Sigh. We blew a tire on the way into town tonight. This is one that has already been repaired 3 times so I knew there was no fix to it and I was right. Fortunately DH did not lose control of the car and we were able to pull off to the side of the road within 1/10 of a mile on a nice wide piece of shoulder. And it was a good place to pull off, too, which was a relief because of course it was on the driver's side, closest to the highway traffic.

I am so grateful DH was home. Two days ago I would have been trying to figure out how to change it by myself. I learned many years ago but that was on my old Nova. Even DH had to look in the owner's manual to figure out where the jack went. I'm just really glad I had the locking nuts removed the last time we bought new tires. Had to have them cut off at the time as the tool got tossed out accidently years ago.

Our spare went on as easy as can be but the tire pressure was different between the two front tires and that pulled the alignment out worse than it was already. We decided to go ahead and get two new tires as the tire place had a sale on right now, instead of just one. The other tire was still okay but the wear pattern was a little off and I prefer not to mess around with stuff like that too much when DH is gone so often.

So we bought the two tires that were on sale but ended up getting a free upgrade when they couldn't find the sale tires, even though the computer said they had them. We went ahead and had it realigned since it was so badly out of whack. I had planned on getting it realigned next week anyway when we got the oil change done, so I did have the money for that set aside. It was the tires and their installation money I didn't have.

Well, we charged the extra and we will pay that off next month. It means less eating out again, but we are getting used to that. We were lucky in that we got to the tire shop at 6:10 and they closed at 6:30. The only tire shop in the area that is open past 6:00. And we have bought tires there before and like the shop, too.

We are also lucky this did not happen tomorrow when we were on the way to the fair. I would have hated to have spoiled our day that we have been planning.

If an incident like this has to happen, it happened under all the best possible circumstances. I feel watched over today.

Tommorrow we are going to the Northwest Washington Fair or as we call it, just the Lynden Fair, because it is in Lynden and is faster to say.

My sister gave me two free children's tickets that her kids won at a homeschool thing they do. But since they are in the process of moving to Mount Lake Terrace they aren't going this year. The value of the tickets is $3 each, so we'll be saving $6 for the kids.

I Believe adult fair is $6 each and then we have to get ride bracelets for the kids. They are now old enough that we don't have to get ride bracelets to go on with them now. Still they cost about $15 to $18 depending on the day. I think it's more expensive tomorrow but it was the only day we can go.

We are planning for one meal there and our other meal we are packing. We usually eat in the 4-H food building so can get quite a good deal on food over buying it at all the little stalls. And good food, too like chicken, fresh sweet corn, and potatoes. Not corn dogs or sausages on a stick or Bavarian doughnut balls or squirrely fries (which the latter has always been just an invitation to food poisoning for DH and me anyway).

Though we will get a funnel cake for the 4 of us to split and we will get a bag of cotton candy to take home for the next day, as eating both part of a funnel cake and half a bag of cotton candy in one day would make Rose's blood sugar go ballistic and we won't even say what that would do to Tobias and his temper. Too much sugar and he is monstrous in attitude.

Each child can have one souvenier that we will buy and if they want to use their own money they can get something more. We usually let them each get one face painting but I am going to try to avoid that this year and remind them firmly of how much their faces itched last time and how it was so hot they sweat the design off within a few hours anyway.

I have budgeted $100 for this day trip, so hopefully I can keep it under that and not right up to it. I will only have that much in my wallet so that it can't go over it. It seems very extravagant for me to spend $100 for one day, but as we are not having a vacation this year at all, one day isn't too bad for our biggest thing of summer.

Okay, I got the $15 in rolled coin deposited today and I cashed the check from SendEarnings. I put $2.85 of that check into savings and kept $50. I will pay that $50 and an additional $6 back to savings on Friday. Total in savings now is $575.85.

I also went to the doctor today. He doesn't charge me my copay, he just charges the insurance company what they pay. I love my doctor. He delivered me so I have known him all my life! He is a very good man and he always makes sure I can afford whatever medications I need.

Well, today I had a raging kidney infection. He does the lab work right there in the office and he says its the worst he's seen me have. I do get them a couple times a year, and this one did feel worse. The onset was very fast, too. Anyway, I ended up with only having to pay a total of $20 for 2 prescriptions, both generic at my insurances $10 copay for each.

Had a nice chat with the pharmacist. Love my pharmacist, too. I've known him since I was a kid. He always makes sure I know what I need to know about new meds and how the will or will not interact with any other meds I'm on. So basically, no interactions, take with food, stay out of the sun. The last of which I am only too happy to oblige right now. I just don't like 80 degree weather.

So all I spent today was that $20. I had a free dinner at my mother's house. Two double cheeseburgers from McD's. She buys them 20 at a time and has them on hand for Dad or when the grandkids stop by. Big meal for me but I didn't eat lunch. Then I went out back and picked some blueberries for dessert. Took a quart size Ziploc full home with me. I'll pick a bunch more on Thursday when we go in again. There's at least 10 gallons worth ripe on the trees right now.

DH and I drove down to Burlington today to do some shopping. Well, we did a lot of looking, but not much buying. We spent a little over $5 at the Target there, but we might as well have just gone to the one in Bellingham. It has a better selection.

We visited one of the hardware stores they don't have in our county but it was so poorly laid out, badly lit, dirty, and smelled like kitty litter that I didn't want to buy anything there, let alone stay in the store.

We looked in one of the stores at the outlet mall, the kitchen one, but they did not have the hard anodized cookware that I want. At all. Even Target has it. Just not in anything bigger than 10 inches and I need a 12 inch pan. I do not want to buy the entire set at Costco just to get the one pan that I need.

DH and I went to Outback for dinner. I had an appetizer for my entree, kukkaburra wings with celery and bleu cheese dressing and a baked potato on the side. Oh, and the rye bread they serve. I still have five kukkaburra wings so they will be for tomorrow's lunch.

The girl gave me an extra loaf of the rye bread to take home free and also a big tub of their bleu cheese dressing. Also free. I normally hate bleu cheese, but this is the only place I really like it. They make it from scratch. I asked, as I was hoping to get the brand name so I could buy it and she said she'd just get me a big old tub of it. It's at least a 4 ounce container. Might even be 6.

So, I'll be eating a lot of celery to use it up over the next little while.

So we spent $39.35 for dinner and an $8 tip. DH had no leftovers.

Oh, and because we had too, according to DH, we bought a dozen doughnuts at Krispy Kreme. So not a needed expense at all, but I give once in awhile, otherwise it is just discouraging to always, always scrimp. And it was all planned before we went, anyway. It was not an unplanned expense.

My daughter's birthday is coming up and I did not see anything in the store for her at all. She'll be ten and that is an awkward stage to buy for. I'm thinking about a used Game Cube from Game Stop. A couple of books. And maybe some clothes that will double as school clothes. Not too crazy about the looks of the clothes right now. Kinda raggy ratty. This is a fashion?

She wants to get her ears pierced but I said she has to wait until she turns 12 for that. She only wants them now because her cousin got hers done when she turned ten. Most of her friends had them done as babies, but I have always been of the firm opinion that my daughter's body belongs to my daughter and I didn't feel I had the right to put holes in it without her consent. Just my opinion, I know other people do it all the time.

She can have the holes when she can take care of them well on her own. I'm not dealing with infected ears. Hence age 12. And hope she doesn't wear me down.

Filled up the gas tank in Sedro-Wooley on the way home. $2.95 a gallon. Saw one place that had $2.94 but DH didn't want to go across all the traffic he would have had to go across to get there. The best price in my county is $2.99, which is why I saved our fill up for today. It's always a bit cheaper just across the county line.

Yesterday DH and I had some time off from the kids who went to swim at my mother's house. We went to LensCrafters to buy safety glasses. DH needs them for work when he is in the oil well houses or walking down construction wiring or for when he walks the pipeline.

Anyway, work will reimburse him 100% on safety glasses, but we still have to buy them first and then submit the receipts.

Well, we found an attratctive pair of safety glasses right off the bat. That never happens, by the way. They were $100 for the frames, good for safety glasses with permanent side shields. The lenses, because they are perscription safety glasses, came to almost $200, so $300 something with tax. Ouch.

Then the lady says, "But we have 90 days same as cash, interest free." Well, after a bit of back and forth, we decided to do that. So he will submit the reimbursement paperwork when he goes back up and starts work on Tuesday. It takes about 4 weeks max for reimbursement. They will auto deposit it. So we end up not having to come up with the money out of pocket at all. And it will have 6 weeks or so to sit in our savings account and earn interest, too.

We cut through Penney's to get there so went back out that way. As we were going through linen we found the perfect towels on sale. I have been looking for a bright, lime green for awhile. They have had this kind of almost right color in several stores, but it was more muted and towards the ugly. This green was perfect to go with the turquoise towels in our redecorated bathroom. I have been waiting a long time to find them. It makes the bathroom so much brighter and perkier. Very tropical. I was so done with burgundy and forest green.

The towels happened to be on sale, also. So we got 8 large bath towels, 4 hand towels, and 8 wash clothes for $68. So now our whole bathroom matches for the first time in our marriage. We are weeding out all the other weird towels we have acquired since our wedding eleven years ago and they will be pool towels until they finish wearing out.

The kids have purple and yellow towels in their bathroom (their two favorite colors) and it goes suprisingly well. We did those back when we got the turquoise ones for our bathroom.

It seems like such a little thing, but it makes me happy to have matching towels of some quality.

I didn't have time to post twice on Thursday but DH and I had a rare date, while the kids spent the night at my mother's house. It was a very spendy date, too. But DH got a bonus check for some extra stuff he does on a safety committee at work and that's how he wanted to spend it.

So we went to Black Angus and had the special of a small lobster tail, King crab leg, and prime rib, with 2 sides. DH got the same. I got double veggies and he got veggies and a baked potato, loaded. No dessert and I drank only water, but DH had Coke. We took the bread home.

Afterwards we went to the movies and paid (gasp!) full price. I haven't paid full price in years, we always go to matinees and even that has gotten pricey. But he really wanted to use the money this way, and I wanted to see the movies. We so rarely go to movies. The last one we saw was the Narnia one, and before that The Day After Tomorrow. And we had gift certificates both times from my mother.

Anyway, we saw X3, which we had both wanted to see on the big screen before it was gone. There were 9 other people in the theater with us and we got to sit in the seats that would be behind the wheel chair seats, which means complete legroom. I've never been so comfy at a movie theater in my life. That movie went fast and it was good, but it made me cry a couple of times. I was expecting to cry at the second movie, not the science fiction one.

The second movie we saw was The Lake House. I adored it. Made me cry more than the other movie, but it was wonderful. A true romance. I hope those two don't wait over a decade to make another moive together. They have such good chemistry I hate to see it not used.

Anyway, DH and I had a marvelous time and in the end it was worth it, the money we spent. It will be a long time before I pay full price for a movie again. DH wants to see Superman next time he comes home. I may order the entertainment book as it has movie coupons. I don't know if our regular budget can swing another movie for awhile. That's what Netflix is for, it just means waiting a bit more.

I think this goes firmly in the Not My Fault category.

Today we had a car appointment to see why the check engine light never went off after our last repair and also why the cruise control stopped working at the same time. And to get the wiper blades replaced, which technically we could have done ourselves but its a big hassle for me and DH doesn't like to do it as he always manages to crack a fingernail or pinch a finger or cut himself when he does it.

We only ended up having to pay for the wiper blades because the reason the cruise control wasn't working was because they had forgotten to tighten something and they couldn't see any reason for the engine light to come on. They took it for a drive and it didn't come on for them. They said it was safe to drive now.

So we spent $25.99 there. While we were waiting we ate lunch out, which is something we weren't going to do, but did anyway. We went down the highway and across at the big light to Shari's and I haven't eaten there in maybe 10 years because it always used to reek of smoke the minute you opened the door. My allergies couldn't handle that so I didn't go. Well, the anti-smoking law passed and at the first of the year you could not smoke in any restaurant or bar, so we decided to go there, and well, I didn't miss anything by not going there so long. The food was unremarkable. Spent $30.89 for food and left a seven dollar tip, because the service was very good despite the food.

Then we walked back across the highway and down to the Barnes and Noble and spent an hour there. I picked out some work books for Rose. Her teacher said she should practice her cursive and her printing over the summer because she can be very sloppy when she doesn't try. And then picked up some math practice books on her weak areas which are place values and division. Also got multiplication and division flash cards.

For Tobias we got some early reader, very simple books and some printing practice, then some number games and puzzles, too. These were planned purchases out of what was left in my homeschool money envelope that turned up last night. I had misplaced it quite awhile ago and it had $100 left in it from a year ago when we last were homeschooling. We spent $108.39. Sales tax put us just over.

We then went to Exxon to use the last of my Exxon gas cards only the machine said it was accepted but then after we put the gas in, it said it wasn't. So the clerk came out and tried to get them to work and they wouldn't. Well, we'd already put one card's worth in the tank, which was $10 so we had to pay that in cash. I was miffed because we never would have gotten gas there without the card because it was $3.09 a gallon at Exxon and the Arco across the way was $2.99 a gallon so we would have gone there without the card. In fact we did go there and put the last $13 of cash I had in the tank.

Then we went to MIL's where the kids were playing in the pool, looked at the new sauna and hot tub that they'd put in and chatted for awhile. Then home. Well, we drove by a fruit stand selling cherries for a dollar a basket and I scrambled to count my change, but only had 92 cents, so we couldn't stop. They sell the best cherries there.

We also stopped at the IGA and I bought a few things. I got 4 chicken hindquarters (which equals 8 pieces), a bunch of scallions, 2 pounds of shredded cheese and 18 hormone free, antibiotic free, free-range chicken eggs for $10.69, but minus ten cents for using my proud card, so only $10.59. Everything but the scallions was on sale, and the scallions were only 69 cents.

So we spent a good bit today, but it was $200 less than we expected, because we figured the car would be a lot more. But since the problem was their error, it wasn't. However, the check engine light did come back on again, so grr, argh.

I gave in today and we went out to eat for dinner. It hit 92 here shortly after lunch and it was just too darn hot to cook anything. DH has come down with my cold, though he is on his way back up today. He always gets through it faster than I do. Both kids are well.

Anyway, we spent $55, including the tip. Ouch. But there was just no way anyone was going to heat up the whole house. In fact, dinner was the only meal I ate today. Heat robs me of my appetite for most of the day so I usually just drink water until late afternoon on hot days.

I'm going to put a chicken or a potroast in the crockpot tonight and then shred all the meat in the morning so we can make things easy in the microwave. Eating out gets too expensive, but it is so easy to turn to it when cooking becomes inconvenient. And that is no way to save money. On the bright side, I found a penny out by the mailbox/paper box this morning. That brings my people just giving me or leaving around money total to $1.52 since April 9th.


We did some yard work tonight from 7 until 8:30, it was still 75 but the back yard is in shade then so it wasn't bad. We want to put up our pool soon. We all could have used it today. It's not very big compared to some of the quick set pools, maybe 8 or 10 feet in diameter and relatively shallow. Enough to cool off in and the kids have room to horse around in it if it is just them.

And I can go sit on the top platform of the play structure, which has a shaded roof, with my laptop and see the pool without having to be down there. Anything happens I'm just a step away from the slide and I can be right there. No sitting in the hot sun to watch the pool.

Yesterday we went on our big run for the month. We plot out each store we need to visit and then the shortest drive distance to get to them and drive it in order. We started at Haggen grocery store because we had bought stamps there earlier in the week but hadn't been given them, so took the receipt in and got them. We also bought a watermelon and 10 bottles of soda for a 7-Up promotion. It had 10 2 liter bottles for $10, with a $10 rebate. Flavors allowed included A&W root beer and cream soda, orange crush, and a couple of the new flavored 7-Ups. We hardly buy pop anymore, but for this we'll end up having only paid the 8.4% sales tax. And it should last all summer.

After that we went across the street to Wells Fargo and paid the Medical Mortgage $1000 and then on to our main CU to get money for gas. We then went to Sprawl-Mart (WalMart)to get water socks for Rose (will her feet ever stop growing? She's just gone to a nine and she's only nine! Also got Sudafed at their pharmacy after signing in blood and taking a retinal scan to prove my identity. Okay, I'm only slightly exaggerating, I only had to show photo I.D. and sign electronically. While we were there we picked up nasal spray and eye drops that are safe for contacts (DH just got them.) And we bought 2 gallons bubble soap because it allows the kids endless entertainment. All purchases planned and no extra items snuck into the cart when I wasn't looking.

Then we went to Costco, which is across the highway from Sprawl-Mart and I am very happy that we only picked up what we planned on there, also. Kleenex brand tissues, Charmin brand toilet paper, the big bag of chopped romaine lettuce, and 2 pounds of King crab legs. Then we walked to the other end of the parking lot to Bed, Bath & Beyond and used my $20 in g.c.'s from a trial offer plus spent an additional $23 to get a good digital food scale. It goes up to ten pounds, and it is what I will use to weigh my e-bay packages. Since most of what I will be sending is going to be used dance shoes and leotards from the past seven years, that should be a good limit.

Then we took the jog over to the cheap Arco and filled the tank. $45 almost but it's gone down to $3.05. I forgot to buy Costco cash at Costco or we would have got it there four cents cheaper. Then to Fred Meyer for organic milk on sale and the cheap 2% for DH on sale. They had an unadvertised sale on turkey legs at .79/lb so we got some of that and some .88/lb chicken thighs and legs. Then we walked next door to Baskin Robbins. I had coupons for buy one get one free kids cones for the kids, but payed full price for mine and DH. This is a rare thing, we do not go there often and it was also planned, not impulse.

All in all it was a very good shopping trip and the kids were good. By plotting out our course ahead of time we were able to spend the least amount of gas getting places and we didn't back track at all.

Today's expenses:

$15 co-pay for doctor's visit--Rose
$40 co-pay for brand name medicine--Rose
$15 co-pay for doctor's visit--Me
$40 co-pay for brand name medicine--Me
$ 5 co-pay for generic medicine--Me
$12.52 for Robitussin cold gels--2 packs--Me
$25 two types of ice cream (all natural), 2 bottles of 7-up, several boxes of Mrs. Grass Noodle Soup

Total damage: $152.52

I thank God we have health insurance on days like today.

I deposited that check that had gone missing but I found last night, so it is safely in savings. I also got two piddly payments from paypal to verify the account and then put through a request for the funds transfer of $50 from my Vindale payment. Now I just have to wait for it to show up in my bank account. It says 3 to 4 business days, but it said that about the two piddly deposits, too and those came through today when I made the request on Saturday, so hopefully it will go fast and be there in the next two days or possibly even tomorrow.

It just has been such a long, drawn out process to get everything in place to receive money through paypal and now that it is all in place, I want to get that money in the savings account as soon as possible. When I do, I shall have $420.34 in long term savings. Not bad for a girl who just 2 short months ago had only $125 in one savings account, and $5 in the other. Now the $5 account has over $200 in it. That's over $500 in savings, I'm over the halfway mark to $1000. How on earth did that happen? And also, wow.

I have to earn 200 more points from MyPoints before I can cash out for another gas card. Gas prices are finally going down here. Average is now at $3.23, cheap Arco is at $3.11, Costco is at $3.09. The Shell station is at $3.15. I am glad I chose to get the rest of my gas cards from Shell because the Exxon/Mobil stations are at $3.23. I only have one Exxon left to use.

Spent $60 today on food. Not good. We had out both lunch and dinner. Now we have leftovers from both that will equal one more meal for all of us. It was the last day of school and Rose had early dismissal (Tobias had his last day Friday), and I think we all got a little over excited about having freedom this summer, so we celebrated a little too much.

I think eating out is really my Achille's heel. I have to keep a sharper eye out on that. We still could have had two meals out for around $25 if we'd just done McDonalds or DQ or even Arby's twice. I think I will make it my goal for the rest of the month. No more eating at restaurants. And just so I get the intent right from the actual words, no more getting takeout from restaurants, either. Know thyself. I know DH will want to go out when he gets home. At least once. Well, he doesn't fly out again until July 3, so I'll just make him wait until the 1st so I can honor my ban.

I found the check that I misplaced, so now I can deposit it into my savings account tomorrow. Well, today actually since its after midnight. I have to go to town for a chiropractic appointment anyway, and I had to go this CU anyway also, so the finding of it was convenient. Now if I can just find out what happened to the check that disappeared in February from the orthodontist reimbursement for overpayment, I'll be really happy.

Didn't do much today, er...yesterday. Spent $15 for lunch for myself and the kids at McDonalds, this included desserts, too or it would have been closer to $10. We stayed for a couple of hours so they could play and I could have a little time to myself (sort of). Then we went to MIL's house to give FIL his Father's Day card. We did my Dad's card yesterday.

DH won't get his until he's back in the state. He's at a safety conference in Anchorage right now, he has per diem for meals and usually ends up ahead on that. It's $30 a day but they provide lunch and snacks, so its not hard for him to have some leftover. It won't be any huge amount or anything, but he'll probably end up with at least $40 to put in the long term savings.

Well, I was right about never seeing that $5 from the neighbor again. And I probably never will.

Yesterday my DH let him use our lawn mower, despite the fact that it was the first sunny day in over a week and our own lawn was way too long and the forecast said it would rain today (which it did). And of course, the idiot neighbor promptly plowed it into a rock that bent the blade at a 90 degree angle from its previous direction.

Did he come tell us right away? Oh, no. He tried to "fix" it himself. With a sledge hammer. When he couldn't fix it, then he finally came over and told DH. DH tried to fix it, but because of the sledge hammer, there was no fixing it.

The neighbor did some hemming and hawing and said "Guess it looks like you need a new one." DH goes "Yep." Neighbor goes, "I guess I should buy it." DH goes "Yep." Neighbor says, "Well, I can't buy it until Tuesday, why don't you go buy it and I'll pay you back." Right. Like he paid back the $5. I don't think so.

We had the kids's recital last night so we took off shortly after and didn't get home until really late. First thing we see when we pull in is that the neighbor has left both our gas mower and our old fashioned push mower on his front lawn instead of bringing them back or locking them up in his garage.

So DH went and got them. He left a note saying he had so they wouldn't think they were stolen, though I was tempted to just let him think they were stolen and see if he came over to even tell us. But DH said no, and added to the note that we were sleeping in and not to come over in the morning. We were exhausted from the recital.

Anyway, the guy had the nerve to come over this afternoon and ask if he could borrow the mower once we got the part fixed. DH said no and that he couldn't borrow it anymore at all. Neighbor wasn't happy and DH was even less happy. The guy has been there 2 months. Its about time he bought his own lawnmower or asked for one on freecycle.

FIL came out tonight with the replacement part and it is at least working again. It only cost $17.55, but that is $17.55 that could have been used for something else.

Oh, well. We are done being good neighbors. Now we will just be indifferent neighbors. I like it better that way anyway. And besides that, the guy was starting to give me the creeps.

Today we drove up to Lynden and went to the McDonald's there. We stayed for a good couple of hours. The kids played in the tubes and I read my gardening book. Of course, they both had happy meals and I ate off the dollar menu. Then they both got the freebie kid cones for dessert. It was just over $12 (8.4% sales tax).

Then we stopped at MIL's house to spend a couple of hours there. We watched (and helped, sort of) them make a cobblestone pathway. They had the forms and then you pour the concrete into them and use a trowel to smooth it down. Then they had some green landscaping rocks, I'm not sure what it was, it looked a little like jade and a little like that soft, almost soaplike stone that I can't for the life of me remember what it was called. Apparently college geology classes don't stay in your mind forever.

Anyway, they pressed the shards of these green rocks into the poured forms so that they were even, kind of like mosaics, and then MIL put a little glitter over it all. It was a very pretty effect. What's more, it shouldn't be too difficult for me to recreate it. They, of course, bought 100 bags of concrete at once. But I figure, if I do a bag a week, it shouldn't be quite so overwhelming budget-wise. I've been wanting to put in a pathway for a long time, just couldn't see myself doing it, since DH is gone so much of the time. But this shouldn't be so hard.

Anyway, afterwards we went to my mother's house and I cooked them all dinner and then the kids are spending the night so I get some free time tonight. I've started on laundry as it is supposed to be sunny tomorrow and am working on the kitchen. The floor needs mopping, so I'll do that tomorrow.

Oh, I did spend $10 at Haggen to get a black caladium. I am just waiting on two other ones that are in the reds to show. They usually don't appear in our stores until early to mid-June. Then I will be done buying flowers for the year.

Today was payday.

Paid:
$1000 to mortgage
$300 to Chase Visa
$40 fee for soccer camp for Rose
$20.50 to Lowe's (used my gift card of $10 off a $25 purchase) to buy 2 caladiums and a canna
$9.98 for 2 gallons of organic milk

Have set aside:
$20 for long-term savings
$17.11 for freezer money account (this was the amount left over in the checkbook from the previous paycheck)
I will deposit those on Tuesday as I didn't make it into town in time to do that today.

I had the car in the shop again today. My so-called $145 part and $55 labor turned into a total of $374. And the check engine light is still coming on, only instead of coming on after the car has been driven for a minute it is coming on after about five minutes.

They said it would be ready at 1:30, it wasn't. They said it would be ready by 4:30. I had to borrow my mom's car to come home in time for the kids to get off the bus. At 4:30 I called the shop. It still wasn't done. They close at six. Was it going to be done today or not? Because I didn't want to drive all the way back to town only to be told it wasn't done.

The answer I got was they were 99% sure it would be done and fortunately it was. But I still don't think they even bothered to diagnose the check engine light.

I have had such a good relationship with this shop but I think I may go back to the dealership instead to have this done. I am so tired of throwing money at this car. Almost $600 this month and that doesn't include the price of gas.

I am going to redouble my efforts to get us out of debt and increase our savings. Especially because I had to charge this. I will have the money to pay it on Friday and we will pay it online immediately. It really made my stomach upset to pull out the old credit card for this.

If it hadn't been after five when we got back to town I would have taken the money from the long term savings and freezer account and then replaced it on Friday over putting it on the card. That was psychologically devastating to use that card after consciously not using it for a few months.

I did put the rolled coin in my purse last night and an extra roll of quarters that I had accumulated in the 2 weeks I had been forgetting to take the coin in and deposit it. So the total deposit was $25.50, bringing the account up to $164.08. There must have been a smidge of interest dumped in at some point, also. I don't keep up on this account much because up until April, it didn't have much in it, is only a savings account, so the money is either there or not, seldom going in or out. Well, it is still seldom going out, but its going in with a bit more frequency now.

My son had his last rehearsal before the recital today, well except for dress rehearsal, so I ran to the CU during that time. My daughter didn't go to school today or I would have taken in the cans. I just didn't want to drag her around too much. Both because she isn't feeling well and because I still don't feel well, either.

Oh, well, I'll get them in one of these days. I loaned $5 to my neighbor for gas. I don't know if I'll ever see it again, but I did it anyway.

I also bought a big container of egg flower soup at the one MSG-free Chinese restaurant in the county. This is my major comfort food when sick. There is enough for six meals and it cost $5.24. This and Mrs. Grass should get me through this cold.

Didn't spend on anything else.

Today was a humid 73, which is in a lot of ways worse than a dry 87, but no kind of day could have made me not be a little cranky today. Woke up with a sore throat. Not the kind that makes you want to scream every time you swallow, but the kind that is there all the time, kind of in the background, but it still hurts, just not the type of hurt you can't function with. What we call a "summer" cold, onset with weird weather swings. Even ibuprofen didn't dull it down, but fortunately ice cream and popsicles did help freeze it out. I hope it is better tomorrow.

We had two big thunderstorms tonight. One came through at 8 p.m. and dumped so much water on us that it was coming over the sides of the gutters as well as down the downspouts. I ended up taking photos with the digital camera because DH doesn't believe me when I say water goes between the house and the gutter as well as over the free-standing side of the gutter. He's never home when it happens! Digital camera has the ability to record small bits of live action, too. Now maybe I can get him to put up the new gutters I have been whining for for 2 years. He has a Home Depot gift card he got from work as some kind of thank you for something, so it won't even cost anything, the card will more than cover it. I think he just wants to buy a miter saw, but honestly, we don't need a miter saw. We can borrow one from his Dad. He isn't even a tool guy, but sometimes he wants what he wants. I suppose we all do. But the freak storms are fading the paint on the side of the house and so the gutters are a need.

The other storm came through at ten. This one went through in about ten minutes instead of a half hour like the first one. The thunder wasn't as loud, either. Didn't see lightning with either one.

Did spend some unnecessasary money today, but less than $20. I was feeling too lousy to cook so for lunch we drove up to Lynden. We got food from the dollar menu from McD's (with enough for dinner, too) and ice cream from DQ and I took a different route home than we drove there, so we had a lot of nice scenery to look at. We also went by a gas station that was at $3.16 a gallon so we filled up there, so that cost $45, but that is a planned gas expense that I would have paid out tomorrow anyway. That is 3 cents cheaper than the cheapest one in Bellingham. Going for the drive helped us all with the stir crazies, too.

In the afternoon we cleaned out my son's room and took out a bunch of toys he has grown out of which we will either garage sale or freecycle, depends on how much work I feel like doing. Today's attitude would say just chuck it on freecycle, but I sure wouldn't mind getting a little cash out of it. Or I suppose I could list it on almostfree, might actually get a bit better than garage sale prices for it then.

Some time in the evening my son's friend R came over for about an hour and a half, so they were happily occupied for a bit so I could catch up on my emails and keep my crankiness to myself.

Not much else happened tonight, other than watching a series finale of my favorite show, that really should have been 2 hours long instead of one. It deserved that, but I at least enjoyed the hour they did have. If this show were still on next year I'd have a heck of a time giving up cable next month.

Tomorrow my son has his last class before the recital and maybe if I go put the rolled coin in my purse right now, I'll actually take it to town with me and deposit it in the freezer money account. Here's hoping.

I took the car into the shop today to have the oil changed and the power steering fluid changed and it cost me $140, ouch. Well, they did top up all the fluids and do the whatnot bits of the 3000 mile check-up and everything was low, probably evaporated in this heat. 90 degrees today. Yuck.

Also got an estimate on how much the next repair is going to cost, which is $145 for the part and about $55 for the labor. Big sigh. But its part of the brake system and it has to be done. I've got it scheduled for next Tuesday. This time I will come home on the bus and then take a bus into town once the kids are out of school.

I love my car. I really do. Despite the fact that it is 14 years old, and seems to need something new every six months or so. It is comfortable, it is easy to drive, it only has 118,000 miles on it, it is paid for and gets an average of 20.5 mpg, which is okay, not great but not awful. But sometimes it feels like a great big old money pit.

I just really wish we weren't so far into debt that we could buy a new (to us) car that was only about five years old. I won't even talk about what our other paid for vehicle is doing, or rather not doing, in our driveway right now.

But this is what we are saving up for, so eventually we'll get there.

Hanging out in town for a few hours can be expensive, potentially. Especially since the repair shop is more or less next to the mall. But all I bought today was a sun hat for me to wear in the garden or on walks. My scalp burns through my hair, despite the fact that I have tons of it, but then I think redheads are prone to sunburn anyway. Even those of us who have burnished auborn coloring and not the lighter true redheads with the freckles, still burn easy.

Now that went off on a tangent, didn't it?

I had to take Rose shopping for summer clothes today. She's outgrown everything. Well, it still all fits but the shorts are way too short now to be worn in public and certainly too short to be worn to school. Fortunately there was a very good sale going on and we were able to pick up 4 pairs of bermuda style shorts and one longer knit pair, and 4 tank tops with the non-spaghetti straps. She still had a couple of tank tops that fit and weren't in danger of becoming half shirts that will coordinate with what we bought. Spent $54 rounded up and that includes our 8.2% sales tax.

I have to go through what my son has tomorrow. Most of his growth has been through the back area, though his legs have grown, too. But I was already buying him extra long tank tops last year and most of the boys shorts available were either board shorts, or the pants that you zip the ends off and they become shorts. He doesn't get any bigger around, just keeps growing taller. I'm hoping he won't need much.

I also had to buy a new garden hose and some new sprinklers. One of the hoses had been left out over the winter full of water and it froze and it caused holes. Fortunately they weren't too expensive, the sprinklers were $5 each and the hose was $8 for 100 foot hose. That was $13, tax included. I have to keep my big organic garden properly watered or I lose the money and the benefit of growing my own veggies to save money.

So $67 spent today.

I shouldn't have to spend any more money before Friday, except to pay for my oil change tomorrow. And hope that nothing else needs doing on the car.

I picked up 3 flats of petunias today (@ $13 for 48 plants, so I am done with the petunia budgeted money. It's going to look amazing though and it was a really great sale. I got a vividly hot pink, a magenta dark pink, and a red. Other than caladiums and a new sage plant, I should have no more garden spending this summer.

I'm bummed about my sage plant. It was six years old, 18 inches high and 2 feet wide and it was the most gorgous tri-color. But this last winter killed it off and it just about broke my heart to have to yank it out. But sage plants are cheap and I can easily justify getting one since we make vast amounts of homemade sausage (or as my daughter calls it: sauce sage).

Bought enough milk ($11)to get through until next payday, and won't be going to the store again until then, either.

We also spent $4.50 at soccer today for 3 bottled waters. Since it was the last game, I also took the kids out for pizza. It was just under $25, but there are plenty of leftovers.

So all told, spent $79.50 rounded up. Kind of spendy, but gardening saves my sanity with my DH gone so long.

I got an early mother's day gift from my mom. She took the kids overnight, which is what she wanted for her mother's day. I just gave her a colosus coleus plant.

Tomorrow will be a no spend day. I hope.

I forgot to put dinner away tonight before we left for Rose's dance class. I hate when that happens. It means I wasted two pieces of chicken, 3 servings of potatoes, 1/2 can of green beans and a big bowlful of what was probably the best gravy I have made all year. Darn it. Hard to cut the grocery budget if I end up being so fluffy headed I forget to wrap up the leftovers.

Not much else today. Oh, spending journal. $2.00 for two bottled waters at the dance studio.

The usual $10 deposit was electronically transferred into my long-term savings account today, bringing me over the $200 mark. It now has a grand total of $205 in it. And I will add another $10 tomorrow as that is what is left that I hadn't spent after paying all the bills.

The new pay cycle begins tomorrow. It will be small, only 4.5 hours, but one car has 3/4 of a tank and the other has 8 gallons. That is enough to get me through the rest of this week and until next week's Friday. Soccer ends Saturday, so I will only be driving to town twice next week for dance classes. Well, three times, twice on Friday to do banking stuff and mortgage stuff. But we're good.

I am hoping to remember to take the aluminum cans in tomorrow and will add that to my freezer money.

I am going to be getting a check sometime between the 15th and the 30th of this month for doing product evaluations and one issued the first week of June, also from doing product evaluations and trial offers. Between the two of them there should be just slightly over $100 and that will start my new laptop savings account. We took my laptop in to have it looked out, but they can't even get a replacement fan for it.

It seems so wrong to me somehow that a laptop bought 4.5 years ago that is in otherwise perfect shape internally, and is held together pretty well, except for having added a bit of electrical tape because one of the things that covers the wires broke off and it made little sparks when I opened it (only, I say, LOL), can't be used anymore.

It's also a big annoyance because I have so many files that will have to be transferred. Oh, well. At least I didn't lose my files. And I am looking forward to getting that new laptop when I've got the money saved.

I didn't spend any money today. Did use gas to get to and from soccer practice for my son.

I spent a little bit today, $5.05. I had to pick up milk @ $2.39 for the gallon (not as good as the gas station but they were out of skim), a head of lettuce (so I can have the rest of the taco meat as a salad tomorrow) @ $1.19 and the rest for a corndog for my son. That last one was not necessary, other than to save my sanity and not have to listen to him have a snit all the way home from Rose's soccer practice. He's going through a phase, I was just glad to get some protein into the kid, if you can call it that from a corndog.

I had thawed out a potroast for dinner and stuck it in the oven just before we left for soccer. It was done when we got home and perfect. Nuked a can of green beans to go with, leftover from the case sale last December. I'm just about out but the next case sale will be in June if they go by their usual pattern. It was nice to walk into the house and have dinner ready.

Didn't really do much today besides click-thrus while watching tv, but I did do a product evaluation that will net me $17.05. And folded and sorted and hung up laundry.

When DH is home it seems like it is too hard to plan anything and we always end up catching meals on the fly. This has to stop though. It is too expensive to keep eating out.

We did McD's, which was $12.01, would have been cheaper but DH had to have the milkshake instead of the soda and that makes it a dollar more. Then we went to my mom's to pick up our son for his soccer game. Our daughter stayed there, she's not playing right now because of the broken finger.

At the soccer park, DH went to get son a hot chocolate ($1.50) and popcorn ($0.50). Well, he came back with a $2.50 bottle of Aquafina for me (didn't ask for, but drank it anyway) and some weird Italian soda thing (it was pink), also $2.50.

After soccer we went to the grocery store and I got enough turkey to divide up for lunches and freeze in week sized amounts, since it was on a really good sale. I'll probably make turkey wraps for me as Tobias only takes cold lunch twice a week, sometimes once. Also bought organic milk, oranges and strawberries (splurging) and a few other items, grocery bill of $70, but we won't spend any money next week on groceries at all, as there will only be 4.5 hours on that paycheck. And all that will go for gas.

I also picked up 2 packets of pole beans, Kentucky Wonder and Kentucky Blue, one I like for eating fresh, the other for canning or freezing. And then I got my mother's day gift a week early. It was a hanging fucshia basket in a color combo I rarely see, white and deep purple. I didn't figure it would still be there next week, and it was on sale. Spent just over $20 for both.

No more shopping this week at all. Not even going to set foot in a store.

Well, today was payday so I had to spend money. After the kids got off to school we drove to town and paid:

1. Mortgage on our house, $400, payment amount is $375.86, regular payment and $24.14 to extra principal.
2. Bank of America Visa, $850.
3. Power bill, $110 (this will change either June or July, as they readjust for the budget program.
4. Lunch out at the appropriately titled Cinco de Mayo, $38 for the two of us, plus take home for the kids, and enough leftovers for 2 more meals for me and DH.
5. Costco (I kept my resolve of not shopping at Costco for a whole month) for just a few items we were completely out of, chili, cheese, 10 pound bag of fries, pepperoni (for homemade pizza), hoagie rolls, 50 pound bag of bread flour, and crackers, came to $70. I never walk out of Costco under $100, so I was thrilled.

Then we had to go back home and to the elementary school to watch the egg drop the fourth graders were doing. Each child had to come up with packaging that would protect an egg from cracking if it were dropped from 25 feet. Rose's worked and the egg didn't crack. There were 80 kids and approximately half of them broke. It was fun watching, but in the back of my head I kept thinking how far all those eggs would go to feed people. I didn't like the idea of that kind of waste, even for a science/physics lesson that was pretty cool.

After school we had to come back to town (ouch, that's $18 in gas just today). We also filled up at the Arco, which was running at $3.13 a gallon, everywhere else is $3.27 except Costco. So that was $40 into the gas tank.

We still have to buy printer ink. Oh, and Rose is having dance pictures with her class tonight in her recital costume, so that's another $14.

Believe it or not we still have nearly $300 left to pay for upcoming bills. Next payday will only have 4.5 hours on it, so I had to hold some cash back. The only bills coming due next week are cell phone and water delivery (some might call this a luxury, but we've had e.coli in our tap water too many times due to problems at the water district, so its not, and its cheaper than buying bottled water).

So that's where things stand today.

I've been really thinking about what I can do to get the savings ball rolling a little faster, but I'm kind of hiding from it at this point. I will be able to figure this out after keeping the spending journal all month. I see a little bit in just the four days I have tracked and its all in the areas I figured it would be in. This is of course, eating out. This is going to be the hardest thing for me.

I am a right fine cook but there are days when I just don't wanna (insert pentulent toddler's whine here). Even though I have everything prepped and ready to go and can be done in the kitchen in less than 15 minutes, I still go up against this resistance some days. I am a lazy cook, that is my biggest road block. I may be good at it, but that has been more by accident and good training than by any real effort on my part.

We have planned one meal out this week and that is an 11:00 lunch tomorrow at our favorite Mexican place. We are going early because it is Cinco de Mayo and because lunch portions are cheaper than dinner portions and to avoid the crowds. It will be just DH and me as the kids are in school all day, so it won't be quite as expensive.

This one meal out was the only one we had planned for this two week period and we went out yesterday when we shouldn't have because we both had a case of lazy cook's disease. And DS was not in school yesterday so he came, too, which was more expensive.

I've got to keep this under control, so I am making a goal that after tomorrow there will be no more unplanned restaurant meals. I am going to do my level best to stick to that and report in on how I did with this goal every day.