Haven't had a chance to catch up here. So busy!
DD started fourth grade on Wednesday. So far she is really liking her class and teacher. Her school has an onsite childcare center for before/after school. It is VERY nice. The registration fee is $60 for the year if you want to take advantage of the lower contract price vs. the drop in rate ($0.50/hr more). $124 with registration and the August contract. Tonight the school has their ice cream social and you can buy t-shirts and pick up the LOADS of paperwork that needs to be filled out. Yay. 
Not much back to school spending here. We're lucky that DD is so lucky to have family and friends buy her stuff. We bought a backpack $20 and new shoes. I wasn't going to buy shoes yet, but we found a cute pair of tennis shoes at WalMart $10. I never buy "cheap" shoes, but as hard as she is on shoes I'll be buying new ones in a few months anyway no matter the quality. From her grandmas: two pairs of jeans, really cute shirts (3), hoodie, glue, paper, pens, crayons, and more. From our friend/daycare lady (GB) a pair of Sketcher clogs, pens, pencils, crayons, sharpeners, etc.. Took her for a haircut at a local small business $21 including tip. Her last haircut was over a year ago!
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Had a nice time with the kids and inlaws at the Giants game on Sunday. Weather was gorgeous, but the Giants lost. 
Spent $25 which included the toll on the Golden Gate. Inlaws bought beer and hotdogs and parking. We also drove in their SUV, so gas too.
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So far this month we've spent less than $200 on food! I will be going to the store tomorrow, but it's really just for the fresh stuff. Last month we really loaded the freezer with meat (2 tri tips, hamburger, chicken breasts) and frozen dinner ideas (lasagna, enchiladas, mac'n'cheese). I expect to spend $120 tomorrow.
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DH doing well with his "allowance". This week he didn't get any cash at all and did fine. 
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With the tainted egg troubles I am so glad all of our eggs come right from the back yard. 
Talk about eating local! Keeping hens is pretty easy too. This site is good for more info if you're interested:
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My last post touched on my interest in other careers. I want to be clear, the driving factor for wanting a new job is to make more money. I really enjoy the work I do now and I'm very good at it. But at my current place there isn't any opportunity to "advance"; I already boss the boss.
(Which is cool.) I haven't had a raise in three years. The more I've thought about it the more I really think the problem is my boss' poor finances. He lets his family way overspend and the business suffers. Bounced checks, not being able to buy new equipment, not being able to order the supplies we need. Meanwhile, his wife and daughter are out shopping and getting massages! Arg!!! I am sure that is why I haven't had a raise. It gets so wearing on me and the other gals... I think we'd all have found new jobs if we didn't like each other so much. Our office is fun and laid back. No problem if you need to take time off for family or trips. Gotta leave early? Come in late? Take the day off? No problem. This is important to me. Can you put a price on that perk?I would also enjoy the challenges and fun in learning new skills. Our junior college offers lots of online classes so I am thinking of signing up for some that would go toward fulfilling requirements for bookkeeping. It useful knowledge even if I never use it to make money. Last Saturday one of our clients who is a CPA came in and I was picking her brain about her job. She told me how much she enjoyed her job. Although she said the classes were soooo boring.
I have looked at job offerings for my field of work. I could make more in other hospitals, but might not get 100% medical paid. But might get 401k. Some offices I would steer clear of because they have a high turnover. Or the doctor is crappy. Etc..
I really just want my boss to get his financial "poo" in order and give me my much deserved raise!
August 20th, 2010 at 08:28 pm 1282336135
Jerry
August 20th, 2010 at 09:18 pm 1282339084
"Gotta leave early? Come in late? Take the day off? No problem." I wouldn't get too caught up in your current situation. Places like that are everywhere, in my opinion. I have found accounting to be pretty flexible. When I worked at a big company with lots of out-of-office work, the flexibility was very nice. (You don't really report to anyone and spend a lot of time off site - at home - traveling, wherever. If you don't show up - no one would know). I also worked for a small department in that company, and it had a very family/small business feel. Very flexible. Working for a small business now (I have worked for 3 - talking 10 people or less), there is always that family feel. Of course, I have found as long as I get my work done, I am allowed all the flexibility I need (I have experienced this in many different jobs and working environments).
Anyway, I hear you on the school! I hadn't finished all the "first day of school" paperwork, and I got saddled down with a whole bunch more on Back to School night. Ugh! OF course, on top of that, everyone is begging for money.