Our auto transfer to the EF posted yesterday and the Giants won Friday and Saturday. Unfortunately not on Sunday or Monday.

+ $25 Savings Transfer
+ $4 Two Giants Wins
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$3909 EF balance

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Our weekend at the inlaws was very low key. DH cut down these two tree/bush Junipers they had in the front yard and was paid $150 - his motorcycle payment for next month.

We spent $80 in gas..**choke**

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Went for a lovely walk this morning with a girl friend, her baby, daughter and my DS. The weather is sunny and about 58F. Very nice for walking. I picked up a Starbucks for free using a Free Drink coupon given to me by a client.

It's super nice having clients who appreciate us!

However it's a double edge sword. Yesterday we were given about 6lbs of See's Candy from two separate clients.

Ugh..How can I lose weight around all that?!

Friday one of our other clients will be bringing us creampuffs. She owns a restaurant and bakery and we're always getting pies, cookies and now creampuffs from her.

What a problem to have, hu?

I have a quiet minute here at work. We'll be busy again in about 20 minutes.

I just dropped my Pathfinder off for an oil change, transmission fluid change and a FREE carwash. I'll pick it back up when I get off work tonight. It's going to cost about $90.

Bought gas this morning at Costco. It's now $4.02/gal here.

To top it all off we're heading to my inlaws tonight fo a weekend visit. Blah..I'd much rather stay home. Save the gas money and get some laundry washed!

The Giants won their last game, so I added $2 to the EF. It's now at $3,880.

DH is planning a father/daughter trip with DD in May. It is a four day/three night road trip. They will be riding on the motorcycle. Which, with gas prices climbing, that will be a big money saver. DS and I will be meeting them in Yosemite for the last day and night. I've been looking at the little cabins inside the park and it looks like it'll be about $115! I don't want to get a camping spot in case it rains or is cold because we'll be there with the baby. I am looking forward to seeing Yosemite again; it's been about 10 years since my last visit.

Travel is on my mind right now. I love seeing new places. While my mom was visiting yesterday we were talking about the cruise she and my aunt (her sister) have planned for this summer. A Mediterranean cruise. 12 days, with two nights in Barcelona beforehand and two nights in Venice afterwards. It sounds wonderful and I hope my mom has a fabulous time.

My boss is planning to go to Palm Springs for a long weekend the end of this month.

In the Costco coupon book we got a few days ago there was a travel offer for Los Cabos (10 minutes to Cabo San Lucas). Four nights at the Sheraton for $295/pp. (Breakfast included, $150 food/beverage credit and $50 spa credit.) Not including airfare. If you had some frequent flyer miles to use that could be sweet....We don't though.. *sigh* Tropical vacations always look so good while it's cool and raining here at home - like today.

The other thing I saw on Costco travel is their Disney packages. When you book thru Costco you get a Character dining included! For those of you who don't or haven't done Disney, Character dining is a meal where they have a bunch of the characters come around to your table. It's neat because you can get a bunch of pictures of you and the characters without having to chase them around the parks. Usually these meals cost up to $39/adult and $20/child. So getting one for free is a very nice perk. I'm ready to go to Disneyland again

I just want a vacation.

This is from last weekend while visiting the in-laws. I was driving back to their house and took these from out of the car window. The whole sky was filled with color. The pictures just barely capture the scene.

I have my laptop back. It needed another hard drive. Go figure. The repair tech said that the disk drive wasn't "talking" to the rest of the computer because the hard drive wasn't connecting things right. I'm glad I didn't have a bunch of things saved to the computer because I would have lost them all again. Still a pain in the butt!! I do have all my Microsoft Word, Works and Excel loaded in now. The silver lining was the repairs didn't cost anything.

The past couple weeks have been uneventful, just trying to keep spending down. Budget was tight in January and will be tighter in February - Short month and all. I have been taking lunch to work everyday since the middle of January. I almost always take a frozen meal like Eating Right (Safeway brand) or Lean Cuisine, a piece of fruit and a yogurt for an afternoon snack. $2/meal + $0.50/fruit + $0.60/yogurt = healthy for under $4. I really need and want to buckle down on my weight loss. I've gained almost 40lbs. (Ouch, I don't like typing that!) It is frustrating because I am trying to be good and so far I'm only down 2 lbs. Ugh! I need more weight loss to keep me motivated. It took me a long time to lose the baby weight after DD. I think my body just really holds on to the "mama fat".

Last weekend we visited family. Stayed at my in-law's house Friday and Saturday night. DH told me he was talking to his dad and that they want to refi their mortgage. They're at 7%!!! I was shocked, I mean I would have refinanced LONG ago. I don't understand why they aren't in a hurry..??..
On Saturday I took DD to Mount Shasta for her first downhill skiing experience. She took two 90 minute lessons with equipment rental was $70. This was paid by my mom as a Christmas gift. We just didn't have time to do it around Christmas, but did manage to squeeze it in before the snow melts. DD loved it and was a natural. Her afternoon instructor said she is ready for the chairlift her next time out. Now I will need to brush up so we can ski together, the last time I was skiing was 10 years ago. Would like to get my BFF and my dad to go with us too.

Yesterday was a big spending day. Baby had his 9mo checkup for $125. DD and DH went grocery shopping for lunch supplies for the two of them for $52. I ordered diapers and wipes at Diapers.com for $27. I bought baby formula and other needed supplies at Target for $104. At Target I needed to buy paper plates and napkins for DD's class party this Friday. I was going to buy some cute heart print plates with matching napkins, but then I found the clearance aisle in the back corner of the store.. I bought a 125ct pack of paper plates for $4.50 and a 400ct pack of napkins for $5. Sure they were just plain white, but now her class will have enough for all their parties for the rest of this year. I also scored a six pack of binkies for DS for $7.50. They are regularly $6/pair. Now I can have a spare everywhere.

I have been so busy working and running around trying to get Christmas things done. Tree, outdoor lights, Christmas cards, shopping, wrapping, etc.. I had been meaning to make a posting titled "Runaway $$ Train" because of all the cash that's flying out the station here. But I couldn't get enough time on the computer until today. I wasn't feeling very well - sore throat, headache and DS has a runny nose and cough. So he and I have been snuggled up most of the day just resting.

I never had a chance to put a December budget together and am reduced to marking off which bills have been paid on a "To Do" list. Part of the problem is I haven't gotten any document or spreadsheet software for the laptop yet. My FIL has the Microsoft disks and we meant to bring them home after Thanksgiving and totally forgot them. He is going to bring them to our house for Christmas. If that doesn't work out I am going to try Open Office suggested to me by Monkey Mama. I'll just muddle thru the rest of the year, all two weeks of it , and start fresh January.

That's the other thing: We're hosting Christmas at our house this year. DH's idea. Hey, I would rather go to our parent's houses where they get to take on the cooking and cleaning!

My BFF came for a visit this past weekend. It was so great! She hadn't seen our house yet. It had been so long since her last visit (maybe three years?) She and I went to San Francisco Saturday evening for a show. We stopped for a nightcap and once we got back home we stayed up until 3am talking. The tickets to the show were a Christmas present to me from DH.

Baby is up, gotta go..
I'll leave you with a picture of him and Santa.

Thanks for all the great dinner ideas on my last post everyone! I will be trying the ones we don't make already. I will also post any good ones I find.

The salmon was very easy and tasty and I will make it again. I did overcook it a bit, but the flavor was excellent. Thanks Monkey Mama!

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We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I am echoing the rest of you in saying how thankful I am to have family and a home and work and health. Very thankful indeed. Saw my mom, dad, MIL, FIL, Grandma and Grandpa and our horses. Would have loved a chance to see some cousins and my BFF, but conflicting schedules this visit.

Friday DD was able to play in the snow at my grandparent's house.


Our horses.
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My DH is driving me nuts! He wants a new (used) motorcycle. His dad is selling the one my DH really likes for $5k. This is the only thing he has on his Christmas list and tells everyone about how this is the only thing he wants this year. Ugh! A few years back he wanted an off-road ATV (four-wheeler) for Christmas. So I bought him one - A toy one! It even had a little rider figure with it and I covered the name on the package with DH's name. So it said "B...., The ATV Champion" I hope I can do the same for the motorcycle this year.

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Watching football and relaxing today before the week starts up again. Ran to the grocery store for a few things this morning. Great deal on baby formula. Reduced price and $3 off coupons. Yay! I will have to venture out again to take care of a kitty. But right now DH is working a short side job, DS is napping and DD is outside playing. A few minutes of Me Time.

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Crockpot dinner tonight is BBQ Beef Sandwiches. It smells SO GOOD in my house right now! You could use chicken or pork with this. And it is good in summer or winter.
2-3lb Chuck Roast
1cup BBQ Sauce
1/2cup Apricot jam
1/2 Bell Pepper chopped
1/2-1 med. onion thinly sliced
3/4cup salsa
2tsp. Brown Sugar
1Tblsp. Dijon mustard
I like to put the roast in the crockpot and "stab" it with a fork a little and season with a little salt and pepper. Then I put all the sauce fixings in a small sauce pot on the stove. Heat and mix for about 2 minutes and pour over roast. Cook on HIGH for 4 hours or LOW for 8-9 hours. I like to serve on sourdough sandwich rolls with cheddar cheese. In summer I pair with potato salad and tonight it will be baked potatoes or fresh, hot fries.

A few pictures from my recent trip.

These are the glass earrings I bought as my souvenir.


This is the gold medal winning dressage horse Moorlands Totilas.


This is Buffalo Trace, one of two of the bourbon distilleries we visited. Notice all the barrels of bourbon in the windows.


The horse farm we visited. This is the farm's "pond" and one of the barns.



Now I'm off to help at DD's school and then off to work.

It seems that I keep starting all my posts with.."I'm so busy..." But I have no other excuse. I am busy.

My trip to Kentucky was awesome! The countryside was beautiful and the company was super. I had not spent that much time with my aunt in years. It was also fun to share a room with my sister again. Girl talk and all that. Our flights to and from were uneventful. We attended a few of the events at the World Equestrian Games (WEG), stopped to look at some stallions at a horse farm and toured two bourbon distilleries. I will post some pictures when I've got my camera handy.

I did pretty well spending wise. $45 spent in cash and about $220 on the credit card to be paid next week. The $220 included treating for dinner for the four of us twice and gift/souvenir items. I bought myself a pair of blown glass earrings in the shape of a horse head. (I'll take a pic of them too for you all to see)

Everyone did well at home without me. My MIL came to stay and help DH. She bought food and some home improvement stuff for us. My DH surprised me by completing a few of his TO DO projects around the house. Cleaned the garage and finished some crown molding and baseboards, and tore into a wall in our bathroom!! He did pretty well not spending much money. About $32 while I was gone.

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Refi is all done. 4.75% 30 year fixed.
The only hitch was I had to come up with the mortgage payment about two weeks earlier than I would have normally. Made for a tight squeeze right before I left and until the first. Did move money over from the EF. Darn, 'cause I was almost to the 1k mark! The good news is that now I'm back ahead of the game and that means having the money to pay bills earlier. Makes it all run more smoothly.

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Back to work full time now. Keeping very busy there.

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Baby DS is great. Five months now. Wow!
DD is also doing great. Although she chipped a front tooth a few days back. Not very bad at all, but still.....

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Time to start dinner. Thursdays are about the only weekday I have time to make a nice dinner because I get off work early.

And I've got to cheer on the Giants. Playoff game tonight vs. the Braves.