Even with the new cell phone purchase I still managed to get the total balance down a wink. Small progress is still progress.

$17,387 Previous Balance
$16,921 Current Balance

Last night DH and I had a big date night. We had dinner at The Melting Pot as a belated anniversary celebration. We had the four course dinner, so it was a two hour adventure.

After dinner we went to the SF Giants game. The weather was mild. Lucky for us because we had forgotten our jackets at home - Doh! They played the Braves and won 3-5. (Sorry Ima.) We spent $11 on two cups of hot coco; our usual seventh inning tradition and $30 for parking. Everything gets so pricey; one game a year is a splurge.

We got back home about midnight. It was a really fun night out!

This afternoon we will be cheering on our town's Little League team as they play for the US championship title! Our town is so proud of them!

I stopped at the junior college's bookstore to pick up the book DH needs for his EMT class....

It was $212!

No, I'm not kidding!

As soon as I had a chance at work I checked Amazon and found the same book for $129. I ordered it and added expedited shipping for $6.99.

A difference of $75!!!

I would have been more than happy to buy a used book, but there is an online code for each book and it can only be used once. That is a really crappy thing to do because most classes require you to go online and take the quizzes thru the online set up. Pretty much forces a lot of students to buy it new. Phooey!

Once DH is done with the book I am going to look at selling it back to Amazon. They had a note that stated they would buy the book back for $51. I would be very happy to recoup some of the cost at the end of the semester; right before Christmas.

Tomorrow is DD's first day back to school. I can hardly believe the summer went by that fast! DH started his twice weekly EMT class tonight, so he's back to school too.

DD went to the dentist this morning for her regular check up. Everything was fine and the visit was 100% covered, so there was no OOP. I also found out we have a $88 credit there from an insurance adjustment. I am sure it'll be used. She'll need sealants on her new molars maybe next visit.

Our next stop this morning was JCPenney's for their free haircut. (Thanks CCFree!) We gave the stylist a $4 tip.

DD and I did a bit of clothes shopping while we were at the mall. DD scored on a pair of clearance jeans at Penney's for $6! I bought a plain tshirt at Old Navy on clearance for $3. A few days ago I bought a clearance shirt at Target for $3.
Can't beat those clearance racks!

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Tried to look up the bonds that the kids were given and I couldn't get them pulled up. I have an email into my cousin to see what I need to do. Very frustrating to spend over an hour messing around with a very user UN-friendly site. Blah!

I did use my $1k to buy into a new mutual fund for my ROTH. I wanted to split it between mine and DH's, but the minimum initial purchase for this fund I wanted was $1k. Meh, DH won't much care, he doesn't keep tabs on the ROTH's. I guess that is the "What he doesn't know won't hurt him??" Theory.

DD and her friend dressed up as grapes for a parade at the fair.



Some displays inside the big flower show.



The midway lights



I spent $78 at the fair. That was parking, entry for myself the girls and DS, food and a few wagers on the horse races. I also bought a popsicle freezing set from a Tupperware booth.

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Burney Falls on our camping trip.



View off the arched footbridge down the creek from the falls.



Along the way to the camping I stopped at my BFF's baby shower. It was great to have a visit with my buddy and see her baby belly!

Our camping trip was a great break. We really should've stayed three nights instead of two. I mean once all the stuff is packed and we drove up there an extra day to kick back would've been great. The weather was pretty hot up in the mountains. It was about 94F at the campground. It was a perfect 75'ish down in the gorge where the falls were. So each afternoon I would walk down there and stay until dinner was ready.

On the way home we drove thru Redding and it was 115F!

Total camp trip cost was nearly $600. Fuel was a biggie! That also included the camping cabin, fishing licenses, food and two new sleeping bags. Our other set needed to be replaced, so I bit the bullet and bought new ones this year.

Unfortunately we had some camping stuff stolen right from in front of the house Thursday morning. The truck and boat are parked on the street in front of our house. DH didn't clear out everything out from the boat after we went camping. He figured he would get to the last few things and park the boat on the side yard this weekend.

We lost two fishing poles. DH's worth about $60 and DD's about $25.

A large storage tote with misc camp gear. One item was a brand new tarp that I was going to return for $20. Camp coffee pot, rope, tent stakes, two hammers, trash bags... A few other things I can't remember. We figured the value of all the tote stuff about $120.

Add in the poles for a total of approx $205.

DH is making a list and is going to make a police report. Not that we think we'll get anything back, but just so the PD knows we had crime in our area.

Thing is the darn tote weighed about 80lbs and was snugged inside the boat, so whoever took the stuff must have really wanted it I guess.

Really makes me pissed that there are people who just feel like it's totally fine to help themselves to other people's things!! GGRRRRR!

My grandmother, who recently passed, gave each great-grandchild a $500 savings bond. I am wondering if I should just leave it as is or would there be a better place to put that money for the kids?

I also received a check last week from my grandpa for $1k as a last gift from grandma. After thinking it over I am putting that into our ROTH IRAs. That is the best place for it to grow.
But between you and me, I was seriously tempted to go to Disneyland with it!

It has been a fun and hectic six days. I have pictures to post from the fair and our camping trip, but I wanted to start by showing off our new family member.

We adopted "Cleo" from our local animal control. Her adoption fee was $25. I gave an additional $10 as a donation. She is a six month old German Shepherd. She was surrendered by her owner because they lived in an apartment. We weren't given any other information beyond that.

She is very sweet and attentive. She learns quickly and has excellent manners for a puppy. While camping she was an angel. Our family and friends kept asking if they could take her home.

It's funny how things turn out sometimes.

As some of you might have read before I have been thinking of switching my cell service to Ting.

Well, this past weekend I set my cell in the cupholder of our truck before I realized the cupholder was full of Gatoraid! The "guys" (DH, groom, and two friends) had ran some errands in the truck and spilled it. They didn't have anything to dry it up with and by the time DH came back to the hotel he had forgotten all about it. I thought after the phone dried out it would be fine. But no; it is not turning on or charging. I don't know if it fried the inside or maybe fried the battery. I don't care, because I'm taking this as the sign that it's time for me to buy a Ting phone and switch. I am really going to splurge and buy a fancy smart phone. Running the numbers last night I figured my new phone will pay for itself after nine months. I plan to have this phone for many years. I am still a bit tempted to go with a less costly phone, but I want something I will be happy with for a long time too. I plan to pay with a 0% cc so I don't have to touch any of the EF. I know, I know, adding to the cc debt, is , but I feel better using that than taking from the savings. The phone will be paid for before any interest rate kicks in.

What I really hope is that DH will see how GREAT my phone is and how CHEAP it is to use and he will want to switch. That would really end up saving some serious dough.

I just love that my phone died (lol! Who ever says that!) and opening me up to buying a new phone and switching providers.

We went to wedding #2 this weekend. It was very nice and I'm glad it went smoothly. And I'm also glad it's over now. DD looked lovely in her dress and really helped out by keeping the two young ring bearers in line. DH looked very sharp as the best man. I picked out the pink ties that he and the other groomsman wore.

Geez, I had no clue that ties were so expensive. I ended up picking the lesser priced ties and still they were $21 each. Pink looks nice on DH so hopefully he'll have an opportunity to wear the tie again.

We gave the couple a $25 Lowe's gift card and the least expensive cute card I could find. $27.xx total.

We stayed Friday night at a hotel and I drove home Saturday night. We didn't end up leaving until 9pm, but it was so good to be back home and sleep in our own bed. Also great not to spend $$ on a second night in the hotel!

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Sunday was a lazy day. I had a $10 off $30 coupon for Kohl's. I bought myself a pair of yoga pants (I was combing thru all the clearance racks for a shirt and couldn't find anything I liked. Grr!) and a replacement plate and bowl that had been broken from my set. That came to $30.62. After $10 off and an additional 10% off I paid $20.80.

I also went to the grocery store and used another $10 off $50 coupon as well as a few other "Grand Opening" coupons from the booklet they mailed out. I am also finally signed up and using the Just4U online coupons.

Last week I saved $62. My total spent was $72 on a bunch of groceries.

This week I saved $45. My total spent was $66.

I have two more $10 off coupons to use in the next two weeks.

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We are going to the county fair on Thursday. Our county has two fairs. This is the larger two week long fair with a huge flower show. I'll try to take pics to share.

DD wanted to see Miranda Cosgrove, the star of the TV show "iCarley". She is having a concert at the fair and the tickets were $20-$30! I told DD she would have to pay for the ticket herself. So, she saved her birthday money and a few weeks worth of allowance and she bought two tickets. She is taking a girlfriend with her. I also told her if she wanted to ride the rides she'd have to buy her own wristband too. I told her I'd drive them, pay for parking and pay for the admission, but that was all I was willing to spend.

I am very proud that DD didn't whine or complain about me not paying, she just figured out a way to make it work.