Phew! Busy here. I am working six days this week because our receptionist has gone to visit family for the week.

It's been hot here the past few days. Today was hot, but by the time I got home (6:20pm) it was a beautiful 76F. Just wanted to veg in the backyard with a cold beer , but I had a bunch of "mom stuff" to do. And I realized that I had to run DD to the craft store so she could get a few small things for her decorated egg that she is entering in our fair. I spent $6. Fair is next week.

I also checked the dates and times for entry drop-offs and I missed the window to drop off my photographs. I spent $6 to enter. I am going to try to take them when we take DD's items, but I'm not holding my breath. Bummed, but not the end of the world.

Went to a dairy goat farm on Sunday with the kids. I want to post a few pics when I get time.

Our garden is loving the hotter weather. I keep taking pictures to post, so I'll do that soon too.

Happy Memorial Day weekend everyone!

School is officially over. This past week we bought little "Thank You" goodies for DD's teacher, music teacher, office staff and her daycare. She had a class party on Friday and brought croissants. I wrote final payment checks to the lunch lady and daycare.

Now I am working on registrations for summertime camps for DD. The past several years she has gone to a weeklong horseback riding day camp. We work it out with one or two school friends to all go on the same week. That way we share the driving. This year I will drive the girls every morning. This is good for me because it’s only a little out of the way on my way to DS’s daycare and my work. Then the other mom will do all the afternoon pick-ups. Again, perfect for me because I don't get off work until after camp is over. It's really a problem for working families because most day camps don't last the whole work day. Some will offer "after hours" daycare for an extra charge, but sometimes that is only until 5pm.

Anyhow, going to register for a week of horse camp and a week of 4-H camp. 4-H camp is a sleep-away camp; a first for DD.

This weekend we need to shop for a new lawn mower. Our old mower was given to us about four years ago and now it's done for. Hopefully we'll be able to snag a MD Weekend sale.

Other than that we don't have any other plans to go anywhere.

Busy here. Not finding much time to be online for anything more than checking email and paying bills.

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Last Thursday we finally had to say goodbye to our Shetland Sheepdog Sasha. Her health really deteriorated pretty quickly starting last Sunday. She had lymphoma. All of us were very sad to have to say goodbye.

Here she is at DD's last sleepover with a pair of glasses on. She was very popular with all the kids because she was smaller and calm.



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I celebrated my birthday by having dinner on the Napa Valley Wine Train. DH and I went to the "Murder Mystery" dinner. A very fun and entertaining experience. The food was quite good. The train and scenery were both fabulous. I had asked for gift certificates for the train for Christmas. We did have to buy an additional gift certificate from Costco to cover the cost for both of us to go. It was a $100 gc for $80. While on the train we also spent on a glass of wine, a glass of champagne, a beer and a special coffee at dessert. We also left a tip for our server making our total out of pocket cost $150. (The total price was $370.)

My parents watched the kids for us. And the next day they stayed and helped fill our garden boxes with dirt and have BBQ dinner with us. The weather was gorgeous.

Sunday I went kayaking on the Russian River with two girlfriends. Afterwards we went to an early dinner. I had a cat sitting client over the weekend and made $50 which paid for most of my outing. $37 for kayak rental, $5 snack/lunch, $20 for dinner.


This is the last week of school for DD. Wow!
Welcome Summer!

Hope everyone had an enjoyable day yesterday..

It was a beautiful Sunday here. The sun was out with a light breeze and 72F was the warmest temp.

My family let me sleep in a bit and made me breakfast when I got up. After eating I watched "Water for Elephants" on HBO. I had been wanting to see it for some time and I was happy to get to watch it while we are getting free HBO. I enjoyed the movie. It seems like the book would be a really good read.

In the afternoon we all worked in the backyard for a little while. Making over the garden area. This year we are adding more space and making it look prettier. I wanted to downsize the raised bed we had, and then add a few more of the smaller size beds. I also plan to spread the gravel we have raked up from this area around the raised beds and add stepping stones. If it turns out like I am picturing it's going to look very nice and last us a long time.

After working DH, DD and I all showered and DS had a much needed bath. Then we watched the baseball game I had recorded while we were in the yard. The Giants WON! Yay!

We had a simple dinner. I finished Mother's Day off with a bowl of frozen yogurt while I watched "Game of Thrones".

The past ten days have been busy 'round here.

DD had a school band concert last Thursday. They sounded really good all together. Can't believe school ends this month!

Last weekend was DS's second birthday.
Wow! He is getting to be such a big boy.
This was the most frugal (cheap) birthday celebration to date at our house. We didn't have a party or invite anyone over to the house. DD baked and decorated cupcakes, we went to the park and DH made BBQ kabobs for dinner. As for gifts we didn't buy him anything. He did get gifts to unwrap from my mom & dad, my co-worker and my boss. My MIL & FIL sent a very cute card with $40. Next year I know we'll do something bigger - a party with family and friends.

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were very busy at work. Our receptionist was out on vacation, so that added some extra work. I like it that way, lots to do and making money.

Thursday I took DD to her first 4H meeting. We're going to check out a few clubs in our town and figure out which clubs offer what and how organized they are and such. DD is interested in going to 4H camp this summer. She is also interested in several projects, including puppy raising for Guide Dogs.

Nothing much of note financially speaking. I did make $60 this week by watching a friend's dog. I am keeping $20 to put in my wallet and sending the $40 to CC payment.

Need to go grocery shopping this weekend. I was going to get in done this morning first thing, but was totally unmotivated. I will go later today because I don't want to do it tomorrow (Mother's Day) and I MUST use the $10 off coupon by this weekend. I also have a reward coupon to redeem for a $5 Starbucks gift card.

Added $25 to the EF by auto transfer. Unfortunately, the Giants have not won many games lately so not much to add there.

Saturday, April 28
$15 DH lunch out. He is working at one of the city fire stations.

Friday, April 27
$ 9 In 'n Out Burger. Dinner for me and DS.
$30 Parking in SF.
$19 Dinner for DD and DH at the ballgame.
DD played her trumpet with the Junior Philharmonic at the SF Giants game. She and DH stayed for the game.

Thursday, April 26
$ 0

DD had a friend sleepover Friday night. They "rented" a movie thru cable, but with the code I have it was free. (Another $5 to the EF)

On Saturday I took them to the movie theater and they chose to see "John Carter". $20 for the three of us. The girls spent their own money for popcorn and candy.

I didn't know what to expect with the movie, but I really enjoyed it. Entertaining and creative.

Afterwards we stopped at Whole Foods for a bite of lunch. $18. DD's friend is a super picky eater. Mostly, I think, because she isn't offered much variety. (She asked me what lasagna was. And said she's never had mac'n cheese or a burrito.) Her mom owns a Thai restaurant and that's what she eats all the time. It took maybe 20 minutes to get her to pick something out. My kids will eat almost anything and that makes life so much easier!

DD chose sushi, I had soup & salad and her friend had... rice.

Our food/grocery budget is so way over this month. Blah! Lots of extra spending with DH's detox diet. Which, btw, he is doing really great with. Today is day 6 and he's lost a few pounds already. The first part of the "purification" is 100% vegan diet.

If you all knew DH you'd be laughing - He's a big time carnivore! Least likely guy to be drinking veggie smoothies and coconut water.

DS is feeling like his regular happy self again. No more fever, just a bit of a runny nose and a pesky cough. The pesky cough is worse when he lies down, but thankfully it only woke him up once last night.

Yesterday morning I went to the grocery store. $155.

I took a nap when we laid DS down for his. After three nights of getting up and interrupted sleep I was so crabby. I felt so much better after getting two hours of sleep.

We watched a SF Giants Spring Training game. They won.

I made the traditional corned beef and cabbage for dinner. Yum! I was going to make soda bread too, but I was too lazy/unmotivated. Corned beef is so easy; great for a lazy day.

DD went to a girlfriend's house and then ended up staying for a sleepover. So it was just DH and I once DS was all tucked in. We shared a peach ale and rented "Harry Potter 2" thru cable. $5.

Today is blue sky and sunshine, but cold out. It's going to be another lazy, stay-at-home, Sunday.

Finally getting some more good rainstorms through here these past few days. This morning it was coming down pretty heavy. It has let up a bit, but supposed to dump again late this afternoon.

Little DS is sick.
Running a fever the past two days. Little bit of a runny nose, so that leads to a little cough. The fever is about 102F and makes him feel crummy - Lethargic and not wanting to eat. Once I dose him with some ibuprofen he's back to almost normal. He plays, talks and eats as long as the meds supress his fever. Last night he felt too good to sleep after he had a dose and was up until 11pm. *groan* Then I was up and down with him all night because he just couldn't get comfortable. Add to that the rain and the time change and it was very difficult to get out of bed this morning.

DH took the day off to stay home with the little man. I think DS just needs to rest and we have to get him to drink lots of fluids. I would have taken the day off, but my co-worker is sick and she works Saturdays, so she took today off to try to get better.
Just *that* time of year I suppose.

I am going to leaving work early. 45 minutes or so more. Just need to discharge two dogs here for surgery and help the doctor with a cat visit.

DD had an eye exam on Tuesday and she is going to need glasses. Her eyesight is only slightly bad at 20/40. She is really upset about having to wear glasses. I remember being her age and not wanting to wear glasses either, but my eyesight was way worse so I *had* to wear them.

We do not have vision coverage, so we pay out of pocket. Which is really fine with me. Most vision plans don't really cover squat anyway.

Her visit was $160. Planning to purchase the glasses thru Costco.

She has a dental appointment next week. $25 co-pay.
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DH's visit to the doc last week will be costing us about $340 without the xrays. Haven't gotten a bill for those yet. His medical coverage is catastrophe type; $5000/yr deductible, so little check-up stuff is all out of pocket.

He called his doctor again yesterday because he has a really harsh, painful chest cold/cough. She didn't need to see him again. Just prescriptions for antibiotics and a new inhaler at Costco for $43.
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I have a dental cleaning next week, I think?
That will be a $25 co-pay.
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Have a $370 bill sitting at home that's from DS's last visit and vaccinations.

Geesh! I am trying to save money here!!

This morning was the coldest morning of the year for our area. It was 22F. There was only a little covering of frost because it's been so very dry here. We are way below normal for rainfall and it's just been day after day of beautiful sunshine. I was almost ready to water my lawn! Thankfully it looks like the rain is coming starting Thursday.
I am happy to see the rain coming our way! (As long as our roof can hold up for us one more season!)

I picked up my year-end statement from DS's daycare lady last night. $7,430 for the year.
No wonder I can't max out the ROTHs!

Nah, he is worth every penny.

I am chomping at the bit to get all our tax paperwork and get to working on our return. I entered in my W-2 this morning along with DS's childcare amount and if that was all there was I would get $6k back.
Too bad that's not what's going to happen. LOL.
Still have to enter DH's income (W-2 and 1099's), mortgage statement, DD's childcare and misc. receipts.

For the past several years I have used FreeTaxUSA.com to do our taxes. Very user friendly and has been great for us. It costs us $10.
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This is a picture I took a few months back to share. Then I forgot I had it on the memory card.

This is a tree next to my work just before it dropped the last of it's leaves.

We were blessed enough to have another lovely Christmas here in our home with family.

I hope all of you had a blessed holiday also.

Not much drama from the in-laws. Or my family either.

DH and FIL tiled the shower. It looks AWESOME! Pictures to follow.

I made out with plenty of really nice/useful gifts. Everyone seemed very satisfied with their "haul". DS still has a few gifts he hasn't opened yet. He opens a gift and then wants to play with it right then. So it's taking a little more time to get thru his stack.

The food has been amazing all this weekend. I am sure I've put a few pounds on.
DH handled most of the cooking.
Christmas dinner last night was sooo delish. Prime rib, ham, mashed potatoes, green beans, fruit salad, dinner rolls, deviled eggs..

Okay, now I'm hungry. Gotta go eat some leftovers!

Not to be graphic...

We all ended up with DD's "stomach bug". Blah!

Little DS threw up right after I picked him from childcare Wednesday night.
It's heartbreaking to see a toddler wretching.
Thankfully, he seemed to recover the quickest. Only a few hours of the "bug" and then he had a full night's sleep.

I was sick from midnight until about 7am Thursday.

DH stayed home from work with me yesterday. He was having some milder symptoms and thought it would be best to stay home and rest. Maybe not get as sick as the rest of us. Well, early this morning the "bug" hit him hard so he is home again today. Poor guy!

It really sucked because you feel so bad that nothing gets done even though you're home all day. I feel like I've lost two days worth of time. I needed to get things done.

On the bright side - I am very thankful that we did not get this over Christmas. That would have been WAY worse.

The 49ers lost their game on Sunday by two points. Blah!

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Our tree looks wonderful! DD picked it out this year and it's the tallest one I think we've ever had. I put the tape measure on it and it was 7.5 feet. Very full and dark green. Two out of three strings of tree lights were dead this year.
(They were working just fine when I packed them away last year. I hate that!)
Made a run to the hardware store for some new sets. About $36 for three 50' sets.

DH hasn't had any time (daylight time) to put lights up on the house yet. We also have an inflatable Santa, bought on clearance, that we are going to put in the yard this year. He did put our green bulb in the light post light so we've got a bit (wee bit!) of festive color out there.

I really love when we get the decorations up. Things look so merry and colorful. I have always enjoyed decorating for Christmas.

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Had a 20% off coupon for Kohl's. It ended on Sunday so when I bought lights I stopped in there and did a quick look around. When I didn't find anything worth standing in line for I gave my coupon to a lady with a cart load of stuff. Merry Christmas!

Yesterday I got another 20% off coupon in the mail.

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My order from Amazon is trickling in a few boxes at a time. I ordered eight items and I think only four of them are being shipped together. I ordered last Tuesday. $112 total. Gifts for multiple people. DD's boots, DS's fire truck board book, calendar for co-worker, etc...

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Getting set to order my Christmas cards. I use Costco and plug in pictures of the kids and dogs. $14.95 for 50 cards/envelopes. Going to try to finalize the card online tonight so I can pick them up Thursday or Friday. I want to have them all mailed off by Saturday 17th.

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Poor DD is home sick today. Vomiting last night.
She has her class Christmas play tonight. We are all hoping she will feel up to that.
And, we are all hoping we don't get what she has!

I drove DD to and from a field trip today. While everyone was eating lunch on the field trip I noticed one of the girls had an iPhone. She had it out just looking at it and wiping off the screen, kind of flashing it around. REALLY?! A fifth grader, a 10 year-old, with an iPhone?

I guess a case of more money than brains?

I was standing and talking to another mom and she knows the girl pretty well and she said the girl's dad would buy her anything she asked for.

Can't imagine raising my kids that way regardless of income.

I can see getting a child a cell phone for safety reasons. But, there are plenty of plain vanilla phones that call and text. What's wrong with that?

Speaking of safety - What if someone saw that phone and wanted to steal it? I mean what could be easier than to rob a 60lb 10 year-old?

Sure, he has run into burning buildings, cut open mangled cars and has performed CPR. BUT, today he headed to the mall on a Sunday in December AND he took both of the kids with him!!!

For THAT I give him the brave badge.
LOL!

Such a nice break for me. I am watching the 49er game and having a nice fresh cup of coffee with eggnog mixed in. Yum.

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Last night DD and I ran all over town searching for a pair of solid red tights to go with a black and red dress she has. We searched about 12 of the outlet stores before we went to Kohl's. There we found one pair and it was lying on the floor kind of under another rack. We grabbed them for $9. Kinda pricey, but supply and demand I guess.

Afterward she and I went to Safeway. They are doing the buy $75 get $10 off next purchase deal again. I didn't know that ahead of time or I would have split my basket into two transactions. The total was $210. Well at least I earned one -$10. I will need to go back in before the 14th(?) to use it.

The splurge item I bought was lobster tails. On sale for $5/tail. I have had them before and they are pretty darn good. Better than some restaurants and for $5 how could I pass it up??? DH boils them a few minutes then grills them on the BBQ. He doesn't care much for lobster, so more for me and DD.

Steak and lobster for dinner tonight with rolls and corn. $27 total for "fancy" dinner makes me .

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This morning we went to a friend's house to see Santa. She has her dad dress up so she doesn't have to take her children to a mall Santa. I think it's because of the germ factor. It's pretty cool that she invited several families over. Free pictures with Santa!

When we got back home I spent about 1.5 hours cleaning up the backyard. Poop patrol, cleaned the hen house, cleared out the garden box and swept the patio. DD raked up a bunch of leaves. It's another gorgeous day with beautiful clear blue skies. A bit cooler; about 60F right now, but so mild. This type of weather makes it easy to be outside doing things.

I have been doing a TON of online shopping, but before you get the wrong idea I have not done much buying...yet...

This year more of the gifts we're getting will be from online. And those that I have not or will not buy online I have LOOKED at online. You know reading reviews, comparing prices that sort of thing.

One example is DS's Santa gift. After searching and looking at a 100 different toys DH and I decided on a battery powered ride-on quad that I found on WalMart's site for $50. Amazon had one in stock for $62. Nobody had it for less. In fact some non-battery types (sit and scoot) are selling for more. Naturally, Wally's website was out of stock, but they showed my local store had a "limited number".
Forced me to go to the store to buy it. It was more expensive in the store. $60.
I went ahead and picked it up because I was there and they had only two. I'm keeping an eye out for any sale on it so I can get a price adjustment.

Here's the kicker: When I was on Amazon just now they have them priced at $125 and up!!!
Is this the hot toy for little boys this year?

DD's Santa present is a new pair of boots that she can wear when riding motorcycles. That's another Santa-ish gift she's getting - a little dirt bike! DH and in-laws bought it from a family friend for $300. It's in excellent condition and is valued at $1200+ so I guess that was a good buy.
Anyway, I think I have picked out a great pair of boots for $40. I have looked at about 400 pairs of boots over the past three days. That's the good thing and bad thing about online shopping - You get a lot of choices!

I have a running wish list on Amazon of gifts for family and when I'm done changing it I will put it in the cart and click the BUY button. I plan to that by Monday or Tuesday.

I ordered a pair of earrings for my coworker online last night. $19.44.

I'm going to put the computer down now for a little while. But I'll be back soon.

The sleepover went very well. Everyone had a good time. Nobody needed to call home (actually I don't think any kid who has stayed at our house has ever wanted to go home! ) There wasn't any fighting or squabbles either. Yay!

At one point when I was driving five loud, sugared-up, pre-teen girls home from the movie I thought to myself, "Oh what the hell did I get myself into?!?" LOL! It was raining and they were all wound-up practically shouting at each other all within the cab of our truck. **OH My Ears..**

But, once we got home they all settled pretty quickly and DD opened her gifts and we all had dinner. They all loved the "color me" t-shirts I had picked up on clearance from Kohl's. DH and I retreated to our room about 10:30pm and they were pretty quiet. Enough so that I fell asleep easily.
They were still up and going at 1:40am when I woke up and checked on them.
DS woke me at 5:30am because he had his covers off and was cold. All the girls were asleep by then.
It was pouring rain at that time. Just pounding. It was nice to snug back in bed and listen to it. I love to listen to the rain.
By 8am we were all up and DH made chocolate chip pancakes. They were awesome!
Everyone was picked up by 10am.

I did spend a bit more than planned.
- I bought a veggie pizza and a pepperoni pizza instead of two pepperoni pizzas. That was $3 more.
- Ended up running to the store for a package of plastic cups and some cupcakes. It would've taken too much time and been too late for the girls to bake the cupcakes themselves. That was $10 more.
I don't feel bad about the pizza because the gourmet veggie is my fav and I had a coupon that saved $3.
I should have baked the cupcakes myself and then they would've been ready for the girls. I had everything I needed in the pantry. Oh well..

I used the Chase card at the theater for the 5% back.

The movie was very cute and the 3D was pretty good. I enjoyed it and so did the girls.

Tonight DD is having her belated birthday party. A sleepover with four of her friends.

*Please keep me in your thoughts tonight! LOL!

I am going to take them to see "Puss In Boots" in 3D this evening while the ticket prices are still low. Then we'll come home and they'll mix up and bake cupcakes. We'll have take'n bake pizza for dinner and then they can decorate the cupcakes and eat them for dessert.

This will cost about $50.

Skip to the end if you don't want to read about MIL's visit.


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MIL's Visit:
MIL left early this morning before any of us woke up. Naturally, there was drama with her visit but not all of her visit was bad.

She came Thursday night. Watched DS and took DD to school on Friday. Treated to pizza delivery on Friday night. Very nice.

Saturday we went shopping at Kohl's and had a nice trip. She and I enjoyed shopping and visiting.

By Saturday evening things were going downhill. DD was in tears because MIL said she'd never bring crafts to our house again after DD didn't wash out a paintbrush. Then MIL tells me she would've rather bought KFC for dinner on Friday. Which would have been okay with us, but she picked pizza, but only after she said she wanted to go out for Mexican.

When DH and I got home from our "date" Saturday night DD told me that she had been crying again. MIL got angry that she wasn't helping her clean DD's room. MIL told DD that she would never stay in DD's room again. *Nice way to foster a loving relationship with your granddaughter hu?

I told DH that two days/one night seems to be the "sweet spot" for a visit from MIL. More than that and things go bad. He agreed.

She's called twice since she left. Apologized to DD and cried to DH because she doesn't feel FIL gives her enough love and attention.

While she was here, she and I talked about some of their financial issues (could write a whole post about that.) The biggest thing is that they've been in their house for 20 years. They bought it for $120k. They owe $240k. Current value is about $145k.
Cashed out in a refi and used the money for RV, new truck etc. None of which they kept.
BTW, she's glad they haven't paid off their house. They wouldn't have any tax deductions then. Yeah really!
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Weekend Happenings:
At Kohl's I checked out the clearance racks and found a shirt for DS and a set of PJ's for DD, both were $4.80 each. Will be Christmas gifts. I also found girls T-shirts that are meant to be colored on, like a page from a coloring book, with markers that come with the shirt. $4.40 each. My first thought was to grab a few to hold on to for birthday gifts for DD's friends. Decided we will use them as party favors for DD's party. The girls can color them together at the sleepover and then take them home. My grand total was $32 for 5 shirts, 1 PJ set and 1 toddler shirt.

DH and I had a nice date night. Saw the movie "Moneyball" with our free passes. Afterwards we had a great steak dinner with drinks for $62 total.

Now I'm having a cozy and relaxing Sunday watching football and just lounging about. It's been chilly out so we have a toasty fire going.

I have chicken enchiladas all ready to go in the oven for dinner later on. Ice cream cake for dessert. Yum!

The 49ers won their game so I will transfer $10 to the EF.

Happy Halloween everyone!

DD is out Trick or Treating with school friends and we just put DS to bed. DH is in charge of handing out candy, but so far we've only had five. Our street not a popular place???

Here is my pumpkin - I am very proud of it.


For Game of Thrones followers: Winter is Coming

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Deposited DH's paycheck this evening so it will credit to the account tonight. I had let the checking account dwindle down to $19.80!

Stopped at Costco.
$66 in gas. It's 3.66/gal here.
$96 inside. I ended up buying a few more items than I had planned. Needed paper towels, laundry soap and ground turkey. I added Halloween candy, Nutella (coupon), frozen breakfast sandwiches (coupon) and a set of baking sheets ($4 off). And I saw plenty of other things I would've loved to have gotten. Like: hummus, bacon, Italian sausages, cheeses, pie, pizza, steaks, sparkling water, cute sweatshirts for DD, $50 value giftcard for $40, and so on and so on.

I also wrote two checks today.
$136 for DD's afterschool childcare.
$75 for DD's school lunch account.

I will send out a $300 check tomorrow for horse board.

Goes out as fast as it comes in, right?

Bought new shoes for the kids on Saturday.
DS's first real pair of shoes! Awwwww..SO cute.
DD got a pair of athletic/running shoes. I tend to wait until October-ish to buy new school shoes for DD because it's warm enough that she wears summertime shoes until about now.
We have a little outlet mall in town and there is a Stride Rite (w/other brands) store that I have shopped at for years. I always bought Stride Rite shoes for DD when she was younger and now I will for DS because I love the quality. The prices at the outlet average 50% less than the retail stores. And I think the outlet has a better selection. I spent $53 total.

Both Stride Rite and Old Navy had a survey website on their receipts. Normally I don't bother, but knowing I'll be shopping both of these places again in the near-ish future I did both surveys. Just did them tonight for $5 off at the shoe store and 10% off at O.Navy.

Do you ever do the surveys on receipts?

DH is a volunteer firefighter and has firefighter engineer classes this weekend and next so it's just me and the kids from 6:30am to 6:00pm. Lots of put off house cleaning, regular weekend laundry and such. I have been alternating equally between working and vegetating. Like 90 minutes working, then 90 minutes on the computer, reading or watching TV.

This morning I took DS to have his second haircut. (That means we're averaging a haircut every 5 months. That's about par for me; it seems I only get around to getting my hair done twice a year.)
It's a children's salon. Super cute with a nice play area and tons of toys. It took about 10 minutes for his haircut and then he played with some of the other kids for almost 40 minutes. I also bought a hair clip for big sister. $25 total.

I received the check today to reimburse the cost for the bumper repair. Very thankful he was so fast sending it out.

I will put that check in the bank tomorrow morning when I am out grocery shopping. Lately I've been managing to only go grocery shopping every two weeks. It's been nice because of the time savings. I also think I save a bit of money too because I'm only tempted to buy extra stuff twice monthly vs. four times monthly.

Bought some strawberries from a door to door peddler this afternoon at DD's urging. Delicious, large and ripe! I'm glad she talked me into it. $10 for a lot. We might need to freeze some and I think we'll have strawberry shortcake tomorrow night after I get the pound cake and whipped cream from the store.

DD's school has a ton of fundraisers for the PTA and other projects at school. There is hardly a week that goes by when there isn't something. One of the usual money raising things is called "Dine and Donate" where on a set date one of the local restaurants will donate a percentage of your bill to the school. You bring a flier from the school and the restaurant takes care of the rest.

On Friday there was a "Dine and Donate" fundraiser at a frozen yogurt shop in town. We treated ourselves to an after dinner treat for $13.45 and 35% was donated to DD's school. It's an effective way to fundraise. I think each time they do this type of thing (really, like weekly) the school makes $150 to $350. My DH's volunteer fire department does this a few times a year also.

Does anybody else's school or non-profit do this?

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Yesterday my mom and dad came down to take DD, DS and I to a renaissance faire fundraiser. DH didn't go because he had other things he wanted to get done. This is a big fundraiser that Sebastopol City Schools puts on. Very family friendly. Excellent location in a park in the middle of town. Great vendors and very tasty food! My mom paid for our admission. $10/adults and $5 for DD ??. DS was free. DD made soap, lip balm and a chainmail bracelet. She also spoke with "Queen Elizabeth" (there's an actors guild all dressed up roaming around) and won a prize catapulting rats (fake, stuffed rats). I spent $28 on food, games, crafts and a souvenir glass stein filled with hard pear cider.

Afterwards we went for ice cream at Screamin' Mimi's, a local ice cream parlor that makes all their own ice cream and sorbets. Their fresh local strawberry is killer!

Ended up buying DD a trumpet.
We have a young man working with us two half days at work and I asked him last week if he or his siblings ever played any instruments. He said he had played trumpet and he still had two at home.
He brought them to my work on Monday to look at. I bought the nicer one for $120. Our local music store rental was $30/month, so in four months I'll be money ahead. Plus, the least expensive trumpet I saw on Craigslist was $150.
I spent an additional $36 at the music store for her music book, metal stand and valve oil.
DD is very excited to play her new horn.

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Twice yearly (Fall & Spring) DD's school has after-school enrichment classes. They do have a fee and run once weekly for four to six weeks. She is interested in the Fused Glass ($50), Cooking ($35), Golf ($60), Lego Robots ($35) and Pottery ($45) classes this session. We will choose one or two and have an alternate in case her first choice is taken. It used to be that all the classes had the same cost. Now you write a separate check for each choice in case you don't get in the class the PTA doesn't have to issue a bunch of refund checks. It is inconvenient, but I can understand how it makes their bookkeeping easier.

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Used the last of my 30% cash-back-credit at Diapers.com last week. I bought a ton of "squeezy pouch" food and meals (Happy Tot)- $54 worth of food for $17.70! What a thrill, hehe. And we are well stocked on diapers. I bought so much while on the cash-back program because I wanted to "max out" on the credit.

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Our water bill was emailed to me this morning. Highest it's ever been. $102. Blah! DH will need to cut back on his lawn watering. He re-seeded a few spots and has really been babying the lawns. It also seems like we've been doing nonstop laundry. That doesn't help either.

What will help is when we replace the toilets. I want to go with a dual flush. It's a toilet that has one lower water flush for urine and a regular water flush for #2. I think they may be eligible for a rebate thru our city. Water saving incentive thing.

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I have pretty much nailed down the tile I want for our master bath. Just deciding on the shade of the accent tile. Darker? or Lighter? Hmmm.

I got an estimate of $675 to install the tile. Great guy. Excellent work. But, we can't afford that and the cost of tile.

I took a Home Depot tile workshop Saturday and I really think I can do it. Especially with a little help from DH who has done floor tile before. Plus it was fun.

'Course I used to think painting was fun until I painted the interior of our house. :P

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My mom came for a visit this past weekend. We bought Chinese food for Saturday night dinner. It's a place we hadn't ordered from before and they had left their menu and COUPONS on our doorstep last week. They totally hooked me with their coupons and their menu prices are on the lower side. We ordered crab & cream cheese wantons, pork pot stickers, fried rice, veggie chow main, sweet/sour prawns, orange chicken and broccoli beef. $48.

Now I'm hungry and it's bedtime...

Now that DD is in 5th grade she can play a musical instrument if she wants. And she does of course.
The trumpet. *giggle*

This should be interesting.

She had to sign an agreement that she would stick with this for the entire school year. Now I need to find her a trumpet. We could buy a used one or rent one. Renting looks to be about $19-$28/month. Buying as low as $150.

I'm leaning toward buying. I could re-sell it at the end of the school year if she decides not to keep playing. Renting: 9 months X $20 = $180

Any suggestions?

The fair was lovely yesterday. I think the day topped out at 82F with a very slight breeze. Beautiful! DD and her friend had a great time. I can remember how much fun I used to have with my friends at fair time. This is the first time she's been able to cruise the fair unaccompanied. I had them meet me at a set meeting place every 60-90 minutes. My (first) baby is growing up!

Both girls had $20 to spend. They ended up pooling their money and bought food, a few carnival games and one fuzzy hat shaped like a dog, with long ears that have hand pockets. I guess their plan is to "share custody" of this hat. Switching off every time they see each other. We'll see how that goes..

I spent $4 on a huge corndog and $5 on a basket of sweet potato fries that I shared with baby DS. We left about 8:30pm and I took myself and the girls to McDonalds for $12.

I continued spending on myself last night at Amazon when I bought the four book set of Game of Thrones. I so enjoyed the first season on HBO I feel like I can't wait a year for the next episode. Plus the books will have a whole lot more going on. I also bought a board book for DS so I could get the free shipping. Total was $26.

Meanwhile, I am reading Suze's new book, The Money Class. I had been on the waiting list at the library and my turn finally came up. It took a bit over two months and truthfully I had forgotten until I got the phone message that it was on hold for me. So it looks like in the coming week I'll be going from reality to fantasy, literally!

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The Giants won yesterday. Plus $2 to the EF. Balance now $3778.

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Now I'm going to do some reading, while the girls are selling lemonade out front and the baby takes his nap. Looks like a NSD today.

Our fair is in town this week. The thing I find the best about our fair is they charge one price at that gate to cover admission and unlimited carnival rides. So you’re paying $15 total instead of $7 admission and then $20 for a rides wristband or worse $0.25/ride ticket. But, even better for us, we won't have to pay at all... One of our friends has "connections" and we all get in for free. The money saved on admissions will go toward all that tasty fair food.

This year DD has a friend coming along with us and she will be staying the night. I'm trying to prepare for a day and night of giggling girls.

DH won't be coming with us to the fair because he is working. He has three 12 hour shifts with his volunteer fire department out at Infineon Raceway for the NASCAR races this weekend. The extra cool thing is he gets paid for being there. His weekend work should bring in about $700.

His side job last week added $1k to the EF and the Giants won three games this week. $6. New EF balance is $3776.

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There wasn't any spending this week, except the grocery trip I made. $180. I will need gas sometime this weekend if I end up driving DD's friend home. Usually Thursday is my fill-up day, but I didn't need to stop 'cause I still had plenty. Not doing as much driving in the summer because I'm not dropping DD at school each morning.

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I think one of my beefsteak tomato plants might die.. It was looking like it had a fungal infection and in my attempt to help I might have hurt it more...we shall see.. What doesn't kill only makes stronger.

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Got to get the house tidied up before our guest arrives and get ready to head to the fair in a few hours. Will be about 85F., beautiful summer weather to be out and about.

Wow has time been flying by! Haven't found much time to get on the computer. Busy at work and at home. I've been wanting to share some photos and update on the past few weeks...so TaDa!



My Mother's Day garden.

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Yosemite. Merced River and Yosemite Falls.


Yosemite Falls. 2425 feet tall! Fifth tallest in the world.


Half Dome.

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Lots of water from spring snow melt and rain.


Flowering Dogwood all over Yosemite.


Settling down for the night inside the tent cabin.

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Last weekend DH and I went to a Giants game, had a fabulous dinner out at The Melting Pot and saw a movie. All to celebrate our anniversary, which was yesterday. My parents stayed for the weekend so we had free babysitting. I had paid for the game tickets two months ago. We spent $30 at the game for parking, $12 for hot coco and garlic fries, $100 for dinner, $18 for movie tickets. Yes a splurge, but the rest of this month we have zero plans for the weekends. Totally the opposite of May. Every weekend was busy in May, and lots of money going out.

This weekend DH is doing some side work (yay! Money!) and my only plan is to do a little grocery shopping and hang around the house. Cheap weekend.
Next weekend? More of the same, DH has more work and I'll be sticking close to home.

In other news, effective June 1st I'm making a $1/hour more! WhooHoo! My job satisfaction has certainly increased with getting some overdue pay raises.