walked with mom for 55 min

DirectTV has a free Showtime movie weekend. So far there hasn't been anything I want to see. It seems like they've had a lot of free movie weekends lately.

My goals for March were:

1. Pre-pay mortgage by $2000.00. I increased this because I am expecting my computer rebates and tax returns this month so should be able to come up with another $500.

Done

2. Walk 20 times for at least 35 min

Done

3. Spend $400 or less for household items. Since I've stayed under $450 for the last 2 months, I'm lowering this goal.

Almost. Spent $413.96

Groceries - 123.06
Fast Food - 44.20
Restaurants - 54.59
Nieces - 32.95
Books - 13.17
Gas - 43.7
HBAs - 46.53
Entertainment - 17.97
Other - 32.79

4. Lose 5 lbs. - This is a financial goal as well as a health goal, since it will save me money.

Only lost 3 lbs, but it's progress.

My net worth increased by 3%

Got the Travel Cancellation insurance policy today. Spent $90 for this.

Finished reading my book Partnership by Anne McCaffrey and Margaret Ball. Sci/Fi. Ok

walked with mom for 55 min

Was able to get access to the site today, so hopefully whatever the problem was is gone. I enjoy checking in and reading everyone's blogs every day. Not to mention checking out the freebie section.

Got my last half.com book sale back in the mail today. I guess the label came off. I sent the buyer an email and will resend it tomorrow.

Went to Village Inn for dinner with parents. Spent $9

Finished listening to the library book on tape Slow Burn by Julie Garwood. Romance/Mystery. Very good and very funny. How can you not enjoy a book that starts out,

"Her Wonder Bra saved her life."

I still can't get to the site today unless I try through my works VPN. If I'm outside of the VPN I get page cannot be displayed. I don't know if my ISP is blocking the site or what the problem is. If I can't figure it out, I'll probably have to stop visiting very often. I shouldn't be going through the companies VPN even though it's on my own time.

Walked with mom 55 min today.

Yesterday went into town and spent $13.95 at Staples. I had an old ink cartridge so got $3 off. I bought a new plastic floor protector for under my desk chair. Mine was breaking up into little pieces. It's 4 years old.

I went to Bed, Bath n Beyond and got a cool expandable strainer. I make pasta a lot so this strainer is very neat because it folds flat and doesn't take a lot of room in your cupboards. It was $14.99 and I had a $5 off $15 purchase so I bought a cheap piece of candy to make it over $15. Spent $11.92

I got my passport today. I think it's about 4 weeks since I sent it off. I also got a free Purpose moisturizer sample from WalMart and a $20 rebate for my computer.

I had computer problems yesterday and couldn't get to the site to read the latest blogs. Finally got it worked out today.

Walked 35 min with mom yesterday and today.

Got my last months Walgreens rebate for $10.98 in the mail, still expecting another $10 GC from them.

My bother's bday is the 27th and my BILs is the 25th so we always celebrate them together. My bother turned 40 this year and my BIL turned 45 so of course my mom had to decorate with buzzards and black balloons etc.

We had dinner at my parents, steak, mashed potatoes, green beans with bacon, deviled eggs, salad, and rolls. So good. Chocolate cake and ice cream for dessert. I didn't have any cake, I don't particulary like chocolate in any other form except candy. I don't like chocolate milk, ice cream, pudding, pie or cake.

Spent quite a bit of time talking to both nieces, which I always enjoy.

Finished reading The Lion's Daughter by Loretta Chase. Romance. Ok.

walked with mom for 55 min

We booked our airline tickets today. I joined the mypoints insider club for $1 and going through there site to United got 250 points plus the round trip ticket was $427.89 this was at least $50 cheaper than I found it anywhere else. We also got travel insurance for the tickets for $17.12 each.

I need to go back to Mypoints and get the $10 signup rebate.

I also signed up for Your Music through My Points and got another 250 points. For this you pay $5.99 a month with no S&H and get whichever CD is in your queue sent to you each month. You can cancel anytime. After looking through their selection of music I quickly came up with about 8 CDs I would like. They have a wide variety, but I especially like older music and mostly I buy greatest hits CDs. I purchased ZZ tops greatest CDs which is a two CD set for $11.98 and my first CD that will be sent to me as my monthly pick is Wanda Jackson's greatest hits. I've been looking for a CD for her for a long time in the stores. She was called the female Elvis and does some great rock-a-billy stuff. I think 5.99 is a bargain for a CD. I plan to get some gifts for my nieces from here too.

Went to the King Soopers for groceries and spent $54.08, got to use my Safeway $5 off coupon from the Entertainment book I got from Mypoints. I have enough points for a $25 gift certificate now, just need to go do the paperwork to get it sent to me.

Got a free box of Act II microwave popcorn at the grocery store.

Watched Alien vs Predator which I had taped from last weeks free HBO weekend. I thought it was good. I liked that they had a strong black woman hero for this one.

Went to the library and picked up about 8 more books on tape, plus 2 Ray Charles CDs.

Listed 11 more books on Half.com.

Finished listening to the library book on tape Face the Fire by Nora Roberts. Romance. Very good.

walked with mom for 35 min

Got a IAMS dog treat sample today. I don't have any pets so it goes to my sister for her dog.

I had a very frustrating day at work. I hate it when people hide the state of their work. Then when I take it over, it's a disaster. I have to spend hours and hours fixing it to make it work properly. It's not fair for one thing, but I always feel so outraged that they lied. I also feel outraged that when management finds out about it, it's oh well do the best you can to fix it. BLEAGHHH!!

It's wasteful and inefficient. When you find out people haven't been doing there jobs you ought to be able to ask for some of their salary back. That's what happens when you purchase something and don't get the value you expected.

Finished listening to the libary book on tape Stranger in a strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein. Sci/Fi. Very good. One of the great science fiction writers. I remember reading this book 10 years ago and it was written in 1961 yet is still fresh and interesting.

walked with mom 35 min yesterday
walked 55 min today

Went to Taco Bell for supper and bought extra for lunch tomorrow. $10.42

The free movies are gone, but I have a couple taped that I might get to next weekend.

Got an email that our Canada trip is booked, but the show we wanted to see is sold out. Oh well, I'm sure we will find something else to do.

Finished reading the library book Airtight Case by Beverly Connor. Mystery. Very good. If you like Patricia Cornwell you will probably like Beverly Connor.

Looks like HBO might be free for the whole week. However, there hasn't been any movies I want to see since Sunday, but I'll keep checking back.

The snow from yesterday melted today, but we're supposed to get some more tomorrow. Haven't been able to walk outside for two days. I miss it.

Finished reading my book The Good, The Bad and the Sexy by Emily Carmichael. Romance. Ok, but this was a new author and I won't be looking for anymore of her books. Pretty cliche.

snowy day today so didn't get to walk. Got my tax refund $424 and a CC rebate check for $55.32

Sent for my March Walgreens rebate $16.98 and resubmitted the $30 software rebate, hope it goes through this time.

walked with mom for 55 min, it was snowing pretty hard by the time we finished. It was just cold when we started.

Ran errands today.

Got my oil changed and new windshield wipers for $53.59 - had a $6 coupon

Dollar store $3, pasta 2 1lbs for $1 and cinnamon spices

Wendy's mandarin chicken salad for dinner. $4.82

Newspapers $2.25

Outback for lunch $13.80

Walgreens $8.23 saved $12.27 in coupons.

Gas 2.46/gal $20.89

Did a load of laundry and made oatmeal for the week. Didn't watch any movies today, wasn't anything on that I wanted to see while I was at home to watch it. Taped Scooby Doo 2 but don't know when I'll get around to watching it.

Free stuff this week.

Free movie weekend HBO
Degree Ultra clear deodorant - sample
25 2-liter bottles of coke.

Finished reading the library book Dressed to Die by Beverly Connor. Mystery. Good.

walked with mom for 55 min

We faxed our booking form to the Canada people for our trip.

Went to King Soopers and spent $20.35 for groceries. Didn't need much this week. Went to Village Inn for dinner and spent $7. got a free carwash at the Restaurant. It was raining pretty good and my car is cleaner than it's been in a while. Seems like everytime I'm in town around a car wash it's been snowing for a month, so the car was pretty dirty.

Got a rebate returned saying I didn't send all the proofs and I know I did, so I need to reply to that and see if I can get the $30.

It's nice to have a free movie weekend, but it means I don't get much else done. Watched Ray, which was really good. Watched Daffy Duck's Fantastic Island. Love looney toons. Watched part of Catwoman, which was ok, won't watch the whole thing. Plan to watch Resident Evil: Apocalypse later tonight.

Finished reading the library book Working Less, Live More by Bob Clyatt. Finance. Ok, nothing new.

walked with mom for 35 min

I've got free HBO this weekend and they had some pretty good movies on tonight. Watched Chronicles of Riddick and Miss Congeniality 2.

Did finally get approval from my boss to take my vacation on my original date May 17. Filled out the booking form, and need to run it by my parents in the morning and then fax it.

Finished listening to the library book on tape White Death by Clive Cussler. Adventure. Good.

walked with mom for 55 min

My Grandma is staying at my parents for a couple of days so I had dinner there tonight. Enchiladas, yum!

We played cards all evening. Nice time.

walked with mom for 55 min

Won 5 more bottles of Coke today.

I so want to retire and not have to worry about deadlines or losing my job. I asked for my days off for my Canada trip. I'm going with my parents and we probably worked at this for two weeks to find a time that fit everyone's schedule, was during the cheap time to go, missed mother's day and memorial day weekend, etc. We came up with the perfect time. It happens to co-incide with one of my work deadlines. So my boss doesn't want me to go then.

I think that stinks. There is never a good time workwise. There is always something happening. This is a big deadline, but these kinds of deadlines have never been met in 3 years, they always move. So if I move my vacation there is no guarantee that the deadline would be on that date anyways. The thing I would be doing on that date is also being done by 3 other people. It's not necessary for all 4 of us to do the same thing on the same night.

I work almost all of my vacation time throughout the year unpaid. I get 3 weeks of vacation but an extra 2 - 3 hours a week adds up to 100 - 150 hours, which nullifies my vacation time. Anyways my boss hasn't said no he's just asked me how important it is to go on that date. My parents have agreed to move the date, but I just don't think it's right to have to do that. I plan to talk to him tomorrow to see if I can talk him into saying it's ok to go on the dates we want.

Finished reading my book Blame it on Chocolate by Jennifer Greene. Romance. Very cute. If you like Janet Evanovich you will probably like Jennifer Greene.

Very happy with myself. Drove into work today but didn't stop to pick up any dinner on the way home. Progress.

Went to Walgreen's and spent $16.97 will get a $10 gift card rebate.

Deposited rebate checks in the bank.

Got a free sample of Degree Ultra Clear in the mail.

Won 10 more bottles of Coke.