Awile back I wrote about a guy who blogged about how he wasn't really rich even though he earned more than $250K/year. I was fasinated by the comments more than the article. The Wall Street Journal has put out another article discussing this guy, which is also interesting and is more geared to the psychology of feeling rich or poor.

http://finance.yahoo.com/career-work/article/110876/why-the-...

Even though the article is pretty good I don't care for the ending:

"But frankly, that discussion is offensive, particularly in this economy, when for millions of people the choice is not travel or private school versus real estate, but utilities versus food, or rent versus car payments."

Why is it, that so many people think that if you have money you don't have other problems? Or that it's wrong for you to enjoy what you have earned as long as there is someone else in the world who has less than you do - for whatever reason? There will always be people who have more money than others in society. Are they less because of that? Should they mourn the good things in their life because someone else somewhere does not have those things? Should they not want more for themselves and their family? It's not like they are taking food away from someone else when they work and then spend what they've earned on their families. In fact this particular man employs 2 other people to help with his family life, so he is providing food to others and he can do that because he makes good money.

I guess what others want is instead of him employing these 2 people, he should instead send that money to Washington in the form of higher taxes and then after they waste 5 - 10% of it off the top and another % for administration, tax preparers etc, they can return it to the people he previously employeed in the form of unemployment checks, food stamps, etc. Which they can then spend hours standing in line for and filling out forms.

I finished reading the library book Mouse and Dragon by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller. Sci/Fi - excellent. I love this Liaden universe series. I like space opera anyways and they are one of the best.

I did a big grocery run today and spent over $25, which is a lot for me, but I haven't been eating much recently and finally got to the point where I needed to restock and get back into eating good meals.

I got a lot of basics like milk, eggs, bread, apples, bananas, lettuce, celery, tomatoes and potatoes. I went to both King Soopers and Safeway. I went back to Safeway to stock up on the apples. They had the Gala apples for .77/lb and I got some Saturday to try out. They are really good, sweet and small, just the right size. So I got 30 more today. I also got 7 baking potatoes at .79/lb and 5 tomatoes at 1.28/lb.

At King Soopers the Eggsland Best extra large eggs were .40 cents cheaper/doz than the large eggs, so I got a doz after coupon for 1.19. I got one free Star Kist tuna pouch, 2 free chocolate cherry Luna bars and 3 free Joint Juice. The Luna bars go to my niece and the Joint Juice goes to my grandma.

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

As I ran errands this morning I noticed several small businesses are closed or are closing around here. The Carl's Junior, Cold Stone, another ice cream place, a sandwich place, and 2 Curves are combining into one, so technically one of them is closed. After 2 years I guess they couldn't hold out any longer hoping for better times.

I went to the library, Safeway and Subway this morning. Safeway had Gala apples for .77/lb. I got a few and if I like them, I will go back on Monday and stock up. Apples last for months in the refrigerator, but some of them have a strange mouth feel, so I want to taste before stocking up.

For xmas last year I got 2 $25 Subway gift cards. I used the last of the first one today and started on the second. So lunch and dinner are free today since I got a foot long turkey sub on their new 9-grain bread. I haven't tried the bread yet, hope it's good and not grainy like some.

I got a free sample of Wisk in the mail today. Love samples. I also got the bill from the gall bladder dr - $812.40. I also got a $10 off $20 coupon for Kohl's from my Discover card. I'll probably give it to my mom since I'm not a big Kohl's shopper.

I finished reading the library book Love in the Time of Dragons by Katie Macalister. Paranormal - cute and funny, but it's part of a new series and the story left off in the middle, which I don't like.

I did my quarterly networth last night and so far this year I've made $8,000 more than I've spent. I expect I'll need another $10 - $12K before the end of the year for xmas and medical bills and general living expenses. I've spent just over $14k so far this year. The lowest level of expectation is to meet my expenses each year. The hoped for is to meet expenses and earn 3 - 4% or inflation on my investments. And the optimimum is to make double my expenses. This year I think I'll meet my expenses but don't know how much more.

Paid both credit cards, home insurance and the cleaners today - big chunk of change gone Discover is giving 5% back on restaurants and fashion for the next quarter and MC is giving 5% on groceries, department stores and movies.

I finished reading the library book Mission of Honor by David Weber. Sci/Fi - very good.

Yesterday was my parents anniversary. I found a really cute card. 2 little kids dressed up in wedding clothes. The little girl has her tounge sticking out and the little boy is shrugging his shoulders and rolling his eyes. The card says "Marriage takes Respect, Love and Commitment... Making faces behind the back of whoever's acting childish helps too."

I gave them $30 in Red Lobster gift cards and $20 in Subway gift cards for their anniversary. I also gave them a $50 gift card to Shell in thanks for all the taxi services they've provided in the last couple of months.

Target had a 26" LCD/DVD combo HDTV on sale this week for $298 which is a very good price. I had planned to buy myself a new HDTV for xmas, but since this was such a deal I decided that Christmas was going to be early this year. So yesterday we took my parents car to town to pick it up. Before we went I went to King Soopers and bought $300 in Target gift cards using my credit card. I get $3 from the credit card at 1% back and I also get double gas points, so .60/gal in gas. If I get 20 gallons that will save me $12. By planning ahead I will save $15.

Besides the TV I got 2 free trial sizes of Tide for free and 3 Snickers candy bars.

We also went to Bed, Bath and Beyond, Hobby Lobby, and Home Goods. Mom bought lots of stuff, but I didn't get anything else.

We went to Red Lobster for lunch and I had my favorite popcorn shrimp. Their prices have gone up again to $8.25 for the lunch. I spent $9.69

This morning dad came over to setup the TV. Everything is working great. This is the first I've had local channels in over a year, since they switched everything to HD. My old TV didn't have that capability and the converter boxes didn't work with it. I can watch the Amazing Race now. That's one of my favorite shows.

I went to King Soopers and got a free 2 liter bottle of Sierra Mist today. I won it playing the King Soopers Cart Buster game. It will go the food pantry.

I finished reading my book Kindred in Death by J. D. Robb. Mystery - excellent.

I had a very good weekend. A friend of mine came over and we watched movies, talked and ate pizza. I got a large pizza from Papa Murphy's for $8 after a $3 coupon. I used 2 codes from the Redbox website to get 2 movies for free.

We watched Killers, which was cute and funny. We also watched Cop Out, which was funny in places, but was mostly stupid. Bruce Willis is such a good actor, that even when the movie is stupid, he shines.

I got a $50 GC to Shell using one of my credit cards. Both cards are giving 5% back on gas this quarter on up to $200 in purchases. I've spent a little over a hundred so I'm going to buy gift cards before the end of the month to make the savings strech to the months when I won't be getting 5% back.

My kidney stone removal is tomorrow and I need to have someone be with me for 24 hours afterwards so I'll be spending the night at my parents again. I'll be glad when it's done and one more step to putting this behind me.

I read several books this weekend

My book DragonSinger by Anne McCaffrey. Sci/Fi - very good

Library book By Schism Rent Asunder by David Weber. Sci/Fi - very good

Library book Darkness Calls by Marjorie M. Liu. Paranormal - very good.

I'm still hit or miss on meals so not buying a lot of groceries right now. Living on simple stuff like peanut butter sandwichs, beans, eggs, baked potatoes and Boost.

Went to Safeway and got carrots, bananas, bread and a couple potatoes. Also got

4.00 - 4 cans Select Harvest chicken noodle soup
-4.00 - 4 $1 q's
-----
FREE - goes to the food pantry

8.00 - 4 18 oz jars of JIF peanut butter
-2.04 - SW q
-----
5.94 - 1.49/each - excellent price for JIF

I went to see my primary dr today about my blood pressure - it's still high. 142/92. She gave me a new drug to try. She got my reports from the hospital and she seemed amazed I made it through the experience. She mentioned that my kidney functions were excellent - better than hers. That's two dr's who've said that now.

I finished reading the library book Soul Song by Marjorie M. Liu. Paranormal - very good.

This was an interesting blog from a guy who politicians call the 'Super Rich' - making more than $250,000 a year. Even more interesting is the comments section.

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:kpzaEp0...

It definitly shows the diversity of thinking about taxes and the rich.

Here's the WSJ's response to the post

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405274870412920457550...

I finished reading my book Bone Crossed by Patricia Briggs. Paranormal - very good.

Since my experience in the hospital one of the things I wanted to do prior to having any more surgeries is get my will updated. I'm not sure if my neices were even born when I wrote the last one. I went to LegalZoom and got it done today. I was really impressed with their website. It was so easy to use. I completed it in less than a half hour and it cost less than half what I paid years ago. It cost $69 + 2.95 for the shipping. Before checking out I did a search on Legal Zoom promo code and found one to take another $5 off using code LZSAVE. So final cost $66.95 and I have a month to make updates to the will in case I see something I messed up or want changed.

I finished reading the library book Magic Bleeds by Ilona Andrews. Paranormal - very good. This author is as good as Patricia Briggs or Laurel K. Hamilton.

Thanks for the well wishes everyone.

My mom called last night and asked if I was ok. I was a little surprised and said "yes, why wouldn't I be?" She said sometimes bad news hits people hard later. I will admit I had a few catch your breath moments when I went to bed, but they were short. I guess I come accross as very calm and accepting and I am - mostly. I've had almost a month to think about the fact that I might have cancer and while I hoped the whole time it wasn't so, I knew it probably was.

I could react in several ways to the news. I could just ignore it and hope the cancer goes away on it's own. But most likely it will just get worse and probably spread to other organs.

I could fret and worry over the situation. What if they take the wrong kidney in the operation? What if something else goes wrong in the operation, like the last time? What if I have kidney problems in the future? This is one of my biggest worries. Since I have diabetes. Right now the dr said my kidney function is perfect, better than his. So if I control my diabetes I shouldn't have to worry. However, if I have another kidney stone, I have to get to a hospital immediately since I will be in kidney failure.

I could become depressed and cry about it. Why me? What did I do to deserve this? This isn't fair.

Instead I realize that this is something where I have no control. And since I have no control, then I am going to do what the dr's suggest and assume everything will turn out fine. I just have to get through the process and then I'll be healthy again and can get on with my life. I'll try not to worry about it and have a positive attitude - like going to the dentist - I don't like it, I wish it was different but I have to do it. I'm not going to drive myself nuts with worrying and fretting. I'm grateful it's not worse.

I got my townhome insurance bill yesterday. It went up $22+ over 16%. That's a big increase. I don't know how the government justifies there inflation numbers. They say there is virtually no inflation or only 2 - 3% and yet most of my bills go up 5 - 15%. Plus the cost of food, gas and other items goes up regularly also.

I finished reading my book Lion's Heat by Lora Leigh. Paranormal - very good.

I went to Walmart and got 3 6 packs of Ensure today.

20.91
-9.00 - 3 $3 coupons
-----
11.91 or $3.97 each

I also picked up the rest of my prescriptions at King Soopers. 3 prescriptions for 30 days each and I only spent $7.05.

I finished reading the library book Claimed by Shadow by Karen Chance. Paranormal - pretty good.

I had my CT scan today. It took more than twice as long as they told me it would. There was no one else waiting to be scanned so don't know why it was so long. I rescheduled my appt with the kidney dr for this Thursday. No reason to wait till next week since I got the scan today. I have no new information about what they saw though.

The pills I took to make me sleepy (prednisone and benedryl) actually reved me up so I didn't sleep at all last night and didn't really need a driver today. I didn't have any problems drinking the barium drink. I thought I might have trouble keeping it down. I'm supposed to drink a ton of water in the next day to flush all the barium out of my kidneys.

While at the CT place they asked for the other hospital I was to send them all the previous scans they took while I was in the coma. They sent 13 pages. I've been getting more radiology bills from my insurance company. It's up to almost $200 I owe now. I haven't recieved any real bills yet.

Mom and I walked our entire route today and we were only slower by 5 or 10 minutes so that was good progress.

I finished reading the library book Blood Born by Linda Howard and Linda Jones. Paranormal - very good.

My niece had a cupcake cake made of white cake. I made a comment about being surprised it wasn't chocolate which has always been her favorite. She said she decided not to like chocolate. I didn't know you could decide something like that

After the party I took her to her Powder Puff practice and she told me some stuff about her school. Since she went to Honduras on her mission trip she said she thinks school is a priviledge. After seeing how most of the people she met had only a 3rd grade education, if that, she realizes that their lack of education keeps them poor and she's lucky to have the opportunity to learn. It's a very good thing that she is thinking that way.

However, I wonder about some of the stuff she tells me she is learning. She says they learned how aliens helped build the pyramids. She also doesn't believe that man made it to the moon - that is was a hoax. Next thing I know she will tell me the holocaust didn't happen.

I think there is a pattern in our culture anymore that puts down man's achievments. We are portrayed as greedy, war-mongoring, environment destroying, and brutal as a species. We are rarely given credit for the amazing accomplishments mankind has made over the centuries. For example with the pyramids, the story of aliens helping build them is put out there because man couldn't have possibly done something so amazing by himself, he had to have had help. Like back in the 1800's when explorers found fantastic ruins in Africa, they never gave local people credit for building them, it always had to be some lost white tribe who must have done these marvelous things.

When they teach about the founding founders they seem to emphasize their personal flaws rather than emphasizing the truly revolutionary things they accomplished. They created an entirely new country with a system to make men free to grow, to be rich, to worship and to be free from government abuses. Most of the countries in the world still don't have these privileges. In America we have the right and opportunity to develop from having nothing to being multi-millionaires just through our own efforts. The founders gave us the system for doing that. Yet we are told they were slave owners and philanderers etc. They were, but this wasn't immoral by the standard of their times. And I think the things they accomplished should be emphasized more than the other parts.

We don't seem to want to give credit to man for being great. We always try to find the flaw in a person, and everyone has flaws, and emphasize that to demphasize the great things people do. For example, my sister loved Rock Hudson movies, until she found out he was gay, then she hated them. The movies didn't change, the acting didn't change, just her perception of the actor. What a stupid reason to decide not to like something. But we seem to do it all the time with great historical figures.

Christopher Columbus was a hero when I was growing up. Now he's portrayed as a genocidal conqueror. What he did was heroic. He set out across an ocean in flimsy boats to find a new path to China. He didn't set out to bring disease to a group of people, he didn't set out to conquer a land, he set out to discover something new. That was very brave considering the conditions of the time. But we can't give him credit for that, because of the results.

I don't mind the kids learning both sides, but put the emphasize on the achievements, on the ideas, on the mores of the time in which the people lived. Judging someone from hundreds of years ago based on modern values is wrong. And dismissing their accomplishments based on modern values of their personalities is also wrong.

We should celebrate the greatest of human beings instead of constantly looking to tear them down. I don't know what schools expect to achieve by demphasizing man's greatness.

I finished reading the library book Silent Truth by Sherrilyn Kenyon and Diana Love. Mystery/Romance - pretty good. Not as good as her Dark Hunter series.

I went to my sister's this morning to celebrate my youngest neice's 16th bday which is tomorrow. We did it this morning because my older neice drove down from college last night after her last class and she has to be back to go to work at 3:45 this afternoon. It's a 2 hour drive. But it was the only time she could work it in. I can't believe the youngest is 16 already she was just 3 not very long ago - how did this happen? She is so beautiful - tall and lean and tanned and fit. I didn't have energy to shop for her this time so I just gave her $100 to spend as she wants.

We had pizza and my neice had a cake made out of cupcakes. That's the richest food I've eaten since the hospital and it gave me a huge stomach ache. I only had 2 small pieces of pizza and the one cupcake with most of the frosting off.

I got the medicine for my CT this morning - prednisone combined with benedryl. I already had the benedryl. The prednisone cost $1.51 for 6 tablets. I get 50 fuel points with each prescription so I could get over 200 this month with just prescriptions, that gives me .20 cents off each gallon of gas. Plus if I buy groceries I may get as much as .40/gal this month.

I finished reading my book With Every Breath by Lynn Kurland. Romance - very good.

I was watching a financial program the other day and they were talking about what does it mean to be rich. According to politicians you are rich if you make over $250,000. But one commentator defined rich as "being able to live comfortable without having to work". That's me. I don't have anywhere close to a million dollars and I live on less than $20,000 a year, but I live comfortable and have everything I want without having to work - therefore I am rich

I went to Safeway today and picked up a few groceries.

5.94 - 6 cans Del Monte green beans
-2.40 - SW q
-----
2.54 - these go to the food pantry

2.00 - 2 cans Old El Paso refried beans
-2.00 - 2 .55 q's doubled
- .60 - ecoupon
-----
.60 moneymaker - these go to the food pantry

4.58 - 2 bags Mission tortilla chips
-2.00 - SW q
-2.00 - 2 .50 q's doubled
-1.10 - 2 .55 ecoupons
-----
.52 moneymaker - 1 bag goes to my niece

3.00 - Welchs grape juice
-1.01 - SW q
-1.50 - q
-----
.49 - my ecoupon didn't come off or it would have been a moneymaker

3.98 - 2 fried chicken breasts
2.17 - 2 potatoes

I also went to Walgreens and got 2 6 packs of Boost buy 1 get 1 at 50% off. I had 2 $1.50 coupons and spent $7.93. I've been drinking a lot of this since I got out of the hospital. Still not very hungry. I have a lot more energy though and mom and I are walking about 80% of what we used to do although slower. Should be up to 100% in a few days but probably still slower for a while. I drove for the first time today and it was fine. I couldn't trust my reaction time before now.

I have my cat scan set up for Monday. Hopefully it will show all is well. Thanks for all the good thoughts.

I finished reading the library book From Hell with Love by Simon Green. Sci/Fi - very good.

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.

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:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/russian-whea...

Not much to do about it, however it turns out. Just keep my stockpile going and try to buy items at the best price I can.

Finished reading my book Turn Coat by Jim Butcher. Sci/Fi - excellent.

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
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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.