Once you pass 40, don't you stop counting? Or is it, you start going backwards????

Lots to do with finances!! DH bought stuff for me.... well, another story for another time!

No, not a sandwich, the girls hamster Peanut Butter went on to the big hamster cage in the sky. He was a good little hamster who did'nt mind when they forgot to feed him or clean his stinky cage. He did really good, he lasted three years which is quite old in hamster years. They made him a "coffin?" (highly decorated and quite large shoe box), will take me a while to dig that hole! DD1 took it pretty hard. I think pets are an excellent way not only to teach kids about responsibility, compassion and well....life.

This time I managed to do better with my ebay sales! I listed a bunch of GS stuff laying around the house. Being the leader of three troops, I collect a LOT of stuff! Made about $42. I will have to pay fees and etc, then see how it goes. Listed some different stuff this time, ice skates, vintage sewing patterns. Will see how these fly. Still have more Girl Scout stuff to list next week!

My MIL has gifted us an over the stove microwave for our birthdays! She gave me her Lowes card and told me to go pick one out. All I wanted was a white one that had 1000 watts and a turntable. I ca'nt say Lowes had a tremendous selection! DD2 picked one out and that is the one we got. Not very expensive at all in fact it is almost as cheap as the installation!! I did splurge $20 and get an extended warranty. I can truly say this is an impulse purchase! I did no research what so ever! Anybody have any thoughts about a Tappan? Anyway, I have always wanted one of these, so thanks MIL!

Okay, I must admit, I have never read the Harry Potter books and have only seen bits and peices to the movies when they have been on TV. But my DD1!! Well, thats another story! She has had a countdown going on for this last book to arrive. It is so bittersweet. She is quite sad it is over. She is the perfect age for this whole Harry Potter craze and reaped the benefits of it and LOVES JK Rowling!

Any whoo, I have been reading the different ways people will be obtaining their books. We did preorder from Borders, but decided the hype there was too much, so DH took DD1 to Walmart about 11:30 last night and they just waited in line there for about a 1/2 an hour and she was home and off to Harry Land for the night! Can't wait till she wakes up to see what she thought. (Hey, its a special occassion! Of course I let her stay up all night to read it!)

Hey all, my brother turned me on to this. It is a website that sells manufacturers specials. One only per day. They list the special deal at 12:00:01 and stop taking orders when the item is sold out or 11:59pm, whichever comes first. I just signed up, (really easy to do!) and looked around. Todays special was an indoor grill/griddle for 19.99. Yesterday was a Stanley socket set. Some stuff was weird, like a remote controlled helicopter. Anyway, check it out if you would like:
http://www.woot.com/Default.aspx

Went to the buffet at the casino today. Not bad, but not great. Glad I did'nt have to pay! Dinner was more goodies from the meat sale!

We are getting ready to have a big shin-dig tomorrow for the 4th! Besides the meat which I bought in advance at Costco we are adding some cheap eats:

Beans - from a lovely can bought on sale with a coupon.
Deviled eggs - 18 count for 1.18, double it and you have lots
Jello - see it wiggle, see it jiggle and cheap!
Pasta salad - pasta was FREE with coupons, bought salad dressing w/double coupons, threw in some parm cheese I had in the fridge and some leftover bacon bits.
Green salad - head o' lettuce, some shredded cheese from the fridge and a sliced up egg from the deviled egg collection and a chopped tomato from the garden (it was small, but usable!)
Cupcakes - bought mix for .30 and the icing was free with the mix purchase! Yum!

We are already to leave on our trip. I have loaded the car with anything I could and tomorrow morning we will take off. We are heading for the Lake of the Ozarks (for any of you Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas folks, you know exactly where I'll be!) Thought about leaving tonight, but too many storms cruising up the state and I did'nt feel like driving in the rain in the dark.
Will look at a couple of condos to possibly invest in. I know DH is too much of a tightwad to pull the trigger, but it would be a great investment toward our retirement. (This is the area we plan on retiring in.)

Happy Fathers Day to all celebrating today!
We have been busy spoiling DH! Big dinner for the whole family both sides! Got DH breakfast in bed and Guitar Hero for the PS2. Oh and some scratchers too!
No spend day!

I have been more worried about content, than I have of keeping track of my expenses.

I may just start leaving a ramble everyday, so I can track my progress and stop worrying whether anyone will find it interesting!

So todays spending:
McD's breakfast/coffee 3.00
Made dinner!
Walgreens prescriptions 90.00
Walgreens almonds/diet coke/sugarless candy 11.20

Tomorrows goal:
pack lunch
cook dinner
no spend

Well, this is part one. Hopefully we can post some pics in part two.
Ground is turned, plants are purchased, posts buried. All we need is the chicken wire up so we can plant the veggies. Lots of hard work, hopefully, being the first year, it will produce!

In looking for cheap entertainment, bunko sure has paid off! Getting together with a bunch of friends once a month is good for the soul! And a $5 each time, very cost effective. With the one bunko group, each person takes one month of the year to "hostess". She provides snacks and drinks and her home and once done, your done for the year! The other group I am in has everyone hostessing one month of the year, but everyone takes turn bringing snacks.
The best part is of course WINNING! Many times I have just won my $5 back (making it a FREE evening!), but other times I have won upwards of $40! Great for my garage sale "pin" money!
Good times, dice rolling, chatting, eating - TRY IT!
(For guys, the alternative is poker night! TRY IT!)

It seems I go all day doing a great no spend job and then crash in the end!
Tonight I dropped off DD1 and 3 at their respective places and then went to home depot to buy plants. At least these will produce in the end! Besides a cute Daisy plant, some petunias and a couple of hanging baskets the rest are FOOD plants! Hopefully our lovely garden will not be eaten by bunnies!

Life has been crazy lately! Lots of working and lots of sickness!
Of course the stomach flu is racing thru the house, but we can't have it as a group, it has been taking down one at a time. DD1 and myself are just waiting for the other shoe to drop. It is a miracle with the toilet scrubbing, carpet, bed clean up I've been doing, that I was'nt the lucky winner. I will not rest easy for a few more days with this beast.
I guess it was probably a good thing I had to work on Mothers Day. It was sooo boring, it was all I could do to stay awake! Very relaxing, but I hated being inside and lonely on such a beautiful day!
Trying to go on a debt diet and a fat girl diet. Since I am completely undisciplined, we'll see how it goes. Give it a go and hope for the best!

Yes, I did it. I napped. I SHOULD have been working on my pricebook, cleaning the house, catching up on the laundry and hanging it.... but I napped. SHHHH! Don't tell the kids! I should have been cleaning the cat box, fine tuning the budget and recycling my cans.... but I napped. SHHH! Don't tell the husband! I should have been making the beds, dusting the bunnies and cleaning out the closet.... but I napped. SHHH! Don't tell the dog - You might wake her, she's napping with me!

Not too bad today. I did have to pick up DD2 some poster board. We also gave DD1 $100 for confirmation (don't ask, the others won't get it). Besides dinner out (on my mom) that's all for today!
My goals by the end of today are to catch up on my couponing and make a menu for the rest of the week!

So the other day when I could'nt get motivated, I never did make a list, but I did kick booty and get a lot done.
Tomorrow I have to clean the house and finish packing for the trip. Mickey Mouse - here we come.
I have to stay motivated tomorrow - I've run out of time!!
Then when I get home I have to set a goal and keep it. I am so bad about that and following through with things- that I have to change! Will have to set money goals and try to eat from home!

I have been in the lurking mode, cheering you all on from the sidelines. Been crazy busy with Scouts, etc. Finally took pics of the newly redecorated bath, so I will try to post those tomorrow.
Had DD1 be a "head model" for a friend of mine who works at a fancy salon. It's a free haircut for DD1, as long as my friend can use her as a "learning head". DD1 likes her new look and it was FREE! (Did tip friend $5, could'nt help it!)
Getting ready for a garage sale this weekend. Finding it hard to keep motivated, so I put an ad in the paper. AHHH! Now I'm accountable. Better go WORK!

I did finally beat the birdhouses into submission and get the girls Rainbow Fish bathroom painted and accessorized! I just have to put up the border.
I also got our bedroom done and accessorized! Looks nice, plain, but nice! I am really shooting for a decluttered look.
Friday was crazy, with doctors appts and xrays for DD3 (shes fine!) Then Friday night I snoozed at the zoo with DD1 and her Girl Scout troop. It was rainy and cold though!
Saturday morning I took them out to breakfast (on their troops money!) and then we handed out April Showers bags again in the cold and rain! Saturday afternoon we had a family time at the movies and Saturday night I took the oldest DD's to the mall with some friends. I guess the best thing to come from that were clearanced Disney T-shirts (for the trip) and clearanced sweaters (4.97 each) from JCP! What bargains to be had!
Today I worked all day and then we went to mom and dads for Sunday dinner. Since I have'nt been home for days, I must go clean and do laundry! Off to work again tomorrow!

Okay, not actual birdhouses! I went to tackle the girls bathroom and make it beautiful. Unfortunatley it was painted in builders grade paint (ie, like dust!) and they wallpapered right onto it without putting any primer on first. Needless to say when I went to pull down the lovely birdhouse border, chunks of drywall came off too! *sigh* So I scraped and patched and THEN painted. Lots of extra time spent, but not necessarily money, so that is good. On the brighter side, the blue is very cute and "oceany" and the rainbow fish will be really cute in there.
Next..... the bedroom.

Since I want to stay home the rest of the week and feather my nest, I went out today and picked up some stuff to last me the rest of the week.
DH has said his back hurts from our bed. Since I will be moving our bed when I redo our room I will flip the mattress and then I purchased a mattress cover I hope will make him more comfortable and a couple of king size pillows for the bed.
Julie will be proud, I splurged and bought my self TWO new toilet seats! The one in our bathroom has a crack in it that, well - you know, a little uncomfortable, and I got one for the girls bathroom to, for when I redo it. They are padded (woowoo) and were only $9 each!
I also did my grocery shopping so I can stay on track as far as not eating out.

After I work tomorrow, I am free till next Sunday leaving a week to catch up with 50 million things! Goals for this week:

1) I have paint and such for the girls bathroom, so I will paint it and make it all "Rainbow Fishie". Maybe I will take some before and after pics. DH put in the new light fixture. When I tried to start peeling the border off, it pulled off the drywall! Doggone it!! So some patching to do.

2) I now have everything to redecorate our bedroom including the lamps that mom bought for us. I am ready to work on that too, but DH says "Are we going to do crown moulding?" Yikes! MORE work!

3) Try to eat at home every night. DH will be going out of town for a couple of days and that always makes it harder to cook when it is just me and the girls!

4) Get everything ready for a garage sale. I had decided NOT to have a sale and just give it all to charity, but DH wants to have one just to earn some spending money for our trip to Orlando. I told him I would get it together, if he would run it as I just don't have a weekend to do it! He agreed! I am tempted to put everything in the house out!! Maybe I will even find some goodies to put on ebay!

Sounds like a busy week! Wish me luck on my endeavors!

I love the change to the blogs! Hope no one has trouble with my colors, but I do come from the girlie girlie house, so pink is IT!
Glad they chose not include the creepy dude who wanted to shake my hand in the new style of the blogs! Yuck!
Enjoy playing with the new format everybody!

Okay, I LIKE some of the colors on the blogs! They make me happy! But the guy on top wanting to shake my hand kinda creeps me out!
Way to shake up April Fools Day guys! Like it lots better than selling us out!!

Went to the grocery store today to load up to fend off the family this week. Geeze the cost of food just keeps climbing!! So makes me want to get the garden put in and grow my own food! I have been using coupons and saving quite a bit, but I have gotten to the point where I shop for what the family LIKES and WILL eat for sure to avoid food wasting!
My goal is to cook dinner every night this week (except Sunday when we eat at moms!)Got to keep the fast food monster at bay. I only have to work Sun/Mon this week, so I think I will be able to accomplish this!
Have a couple new projects to work on. I am going to redo the girls bathroom in rainbow fish. I have almost all the stuff bought, but I think I will change out the light fixture and the shower head. I need a shower curtain too.
The great deal on the bedroom comforter set I bought is FINALLY being shipped from Domestications. Everything including the dust ruffle and curtains and sheets, decorative pillows is all included for $100. So all I need to do is paint and rearrange the furniture. Spring is the season to redecorate!
I was planning on having a garage sale, but I think I am just going to load it up and give it to charity. I don't have a weekend free until June! And I need this clutter OUT! Guess I'll just have to claim it on taxes instead!

Well, things are really slow at work, so they are having us leave after 4 hours instead of 6 or 8 unless it is the weekend, then we get 6. I have been working lots of hours right now covering for someone else, so I am not so worried about the cut now, but when I am back to regular hours, it will be a bummer.

All the bills are paid for April except one - yeah! But not enough coming in to pay ahead on any CC's. Guess I will just have to be content that they are paid for the month. Not anticapating any extra cash coming in either.

We are gearing up to take the kids to Florida at the end of the month to tag onto DH's business trip. Doing lots of online research to try to make it affordable. Found round trip tickets and a rental car (mini van) with unlimited miles for only $240 per person. Not bad! Will keep checking things out. Going to try to Cocoa Beach for a couple of days, then just hammer out the Orlando stuff, Disney, Universal, Sea World.

Well, it is quite the bummer that yesterday morn I was on a cruise ship and this morn I am sitting at my desk at work!

The cruise trip had its ups and downs. The BIG plus was that I did NOT get sick! :-) Woo hoo! I took the Bonine (lower dose form of Dramamine that does'nt make you sleepy.) and that with "mind over matter" worked wonders! We got along great with our friends that we went with and were very compatible, plus we met lots of nice people. We ate, we drank, but kept the spending well below what I thought we would spend! There was lots to do and the beds were soooo comfortable, I wish we could have brought one home! We slept like logs every night!

The down side was that the seas were VERY rough (even the seasoned folk were complaining) and I still have'nt gotten my "land legs" back yet! It was cloudy and cold every day, but the last day, yet I still managed to get sunburned in places where people just should'nt! The water was very cold too! That and the fact the food just was'nt what I imagained. While good and edible, it did'nt really knock my socks off. It was like a regular restarant and buffet.

DH and I are probably not the cruising type. We did have a very nice time, but we were bored sometimes too. And sitting on the beach, gazing at the ocean with a fruity cocktail is fun, but maybe for 3 hours, not 6. The islands we went to (Grand Turk and Half Moon Cay) were private type islands with not much to do (DH tried to go deep sea fishing, but it got cancelled due to rough seas). The other place we went was Nassua Bahamas and that was much more our speed, with a beach, shops, Atlantis and a whole island to explore!

Our airfare and car was an awesome deal and if you are planning any travel, you should check out Allegiant Airlines! They have limited flight areas and times, but if you can drive a little farther and be a little flexible you can save a LOT of money!!

DH and I are off to go on our cruise. We will be back March 22nd!
Can't say it has been frugal. The trip and the flight are paid and we have saved up spending money, but getting the wardrobe together has not been cheap! I have the stay at home mom, midwestern winter wardrobe - not condusive to warm sunny climates! Who knew swimsuits were soooo expensive?? (Not something easily bought used!)
Anyway - bon voyage! Cross your fingers I don't get seasick the whole time!!!!

My indicator on the right tells me today is my 1 year blogoversary!! Hooray! Thank you to everyone who give such super support and ideas! Your the best!!

Well, I have'nt blogged in a while. Lets see whats up!

Like Tinapbeana, the money Gods have been smiling on us this month. I have trying to be careful about where it goes. As you can see, most of the CC's are paid off. I told DH that there will be no more spending on CC2 until it is paid off. We will use it when we go on our cruise, but we already have the money in the savings account to pay it off. (Hopefully we can stick to the spending plan!) I have also spent a little on clothes.

Made some money on ebay. That has'nt happened in a while! I will start another pile for when they have another listing sale.

When we get home from out trip, I will balance out the accounts again and then start saving. $6.00 in the account is NOT something to be proud of!

Still sick. Can't seem to shake this thing! Yuk! Been spending time in bed resting. Grateful I am blessed to be able to do this!

Still living off of DHs mini salary and putting all commissions in the big savings account. Hopefully they will finally start paying some of the commissions, they take forever! If a few deals come in at the same time, we are hoping we can take that money and buy DH a new car and save the Toyota for DD1. It would be nice to pay it straight up and not need a car payment!