Part of my exciting evening routine is to wash dishes and set up the coffee maker to come on automatically in the AM. Its so nice to wake up to a fresh pot of made coffee!



Anyways, tonight I'm merrily setting up the coffee maker and thinking all is well until a moment or two later when I heard the coffee perking. Setting it all up and then hitting the on button rather than the auto button (the auto button is the one that would have it perking tomorrow morning) is not a frugal activity or a time saver in case you are wondering.. .

Yes, I dumped the coffee and reset up the pot. I really enjoy the hot fresh coffee in the am - and a major money saver as I have pretty much totally kicked the drive though habit.

The official corporate speak is that this isn't really layoffs. While some people (30 in total?) will be laid off at the end of the project it is a "consolidation' project and many of the jobs are relocating to other offices (cheaper rent and salaries in different areas of the company).

There are 40 people in our office that will be laid off including a number that work on our floor. It will not affect our department at all. Some will have on option so officially some will choose to terminate their employment rather than move to a different office. The date this all will happen is between now and the end of 2008.

I don't know who all this affects but I do know at least one person will likely end up unemployed. So while I'm not affected nor is my department it is still sad. We work on the same floor as a number of these people and every few months have a social type event with them (normally a potluck).

Can't say I'm impressed!

I just saw a advertisement for a Mastercard on MuchMusic - the Canadian version of MTV. The ad was marketing a credit card to teens. At the end of the ad there was some captioning on the screen about kids ages 13 and up and something about parents needing to give permission.

I think it is a prepaid credit card. But to my mind, teens don't need credit cards before they are able to even properly manage their allowance.

The entire ad is talking about freeing teens from parental control of how they spend their money. Sounds more like a quick way to hook kids into using a credit card to me. Get them hooked on a credit card early and they'll be paying you interest payments forever. Nice eh?

Two thumbs down for Mastercard and MuchMusic

Haven't done much at all today. Slept in a bit. Went through last weekends paper for coupons. A bit of culling out of expired coupons from my coupon stash. Made lunch. Napped, now surfing.

The nice thing about a lazy day is that you don't end up spending any money.

Have to shower soon though. We are heading over to a friend's house this evening and it would probably be nice if I was dressed and showered. I'm still in my PJ's and its after 4 in the afternoon.

I picked up a case of Smirnoff Ice at the duty free - Also picked up a 12pk of Sleemans Cream Ale (an excellent beer).

The carton for the beer was a bit banged up but it was beer. So long as the bottles were intact I wasn't fussy about the case - it looked like it would hold together to get the beer to where I was going!

Anyway I got to the cash and the cashier said "I'm giving you 10% off because the case is damaged". I thanked her and she said that when people ask they give them 10% off in this circumstance so she offers it to everyone.

I profusely thanked her and made a mental note to ensure that I ask for this in the future if my beer case has a "boo-boo".

I'm usually good about asking for discounts but this one I'd have missed entirely but for this cashier.

Tried the McD's that I found last trip - but their internet wasn't working. A word to the Assistant Manager got me the advise to sit near the TV. She didn't offer to reset the router or even see if it was on.

And where she told me to sit?...Um..what about those people there? She wasn't very helpful. If they claim they have WIFI they should try to manage to have it in the entire restaurant..Or they should teach their staff how to turn it on (my computer didn't find any wireless networks).

I'm at Panera now. Enjoying a coffee and cookie and some blogging! (Do I feel high tech or what?). And bonus, my seat is right beside a plug so I'm borrowing some hydro (the stuff some folks call electricity) to recharge my battery!

Off for the rest of my drive in a few minutes!

This class I took tonight was great. Southern cooking - they made rice and beans, maple glazed veggies, pecan encrusted cod,chicken style chicken and this this great ice cream dish.

I didn't eat before the class. I'm so glad I didn't. The "tasting" was not stingy by any means. The food was awesome. Not fussy but good hearty comfort food. The sort of food you love to eat but can't eat all the time unless you want to gain a lot of weight.

Learnt about starting things like fish and chicken in the fry plan (when breading etc) and then finishing it up in the oven. Probably an old trick for most but one I'd never heard of and one that I'm definitely going to use in the future.

Only low points - Room was cold and I wasn't on the sign up sheet. They let me sit in the class anyways and not pay. But tomorrow my friend will phone and find out what's going on. I love being frugal but I'm not going to be cheap. It was a great class with an excellent instructor. Not sure exactly what happened and I'm too tired tonight to go through my visa bill to figure out what happened. But I'll pay after the fact if it messed up.

I'm tired this morning, but there is hope. I'm at least a two mug of coffee gal and not a one mug girl. And so far I've only had one mug.

Though I did while the coffee brewed get the dishes moved ahead. So at least the kitchen looks like only a small bomb hit it. Let's not get into what the rest of the place looks like, k?

Some real blog entries to come later as I get organized and moving on stuff that needs to get moving, both financial and otherwise.

The good thing about working too much and being stressed is that you don't have time to think about spending money (other than an occassional snack or coffee).

The bad thing is you don't have any time to do the stuff you need to do to get your financial house in better order.

I've discovered over the last few months that I really prefer milk in either jugs or cartons. I have noticed when I buy bagged milk that a good part of it normally goes sour. But when it is in a jug or a carton I drink more of it.

Costs a bit more (and i have to remember to return the jug and not toss it so I get my deposit back) but I drink more so I waste less. And maybe environmentally more friendly.

I thought of titling this entry "no more homo bags of milk at my house". Homo is what we called full fat milk here(get your mind out of the gutter) Homogenized is the full word but way to long to write out and too hard to spell. So it is homo milk in popuplar parlance. But I'm a good girl and stick with 1% or skim.

Made a healthier shake and bake chicken - boneless skinless thighs dredged in cormeal with spices (basil, salt, pepper, paprika etc). Cheaper and healthier than white bread based shake and bake, and just as tasty!

Made an awesome stew with three simmering steaks I got on a day before last day of sale special. Put them in the crockpot with about a 1/4 cups of teriyaki sauce, envelope of onion soup mix and a can of tomato soup. Though salty the gravy turned out rich and thick and the meat fork tender. I cooked barley rather than rice as the starch (leaving out salt - as the gravy turned out salty). I have 5 meals with the barley, green peas and stew.

Also cooked a chicken - another 1/2 price day before last day of sale deal. Baked it with 2 cut up cloves of garlic and an orange all cut up. I used some of the orange zest to rub on the skin of the chicken - again I used the crockpot to cook this. About 6 hours on low and you have an awesome easy chicken! No liquid or anything needed. Quite a bit of this will likely end up in the freezer.

I have some onions to make carmalized onions - again a crockpot dish (yeah I love cooking in the crockpot LOL). I likely will set that up tomorrow night and start it when I go to work on Tuesday. They are super easy but do take 12-24 hours to cook (and I can't remember if last time about how long they took.

Yesterday when I went to the convenience store for some snacks in the evening (while still at work - I was working some serious overtime) I bought a lotto ticket. I wee bit of hope I think.

Only stupid thing is that I haven't played it yet - it is one of the scratch and win games. I guess, seeing I bought it I should. To see if I get my money back or if I paid stupid tax - cause really lottery tickets are voluntary stupid tax (a tax that gives a moment of hope as a return but a tax regardless, as some goverment agency ends up deciding where that part of my money goes)

I buy about 5 of them a year. I guess this counts as the first one this year, LOL.

The news about XM and Sirius merging got me concerned yesterday as I bought my XM radio in the US and subscribe to the US service through my BF.

I did it that way cause after research I figured out that both XM and Sirius in Canada offer less service for more money and the service offer in Canada was missing one of the US channels I really wanted.

The news of the two merging had me all worried yesterday. After some reading I realised that the news is they want to merge. Regulatory stuff means it may never happen or may take up a year. So the news of them merging is very premature.

Good cause that means the service I paid for isn't going to get messed up for the near future with "enhancments" that only enhance their bottom line and not my listening enjoyment.

As I'm in Canada, and reside in one of the provinces where they haven't invented a reason for a holiday (Alberta has "family day") in February I got the joy of working.

So I worked for 10 hours. It was a long day. I got a fair bit done. I have to show this work to Snr Management on Wed and I am nowhere near ready for that. Tomorrow will likely be another long day too! But the good news is by the end of the week this should be all settled, with new crises to give variety.

A quiet Sunday here - very quiet as most of the day I was in the office working. It is crazy busy right now and going in for an afternoon should allow me to at least come home and sleep the next few nights. The pain will be over soon but it's going to be an intense few days coming up.

The good news is that because I worked I didn't spend any money I hadn't planned to spend!

I've had much better days. Some days working for a living really isn't my cup of tea. Today was one of those days - I'd have prefereed to be anywhere but work. Garden variety stupid work stuff - for lack of a better way to describe what was happening.

Making a pot roast for work - as we have a potluck tomorrow. I make a pot roast every time. It is my signature dish. It usually costs me between $15 and $20 - a bit pricey maybe but made up by the time it takes to prepare. I usually use wine (white cause that is what I drink) but today I had beer more accessible so I used that (drank what was left in the bottle plus a fresh one for the cook)

I have the simplest recipe going.

Yummy Pot Roast
4lbs of meat (chuck roast)
2 no name packages onion soup mix
1 cup beer (or wine) (no more than this)
3-4 garlic cloves.

I cook on high about 4-6 hours (fully defrosted meat) but you can cook on low for longer. Makes tons of delicious gravy.

Have to remember to take a piece of meat off of the roast for supper tomorrow.

They don't have double coupons at grocery stores in Canada - so it is nice when I'm in NY state or PA that I can sometimes get some nice deals with double coupons at the grocery stores there.

Today's score was some body wash on clearance for 1.74 for which I had a 75c off coupon that the store doubled!!!!! A good brand and variety! So I'm really happy!

Had to stop my self buying MORE shampoo - was I already have so much shampoo that even with it on sale and a doubled coupon - it was a great deal but if its a great deal and you don't need it it isn't a really great deal right? And it wasn't so good a deal as to be free. If it was free I'd have bought it LOL

I got to pick out my valentines present yesterday.

My sweetie took me to Bed Bath and Beyond. And I got to pick out something. This for me was fun! I don't normally walk in to any store and go -hmm what do I want to buy today without doing that entire needs analysis to be followed by comparison shopping to be followed by the "are you sure this is a need and not a want internal debate"

I chose this really funky silicone collapsing strainer. Yeah, I'm weird. Man is it ever cool! I saw it and I had gadget lust. This is wayyyyy better than a box of chocolate. And it is red So it fits the holiday scheme.

We went to an early valentines party last night too so it was a great day all around!

Got paid $5 for doing a survey for pinecone. I got a referral to them ages ages ago and am very glad I took it.

I probably average a survey for them once a month. It takes a reasonable amount of time and they always pay.

I'll be adding this to my challenge money when I get to depositing it.

Did my civic duty on Thursday and voted in the bi-election (our prior representative having vacated for some reason or another). One of the candidates running had ran for local council and I met him then and was impressed. He didn't win so ran in this election. For a change the guy I voted for won. Very strange for me - I usually the one you don't want voting for you cause the other party will get in...

I know the folks that do the polling booths (the election officials) are folks that know someone etc.. Patronage "overpay them for the day" jobs. But come on folks. Please screen them for the ability to read. Literacy rocks for positions that require reading. Or if they are visually impaired provide them with the voters list in braille. Buddy boy looking each person up in the list had a lot of difficulty. It was painful and made something that should have taken less than 5 minutes take about 15 - most of it being spent by him trying to locate your name of the voters list.

I seemed to do a bit better today. Still second guessing myself and stuff but nothing like yesterday.

Kept my spending to $1.40 for a decaf coffee this afternoon.

The big hightlight of the day is that a junior in my office has been assigned to help me with a project. We work together a lot and know each others strengths and weaknesses. My strength is that I am very good at my job. My weakness is that I'm lousy at filing. As such I had about 2 years of filing scattered throughout my office (mixed in with other stuff that needed to be filed). Pretty much a disasater.

Well he took me in hand today and things are now organized and in files - at least on that project. Woo hoo! I did have a desk under all of that!

Worked today. Well more like went to work. Didn't get much done. Am still (duh) very sad about Mao.

I'm not second guessing what I had to do but I am wondering if I should have done it sooner etc. I think that's all part of grieving.

Tossed his litter box (though did manage to dump litter on the floor *sigh* while doing so) and scooper. I left one blanket at the vet as they can use them, and will likely donate his other blankets to a shelter.

Open leftover food was turfed. The rest of the dry kibble and the 2 cans of wet food that are left will be given to a coworker who has 2 cats on that formula of food (K/D from Hills)

The house feels empty. Even though it is usually just me and him it still feels empty.

Strangely I just found it annoying:

Enough carts in the parking lot to serve the needs of most small cities. I had to carefully drive around them. More than one person would have had to move carts to get out of their parking space...

At least three children steering carts around in the store totally oblivious to everyone else and getting in the way of everyone else.

Shelves that looked like they were last faced sometime in the 90's. Many were very empty. Looked like no one had been working there for a while..

At least one small child running around that should have been in the baby seat in a the cart or in a stroller. One nearly backed into my cart - why she was wandering around and backing up I have no idea. Thank goodness her parent grabbed her before she crashed into me (yes I was going slowly and even stopped at the time - she was oblivious to everyone around her)

The lady in the cash in front of me who was running back and forth to pick up one more thing while she was cashing out.

Yeah the store was dead. But as far as I could tell it had more to do with the state of the staff than the number of patrons.

Cook so I don't end up eating out next week.

Get tax stuff organized

Deposit some cheques - extra money that will go into my emergency fund and be $20 challenge money as it is all money I used to just dump in my chequing and not keep track of

Send out a coupon train (not mine but one to move down to the next station)

Nothing to onerous - just have to get off my *tush* and do it

I'm so tired today. Was a long week with some sad news and fighting off all of the bugs that are going around.

I took a friend out to dinner and did my laundry tonight (and the laundry room wasn't too busy woo hoo - and the dryers worked!!!)

A nice relaxing weekend with some cooking ahead is on the agenda!

I wasn't quite as frugal as I wanted to be today cause I did end up buying my lunch. Pfft.

I also realised that I was supposed to deal with some investment paperwork today - that I remembered about midmorning then promptly forgot about.. I'll make sure to do that tomorrow so I end the month on a good note.

Tonight was a nice treat! A friend and I have a subscription to dinner theatre. We do a mid week one so we get a 2 for one deal and we pay for it upfront - so that when we enjoy it its already paid for and has been budgeted in. The cost for tonight was $5.00 for coffee and a small tip - all the rest was already paid for .. WOO HOO

Tonight California Dreaming 2 - Songs from the 60's to today. Good music. Fabulous costumes! OMG the hair and clothes! Made me realise yes, fashion could be worse...

I'm off to get my hair cut and coloured and to hopefully get a pedicure. It's not going to be a frugal day. I have a few more groceries I want but other than that I think I'll be containing myself.

Barley Pilaf is in the slow cooker as we speak. When I get home I want to cook up some chicken and some ground turkey so that next week I have some good meals.

I did a whole lot of shopping tonight.

Got fresh groceries - lots of fruits and veggies, as well as finding a good sale on canned beans! So I'm happy Stopped at the not so elegantly named bulk barn for some spices and the liquor store for some .. yeah you guessed it - liquor and some beer. I never used to drink beer but have really started to enjoy Sleemans Cream Ale. So I got 2 sixpacks and some Mikes light lemonade.

I'm still amused that the Mike's in PA is a malt "beer" beverage and that here in ON it is a vodka cooler.

Haven't had much to say on a financial note lately. Things are coasting along nicely. I've eliminated much of my day to day spending. I'm dropping by the grocery store regularily to pick up a thing or two but the bills are under $10 usually - and its not junk food - normally fruit/veggies or an ingredient for dinner. Last night it was veggies and I had eaten all the veggies I had got on the weekend (the ones to snack on anyways)

Exciting eh?