walked with mom for 50 min today

Had pizza at mom's with sister and her family.

Sold a book at half.com for $2 today.

My July goals were:

1. Walk at least 25 days for 35 min
Because of rain and vacations we only walked 19 times. I think that's the first time I've missed this goal in more than a year.

2. Put $1000 in emergency fund. - Done

3. Put $500 in college fund - Done

4. Spend $450 or less on household items.
Way over on this - $520.11 - mostly because of niece time. But don't regret that, some months are higher than others.

Groceries - $191.30 - this was higher than usual too
Fast Food - $51.61
Restaurants - $28.19
Nieces - $102.09
Clothes - $29.26
Books/Newspapers - $30
Gas - $27.38
HBAs - 416.70
Other - $43.01

5. Get tires replaced

Not done - too many hours working

6. Set up new budget

Done - will try to post next weekend.

Finished reading my book Born to be Wild by Catherine Coulter. Romance. Good.

walked with mom for 50 min

Went to Borders and bought 2 books. Spent $15.98, but I used my Discover reward card so no out of pocket money.

Went to Barnes and Noble and bought 1 book. Spent $7.91 Had a 15% off coupon plus my 10% off membership. Also used a gift card so again no out of pocket money.

Went to Macaroni Grill for my sister's bday - dad paid.

Got some rebates together to send today. Walgreens and Advil PM.

Watched The Brother's Grimm video from the library. OK. Glad I didn't pay to see it in the theater.

Finished reading the library book Dates From Hell by Kim Harrison. Supernatural. OK.

walked with mom for 50 min

Went to grocery store and spent $36.59

Mom went to the Super Target and got me the free lb of hamburger we had coupons for and also picked up some walnuts for me, since that's the cheapest place I've found them. Spent $13.41

Finished reading my book Much Ado in the Moonlight by Lynn Kurland. Romance. Good.

walked with mom 55 min yesterday and again today.

I took off most of the day yesterday. Ended up working 2 hours in the morning. Despite taking the rest of the day off, I still ended up working 44 hours this week.

Took youngest niece to Red Robin for lunch. Spent $15.29

We went to see Pirates of the Caribbean. I liked it, but thought it was little intense for her. I really don't understand her mother. She took her to see this movie too, but wouldn't let me take her to see Monster House, because she thought it was too intense. Pirates starts out with people in cages getting their eyes plucked out by birds! How intense is that? It has cannibals and hugh monsters and voodoo queens. I don't get it. Anyways, spent $10.50

We got ice cream when the movie was over. Spent $3.86. It was a long movie - 3 hours.

After that we went to a glow in the dark miniature golf place. That was fun. She won a free pass for the next time. Spent $14.00

Went to Kmart and bought another shirt for me, plus a game of Rook for my parents for xmas and a think of tic-tacs for niece. Spent $16.57

My niece category is going to be pretty high this month for spending. Oh well, they're only young for a short time.

Got a sample of Sensodyne toothpaste in the mail. Gave it to mom.

I haven't read a book this entire week. I think that's the longest I've ever gone with completing a book. I have about 120 pages left on one that I started Sunday. Hopefully I can get some reading done this weekend.

walked with mom for 55 min

Went to Rosie's for dinner. Spent $6

Got Ban sample and Dove shampoo samples from WalMart.

Was supposed to get another comp day tomorrow, but now boss is trying to reneg. I've already worked 11 extra hours this week. I'm taking the day anyways since I promised my niece, but have to work before and after. Really, really, really stinks and as soon as this crunch is over, I'm going to make a hugh point out of how unfair this situation is.

walked with mom for 55 min

Mom invited me over for a baked potato bar tonight with the girls. Very good.

I got a very funny, if unexpected, email at work today. The manager of the development group made a mistake on one of our systems and sent me an email to ask me to fix it. So I did and sent her an email telling her it was done.

She sent an email back saying:

"Thanks, Sorry for the incontinence."

So I replied NP

She finally figured out what she had written and sent me another email saying:

"Wow - I've got to check my use of spell check... Ahem. I meant to say - sorry for the inconvenience..... ;-) "

I got a good laugh out of it though.

Finished listening to the library book on tape Dark Guardian by Christina Feehan. Romance. Very good.

walked with mom for 55 min

Went into work today to meet the new boss. Forgot to take my lunch. I had it all ready too, but left it in the fridge. Spent $4.37 for lunch. Then had a 4 hour meeting with new boss and she wanted me to show her some stuff, so I didn't leave work till after 6. Was starving by then and spent another $4.83 on dinner at Wendy's.

Good meeting with boss. She's very straight forward, which I like. I hate people who talk around things. She wanted to know what I liked and disliked about my job and what my frustrations were. She's been with the company a long time so knows a lot of what I'm talking about when I say standards have slipped. I came away feeling somewhat better about the overall situation. We'll see if she's just talk and no action.

walked with mom for 55 min

Got groceries this morning, spent $35.30. Finally found the 20ct of Advil in stock so will get $3.49 rebated back, plus I had a $2 coupon thanks to flash, so made $2.00 on the deal.

The grocery store had ranier cherries, which I hadn't heard about before. They looked good and I wanted a sample, but I couldn't find a produce person, oh well, I wouldn't have bought them anyways, because they were $3/lb. Maybe next week I can get a sample if they are still there.

Went to Chilis for lunch with parents. Spent $12

Made oatmeal, harboiled eggs, tuna and chopped veggies for week.

I washed my hair this morning with the Herbal Essences shampoo sample I got yesterday. It came just in time since I finished the Nexxus sample yesterday. Anyways the Herbal Essences shampoo made my hair really big! I have very short hair that's layered. My top layers are up around 3 inches high from my forehead vs usually 2 inches or so. It feels kind of weird to me, but not complaining it's free shampoo. I guess if you want a lot of body it would be good to buy.

Our newspaper had a coupon for a free lb of hamburger at the Super Target in the Target ads. I probably won't get there this week, but my mom thinks she might go. She got a coupon too and if she goes she will pick up the hamburger for me. I wish we had a super Target that was closer to us.

Finished reading the library book A Simple Choice by Deborah Taylor-Hough. Simplicity. OK

walked with mom for 55 min

I took a comp day Thursday but then needed to work till midnight last night and worked 10 hours today. So much for comp time. I have no one to blame but myself though. I just can't stand work that's not done and so after 4 months of waiting for someone else to do something I gave in and did it myself.

Got a free Herbal Essences sample. A very nice size of both shampoo and conditioner.

Got a rebate check for $5.99 from Longs.

Went to Subways and got a large sandwich which I split for lunch and dinner. Spent $8

Finished listening to the library book Wicked Widow by Amanda Quick. Romance. Very good.

walked with mom for 55 min

Got a free sample of Oasis mouthwash from Walmart.

Transferred a $1000.00 to HSBC account.

Purchased a $500.00 I bond

Finished listening to the library book on tape River of Ruin by Jack DuBrul. Adventure. Good.

walked with mom for 55 min

Clinique finally had a free sample deal so I took a comp day off from work to take my niece in to Dillards to get her makeover, which was part of her bday present from June.

She was so excited and loved the finished product. I thought she looked gorgeous! Many people have compared her to Sandra Bullock. I bought her the foundation and blush that was used in the makeover and she got a free lip gloss and moisturizer sample. Spent $40.64

We went to the Driver's license place in the mall and picked up a driver's handbook for her too. Her parents keep 'forgetting'.

Went to Kmart and I bought a new pair of jeans and a t-shirt for me. Spent $22.26

Next was Barnes and Noble where I had a 15% off coupon and got the other niece a book for her bday in Sept. Spent $5.34 Also picked up a form for her to get a free book if she reads 8 more books this summer.

Longs was next, where I got some pressed powser for my niece, plus they had Garnier Fructis styling products free after rebate and I had a $1.00 coupon. Bought a couple of pairs of earrings for me, Kleenex for .89 cents a box and index cards on sale for .34 cents.

We went to Jason's Deli for dinner. Spent $15.35

Next stop was Walgreens. The had Herbal Essences free after rebate and I had a $2.00 coupon so got that for my niece. Also picked up Sunsilk shampoo, FAR and Cura-Heat FAR. Got 2 packages of notebook paper on sale at 2/$1 and a rebate of $1, so free. Niece picked out 3 new nailpolishes that I got to finish up her present. Got some dixie paper plates on sale for $1.99. Have a form to get a $10 Blockbuster GC when make any Dixie purchase. Spent $20.95

I will get $13.50 back in rebates and a $10 GC to Blockbuster.

Last stop was Albertson's for gas. Spent $2.86/gal. Total $27.33

So all in all a very good day. She was very happy and that made me very happy.

To top it all off I got a $25 Borders GC in the mail for my Discover card rebate.

Finished reading the library book Danse Macabre by Laurell K Hamilton. Supernatural. Excellent. Love these books.

Missed walking again today due to rain. I don't think I'm going to make my walking goal this month, between mom and dad going camping and the rain I'm missing too many days. This will be the first month I've missed in 16 months. I like the rain, actually love it, just wish it would happen either earlier or later.

Went to dinner at Chili's with parents. Spent $9.02

I know some of you shop at Catherines. I saw this deal on

Finally was able to walk again after several days of rain or vacation. Felt really good. Walked 55 min with mom.

Got a free sample of Nivea Body lotion in the mail today.

Also got my electric bill. My days of $9.00 monthly bills are over. I finally used up all my surplus from last year and the new budget billing is $37 a month. Still pretty reasonable.

Finished reading the library book Captain of all Pleasures by Kresley Cole. Romance. OK, not great.

no walking again today. We planned on it, but then got a big lightening and thunder rainstorm. First one in several days.

Got a sample of Fibersure from WalMart in the mail.

I found out my direct boss was laid off on Friday. I guess the company laid off a bunch of Managers. Going for the high salaries probably. So I have a new boss. Don't know much about her yet. Suppossedly she will be visiting each of the sites to meet people. Could be good, could be bad. Too early to say. It does mean I have to impress a new boss though.

My old boss knew my capabilities and saved my job once when layoffs where happening, I had moved to another group that they were cutting out and he intervened and brought me back to his group. He's always gotten me pretty good raises and several bonuses also. I had built up a lot of trust and goodwill with him over 9 years so I'll miss that. But he was kind of laid back and too many things fell through the cracks, rumor has it the new boss is more on top of things. As long as that doesn't mean micro-managing, that should be good. I'm pretty used to being given a job and left alone till it's done.

Finished reading the library book The Hard Way by Lee Child. Mystery. Very good. These books really suck you in.

another relaxing day, although I did a bit more than read and sleep, my contentment from yesterday remained, making me feel very happy and relaxed about now.

Went to King Soopers this morning. Spent $30.46 on groceries. $7.80 on a book of stamps and $4.50 on a magazine and a newspaper. I can't find the 20 Ct Advil PM anywhere, it's always sold out. I wonder if the stores aren't stocking it because of the rebates.

The magazine I bought is Arthur Frommer's Smart Shopping. I really like this magazine. I'm going to have to subscribe to it. This is the third one I've gotten. They come out quarterly. Lot's of good ideas and websites for saving money. They had a site called shirtsuppliers.com that sells Hanes T-shirts for $1.55 each. Next time I want some new hangout at home t-shirts I need to remember and check them out.

I found out why I couldn't buy the Entertainment.com book for $7.99 + 1 shipping. On the last page they tell you if you order the 2007 book you get $5 off the 2006 book. That's not mentioned on the first page and seems like false advertising to me. Definetely turns me off when companies do that.

I did a lot of food prep work today.

Chopped onions, tomatoes, celery, green onions and watermelon
Boiled eggs and cooked oatmeal
Made taco meat, tuna salad and potato salad
Grilled two hamburger patties to have for lunches this week.

I read the new magazine I bought and the newspaper plus the other 2 magazines I got from the library yesterday. I also read the library book At Risk by Patricia Cornwell. Mystery. Ok, not near as good as her Kay Scarpetta series.

I had a very relaxing day today. Went to the library and browsed for an hour. Got 4 magazines and read two of them, plus a bunch of books. I'm a big magazine fan, but I try not to buy them too much anymore. I used to drop $20 or more on magazines and then toss them. I like the concise information they provide.

Made a big pot of beans and sausages. White beans, pinto beans and black-eyed peas.

Took a nap. Make menus and grocery lists.

Finished reading the library book The Simple Life edited by Larry Roth. Simplicity. Good. An anthology of advice from simple living/saving money authors including Amy Dacyczyn, Joe Dominquez and Vicki Robin.

I'm so glad the weekend is here. My house is reasonably clean, no one is coming over, i'm not going anywhere. No major chores to deal with. I plan to devote the weekend to reading and sleeping. My two favorite pastimes

Finished reading the library book The Taming of the Duke by Eloisa James. Romance. Humorous.

walked with mom for 55 min

I saw that the Entertainment books were on sale for $7.99 + 1.00 shipping so went to buy another one for me and one for my parents, but the checkout says $12.99 + 4.99 shipping. Since the main page says $7.99 and click here to buy I was rather frustrated. Sent them an email to find out how to get the $7.99 price. If I buy them thru NestEggz I get an extra 21% rebated back to me. We'll see if they reply.

Walgreens has a sale on the 4.6 oz of Aquafresh this week. .99 cents. My dad said he was going so I gave him two coupons for $1.00 off. One for him and one for me. We he bought the larger size for $1.99 cost of .99 after coupon. It's a learning curve matching prices and sizes and coupons. I made him keep both of the toothpastes though since I have several tubes and I'm not going to pay for more, free is a different story. The boxes had more of those get 3 free music downloads though. So I will use those to get 6 more music downloads.

I also pointed out the Advil free after rebate and $2.00 coupon so he got a raincheck for that since they were out. My mom lost the $5 Nature Made coupon she got after I signed her up for that program. That's a high value coupon to lose. Oh well, live and learn.

Finished reading Rational Simplicity by Tim Covell. Simplicity. OK.

One of the things I liked in this book is a saying I've heard before and is what motivated me to go back to school to get my computer degree.

"Sometimes people complain that waiting 15 years for retirement is too long. They say, "in 15 years I'll be 45!" I reply, "how old will you be in 15 years if you don't save? Wouldn't you rather be 45 and free of work, than 45 and doing the same things you are doing today?"

walked with mom for 55 min. She invited me over for steak and baked potatoes. Yum. My oldest niece is there alone, the younger one is at camp this week.

My youngest niece constantly steals from the older one and I was talking to her about different hidden safes she could store in her room. We looked for some on the internet but they are pretty pricey for a teenager. The book safes all have ridiculous titles that would stick out on her bookshelves. We did find a candle one that I will probably get her for xmas. I'll look around for some other options too.

Finished reading the library book Crazy Kisses by Tara Janzen. Romance. Good.

walked with mom for 30 min. Had a huge rainstorm and that's all we could fit in before it got dark. Now of course it's gorgeous out, the moom is fantastic, big and round and full.

This Friday is our release deadline, I've been working like crazy for the last several weeks. Today I knew that I would make the deadline with my remaining tasks. Then I started looking into one of the last areas I need to test. In order to get to this area I have to go through another area that was supposed to be tested last release. So I started looking for the test cases to find out what I needed to know in order to pass through this area. I couldn't find any. Turns out the person this was assigned to never wrote test cases or tested this area. I know that it wasn't tested because as soon as you click on the link you get Page cannot be displayed. Big Clue there that it's not working.

So now, since this person quit last week, my boss wants me to test this area. This totally stinks. I'm going to test it, but I refuse to put in anymore unpaid overtime this release. I've worked 60 extra hours in the last 6 weeks, 1/2 of my vacation time.

It was the bosses job to stay on top of the assignments and make sure people are doing their jobs and all new features get tested. I can't believe how often I find stuff like this. I think that other tester should be required to return some of their salary. In my opinion it's theft.

Finished listening to the library book on tape For the Roses by Julie Garwood. Romance. Good, very cute.

walked with mom for 55 min

Went to Safeway and spent $6.74 on groceries. Went to the 7-11 and got a newspapter for $1.50

My friend and her niece came over today as well as my oldest niece. The two girls are about the same age and we had wanted to get them together for awhile.

We went to Chili's for lunch. Spent $25 and then back to my house were we watched My Fair Lady and everyone worked on craft projects. I keep a bunch of things around for the girls to work on while they are here.

After my friend left, I took my niece to Village Inn for dinner. Spent $17

walked with mom for 55 min in the drizzle. I don't mind walking in rain as long as it's not freezing or pouring. No headache again today so I feel Good! Na-Na-Na-Na-Na-Na-Nuh (James Brown boogie here )

Worked about 3 hours today and then did some cleaning since I'm having company tomorrow. Nothing provides more incentive to clean the house than having people over.

Got a sample of Head and Shoulders n the mail today.

Finished reading my book Killing Time by Linda Howard. Romance. Very good

walked with mom for 55 min

Even though we had a big thunderstorm today I didn't get my normal weather headache. I slept good all night and no headache all day. I feel so good I feel like I should have cartoon birds flying and small animals scampering around me

Finished listening to the library book on tape The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield. Adventure? Good.

another rainy day and another headache, but at least it cleared up enough to get my walk in. I miss it when I can't walk now.

Got free Nexus shampoo samples in the mail along with Nature Made vitamins and a coupon for a free package of cigarettes. I don't smoke, but will pass it along to my bother.

Met my parents and nieces at Chili's for dinner. Spent $7.71 and went to McDonalds for an ice cream cone later. $1.07

I gave my oldest niece the 3 Louisa May Alcott books awhile back. She finished little women and liked it and now is reading Little Men which was my favorite of the three. I'm glad she likes them. I signed the other niece up for the libraries reading program and she finished it in two weeks. She had to read 8 hours. Mom took her back today to pick up her prizes. A free book, a stuffed animal and some coupons including one for a free ice cream at Baskin Robbins. She signed up for the next level now.

Finished reading the library book Dead End by Mariah Stewart. Mystery. good.

no walking again today, it's great to have the rain, but I wish it wouldn't happen every afternoon and evenings when I can walk. We could get some rain in the mornings when I have to work. And along with the rain comes the nasty headaches. 6 days in a row now. Hard to concentrate on columns of figures when the back of your head feels like an elephant is sitting on it

Thanks to Stressless I've been browsing old household management books at the Cornell website. I finished reading Adventures in Thrift. I thought this was a cute proverb from the book:

Chasing the penny to its lair is the housewife's favorite indoor sport. I'm not much of a housewife, but it's one of my favorite sports too. One I wish I had more time to devote to.

Finished reading the library book Caught in the Current by Jay Bookman. Simplicity. OK

walked with mom for 50 min

Went to Safeway this morning and got the 4 12 packs of Coke for $10 and the $10 rebate form. Also got the lb of Hillshire Farm sausage for .99 cents and more tuna at .50 cents a can. Spent 15.99

Then went to King Soopers and spent $60.00. $24 on books, $16.70 on cleaners and toilet paper. I noticed that the shelves showed the price per 100 sheets of TP. That was cool. I found out that the 4 packs of Angel Soft for $1.00 were almost 50% cheaper than the 12 packs of Angel Soft TP or any other large size package of TP. So instad of buying the 12 pack for $6 I bought 4 of the 4 packs for $4

The books were all 25% off plus I will get another 5% back from using my CC and I had a $5 off $50 Safeway coupon that I used.

Hamburger was $1/lb and I got a free 2-liter bottle of 7-Up.

Spent $6.20 at McDonalds for lunch.

When I got home I saw that the Coke had reward points on them. So I went to the reward site and entered my codes and got 40 points which are good towards 3 more 20 oz bottles of coke. I think I'll see if I can accumulate more points with the rest of my free 2 liter coke coupons and see how much I can get then. I've got pop coming out my ears now, but it's very hard to pass when it's free.

Got 3 free samples of Jergens lotions from Walmart and a sample of Gevalia coffee in the mail. I also got the $5.99 CD for my youngest nieces bday from Your Music.

Finished reading the library book Tomb of the Golden Bird by Elizabeth Peters. Mystery. Very good.

went to Safeway this morning. Got the 4 12 packs of Pepsi products for $10 and the $10 back rebate. Also got a lb of Hillshire Farm sausage for .99 cents and 10 cans of Bumble Bee tuna for $5. Spent $33.71. Plan to go back on Tuesday and get the 4 12 packs of Coke with a $10 rebate, plus another sausage since the in store coupon was 1 only.

Went to McDonalds for lunch - spent 6.82

I did food prepping for the week, oatmeal, potato salad and hard-boiled eggs. Cleaned the kitchen and dusted the living, dining, two baths and bedroom. House feels much better. Will tackle the master bath on Tuesday.

I also spent part of the day catching up on blogs. I like 'My Money Blog' I have a link under Sites I frequent. He talks about how Google is starting Google checkout. If you register with your Citi cards you can get up to $10 back. You get $5 with rebate cards that give you 5% back for groceries etc. You get 1000 points or $10 if you register a Thank You points card and $5 back on your statement for any other Cite card. Google also has a list of stores that will give $10 back on a $20 purchase

worked this morning. Took a nap to make up for not getting to sleep in. About halfway through we had a huge thunderstorm that woke me up. Oh well, it was great while it lasted and the rain was needed and cooled things down.

Went to the library and picked up my holds and paid my late fee.

July goal are:

1. Walk at least 25 days for 35 min

2. Put $1000 in emergency fund.

3. Put $500 in college fund

4. Spend $450 or less on household items.

5. Get tires replaced

6. Set up new budget

Finished reading the library book Full Scoop by Janet Evanovich and Charlotte Huges. Wacky Romance. Very good.