I've been eating out way too many meals lately. Too much money wise and calorie wise. My goal next week will be to pack lunches for work and get back to making breakfast at home rather than grabbing a Timmies bagel and double double (sweetner) on the way to work.

Went to Zellers (very similar to target in the US). To get a buggy they now make you depost a $1 to use the cart.

Yeah you get it back but holy crap. That's totally annoying.

I got revenge by buying only the one item I went there for. I won't be shopping there much any more. Seeing I never shopped there much before I am sure they're too concerned about my annoyance.

Got the credit card with airmiles. It comes with enough airmiles for a trip anywhere in Canada. I'm thinking I might keep the card for a year, use the airmiles and still be ahead, assuming I cancel it then.. unless I travel enough and use the card enough to rack up lots of airmiles....

I'm wanting to travel more so this might work out nicely. Or not. It all hinges on using it...

Got a great limit if I want to go into stupid debt...

Now to find out what happened to the other card that was being sent to me overnight about a month ago.. it still hasn't shown up...

My car is in the shop. It is a 2000 Saturn with nearly 200,000km on it so things are starting to wear out and go wrong.

I know intellectually that repairing it is cheaper than buying new but its so tempting to just get a new car and not pay huge repair bills.

I am told the car should be ready for pick up tomorrow night. And I should be nearly $700 poorer.

Yikes

At a restaurant tonight.

A couple with two preschoolers was in the restaurant at the other side of it. I got to listen to their kids both as they talked and as they tossed ...erflung madly against the wall toys in the small kids area that was tucked to the far side of the section.

I gather the entire concept of inside voices vs playground voices is passe? So is, as far as I can tell the entire concept of playing quietly

I payed, with tip, almost $30 for my meal. I really would have liked it a tad quieter. Yes this is a family friendly restaurant but still..

Got more of my fiesta unpacked and am trying to figure out how to display it nicely.

That made a ton of mess (unwrapping, boxes). Got rid of that.

Errands today included to the nail place to get a nail fixed. Two nails fixed and new polish and the total was $7 - less than I expected

Then to drop the car off at crappy tire. Guess on a 2000 Saturn with 197000 you can expect stuff to go wrong. Break light is out and i think its more than a wire (the other place tried to fix it and weren't able to. They also told me my oil pan was leaking.

On top of that my plats are expired a and I need a drive clean test done ASAP...

Tonight I few to Montreal And now I am having trouble sleeping.. ick

Got not one but two invitations for a free dinner for myself and a guest.

It includes a "fun and relaxed 90 minute introduction to making money on the Internet"

90 Minutes YIKES!

And you get a free business organizer (A $39.99 VALUE!!!)

The small print says the meal will be served at the end of the 90 minute conference! And the organizer may be available at the conference or mailed to you after the conference.

Offered by some company called Stores Unlimited out of Utah? Anyone sit through this conference? I wonder what it is exactly they are selling.

I think I'll pass.

Not sure what happened but consider this the ghostly entry that never was - a figment of your imagination!

Bought two items on ebay yesterday. While I can afford some spending on fiesta I have to be very careful not to go crazy. They make it so easy with paypal and how it is connected to your bank account and credit card.

On good news I only bought a coffee out yesterday as I bought my lunch. That's a must if I'm gonna start buying on ebay!

That's one way to describe surfing Fiestaware on ebay isn't it? So far I've just put items on my wish list and have refrained from buying.

So far so good. I'm pretty good at not getting caught up in buying frenzies so I'm relying on that not to go crazy.

My telephone works (and seems to have call display), my dsl is up and running and my wireless network is allowing me to e where i want to in the apt on the computer.

Life is good.

Life is good!

I'm in the middle of purging paper. Mail, flyers and coupons soon mean piles of paper everywhere. So far 1 large grocery store bag of shredded paper and about 2 of various paper crap that can go!

Nice to be able to open drawers and such again and not cringe and watch paper fall out. I don't know if I'll get done or not but I've made good inroads.

Everything went okay this morning at the hospital. Cost was approx $2 for my share of the antibiotic prescription that I needed and $1 for the parking meter. I was 4 minutes over my time but lucked out as the meter maids weren't nearby!

Glad its done with. Doc talked to me after. I don't need a follow up! Yeah!

Internet troubles continue.

Had a horrible migraine Friday night so spent most of the weekend recouperating. I need to go to the doc's to talk about somethign stronger than IB or Excedrin Migraine to kill the pain. Going to try to see the doctor tonight about that.

Going for a small hospital procedure on Tuesday. In by 7am and they say out by 8:30am. Will likely take the day off as a sick day though I likely won't be too ouchy. Thank god for provincial coverage -no out of pocket cost to me.

Spending under control though I feel like I have a lot of "I wanna's". I'm glad I'm mature enough to know the difference between a need and a "wanna".

A while back I had asked if I could get a new fridge. Well today it came! Woo hoo!

It has a separate door for the freezer and is frost free. Technology decades ahead of what I had!

I'm a happy girl!

I won't even discuss the mess under the old one - lets just say it got deal with before the super came ... YUCK. I mop my floor but under there had gotten missed for a longish while, LOL...

I went to the local Sears Outlet store yesterday to look for a suitcase. I didn't buy the cheapest available rather I bought a roots one with plenty of pockets to lose things in and an expandable feature. I've been using a duffel bag to travel (since college) or an old suitcase of my parents. I figure it was time to upgrade (okay so I no longer want to lug a too heavy bag cause it will hurt my back).

I looked around at the discount clothes and such but I stayed strong (okay so the stuff was crap) and only bought what I had planned to buy.

On the way to the Blue Jay's game with the girls I walkedfrom Union Station (subway and communter train, and passenger train station) through the walkway called "Skywalk" that goes to the CN Tower and Skydome over the railway lands.

On the walk I saw a plaque and stopped and read about two hero's who saved some lives in 1999

I have very soft nails that keep breaking. I've done acrylic nails in the past and didn't really like them.

Have any of you tried silk wrap or gel nails? Any preference between the two? would you recommend either?

How often do you have to get them "touched up" or filled or whatever?

I would like prettier hands so am considering this.. but not sure if it is a bad way to go. I've been told that sometimes after your nails can be horrible.

I don't want talon length ones. Just long enough so they look polished and pretty. - And maybe I'll stop biting my fingers

Yes I know this isn't overly frugal but with the rent reduction I'm feeling girly and like looking pretty. I might not do it but i want nice options.

I had mentioned to a friend ages ago that I'd love to tag along to a conference he was attending in Quebec City.

Yesterday he called me up and we booked my ticket (he had already booked his!). I have to give him a cheque to cover the cost (I hate owing money but this was the easier way to do it as I didn't have an account set up with the airline).

So next Friday morning we head out to Quebec City and return on Tuesday morning. The nice thing is that cause he has to be there anyways that I have no hotel costs. The flight was pricy but this nicely makes up for it.

I'm so excited!

That is the liscence state motto in the province of Quebec. A friend is going there for work and I might tag along. He has a conference there in a coupls of weeks and it would be very nice to go there with him

Airfare is shockingly expensive but he'd cover the hotel costs or his employer would.

It is only in two weeks so if I do go it won't be long ...

Geeky happiness is realising you are not connecting to your wireless network but rather someone elses.

Geeky glee is realising you can remove that network from your list of networks you attach to automatically.

Geeky euphoria is realizing that geeks don't use names for things like the name of your network but rather random codes eush as EISSN (something like that)

Geeky giddiness is realising you can stop others from seeing your newly named network by stopping it broadcasting.

Such much pleasure. So litle extra expense to achieve it.

Life is good.

Think how I'll be next week when I figure out the defrost setting on the microwave.

Look at your own risk.

I friend sent me this link a while back. It illustrates wonderfully the danger of buying a toy you don't really need because it is a good price.

Went at lunch time to the bank to get out cash and then to the grocery store to pick up a sandwich.

Hint: The grocery store is a great place to get lunch usually for a better price than the local restaurant!

Then went to the drugstore to get some coffee. Was the last day for the sale on the 1KG of Folgers for $4.99 - So I picked up two containers - that's a pretty good price! And making coffee every morning I seem to fly through coffee - but one will last me three weeks or so - and three or four coffee's from take out will run the $5 easy...

Heading out to dinner with a bunch of girlfriends and then maybe to visit a friend after.

I so need to sit down this weekend and do some thinking and planning with my finances. Nothing that will take a long time. Just maintenance to get me to my goals.

Wondering if after a couple days of market crashes I should be reviewing my investments (all mutual funds). I think it has been a while.

Nice spending day today. A coworker brought in Bagels and cheese and I had that for lunch! And I got a huge work project out the door.

Not a lot to say today. The cough syrup I'm taking works very well but it is pretty potent stuff so I'm quite mellow.

For the third year in a row A and I have booked out tickets for dinner theatre. We go go midweek so its an excellent deal for some good shows!

I have some coupon trains to move along.

This bad and slightly off colour joke has been amusing me today (sort of financially related as it talks about a special price)


The Newfie saw the sign at the restaurant.

It read.... Happy hour special:
Lobster Tail & Beer.
$6.50

"Lard 'Tunderin' Jaises !" he says to himself,

"Me tree favourite tings".

Finally went to the doc's about my never ending (okay three week long)cough and got some killer prescription cough syrup and some antibiotics. He said that three weeks was away long enough and he was willing to help!

We talked about weight issues and potential ways of treating it. I want to start looking into that in Sept and will go back at end of August to meet with him about that.

Filled the prescription at the pharmacy. My copay - 10% of the cost came out to about $5. Thank goodness for a good drug plan that pays 80%. No charge for the doctor's visit of course!

Felt better today than yesterday so actually got some stuff done - and didn't go out so other than money for laundry (I don't have my own machine) I didn't spend.

I did work on a quilt top. I still have to add borders but this is what I got done today.



I think I'll add a small blue border in the same shade as the butterfly material and then a larger purple (the darker colour in the quilt is purple and not blue) border. and then bind in a pink and light blue material for some "zip".

But that's tomorrow's decision

Yesterday was a good day. Brought coffee to work and lunch was on the company that manages our building - they did a tenant appreciation bbq so FREE LUNCH, LOL.

Stopped at the grocery store on the way home and splurged on some $1.99 raspberries (I don't have a garden) and a couple necessities. Bill was less than $5 - yeah me for not buying extra stuff cause it was on "special".

Spent last night chatting with some friends then actually spent some time around the house so that it looked like a home rather than a hovel. After putting stuff away, some bathroom cleaning, dishes and vacuuming I'm proud to say it looks much better. Likely not up to good housekeeping standards but they ain't likely to visit my humble abode anyways.

I have a date tonight after work with S. Looking forward to it. Our schedules didn't work last weekend so I haven't seen him for a couple of weeks! Rest of the weekend will be quiet. I have had a cold and been pretty busy so this is good! Quiet rocks!

After being home for a day and a half I think the worst of my cold is done and I'm heading back to work today.

It will be a spend day. I haven't had the energy to cook and I need to head to the drug store for more sinutab to keep the ole nasal passages clear

Hopefully I can get what I need done and get home at a decent time. I'm salaried so I can sneak out early if my desk is under control. I don't think it will happen but I have my fantasies.