Retire@50

I have gotten or will get several rewards from various programs this month. I just received 3 books from Amazon that I got free from swagbucks. I wait till I get $30 in Amazon gift cards and then order $25+ in books to get free shipping.

I ordered a $25 Borders gift card from Discover card since I had $20 in points.

I'm about 7 points away from getting a $25 Walmart gift card from my Mastercard. I will order it later this month.

I'm about 100 points away from getting a $25 Walmart gift card from My Points. I get enough points to get a card about every 8 months. I do this by clicking emails - 5 points each, 2 a day = 300 points a month. Doing 31 searchs on My points per month for 75 points and printing and redeeming coupons - almost 200 points a month. I should have enough to order this next week.

All these are rewards are for doing things I would do anyways except for clicking no the emails and that takes just a couple minutes a day.

I saw my kidney dr yesterday and I'm supposed to get a CT scan to see if I have cancer or not. He seems to think I do - we'll see.

I started getting bills from my hospital stay. So far I got 5 bills and only owe about $100. I'm sure it will get much worse.

I finished reading the library book The Search by Nora Roberts. Romance - excellent. Love her dialog.

I lost about 10 lbs while in the hospital, mostly in my face and upper body. When I look in the mirror I don't recognize myself because so much weight is gone from my face. It's very weird and disconcerting. I wanted to lose weight, but not exactly this way.

I went to see my gallbladder Dr yesterday. According to her they took the gallbladder about 3 days into my coma. They based the decision on elevated liver enzymes and my blood pressure falling. She said it was a good thing they did because when she took it out, it was infected and would have failed shortly. Everything is fine with that now, but she said I had Kidney cancer. I said that was the first anyone had come right out and said that. I had been told it could be and they weren't sure, basically I had a mass on my kidney and they didn't know what it was. She started back-tracking and saying well it is a mass, it doesn't say it's cancer. So I don't know. I have an appt with the kidney dr next Wednesday and will hopefully know for sure then. And hopefully it's not cancer. My mom started freaking out when she heard, she's a worrier and always thinks the most negative way first. I try not to worry until I know I have something to worry about, since I think that's a waste of energy and just makes you feel bad. I'm remaining optimistic until I know for sure what the diagnosis is.

The gallbladder dr was impressed by mom in the hospital. She thought she was wonderful and she was. There everyday and helping me however she could. The same with my dad. I definetly would have had a much harder time if they didn't live near and could help me.

I finished reading the library book 61 hours by Lee Childs. Mystery - pretty good.

When I woke up from my coma in the hospital I had a very hard time talking loud enough for anyone to hear me. I had had a breathing tube over an inch in diameter stuck down my throat for several days and the strain on my throat took a while to diminish enough for me to talk very well. My voice is still very raspy. Anyways when I woke up, my mom wanted to know if there was anything they needed to do right away.

Fortunately I have tried to make my life as simple as possible and have all my monthly bills set up to be paid automatically, so they were all taken care of. I had just transferred a few thousand into my checking to last me a few months. The first thing that came to mind however were my library books. I always have books due every week.

I tried to explain where the books were in my house but my mom couldn't really understand me and since they are scattered it was hard to remember all of them. So my dad took my library card to the library and explained the situation to the librarian. She just renewed everything until the 9th of September and erased the fines I had for the books that were overdue from while I was in the coma.

One of the things that worried me though was if I had paid my 2 credit cards. I usually do around the first of the month, but my short term memory was shot and I couldn't remember what I had done the week before I went to the hospital. Since I always pay in full and on time I figured even if I hadn't paid and owed one month finance charges I would be able to call and hopefully get those reversed when I explained the situation after getting home, but when I got home I found I had paid them on time already so it wasn't an issue.

My parents were getting my mail while I was in the hospital too and my car insurance renewal came. But it has a long due date - it's not due until Sept 19th so they just held on to it. My dad said he would have found my checkbook and paid it or just paid it himself if I was still in the hospital.

I had just finished updating my financial information and given my parents that so I was glad they had it even though they didn't have to use it this time. I had a medical power of attorney for them that I had drawn up years ago, but they didn't remember they had it. The only thing I regret was not updating my will. I've been thinking about it for awhile and just haven't got around to doing it. I would really like to get it done before I have to have anymore surgery, but right now I have so little energy, just the thought of it wears me out. I will try to get it done in the next couple of weeks.

My mom cleaned out part of my fridge, but I still had some food spoilage and they took out the trash for me. I had $20 in Walgreens register rewards that expired while I was in the coma so I lost those. All in all though my life went on pretty well without me in it I had no expectations that I wouldn't be coming home that night after my Kidney stone though, so I'm glad that I had already set up ways to cover my basic living expenses.

I finished reading the library book The Iron Hunt by Marjorie M. Liu. Paranormal - very good.

Around 10 pm on Aug 10 I started throwing up. This was accompanied by severe back pain on one side. Since I'd had several kidney stones before I knew the symptoms and started with my normal procedures to pass one. Usually they pass. I've only had to go to the hospital twice before. Once it was gone by the time I got there and once I spent all day and it finally passed without any interference from them.

Anyways I started drinking lots of water and took some Cranberry pills. The problem with the pills is I kept throwing up so they weren't getting into my system. I need to buy some juice to keep on hand. This lasted all night untill I was only throwing up water - nothing left in my system and still in pain. So I checked with the local Urgent Care but they didn't open until 8 and they didn't have any equipment to deal with kidney stones. So I called my mom and dad to drive me to the hospital in the next town.

Unfortunately they were busy and it was more than an hour before I got checked in. They said the previous day they had only had one patient. They did an ultrasound and found out I had a 12 centimeter kidney stone. The dr planned to go in and reconnect my kidney around it.

That was the plan anyways. When he got in he got the stent around the stone and hit a pocket of infection which went thru my whole system putting me in septic shock. The pus and infection infected all my organs. There happened to be a clinical study being done in the hospital right then on septic shock and how their drug might treat it better. They contacted my parents and they had 30 minutes to decide whether to allow them to treat me or not. My parents knew people who had died from septic shock or who had been sick for more than a year recuperating from it. The mortality rate is 50%. Mom consented to the study.

At that point they went in and took out my gall bladder because it had already become infected. I had a very difficult time coming out of the anethesia. Once they had me woke up, they turned around and put me in a coma for 8 days, while they tried to flush all the toxins out of my system. After 8 days they woke me up.

I was incredibly confused at first and was kept in ICU for 2 days. Then they moved me to an Intensive Care room. By the third day I could stand with help. On the forth day I could walk slowly using a walker. On the fifth day they sent me home to my parents. This was last Sunday. I was so happy to be out of that hospital and the shower I took when I got to my parents is problably one of the 10 best feelings in my life.

At first I was incredibly tired after doing any little thing. Even lifting a spoon to eat was a hugh chore. But I gained strength each day. By Wednesday I was walking without the walker or a cane and Thursday I went up and down the stairs without a problem. So my parents brought me back to my house last night.

I still get tired very easily, but I just rest for awhile until I have more energy. Mom and I are walking about a 1/4 of what we did before. I try to add a little more each day. I have a hard time eating since I'm not hungry and nothing tasted right. All the antibiotics wiped out my taste buds for now.

Because I was in a clinical trial I don't know for sure if I got the drug or a placebo, but based on my recovery and things the nurses said I'm pretty sure I got the drug. Eventually they are supposed to let me know.

I still have the issue of having a 12 centimeter stone in my body and they saw an unidentified mass on my kidney from before. That could have been the pocket of infection or it could be something else. I have follow up appointments to deal with it. I also have a ton of bills coming up with no idea right now what this will cost. I have a $2000 deductible so I'm sure it's at least that much.

But for now I'm alive and home and not in pain - so I feel good. My concentration isn't that good so I'm not reading as fast buy I did finish the library book Whiplash by Catherine Coulter. Mystery - very good

There is another website like Plastic Jungle that sells gift cards at a discount - it's called Card Pool. Last night I got the following cards for me and my dad.

From Plastic Jungle

2 $100 J.C. Penney cards for $86 each. Saved 14%. My mom probably spends a $100 a month at Penney's. She gets her hair done in their salon as well as shopping there so this is a very good deal for them.

From Card Pool

$100 Chili's card for $89 - saved 11%
$82.89 Kohl's card for $72.94 - saved 12%
$50 Red Lobster card for $46 - saved 8%
$25 Bed, Bath and Beyond card for $23 - saved 8%

The Bed, Bath and Beyond card was for me. All of these are cards are for places we go frequently and would spend money at eventually. By buying the cards we saved $54.95. That's a much higher amount than we can get in interest right now. Plus I get another 1% or almost $5 for paying with my credit card.

I read the following on Money Saving Mom:

If you’ve been considering signing up for Swagbucks, this is the week to do it because you’ll get 70 bonus Swagbucks when you sign up – as opposed to the usual 30 bonus points. Just sign up and use code BackToSchool to get 70 bonus points added to your account.

I finished reading my book Dragonquest by Anne McCaffrey. Sci/Fi - pretty good.

We've had rain for at least an hour a day for the last several days. Today it's rained about 3 times. Which is terrific, but may be what's causing my allergies to go berserk. Yesterday while walking mom and I saw a mushroom the size of a soccor ball.

Ran errands this morning - library, food pantry, bank and King Soopers.

At King Soopers I got another can of beans for the food pantry for .33. I got another bottle of Minute Maid lemonade for free since I bought another mini watermelon. I also got 2 things of Mentos gum for free and some bananas. I spent $3.29 total.

I was in the express lane and the woman ahead of me must have had 30 items or more. She waits till the guy gets completely done ringing her up and bagging before finding her check book in her purse. Then several minutes fumbling thru the checks to find the next one, asking for the date and finally giving him the check.

I finished reading the library book Touch the Dark by Karen Chance. Paranormal - pretty good.

I got my mail for the first time in 3 days. I have a locked box so often leave it for several days. I got the Walmart gift card I ordered from Plastic Jungle, a $10 rebate check from Kraft, 2 trial size bottles of Pantene shampoo and conditioner, 2 sample sizes of Dove shampoo and conditioner and a free pedometer from Nature's Bounty plus some coupons.

Perfect timing on the pedometer since my mom broke hers yesterday. I'll give her this one. The shampoo will go to the food pantry.

I got enough swagbucks to get another $5 gift card from Amazon and have enough to place another book order there. I wait till I have $30 in gift cards and then place an order over $25 to get free shipping on the books.

I was watching a new cooking show on the Cooking channel yesterday called Bill's Food. He was making lunches for his kids to take to school. He made white bean and tuna salad. It looked good so I made it today and really liked it. I added lemon juice to mine, but it's really simple and healthy.

Take a can of white beans and rinse, add a package of tuna, chop up some celery and add olive oil, salt and pepper and a splash of lemon juice and mix together. He added parsley to his, but I didn't have any.

School starts this week so it should get quieter around here. I haven't been runniing around so much so I've been much calmer and I've really enjoyed it this last week - except my allergies are going crazy. I usually get them in the spring and fall, but for some reason they started early. I've heard several people complaining about allergies lately.

I finished reading the library book Stormwalker by Allyson James. Paranormal - ok

They are all bad for people who are savers. Heard on the news today about how much food prices are going up because of bad weather accross the world and other events. World wheat prices are up 92 per cent since early June. Corn and Oats are also way up, along with coffee. I don't care about the coffee, but the rest of it impacts many of the things I buy.

Here's a good article about it:

Today I passed on the following to my niece

"make sure you change the address on your king sooper card. They send you coupons periodically based on what you buy. Yesterday I got a bunch of coupons from them. I usually get at least one free item. Yesterday it was a free bag of mini peeled carrots. King Soopers has a sale on them this week buy 1 get 1 free. So with my coupon I got 2 free bags this morning."

I went to both Safeway and King Soopers today. Safeway was first. I spent $4.37, $3.08 of that was for food pantry donations.

1.75 - Pepperidge farm goldfish - pretzel type
-1.00 - .75 q doubled
- .25 - Safeway q
-----
.50 - food pantry donation

1.29 - 18 ct eggs

15.00 - 12 pouches Starkist tuna
- 4.44 - Safeway q
- 1.00 - 2 .25 q's doubled
- 1.00 - 1 .75 q doubled
- 2.00 - 2 buy 2 get 1 q's
- 3.96 - 2 buy 2 get 1 q's
------
2.60 for 12 = @ .22 each. 6 for me and 6 for pantry. I have no idea why 2 of the buy 2 get 1 q's took off 1.00 and 2 took of 1.99. I never understand Safeway receipts.

At King Soopers I spent $6.80, .33 for the food pantry

1.00 - Gold Peak Tea
-1.00 - ecoupon from playing King Soopers Summer of Saving game online
-----
FREE - goes to my Dad

1.69 - 2 liter Minute Maid lemonade
-----
FREE wyb a watermelon. I bought a $2 mini watermelon. This goes to the food pantry

1.74 - Goldfish pretzels
-1.00 - .75 q doubled
- .75 - shortcuts e-coupon
-----
.01 moneymaker

3.98 - 2 lbs peeled mini carrots
-1.99 - store sale BOGO
-1.99 - King Soopers home mailer q free item
-----
FREE

.68 - 1 can Kroger pinto beans
- .35 - King Soopers home mailer
-----
.33 - food pantry donation

2.19 - 1 gal milk
1.65 - tomatoes on the vine @1.30/lb
2.00 - mini watermelon
------
5.84

Food pantry gets

6 pouches tuna
1 bag goldfish pretzels
1 can beans
1 bottle lemonade

I finished reading the library book Bullet by Linda K. Hamilton. Paranormal - excellent.

My oldest niece is in collage and needs to save money where she can. My sister gave her $200 a month to buy food - which is plenty if you know how to shop. She has to pay for gas and internet, fun stuff and eating out, but isn't sure how many hours she will get to work at Target.

Last year she bought her text books used until I told her about renting them instead. So last semester and this she's renting her books from Cheggs. She saved a ton of money.

She doesn't get the newspaper - to her that's an expense rather than a money maker like it is to me. So I'm sending her what deals I see that are valid at Target, Walmart, King Soopers or Walgreens that only rely on printable coupons. I've been giving her free food all summer to start her off too.

She's excited about getting free/cheap food, but of course at first you make mistakes and don't get the deals you expected. You still make mistakes after years, because you are in a hurry or whatever, but not as many.

I'm also sending her other money tips as they occur to me and I think they apply to her. It's fun to mentor someone in frugal ways

I finished reading my book Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey. Sci/Fi - pretty good

I also read the library book In Serena's Web by Kay Hooper. Romance - a good popcorn book.

Went to Walgreens this morning and did 2 transactions for Alive multivitamins. Walgreens has a 15% off you entire purchase right now that's good thru tomorrow. They also have Alive multivitamins for $10 with a $10 RR wyb them. I have a $1 coupon for the multivitamins also.

10.00 - Multivitamin
.59 - taxes
------
10.59
- 1.50 - 15% off
- 1.00 - coupon
-------
8.09 - got back a $10 RR making 1.91 on each one. I got 2. I was down to about a half a bottle of vitamins that I got free in January so it was good timing.

I got a letter from my old employer saying I still had some money in my 401K. I rolled everything over to an IRA last year, so that was surprising. I had 115.xx in my account from a settlement of 8 years ago that just now was dispersed. Nothing like expediency when lawyers are concerned. Anyways they are just sending me the cash. Always nice to get money out of the blue.

I finished reading the library book Demon Night by Meljean Brooks. Paranormal - excellent.

I retired 2 years ago today. It is still wonderful. I sleep at least 8 hours a day. I don't have aching shoulders at the end of a day working on a computer. I don't have a constant headache - most of the time. I still get weather and allergy related headaches, but not as many stress ones. I've lost some weight. I'm eating better. I haven't done anything special, I've just lived the way I want to live and enjoyed it.

I've never lived in the past. I don't have a lot of memories of the way things were. I figure the past is over and done with. You can't do anything to change what happened so it's not very relevant to me. My sister lives in the past. Hoarding all the hurts from over the years. I think that's not a very healthy way to live.

Before I retired I always lived in the future. When I was small it was "I can't wait till school ends, or starts, or it's christmas, or I can drive, or I can move out of the house etc"

When I started working it was "I can't wait till the weekend, or my vacation, or my next raise". Once I made my goal to retire early much of my thinking was "I can't wait till I retire".

Now that I'm retired I finally live in the present. I don't really think about the future that much and if I do it's usually just a couple of days or maybe a week ahead. I enjoy this. It seems to be calmer and more satisfying. The future can finally take care of itself and I will enjoy each day on it's own merits. The day doesn't have to be special in any way. It's special just because I can do what I want as I want.

I finished reading my book Pleasure of a Dark Prince by Kresley Cole. Paranormal - excellent.

My oldest niece moved into her first appartment today up in Greeley. 2 hours away. She sharing a 3 bedroom apartment with 2 other girls. 1300 sq ft for just under $900 + utilites. An excellent deal. The place has a pool, hot tub, club house and exercize room. Very nice. The apartment has laundry too and lots of storage.

However it's on the second floor and it was very hard for my parents and me hauling boxes and stuff up those stairs. Her dad helped and the parents and friends of one of her roomates so it was much better than we originally thought it would be.

I've tried to spend what time I could with her this summer, especially since I know she doesn't want to come back home from now on. I'll drive up a couple times a year to see her and keep in touch on the phone every couple of weeks. Plus I'm starting to email her deals when I see them and think she would like them.

She's working at Target now, so I concentrate on those deals. She gets a 10% discount on top of them making it even better for her.

I finished reading the library book Death Echo by Elizabeth Lowell. Mystery - pretty good.

Grocery shopping again today

Safeway spent $4.55

2.49 - Lucky Charms
-1.00 - Safeway q
-1.00 - .55 q doubled
- .60 - ecoupon
-----
.11 moneymaker goes to my niece for her new apartment

1.98 - 2 KC masterpiece BBQ sauce
-2.00 - 2 $1.00 q's
-----
.02 moneymaker - goes to my mom

1.76 - 2 Joint Juice
-2.00 - 2 $1 q's
-----
.24 moneymaker - goes to my grandma

1.29 - 18 ct eggs
1.59 - bagged coleslaw
1.99 - 1 mini watermelon
-----
4.87

King Soopers next where I spent $4.24

3.00 - Crest toothpaste
.20 - tax
-----
3.20
-3.00 - 3 .50 q's doubled
-----
.20 - goes to food pantry

1.76 - 2 Lady Speed Stick deodorant
-1.76 - 2 .50 q's doubled to .88 each
-----
FREE - this goes to the food pantry

2.19 - milk - this has gone up 10% in 2 weeks
.78 - 4 grain rolls in day old section 50% off
.34 - bunch of parsley
.09 - 1 stalk of celery
.69 - 1 long john
------
4.09
- .05 - bag credit
-----
4.04

I finished reading the library book The Courtesan's Secret by Claudia Dain. Historical romance - pretty good.

I went to Staples to get some computer accessories for my laptop. I had a 15% off you entire order coupon. I got some DVDs to do a backup on the laptop and a mouse. Spent $25.65 and used the gift card I got from Plastic Jungle to pay.

I went to Walgreens and got a Universal Cable to hook up my printer to the laptop. I'll be going back and forth between my desktop and laptop with the printer and it's easier to have a cord for each, instead of crawling around under the desk to unplug one and plug in the other. Staples didn't carry these. I also got 2 cans of Butterball chicken broth for .50 each. I used one of my Walgreens gift cards and 3 $3.50 RRs I had from last week. Nothing spent out of pocket.

I had a coupon so I went and got my hair cut at Great Clips. $10 including tip. Feels so much better/cooler short.

I've got my laptop up and working - just need to do the backup. Of the other stuff I got I need to install the toilet seat still. Everything else is put away.

I finished reading my book The Singing Sword by Jack Whyte. Historical fiction - pretty good.

I spent $464.01 at Walmart this morning. I keep an ongoing list of household things I need and since I wanted to buy a laptop that Walmart has on sale I took my list and headed out to shop. I got the laptop for $298. It's up and running and I have it connected to the Internet. I still need to get it connected to my printer, but have to find the disk first.

I've been looking for a laptop for several months. I think this one suits my needs well. I wanted to spend less than $400 and this fits that need too. I just wanted something plain. I don't do a lot of things on my computer. Email, internet, a few spreadsheets, and an occasional letter - that's about it. No games, no TV or movies - just simple stuff. So I didn't need a lot of bells and whistles.

I like shopping at Walmart for everyday things because unless you want to spend time waiting for a sale, and checking out multiple stores they usually have very good prices, plus they are close to me, so I don't have to drive a half hour before I even get to the store.

Among other things I also got the following:

A toilet seat
A spice rack with spices
A set of silverware. I'm down to 2 forks. All the sudden the silverware I bought 10 years ago is breaking. The shafts are just breaking off when you put pressure on them.
3 magazine holders
2 pot holders
6 books
some groceries

I used all the Walmart gift cards I had got from Plastic Jungle, should have got 2 more.

I hate the laptop mouse, so need to get one of those at Staples. Walmart was out of all their mice - wierd.

The worst thing about doing a heavy shopping trip though is unpacking and putting everything away. And with computers it's installing all the neat little things you've added like RoboForm and Swagbucks. Getting my favorites, wallpaper, etc. That's not fun to me, it's more of a chore. Plus they pack stuff so it takes Houdini to get things unpackaged anymore. I bet I struggled with the silverware for 20 minutes.

I finished reading the library book The New Good Life by John Robbins. Financial book based after the latest meltdown. Has a very environmental/green slant. It was ok, nothing new or that interesting in my opinion.

I got gas this morning and spent $28.33. I used my credit card that's paying me 5% for gas purchases this month. I planned to get a car wash too, but the car wash was broke. Maybe next time.

Then I took my car to Walmart and got 2 new tires. Spent $162.82 and used the discounted Walmart gift cards I got from Plastic Jungle. I still need an alignment so need to start looking for coupons/deals on that. Walmart doesn't do alignments anymore.

My dad picked me up when I dropped my car off at Walmart and took me home so I didn't have to wait. He took me back this afternoon and mom and I went ahead and walked in Walmart and then we went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner, where I spent $9.82. Steak, baked potato and salad.

I really need to get back on track with eating healthy. I've done so much gadding about with family and friends this last week it feels like I've eaten out everyday. I went to mom's last night because my niece was there and I'm trying to spend as much time with her as possible before she goes back to college next week.

Mom fixed a huge meal of steak, baked potato, corn on the cob, salad, garlic bread and for dessert a snickers pie.

I'm also feeling a little grouchy because I haven't had enough alone time to just sit and read and relax in my home. Oh well, I guess there will be time to get back to normal next week. It just happened that after a month of not doing too much all the sudden I had a week of doing too much

I finished reading the library book Midnight's Daughter by Karen Chance. Paranormal - pretty good.

I put season 2 of the Sarah Connor chronicles on hold at the library over 8 months ago and they finally came in. So I got a pizza from Papa Murpheys and a friend of mine came over to watch them. There were 22 episodes. I can't imagine they had that many in one season, maybe it was combined with another. Anyways she stayed from 12 Saturday till 1 in the morning and we still had 6 episodes to go. So she came back Sunday and we watched the rest from 12:30 to 5:30. We only watched the episodes and not the extras.

The series started out really good. Very interesting. But the last episode really ruined it for both of us. We were very disappointed and of course there won't be anymore. To console ourselves we went to the new gellato place by me and got small cups of gellato I got rasberry sorbet - so good.

During the marathon we stopped and got Subway on Saturday and Sunday she got Taco Bell and brought it over. So a weekend of sitting around watching TV, eating fast food and being with friends. The best kind

I sprained or strained my ankle in some way and had to stop walking about a third thru our walk on Friday so the I needed to stay off it the last two days anyways. Today it feels much better. Just a few twinges now and then. Don't know what I did to hurt it, but it was very painful for awhile.

My friend has always loved my house and she made a comment on it again this weekend. I told her I'm constantly walking thru my house and thinking I love this house, or I really like the detail in that picture or art piece or whatever. Even after 9 years here I'm still extremely happy with my surroundings. That's probably one of the reasons I enjoy just being in my house for long periods of time. I don't have to go somewhere to be content or to be entertained or just do something different. I'm content where I am and have enough to stimulate me right here. Good way to save money. Buy things you love for a long, long time. So you don't need to replace them and can enjoy them for a very long time.

In fact I find that when I have a lot of things to do like going places with friends or family several days in a row, I get irritated. Not enough relaxation time of just being by myself and relaxing in the comfort of my home.

This morning I went to the library and to Safeway. I got 10 more cans of vegetables for the food pantry. This time they charged me $5.

I finished reading the library book Storm Prey by John Sandford. Mystery - very good.

Since it's summertime and hot I have my windows open most of the time. Right now they are having a summer bible school in the church behind me with tons of screaming kids and there is a neighborhood kid who is constantly riding a little go-cart type thing up and down the street 50 times a day. I hate the noise. Can't wait for school to start again and the weather gets cooler so I can close the windows and hopefully won't be so much noise.

There hasn't been a lot of great grocery bargains this month so I'm behind on my food pantry buying. I went to Safeway and got 10 cans of Green Giant vegetables for 1.81. I don't know how, I can't figure out their receipts. It should have been $5. Oh well.

I also went to King Soopers and got 9 cans of Hunts tomatoes for .38 each to donate. I got 5 bottles of Joint Juice for free to give to my grandma and I got tons of fruits and vegetables and milk. So many good fruits and veggies out right now. I got a beautiful slice of watermelon, hope it's as good as it looks. I think tomorrow I will have corn on the cob, sliced tomatoes and watermelon. Today I am having a baked potato and salad for lunch and for dinner leftover burritos w/watermelon.

Finished reading the library book Eye of Heaven by Marjorie M. Liu. Paranormal - pretty good.

Mom, oldest niece and I went to Manitou Springs and Old Colorado City yesterday to do the tourist thing. They are popular shopping areas for tourists in Colorado. Historic parts of Colorado Springs that have lots of old victorian style houses. Lots of little gift shops selling mostly western/indian stuff or hippie/tibetan/new age stuff. It was fun, but hot. Fortunately not as hot as last week when it was in the 90's. We are in the 'monsoon season' here and get rain most days - which is great.

I spent $4.25 on some amaretto fudge, which is my favorite and another $10 on an overpriced hamburger at one of the small restaraunts down there.

My niece loves the hippie/tebetan/new age type stores. She really into that style. Peace signs, tie-dye, beads on the door etc. I didn't care for it the first time around and it hasn't grown on me. I like solids and fall colors and simple design. But each to their own. She's got a huge tapastry to hang over her bed and some beds for her door.

Mom got some little things for gifts, mostly cards. She likes the gift stores and card stores and xmas stores.

I like the gift stores that trend towards dragons, and fairies and they had several, but I have all I need right now so wasn't tempted by anything. Still I liked looking.

I finished reading my book Freedoms Ransom by Anne McCaffrey. Sci/Fi - very good.

Yesterday president Obama gave a speech about wanting congress to pass more unemployment benefits - going from 99 weeks to 126 weeks. He had 3 unemployed people behind him who would lose their benefits otherwise. One of them gave an interview saying basically "Of course we should extend the unemployment benefits. If your brother or sister needs money you should just give it to them and not worry about getting it paid back."

What if you don't have the money? Are you suppose to borrow it and then figure out how to pay it back in the future? Are you supposed to loan the money and then tell your kids they have to pay it back for you? At what point is it your responsibility to take care of your life? 99 weeks seems like plenty of time for someone to find some kind of work. It may not be what you were doing before or at the wages you want, but I'd think you could find something.

I have no problems with people collecting unemployment that they've paid for - the first 6 months. I have reservations on how effective the tax money is being spent after that. I know things are bad, but wouldn't people take $10 and $12 hour jobs if they knew their unemployment was running out? They would bring in the same amount as their unemployment checks only the tax payers wouldn't be paying for it, with money we don't have as a country. Would people move from high unemployment states if they knew their unemployment was done? There are a lot of part time jobs around here - not great I agree, but isn't that better than the taxpayers picking up the bill?

Lately it seems like the government is supposed to provide everything to everyone and I'm not sure it's good for the national character to think in those terms - government will provide. We fix bad mortgages, we give people money to buy new cars, houses and appliances. We provide money when they don't have a job. We provide more government jobs than any other kind in the country. We let people walk away from bad debt in the thousands of dollars. There are no more consequences for making bad decisions. Buy more than you can afford - no problem the government will fix it, by letting you renegotiate. Get thousands in school loans for a degree where there are no jobs that pay enough to repay those loans? No problem - work for the government and we'll forgive those loans.

I'm all for helping people when they're down. I'm just not sure government is the best way to do that and I think the way government does it is warping our characters. I think we need to work more on providing for ourselves in bad times, by having some savings, by not buying more than we can afford when things get bad, by contributing to local charities to help those around us who are having a temporary tough time. I think better ways for government to help people instead of giving them money when bad things happen in their lives is to put money into programs to help people make better decisions in their live. Like personal finance education in the schools. Like loans to small businesses. Like job retraining when whole industries die. Assistance with finding jobs in other states when unemployment is bad in one state.

But let's not make it perputual by financing tough times so that it makes more sense to wait while unemployed for the perfect job to come along. My brother did this 8 years ago and he's now a bum. After my dad closed the shop, my brother had a job lined up to work with someone else. But he decided to take a couple weeks vacation first. The wait stretched out for a few months and finally the job wasn't there anymore. He lived on his savings and odd and end remodeling jobs for the next 2 years. After that he lived on credit cards for 2 years. Now he has $26,000 in credit card debt and has been living off my parents for 4 - 5 years. He couldn't get a job if he wanted one. Over the years he turned down several $10 - $12 hour jobs, because they wouldn't cover all his bills. He can't see that some money is better than no money and if one job doesn't do it, get 2. Just do something to stop the hemoraghing and get a better job later.

Anyways this was a bit rambling but is it really so hard-hearted to say to people 2 years of unemployment paid for by the american people is enough? Especially when we don't have the money. America used to be a rich land, but now it's a broke land and we need to get the finances in order before lending helping hands. It's like what they tell you in the airplane. Put your own oxygen mask on first or you won't be able to help anyone else. America needs to put it's own finances in order first before it can keep pouring money into a broken system. My mom says she feels sorry for the people on unemployment. I do too, I feel bad for them and try to help by donating locally but there has to be a line at some point where the government says enough is enough. We can't keep giving you money for being unemployed. Where is that line? 2 years, 3 years, 5 years?

I finished reading my book Men Of Danger. Mystery short stories. Ok, the best story was by Lora Leigh, the others were just ok.

Walgreens was first today where I did 2 transactions and spent no money out of pocket. Used my gift cards purchased w/previous RRs

Transaction 1

3.49 - Colgate Total toothpaste
.24 - taxes
-----
3.79
-1.00 q
-----
2.79 - got back an RR for $3.50.

1.98 - 2 boxes Old El Paso Taco Shells
-1.00 - $1/2 q
-----
.98

Transaction 2

3.49 - Colgate Total toothpaste
.24 - taxes
-----
3.79
-1.00 q
-----
2.79 - got back an RR for $3.50.

All of the above goes to the food pantry

Safeway was next I spent $6.27

11.96 - 4 boxes Cheerios
- 4.00 - wyb 4
- 4.00 - 4 .55 q's doubled
- .55 - 1 ecoupon
------
3.41

2.99 - Nature Valley Granola bars
-2.99 - free wyb 4 cheerios
-1.00 - .50 q doubled
-----
1.00 moneymaker

3.79 - Nature Valley nut clusters
-1.00 - wyb 4 or more GM products - cheerios
-2.00 - 2 $1.00 ecoupons
-1.00 - manufacture coupon
- .80 - .80/2 ecoupon for Nature Valley products
-----
1.01 moneymaker

1.89 - 18 ct Lucerne eggs
- .60 - Safeway q
-----
1.29

3.58 - 2 loaves Sara Lee wheat bread

The granola bars go to the food pantry and the Nut clusters go to mom and dad

Last stop was King Soopers where I spent $17.38. King Soopers is having a buy 10 get $5 sale

5.98 - 2 Tombstone pizzas
-4.00 - 2 $2 q's
-1.00 - wyb 10
-----
.98 - 50 cents each for 2 large pizzas

7.47 - 3 6 packs Jello pudding packs
-1.50 - wyb 10
-3.00 - 3 .60 q's doubled
-----
2.97

1.49 - Simply potatoes
- .50 - wyb 10
-1.00 - .50 q doubled
-----
.01 moneymaker

.99 - Idaho potatoes
-.50 - wyb 10
-----
.49 - goes to food pantry - needed to make the second set of 10 items to save the $5

3.30 - Poise pantyliners
.06 - tax
-----
3.36
-3.30 - Free item q
-----
.06

2.64 - 3 Joint Juice
-2.00 - 2 $1 q's
- .88 - BOGO q
-----
.24 moneymaker - goes to my grandma

3.96 - 4 cans Spaghetti O's
-2.00 - wyb 10
-2.00 - 2 $1/2 coupons
-----
.04 moneymaker - goes to food pantry

2.49 - Miracle Whip light mayo
- .50 - wyb 10
-1.00 - q
-----
.99

4.50 - 3 Suave deodorant
-1.50 - wyb 10
-3.00 - 3 .75 q's doubled
-----
FREE - goes to food pantry

1.50 - Softsoap
- .50 - wyb 10
-1.00 - q
------
FREE

4.94 - 2 pints Ben & Jerry's ice cream
-1.00 - wyb 10
-1.00 - $1/2 q
-----
2.94

4.76 - 2 Stouffers Lasagna 21 oz
-1.00 - wyb 10
-----
3.76

5.99 - Glucerna shakes
-3.00 - $3 q
------
2.99

1.35 - grapes @ .88/lb
2.29 - 6 ct hearty grain rolls

The food pantry gets

2 large toothpaste
2 taco shells
1 package granola bars
1 Idaho potatoes
3 deodorant
4 Spaghetti O's

Mom and dad get Nut Clusters and grandma gets Joint Juice and I get the rest.

Finished reading the library book The Courtesan's Daughter by Claudia Dain. Romance - pretty good.

Week 1 - $23.17, 18.32 eating out, 4.85 groceries
Week 2 - $22.28, 9.00 eating out, 13.28 groceries
Week 3 - $19.93, 7.00 eating out, 12.93 groceries
Week 4 - $24.14, 14.32 eating out, 10.52 groceries

Here's yesterday's menu

Breakfast
1 1/2 c cheerios
skim milk

Lunch
peanut butter and celery
1 tomato
grapes
1 glass skim milk

Snack
large Snickers bar

Dinner
Went to McDonalds after walking and spent $6.07 - got a fish sandwich and fries

The challenge is over. I'm so glad. There were some pluses though.

1. I think I ate pretty healthy overall.
2. I think eating 5 smaller meals a day is better for my diabetes. I'm going to try to continue this even though I'm not fond of thinking about food all day, which eating this way makes me do
3. I lost 5 pounds - woohoo! This has inspired me to try to lose 5 more in the next month.

The negatives are

1. This is too restrictive for the way I buy food and in the long run costs me more. I prefer spending more in the weeks there are good bargains and really stocking up rather than spending a set amount each week. I average $20 a week in groceries anyways. Eating out averages $20 - $25 a week.
2. It was hard for me to plan well. I don't know when events will happen that far in advance and just because I ate out early in the week, I don't want to have to turn down time to be w/family or friends because I already spent my budget for the week. I like to be more flexible. Spend a little more now, spend less later.

Overall a good experience.

I ordered 2 more $100 Walmart giftcards from plasticjungle last night. They were 4% off plus 1% from the credit card. Almost $10 savings. I need a new tire and an alignment so wanted to get the cards before getting that done.

Met my parents at Red Lobster today. They raised the price on their popcorn shrimp lunch from $7.25 to $8.25 probably because of the oil spill. That makes for a fairly expensive lunch now. We usually have coupons, but didn't this time. Spent $10.12

At Border's I got 2 books at 33% off and used my reward cards so free.

I went to Target on the way home and spent $1.82

4.78 - 2 packages Pampers wipes
.35 - taxes
-----
5.13
-4.00 - 2 $2 q's
-----
1.13 - goes to food pantry

2.91 - 3 trial size Tide
.21 - taxes
-----
3.12
-3.00 - 3 $1 q's
-----
.12

2.58 - 2 packages Stride gum
-1.29 - manufacture BOGO q
-1.29 - target q
-----
FREE - goes to the nieces

1.94 - 2 trial size J&J first aid kits
.15 - taxes
-----
2.09
-3.00 - $3/2 q
------
.91 moneymaker - 1 goes in car and 1 gets donated

1.34 - 2 snickers bars
.04 - taxes
-----
1.38 - tossed in at the last moment because I realized I had too much overage. Could have just used one though.

Of the $1.82 I spent .97 was taxes.

I finished reading my book Black Jack by Lora Leigh. Adventure - very good

Week 1 - $23.17, 18.32 eating out, 4.85 groceries
Week 2 - $22.28, 9.00 eating out, 13.28 groceries
Week 3 - $19.93, 7.00 eating out, 12.93 groceries
Week 4 - $17.74, 8.25 eating out, 9.49 groceries

Here's yesterday's menu

Breakfast
1 1/2 c cheerios
skim milk

Lunch
We went to a local restaraunt and I had scrambled eggs, toast, fruit cup, small serving of potatoes. Spent $8.25

Snack
1/2 cup limocello gellato

Dinner
hamburger on hearty grain roll w/tomato and cheese
large salad w/mandarin oranges, hard boiled egg, and walnuts and low cal ranch dressing
1 glass skim milk

Snack
1/2 cup limocello gellato

Today is the last day of the challenge. Will be glad when it's over.

I finished reading the library book Shalador's Lady by Anne Bishop. Sci/Fi - excellent.

Week 1 - $23.17, 18.32 eating out, 4.85 groceries
Week 2 - $22.28, 9.00 eating out, 13.28 groceries
Week 3 - $19.93, 7.00 eating out, 12.93 groceries
Week 4 - $17.74, 8.25 eating out, 9.49 groceries

Here's yesterday's menu

Breakfast
1 1/2 c cheerios
skim milk
1/2 c juice

Lunch
1 bottle Boost

Snack
grapes
1 glass skim milk

Dinner
1/4 lb hamburger w/grilled onions, tomato, and cheese on a hearty grain roll
roasted steak fries
mandarin orange coleslaw w/cashews

Snack
apple
1 glass skim milk

My oldest niece came over yesterday so we could work on a miniature project we started more than 2 years ago. We finally finised both rooms. Both rooms represt college dorm rooms. One girl is very neat and one girl is very messy. They both have the exact same furniture in the exact same place, but everything else is different. It was fun.

For dinner I showed her how to make steak fries in the oven and fix hamburgers in a frying pan. The steak fries were just frozen potato wedges covered with olive oil, Red Robin seasoning mix and a little bit of pepper baked at 425 for 30 minutes.

The hamburgers were seasoned with garlic salt and pepper. Place in the frying pan and cooked 8 minutes on one side. Then flip, add a little water and put the lid on to cook for 8 more minutes. Add cheese and cook 2 more minutes. Made very juicy hamburgers. I made some grilled onions to go with them. She had never had those, but after trying them she really liked them. She's a very picky eater so when she ate 2 of the hamburgers and about 3/4 of the fries, I knew she liked them. She didn't care for the coleslaw though, she doesn't like veggies or mayo. I only use a little mayo, I use the mandarin orange juice. She loved the whole grain rolls I used instead of regular hamburger buns too.

I went to King Soopers this morning and got 2 more hearty grain rolls and 2 stalks of celery for $1.03

Mom, oldest niece and I went to see the new shops down in the historic part of our small town today. Youngest niece was supposed to come too, but decided she would rather sleep. We went to this really cool shop called Retrospect, which had lots of old movie posters and stuff from the 50's. They also had new clothes made in a vintage style. Niece loved those, but the dresses where about $120. Lots of old fashioned toys and candy too. Pretty neat store.

We went to a local restaurant for lunch. I had scrambled eggs, potatoes, toast and fruit for $8.25

After visiting a few more stores we went to a new Gellato place. I had a couple samples before I decided on Limoncello - so good. I got a small cup and mom paid for all of us. I was still full from lunch so only ate 1/2 of mine and brought the rest home to put in the freezer for a snack later today.

I finished reading the library book Wild Thing. Paranormal short stores - very good. 3 of the 4 stories were great. The last one was blah.

Week 1 - $23.17, 18.32 eating out, 4.85 groceries
Week 2 - $22.28, 9.00 eating out, 13.28 groceries
Week 3 - $19.93, 7.00 eating out, 12.93 groceries
Week 4 - $8.46, 0.00 eating out, 8.46 groceries

Here's yesterday's menu

Breakfast
1 1/2 c cheerios
skim milk
1/2 c juice

Lunch
large salad w/egg and tomatoes and light italian dressing
baked potato w/honey mustard dressing

Snack
cherries
1 glass skim milk

Dinner
@ 2 cups of pinto beans, rice and kielbasa mix
1 slice whole wheat bread with butter

Snack
apple
1 glass skim milk

I went to King Soopers and spent $2.76 on a gallon of milk and 2 wheat rolls.

I finished reading the library book Lover Mine by J.R. Ward. Paranormal - very good

Week 1 - $23.17, 18.32 eating out, 4.85 groceries
Week 2 - $22.28, 9.00 eating out, 13.28 groceries
Week 3 - $19.93, 7.00 eating out, 12.93 groceries
Week 4 - $5.70, 0.00 eating out, 5.70 groceries

Here's yesterday's menu

Breakfast
1 1/2 c cheerios
skim milk
1/2 c juice

Lunch
peanut butter and jelly sandwich
grapes
1 glass skim milk

Snack
cherries
1 glass skim milk

Dinner
@ 2 cups of pinto beans, rice and kielbasa mix
1 slice whole wheat bread with butter

Snack
apple
1 glass skim milk

I finished reading my book Freedom's Challenge by Anne McCaffrey. Sci/Fi - very good

Week 1 - $23.17, 18.32 eating out, 4.85 groceries
Week 2 - $22.28, 9.00 eating out, 13.28 groceries
Week 3 - $19.93, 7.00 eating out, 12.93 groceries
Week 4 - $5.70, 0.00 eating out, 5.70 groceries

Here's yesterday's menu

Breakfast
1 1/2 c cheerios
skim milk
1/2 c juice

Lunch
peanut butter and jelly sandwich
1 tomato
grapes
1 glass skim milk

Snack
cherries
1 low-cal vanilla pudding cup

Dinner
other half of soup and noodle mix from Saturday
1 slice whole wheat bread and butter
1 glass skim milk

Snack
apple
1 ice cream bar

There's been a lot of hail damage around here recently. My brother has a manufactured home out on the prairie and needs a new roof. He's very upset because the mortgage company won't give him the replacement check and won't let him hire just anyone to fix the roof. He has to hire someone on their list and they will give that person the check directly. He lives in an area where half the homes are empty because people just walked away. I guess a lot of people take the check for the roof and use it to move leaving the mortgage company with a house they can't sell and another roof to pay for. So I can see their point of view and as long as the roof gets fixed it doesn't really matter how it's done.

I finished reading the library book Strange Brew. Sci/Fi short stories - very good. Lot's of good authors like Charlaine Harris, Jim Butcher and Patricia Briggs.

Week 1 - $23.17, 18.32 eating out, 4.85 groceries
Week 2 - $22.28, 9.00 eating out, 13.28 groceries
Week 3 - $19.93, 7.00 eating out, 12.93 groceries
Week 4 - $5.70, 0.00 eating out, 5.70 groceries

Here's yesterday's menu

Breakfast
1 1/2 c cheerios
skim milk
1/2 c juice

Snack
cherries
1 low-cal vanilla pudding cup

Lunch
peanut butter and jelly sandwich
1 tomato
1 ice cream bar
1 glass skim milk

Dinner
large bowl of popcorn
1 can Hansen's diet black cherry soda

Snack
2 hardboiled eggs

Went to Walgreens and King Soopers this morning. At Walgreens they are having another sale on Boost (buy 1 get 1 50% off) and since I still have good coupons I got 2 more 6 packs. $6.43/2 on a gift card, so no money out of pocket. They also have 3 oz bags of Nabisco crackers on sale for .50. I got 2 Ritz cheese crackers and used $1/2 q - so they were free. 1 goes to my brother and 1 to my niece.

At King Soopers I spent $5.70 on grapes, a doz eggs, 2 potatoes and 1 head of lettuce. The grapes are still .88 cents a lb which is a very good price. They taste really good too.

I got 2 more $50 gift cards to Elephant Bar for my dad from plastic jungle last night. They were discounted 15%. So spent $85 on $100 worth of cards. He'll pay me for them when they get here.

I finished reading the library book The Temptation by Claudia Dain. Historical Romance - ok.

Week 1 - $23.17, 18.32 eating out, 4.85 groceries
Week 2 - $22.28, 9.00 eating out, 13.28 groceries
Week 3 - $19.93, 7.00 eating out, 12.93 groceries
Week 4 - $00.00

Here's yesterday's menu

Breakfast
1 1/2 c cheerios
skim milk
1/2 c juice

Snack
cherries
1 low-cal vanilla pudding cup

Lunch
Turkey sandwich
3 radishes - very hot
1 tomato
1 glass skim milk

Dinner
I took a can of Chunky sirloin steak w/mushrooms and onions soup and mixed it with No Yolks noodles and then ate half of the result.
watermelon
1 glass skim milk

Snack
1 apple
1 deviled egg

Three weeks of the challenge are over, only one more to go.

I went to Safeway and they had the Nivea chapstick on sale for .99 each. I have q's for $2/2. I got 4 chapsticks and just had to pay .27 in taxes.

I finished reading my book The Shadow Queen by Anne Bishop. Sci/Fi - excellent. I adore her Black Jewels series.