we took the entire five years to pay down.

I have been going back and forth over this possible obligation. The thing is that we keep our cars. The Crown Vic is a '92 and still running strong 15 years later. Though we bought it in '97, still we've had it for ten years. I know that if we get the more expensive car that we will keep it at least ten years, possibly much longer.

The $23,000 car has all of the features we want and leather seats. Cloth seats are no good with children and their messes, just too hard to clean. It has the room for my 6 foot 3 inch tall husband to be comfortable and still gets 28 miles to the gallon on highway driving, which is where we do 80% of our driving. The two models they have (which are identical except one is plum and one is aubergenie, one is 8000K miles instead of 7000, both darky reddy purplish, but not girly) and one has tan seats and one has beige seats.

The $9000 car is two sizes smaller, gets 34 mpg highway, has gray cloth seats and is "please officer, pull me over and give me a speeding ticket" red. It is a 2004 with 36K miles. It is plenty roomy enough for me even with being smaller and I would do the most driving in it. It is nice enough. It would do just fine. It might be a bit uncomfortable for DH, but he'd make do. But I don't really want it. I want the other one.

Am I being unreasonable not wanting to take on a $23,000 loan that lasts five years if I intend to keep what is virtually a new car 10 to 15 years? Will I be a grump about driving a perfectly serviceable car with a much smaller loan?

Last time we bought a car, the Blazer, I gave in to what DH wanted and I have regretted it pretty much since. It is not what either of us intended to buy, it was not what we researched and planned for. It was pretty. It was an impulsive veering off course of what we had previously decided on. It is hard to manuever and tense to drive. But he wanted it and it was an excellent price so I said okay.

I want what I want this time. Not something I am going to regret. But will I regret the five year loan? Circular logic only makes me dizzy!

Questions? Comments? Answers? Anyone?

Today was just an average day and it almost seems silly to blog about it. Maybe I'm going through a faze? I dunno.

Anyway, I went to the massage therapist today as my hip went all wonky earlier this week. It helped a lot. That was $50.

Went to Costco and spent $126.00, though $100 of that went onto the cash card to be used as gas. Gas is up to $3.05 at Costco and well over $3.25 at most other stations. Again we are the highest gas in the state of Washington. Sucks to be us if we want to drive right now. Otherwise I just bought kosher beef hotdogs and chicken pot pies. Oh, and I picked up the new Hillary Duff CD/DVD Dignity for Rose but that was with her allowance, so it doesn't count into my spending.

I set aside $60 to go into the vacation fund but did not have the time to deposit it today.

My parkhopper ticket for Disneyland arrived today. Hard to believe that in 9 more days I will be hitting that park with a very good friend that I have not seen since 2003 and without the kids! Oh, we will take them in another year or two, I suppose, but the little one is still too afraid of many carnival rides and I don't want to waste a trip not being able to go on things because of that.

Then after that is the conference for my illness, so all told I will be away from home for 8 days. DH will be on his own with the kids, scary. Well, not really, he's a good hands on dad, but he might find it scary. At least they will be in school on five of those days.

I haven't decided yet on whether I will take my computer with me or not. Doubt I'd blog much anyway, I'll be exhausted from all the walking around and having fun.

I'm working on a trip budget and am going to do my best to stay within it or even under it. Still a work in progress, though.

Well, I'm off to do my monthly Costco run. Not that much that I need there today, fluorescent light bulbs, sirloin patties for making hamburgers, and chicken pot pies because I've been promising the kids. Some lettuce, some fruit, and maybe some seafood if it looks good toay. I also need to put money on the gas card, so I probably will hit over $100 there. But definitely not for food.

I'll also make a brief run to Haggen to see if they have any kohlrabi in. I think it might be between seasons.

I'd like to make a stop at Lowe's to see what kind of veggie starts they have, maybe WalMart for the same reason. Depends on how crazy I want to make myself today. If Haggen has enough of what I want in their garden shop, then I might not bother with the other two places.

I'll try not to go hog wild and I won't be eating out today.

I wrote three more pages today. Really didn't want to stop but this is the last day I have to go shopping without the kids.

Went to the chiropractor this morning, paid $175 for the family monthly unlimited plan this time. I managed to tweak out my hip again, big time.

I also had cranial sacral therapy, which helped some with the hip as well.

We filled up the car at Costco, $39 and something. It's up to $2.959 per gallon, everywhere else is at least $3.05 and most are higher. I have $16 and some odd change left on the cash card there.

DH and I went out to lunch at Hungry Bear. We spent $36, including tip. We ate at two and I doubt I will eat another meal today, it was very filling. The food is always good there, the best of the best of diner food.

So quite a bit of money out the door today.

Today is payday so I will be heading to town to do the banking, paying some bills and the medical mortgage, trying to get the doctor on the phone to call me in a different blood pressure medication and something for this nasty sinus infection that won't die.

And I will be dragging Rose around with me, unless I can get ahold of my mother and she can go be sick at her house. She did go to school yesterday since she was feeling better but then last night she spiked a fever again.

The last empty lot in our neighborhood is being de-treed this morning. It's a double lot, too. So we got to watch trees crashing down. I met the lady who is going to be putting a house on the lot when I was waiting with Tobias for the school bus to come. She seems nice. No young kids, just a daughter who is 16.

They put the JVA up at DH's work yesterday. They have to keep it open until April 4 even though they supposedly are planning on promoting DH into this position. Just another hoop to jump through and I still don't trust his company. We shall see. I really hope it all works out because this will be a huge income leap for us.

I have to make an appointment today for an oil change on the Blazer and I think the accelerator is wonky, too. Sometimes the little thingy next to the speedometer gets stuck up on 4, which it shouldn't be getting to to begin with. Usually it revs up to 3 if I'm going up to 55 than drops back down to 2 or between 1 and 2. And the sound it makes is different than normal. And you have to punch it to go in reverse. Still not going to fix the AC or the 4 wheel drive though. Finishing the 4 wheel drive fix is another $200 and they can't guarantee that it will indeed fix it.

We so need to replace that vehicle. At least the car is in good shape, other than I need to get it in for an oil change as well.

DH will be home on Wednesday so I can get everything sorted for late next week. I hope.

The kidlets have happily convinced Grandma to have an overnight so I am completely free to do what I want tonight. Which means dishes and laundry then at least one episode of 24 and some writing.

I took a $1 survey today and am slowly getting caught up on my backlog of MyPoints.

I paid $1065.95 on one of the credit cards today. Drove to the little branch in the border town 10 miles from my house so I could get them in today. The new road is open now, so crossing back towards the highway is much easier now and takes about 15 minutes less time, going round the closer end of the foothill instead of the farther one. I could have paid them online but I had to stop by the post office there anyway and the BoA website is slow as dirt.

I filled up with gas after dropping the kids off with Mom, since I was in town. I wasn't happy with the price. $2.69 a gallon at the cheap station. I didn't want to go all the way to Costco today so I just went to the Arco. I won't make that mistake again.

I got really irritated at the cashier, who also happens to be the owner or one of the owners. I paid with a $50 bill, you have to pay ahead there, and when I came back in to get my change, he told me I didn't have any. It had only come to $36.95.

This is not the first time he has done this, it has happened a couple of times over the last year and it is always the same man. Last time he said he was trying to be "funny" or at least that was his excuse. It isn't always easy to tell, with his accent. But his accent always gets much thicker when he tries to pull this. I've heard him speaking perfectly good English with a much lighter Indian accent.

I think he was trying to rip me off. I just told him "What are you talking about? I can't understand you. I need change on pump 8." And just repeated myself until he gave me my change, the right amount, too. Don't tell me I don't have change and then give me the correct amount and expect me to think you don't know better. I will no longer be buying my gas there. I wonder how many folks have taken him seriously?

I am tempted to report it but don't have a clue as to who to report it to. The only reason I even went there was I had forgotten he had done this before until he was doing it. What is with people? As if the gas industry isn't trying to rip us off enough as it is, the owners are trying to get in on it now? Not with my money.

I don't usually do this because I like to be a bit more vague over where I live. I am going to this time, since it is not in the city I live in, just the one I was born in. This was the ARCO AM/PM on the corner of Bakerview/Airport Way and Bennet Drive in Bellingham, WA 98225.

It does not pay to make a blogger mad!

Bills paid today:

$ 400.00 House Mortgage ($375.86 + $23.14 extra to principle payment)
$ 130.00 Chiro Family Plan
$ 100.00 Bank of America MC
$ 320.48 Propane (6 months)
$ 37.36 Garbage (2 months)
$ 50.00 Costco Membership Renewal
$ 50.00 Costco Gas Card Loaded
$ 154.63 Costco groceries, Kleenex and Charmin
$ 20.00 Rose's monthly allowance
$ 15.00 Tobias' monthly allowance
$ 15.00 Doctor bill
$ 100.00 Citi MC
-----------------
$1392.47 Total Bills Paid

I am also setting aside $500 to be used along with some money from next week's check to pay BoA Visa, and took out $100 cash for miscellaneous expenses.

I woke up to six inches of snow this morning after two gloriously beautiful days of 50 degree weather. Waiting for the bus this morning made us all look like we'd been frosted it was coming down so hard, those ginormous fluffy flakes the size of a quarter if you know the type. It was beautiful but I thought we were done. I guess I can thank my lucky stars that we didn't get feet like other people across the country have had to deal with.

It started melting around noon, dropping huge loads onto the roof from the cedar trees. It was down to about 3 inches when I left to take the kids in to spend the weekend with my parents and my sister's youngest boy. (And if you heard a shout of joy around 6:00 PST tonight, that would have been me leaving my parent's house free and clear.

I love my children dearly but I was very much ready to love them at someone else's house for a bit. Two weeks of the flu with cranky kids followed by a 4 day holiday weekend and me not getting enough sleep the last two nights, does not make for good family harmony. If I had to hear "She's on my couch cushion!" "No, he's on my couch cushion!" one more time I think I may have gone mental. Especially since the middle couch cushion between them is supposed to remain empty to prevent such arguments from happening in the first place, but someone always wants to put their feet up.

I don't have to pick them up until Sunday noontime so I will have lots of time to write tomorrow. That I am looking forward to. I did some serious pondering on the drive home and figured some more stuff out plotwise, so I am quite happy with it.

I did my shopping after letting the kids off, major monthly grocery shop plus a WalMart shop as I needed OTC meds, including the type you have to sign in blood for at the pharmacy (Sudafed, Children's Motrin Cold) to replace what was used up during the flu. I also got motor oil, goldfish crackers, nasal spray, a new drying rack, and a new George grill. Kind of an eclectic lot. But I didn't have any impulse buys at WalMart and I can't often say that. I will need to do a Freddy's run for organic milk when I pick up the kids but then we should be set for a fair bit.

I wrote 3 pages last night, which puts me at 125, just over 1/3 of the way to my yearly goal. Yay, me.

I also bought some food from the Schwan's guy today and used $20 for gas.

I had to go down to the DMV today to renew my driver's license. It was $25 for a five year license. Ouch. Last time I had to buy one it was only $16. The wait was forever and those employees had their heads in the clouds, couldn't care less that they had a mile long line of people, they were going to take their own sweet time.

Anyway, I did that while DH took the Blazer to Les Schwab and got the flat tire fixed. It was only a patch, so it was free, thank goodness.

We also spent $25.37 on lunch out and $5 tip at our favorite Mexican restaurant. And $20 for gas.

There were some more purchases made tonight but I have to get the receipts from DH. He took the kids to buy birthday presents for the boy/girl twins who have a party tomorrow. And he picked up a new belt and some deodorant. I have enough female deoderant samples that I shant need to buy it for at least a year.

It's been a long day, I did not sleep last night more than 3 hours and I have been little miss Judy Attitudy all day long, but only in my own head. I look forward to waking up tomorrow refreshed and back to my old positive nature, even if it means hitting the Excedrin PM. I certainly have the headache to go with the need to sleep.

So no midnight or after entries from me tonight. Oh, on the bright side of the no sleep thing, I did manage to write 10 pages last night, so I did get something out of it. I'm still too sleep deprived to know whether they are any good or not yet, though. I'll read them through tomorrow. But that is 36 pages for the year, now I just need to multiply that by 10 to reach my 2007 goal.

It is my birthday on Monday. I will be 37. I like my birthday as I share it with Abraham Lincoln. I don't remember much about seven but the years I turned 17 and 27 have been incredibly good years in my life so I have high hopes that my luck will follow through on this.

I don't much believe in numerology or anything, but I do have to think that the years that have a seven in my age also coincide with having a seven in that year, as 2007 does, and with seven also being a sacred number to God, well, there's got to be some real goodness in all that, right? I was also born in a year with a seven, 1970. So I kind of have a thing about it. Maybe I generate my own luck through my belief. I wouldn't put it past me.

Sleep deprived ramblings, good thing its free cause you get what you pay for. Night folks.

Our local gas station has switched from being a 76 to a Valero. It's very pretty now. But the good news is that for this first week with the new pumps gas is at $2.29! I am very excited because the going price right now is $2.54. DH gets home tomorrow so on Saturday we will fill up both vehicles and take all of our gas cans down there and fill them up, as well. We have 4 5 gallon cans and 2 2 gallon cans, so I need to make sure we have enough cash to do it all.

I figure it'll take an extra $55 to fill the gas cans, but then we can use them when the gas in the cars runs out. Of course, first we'll have to fix the flat on the Blazer but that is doable once we pick up a bolt cutter from FIL. We've never used the spare because it is padlocked to the underside of the vehicle and when we bought it, we weren't given that key. One of the minor problems of buying something used. But we have never had a flat before, though we did replace tires once before any went bad. Just never needed to use the spare.

Yesterday was game day and as usual, Rose's team got trounced. It just is hard to get any rebounds when 4 out 5 players on the opposing team are a head taller than the tallest player on your team.

I emailed the head coach last night and I told him that next year they need to divide the teams up more evenly between ages and grades and experience and lack of experience and height because when you have one team from your school that is beating everyone by 30 points or more and the other one has barely managed to win 1 game all season, there is a huge inequality and it makes the losing team very dispirited every week. I don't know if he will do anything about it, but I'll be a big pain about it at the start of next season to at least be heard on the issue.

Rose got fouled on badly and got pushed into another player who's elbow went right into her temple. She was hurting too bad to even take her free throws and she's good at those, almost always makes them in practice. Another girl got slammed in the face and her tooth cut through her lip and was bleeding. She couldn't take her free throws either but also had to have a sub. Same person fouled them both. She got pulled two fouls later, thank goodness.

We packed our own snacks yesterday so no money was spent at the vending machines. The kids left the game with my parents and I came home to rest. Which I did do some, but then I got to writing and 26 pages later it was 3 a.m. That's really good for my health. But when stuff starts writing itself, I tend to go with it, because you never know when the muse is going to leave.

I made a promise to myself that I was going to write 365 pages this year, whether it was good or not, the habit needs to be gotten back into. And blogging doesn't count! And neither do outlines. That doesn't mean I have to write a page a day, I just need to hit my page count by year's end.

I went back and read the stuff over this afternoon and corrected all the typos and grammatical errors that weren't intentional, and I was really pleased with it, as sometimes middle of the night writing turns out to be less coherent than other times. In any case, its going in the "write" direction. Sorry, couldn't resist the pun.

Today I went in and picked up my kids and got gas. I used $30 of my gas money. It was down to $2.55 a gallon. I didn't go to Costco where it might have been cheaper because I can't find my Costco card and I didn't really want to go all the way across town, either. My card expires at the end of this month anyway and I'm not sure I will renew it. It's a hard decision, especially since they raised the fee.

Mom got me some eggs from the organic egg farm when she went out to get some for herself, so I have four dozen fresh eggs in my fridge. She cleaned them out between us. So that cost $6.

I got really fed up with a rude person today, and kind of let them have it in my own understated way. I always try to be polite, even when what I really want to do is be less than polite, to put it politely. Some folks are clueless and no matter what you do or say, they shall remain clueless. But such is life when you are dealing with people who don't have an ounce of common sense or consideration for others.

I'm going to try to see the doctor tomorrow if I can drag myself out of bed. Or more accurately not fall back into bed once I get the kids off to school. Or at least make an appointment for Tuesday if necessary. I am tired of being tired and not well.

I did a survey this morning and have a $5 check coming from Your2Cents. I also took a prequalifying survey for ACOP but I don't know if I'll get it as they asked about what type of TV service we have and we don't, so that's probably a no. I didn't make the one with the product trial I wanted as it was supposed to have started the 24th. Oh, well, these things are hit and miss. I've gotten two offers this month from Vindale but I just don't know if I want to do those anymore.

I'm still waiting on ReadRevenue to pay out from the 1/13 cash out. I'm not sure what is wrong but I heard from another one of the PTR places that they were having problems connecting with paypal due to an earthquake and dislocated cables, and since both are Asian Island based that's probably what the deal is. So it will most likely get straightened out eventually.

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.

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

Today was payday so of course, I paid some bills and we went grocery shopping.

Bills paid:

$260.00 Medical
$ 20.00 Rose's Lunch Account
$ 20.00 Tobias' Lunch Account
$ 93.00 Puget Sound Energy
$400.00 House Mortgage
--------
$793.00 Bills Paid

Groceries bought:

@ Terra Organica:

$ 7.98 2 5 lb bags of organic 100% whole wheat bread flour
$ 3.38 2 packages of organic 100%whole wheat tortillas
$ 3.39 1 box of Wheatines organic crackers
$ 5.09 1 jar of Spectrum Omega-3 Flaxseed Oil Mayonnaise
-------
$19.84 Total at Terra Organica

@ Fred Meyer:

$12.40 for 7.2 pounds leanest hamburger
$11.98 2 packages organic uncured ham
$ 2.10 for 5.53 pounds navel oranges
$ 1.99 1 gallon 2% milk
$ 4.99 1 gallon organic non-fat milk
$ 3.29 Organic Yogi Ginger Tea
-------
$36.75

$56.59 Total grocery spending

@ Fred Meyer non-grocery spending

$ 1.98 2 packs key sorters
$ 3.29 bottle of Rolaids
$12.98 2 bottles Vicks Sinex nasal spray
-------
$18.25
$ 1.87 sales tax
-------
$20.12 Total non-grocery spending

Meal Out for 2 at Cinco de Mayo

$21.13 cost of meal
$ 1.96 sales tax
-------
$23.09
$ 5.00 tip
-------
$28.09

$897.80 Total spending today

I still have some bills to pay and $300 or so to do it with but have will not sit down and do those until this weekend.

The hamburger was the leanest they make and was all in the reduced bin so it went straight into the freezer when we got home.

The oranges were on sale for 38 cents a pound, really great price.

----------
Edited to add:

I forgot we got $20 worth of gas today, too.

$897.80
+ 20.00
--------
$917.80 Total payday spending.