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.

]
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.

What would you pay for a Senior Prom dress?

My boss is buying a $550 for his DD! (Yes, I am sucking in breath as I type that) And, yeah you all remember he's the one with money troubles and upcoming bankrupcy. I guess to be fair it's not up to him; his wife and DD made the decision.

My co-worker and I think that is a crazy amount. Especialy when you search prom dresses online and can find really cute ones for $40-$100.

I can rememeber shopping for formal dresses at discount or outlet shops. I had beautiful dresses always for less than $100. I never felt deprived.

Thank you to my Mom for never over induldging me and teaching me where to shop!

I wonder what sort of lesson will their DD learn from this?

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.

It's shaping up to be another beautiful day here. Sunny and mild.

DH and DD have been working outside doing some much needed yardwork. Yesterday the did the front yard and it looks wonderful. Now they are giving the backyard some TLC, seeding, fertilizing, etc.

Yesterday I went shoping on Amazon. I know, dangerous. I bought nine books and a jacket for DD. Total $103. The jacket is for when she is riding on the motorcycle and the books will be gifts for Easter and for her birthday this summer. It is the complete set of the Rose books from the Little House on the Praire series.

The Giants won yesterday! Added $2 to the EF.

This morning DH and little DS ran some errands and while out they filled up my gas tank at Costco. $72. Gas there is now $3.92/gal. Blah!

I am going to work tomorrow even though I took it off. I look and feel fine so I might as well save a paid day off for another time.

I ended up having the day off from work because it was so slow - no appointments this afternoon. It worked out fine because DH ended up going to the doctor. Had a pain in his leg last night. By this morning he had a hot, red, painful lump on his inside thigh about two inches by two inches. Doc said it the start of an infection and started him on antibiotics. He has catastrophe medical coverage, so visits like this are out of pocket. The office visit was $96 (discounted for self pay at time of visit) and the meds he bought at Costco for $6.70. I'm glad he went today and didn’t wait until it got worse!

Needed some shampoo for me and lotion for baby DS. Well Diapers.com has a "sister" site called Soap.com and they've been sending me offers like, "Try us and get $10 off your first order". I figured today would be a good day to use this offer.

I ended up with $26.19 worth of product for $5.19!!!

How'd that happen? Well I bought Aveno Oatmeal Bath packets for $6.65, Aveno Eczema Cream for $11.95 and Head and Shoulders Extra Strength for $7.59. They had an e-coupon for $1 off one of those items, I forget which, then I had my $10 off code. $15.19 would've been great. But when I tried to checkout I kept getting an error message. I called customer service and he fixed it right away and gave me another $10 credit to the order! I was totally jazzed! DH said I should call every time with a problem.

Dinner time - Meatloaf and mashed spuds tonight.

I am on lunch break right now. So far I've brought lunch to work every day this month. Today was a chicken tamale with rice, a cup of yogurt, water and a few Valentines chocolates.

MonkeyMama's post has reminded me how much I need to call and get a haircut appointment. My last haircut was in April. I have much longer hair (to the small of my back), but I am a "wash and go" girl too. And obviously don't pay much in a year for haircuts!

Need to make dentist appointment for the family and myself soon. I'm like three months overdue..

Many of you have posted about V-Day spending. I bought a 36ct bag of Nerds Valentine boxes for DD's class for $3.60. I didn't buy DH anything (which is normal) and he and DD made a special dinner at home - sausage and basil lasagna. Yummy!! DH did have a huge flower arrangement delivered to me at work. Very sweet; he is a romantic type. He said they were a good deal from the florist in his weekly business group. Of course I am not going to out and out ask how much. He paid with $$ from his side work, NOT household cash flow.

On the news they were reporting the average amount of money spent by women on V-Day was about $80, and by men was about $160. Our family was WELL under those numbers!

Laptop not back yet. Still blogging from work. I must be quick.

Received a $200 gift from a client today. WooHoo! Same client that gave us some cash a few months back. She is very generous. Savings or cc payment??? Don't know yet. I will also be making $40 this weekend looking in on a kitty Saturday and Sunday. I think Savings for that.

Have a great weekend everyone. I probably won't 'see' you all until Monday. *sigh*

I had posted about getting a $1/hr raise with another promised this spring. Well on my last two paychecks I had the full $2/hr increase. ?? Not sure if the boss gave the okay or if the bookkeeper just tacked it on, but hey I'm not saying anything! Happy to have it and certainly well overdue in my opinion.

So my crazy dream last night was about that raise. My payday in on the 5th (this Wednesday) and in my dream I opened my pay envelope and my raise was removed! All over the check and the pay stub it was stamped "RAISE REVOKED due to RECESSION". Yikes! I'll be holding my breath until Wednesday. LOL!

But seriously, my boss is in pretty bad shape. He has started the bankruptcy process. He told me in confidence because he doesn't want people to know. I don't think blogging to my SA friends counts as "telling", do you? I think it's going to be a rough start to the new year for him and I hope it helps in the end to get the business back on track.

My boss is out today, so I get the day off. Spending the day home with the kids. That saves money on childcare. (Yikes that's been a big bill recently) Will try to get some household chores done..I am not feeling very motivated And I am making salmon for dinner tonight. Trying Monkey Mama's crockpot recipe.

This brings me to a bit of a problem I have had for awhile and would love some help with. I keep wanting to post and then forget. Really need new ideas for dinner. What is your family's favorite? And favorites that can be made ahead or frozen. Healthy is a plus, but a distant third to tasty or quick. I bet we'll all find these recipes helpful.

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Traveling to family for the Thanksgiving holiday. We will be leaving Thursday morning and eating dinner at my mom and dad's house. My inlaws will join us there and later we will travel to their house to stay Thursday and Friday night. My DH and his dad like to shop Black Friday. I can't stand all the crowds and crazyness, so I never go out. I think I will take the kids to visit my grandparents on Friday. My grandma's back has been hurting her so she doesn't want to make the three hour drive to my mom's house. I really want to see my grandparents and give them a chance to see baby DS and DD. We will save money by not having to buy food, but spend money on extra gas. It is very important to me to see my family as often as I can and especially around the holidays.

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I will be doing some kitty care next week and will make $200. Christmas money. My most recent kitty care money has gone to pay on the CC. A little to this and a little to that. Trying to balance.

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And the computer woes continue. I realized I had
pictures of myself while I was pregnant with DS on the computer that I don't think we backed up anywhere else. AND, I don't have any programs! No Word, Works, Excel etc. And we can't find any disks for these. These programs were on the computer when we bought it, so shouldn't we have some way of getting them back without having to buy them?

Did you all miss me? I've missed you.

Two weeks ago DD had a report due at school and she was using the laptop to type it out. Well, she dropped it on the floor and it died. Long story short I took it in to Staples and had it repaired for $263. It needed a new hard drive and a new disk reader. Luck for us all the tech services are 1/2 off this month. I just picked the computer up last night and it works as good as new!

DD had almost finished typing her report out. We are talking like two more sentences left to go. So it was a quick rush to set up the desktop and get the report re-typed. Then our printer wouldn't print. It was the "Report from He77". Nah..I was able to load it on a flash drive and have it printed at Kinko's near our house.

Nothing could be recovered from the hard drive, so I lost budgets and financial goals, a few games, but really nothing else. Trying to get some bills payed online now and catch up on the checking account. We have the Internet at work, but I am not in front of the computer long enough to do much of anything. I was able to check my mail about every other day and look up a few web sites, otherwise no time to do anything else.

Speaking of work, my boss laid off one of the other gals because we're heading into the slower period of the year. Of course, it was only slow for about two days!! I miss her, she was really my assistant. The other news is the boss' wife has stepped in to do the business financials and get the bills caught up. AND I got a $1/hour raise with another planned in the spring!! Well overdue for that, so I am happy.

What else???

Oh yeah.. got rid of all the lice! Yay!
Only to have DD get them back again. Boo!
But, I am thinking we've got them beat again. Five days now with no sign of the buggers.

Trying to gear up for the holidays. It is so hard because the weather has been unnaturally warm. Like 70F+ most days. And Christmas is when?!?

I must be a good girl..the money is flowing my way..

A very generous client gave us a gift at work. $200 for me!

My coworker paid me back $50.

I made $40 by making a housecall to my friend's neighbor. I've been helping them with their elderly cat who needs regular blood draws, but HATES the vet. (I've been there a few times now so actually I've made $200 so far.)

And DH gave me the $6 he had in his pocket.

WaHoo!
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Other Updates:

Looking into a refi for the house...
DS going to try out his new highchair tonight..
DH headed to Alaska on Saturday... A whole week of having the bed to myself!!

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:

http://www.ranchhaghens.com
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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!

I am pondering a new career path. It comes down to money: I want to make more of it. I also enjoy challenging myself by learning new things. I have an earlier post where I wrote about this a bit ("Missing My Job"/April 30). I feel like I could do most jobs. I learn quickly, can self task no problem and many other skills. I really love my job and co-workers, but...I think I need more.
Monkey Mama - CPA sounds intriguing, especially with the demand, and the salary would be considerably more than what I make now. What's your take on the CPA life? (If you don't mind.)

What sorts of careers do you all find interesting? Or rewarding? Do you have a job you love? What would you rather do?

I started back to work yesterday. Part time for now. It was still hard leaving baby DS even though it was five hours and I knew he was in good hands. Worked until 6 pm, picked up the kids, had to stop for gas, $60, was home just before 7 pm.

Going back will really limit the time I have to play with the kids, be online with you all, get housework done, etc..etc..

Work is so inconvenient.

Yesterday was also the first day in the new office building. Trying to unpack boxes and organize supplies and equipment. In the new place it seems we have storage in all the wrong places. The fax machine isn't working yet, no internet yet, something funny going on with the phone lines AND we're out of coffee! Of course my boss in his infinite wisdom started seeing appointments yesterday afternoon! It was almost laughable because nothing is easy to find and everything took three times longer to do. This new building is shaped like an L. Our old building was a square. For proper "flow" you really need the square shape. The new building means a lot more walking until we get stuff stocked at both "ends" of the L.

It will be very nice, and much prettier, once we get everything done. I am thinking that will be a few weeks to put things away and even longer to get really comfortable.

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Had a very nice visit with DNiece and even with the inlaws too. Everyone left yesterday morning. Now I have to work on getting my August budget put together and balance the checkbook. I am about 10 days behind with all my financial keeping because of all the busy days and company.

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DH and I had a good time at the Giants game Sunday. Beautiful weather and they won! We have tickets for a Sunday day game in two weeks. Going with the inlaws, DD and baby DS.

Had a MUCH more frugal weekend. Phew!
NSD Saturday and a $16 Sunday.
Saturday my mom, DD, baby and I went to one of the California missions. A state park in Sonoma. Toured the misson and the general's home. It was very cool. They had lots of the original belongings from the family. My mom paid for the admission and lunch.
She and DD left to go traveling for the next several days. They are visiting several California Missions and other sights.

Sunday DH, baby and I helped our friend move. We also visited the new work building. I think it's going to be very nice. There is still a bunch of work to do on it and we're supposed to be in there by August! My boss was there too. So we had a quick visit. He seems very happy and excited about the move, and not worried about not being ready. He is a pretty positive person. Makes it easy to work with him.

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No bites on my CraigsList stuff. I will repost closer to the first of the month. Maybe when people have more money.

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Going to another Giants game on Sunday August 1st. Free tickets for a suite! With a suite you also get free snacks and non alcoholic beverages. I am thinking about taking baby with us. He already has a Giants outfit given to him as a gift!

Putting July's budget together and guess what? My DH gets an extra paycheck! He is paid every Friday, so I love five Friday months. I knew it was coming, but excited just the same.

Relaxing no spend weekend at home. My in-laws came Friday for an overnight visit with us and baby. They live about 3 1/2 hours away. When baby was born they drove their motor home down and parked it in our side yard. It is still here so when they visit they have a place to stay. It works out VERY well. LOL. I can send them to their place when I need a break.

Saturday we kicked on the AC. It was about 86F. I know not really that HOT, but uncomfortable. My DH works in the HVAC industry so we have newer and efficient furnace and AC.

My mom visited all day Sunday. My DH had a job so he was gone. DD had a friend over and they played in a little kiddie pool and the back yard most of the time. Baby DS slept more than usual, so my mom and I had lots of time to visit. We talked about when she thinks she will retire and her maybe moving to our area. She lives about 2 1/2 hours away. Even looking at buying several acres together and living on the same property. She also brought me a check for $160. I closed a credit union account I've had from childhood. They mailed the check to my mom. Putting the money toward one of the cards.

The biggest bummer from this weekend is that I talked to my boss on Saturday. He can't afford to cover my children's insurance costs. He has a lot on his plate, financially speaking, and he is moving into a new-to-us building in July. He has been in the same location for over 20 years, so it's going to be a big change. He said he'd really like to do it and we can re-visit the idea in a about 6 months when he 'might' know if he's better off $ wise. We'll see. My boss is a very nice guy, but not real great with money.. The insurance premium for the kids is $452 per month. I can't see us able to swing that right now. It stresses me. And baby will have several medical appointments within his first year. *sigh*

But, the weekend was nice overall anyway.

Today, DD started her week of basketball camp. She wasn't too sure about it. But, when we got there this morning she saw a few girls she knew and happily jumped in. She is very open, social and not shy. I pick her up at 3pm. I am thinking sometime this week we'll go to the city pool after I pick her up from camp. Maybe invite one of her school or camp friends too.

To most people I think that would sound crazy. Out on maternity leave has been nice, I've gotten plenty of things done around the house and little projects that have needed attention. It's also a luxury to take a nap in the middle of the day! But, right now I miss the mental and physical stimulation of work.
I work in a small, one doctor, veterinary office. There are four of us "girls" and the doctor. I am a Registered Veterinary Technician, and I pretty much run the office (and my boss!). Two of the other gals are in their 50's and the other is a college student who works part-time. We have all worked with each other for quite awhile and get along very well, like family. Makes for a very comfortable and flexible work environment.
The trade-off is this is a pretty low paying field of work. *sigh*
I like to think I'm a pretty smart cookie and as such I could work in a variety of jobs/careers. Sometimes I think about making a big change, learn something new, make lots more money. BUT, I really enjoy the work I do. My days are interesting and we have loads of really good clients that I get to chat with everyday!

At what point do you trade happiness/enjoyment with bringing in more money? (Not that they're mutually exclusive.)

BTW, I bought a Mega Millions ticket, so if I win I could just work for fun. That would make me very happy!