My parents have arrived. It's been a mixed bag.

Not so great:
- they didn't like their hotel that they chose and moved to a different hotel (but complained a lot first)
- they don't like walking in snow (we got a lot of snow last weekend)
- I'm cooking a lot for everyone! And trying to keep the house clean
- My mother keeps calling my brother who arrives tomorrow to warn him about things (like snow or the dog hair) which makes me feel sort of bad
- My dad lost his mobile phone, but someone called me - last number called - to say he found it, and we got it back only a few hours later

Great:
- having my parents here
- they got to watch F sledding - priceless! (I grew up, and they still live, in so. California where there isn't any snow)
- my mother complained enough about walking in snow that we went to Ross and we both found boots (mine are Clark's - got a great deal)

So - my brother arrives tomorrow. I have bought all the food at Trader Joe's already, so now just need to get wine. I'm not sure I know how to pick out wine (usually D tells me what to get based on what he sees on the TJ website).

We had such a nice (and frugal) day today.

Woke up to snow! And it continued snowing off and on throughout the day. Beautiful!

We made hot chocolate and hung out in our pajamas. And then worked on the living room a little (we put in our new tv/game cabinet yesterday, and we were refeeding the speakers and stuff).

Then went to a friends' housewarming. They live up a dirt road; I'm glad we put the snow tires on last weekend. (This house was HUGE and had 360 degree views and a glass-enclosed temperature-controlled wine cellar. I have to say though - I wouldn't want to live in a house like that - it wasn't "warm" at all - not temperature warm, but cozy warm).

Then went to another friends' house (very cozy!) and while F and their daughter played, we hung out and ate yummy food (cheese, crackers, olives) and ate the cookies I made (cranberry/white chocolate/pecans) and drank tea.

Then home to a simple dinner (toast and deviled eggs and some satsumas).

Tomorrow I have to get the house ready for the family (who arrive on Monday and Wednesday)... vacuuming, putting sheets on the bed and setting out towels. And have to do the last of the shopping for Thanksgiving week (this will be a big shop - I have to feed four extra people!).

I like those days when I can drop F off at school and sit at my desk and work hard uninterrupted. But today was not like that!

But in all the craziness of today, I managed to sell something on craigslist and made $8.

Then I was at F's horseback riding lesson (this is paid for by my parents - my dad used to ride so they're very supportive) and the teacher C's 3 year old son P got in the car with me so we could hang out where it was warm. We draw together, and he plays with the hazard lights button. He's super precocious and very cute.

Anyway, after informing me that he was going to shoot a bear and we'd have bear burgers for dinner, and then letting me know that I'd drink water and he'd drink whiskey (!!) he reached into the car door pocket and pulled out a few dollars and announced "I found money! Here!" and he thrust the wadded up bills into my hand. Cool! I guess I don't ride in the passenger seat of my car very often. Either D or I must have stuffed it in there.

I need to pay down the mortgage principal this month, but I'm waiting until tomorrow because Friday is popcorn day at the bank!

I've lived here for 20 years (almost 21) and I've had friends come and go. Two friends who moved away years ago were here this past weekend; it was so great to see them! I miss them a lot!

They were all into eating out and shopping, and it was hard to say no, because I wanted to hang out with them. When they suggested a hike, I was definitely in for that, though! Our beautiful hikes are the free treasure here. We walked up a gorgeous arroyo, and picked up heart shaped rocks and saw the sunset just as we arrived back at the trailhead, and it was a great way to spend time together (for free).

Today I got paid for teaching my spinning class - $40 for the month. And I went to the weekly weightlifting class I love (taught by my friend L) for free (that's one of the perks of teaching).

And when F got home from school we had hot chocolate with marshmallows because it's turned pretty cold here. My recipe: 2 T sugar, 2 T cocoa powder, 1 c almond milk and a lot of marshmallows!

I'd much rather have a hike and hot chocolate than a lot of little trinkets. I wasn't even jealous at all of my friends' purchases - necklaces, postcards, a purse, etc... (Mostly because I can't deal with clutter!). So that's progress, right?

I brought some old cd's to Hastings yesterday, and I got $18 for them! I was expecting about $5 and was set to donate them to goodwill, so I'm pretty happy!

And it declutters the house in the process!

Today - just turned in a proposal for some work with the County. Fingers crossed. There's a Starbucks right near the County's purchasing office, so I took my half off groupon Starbucks card (paid $5, get $10) to Starbucks and got a coffee as a treat. They gave me a survey thing which I filled out online, so now I get another $1 off my next coffee treat. (I get a Starbucks coffee about once a month).

OK, back to work...

My friend is having a baby any day now - hope she holds off until Friday (which is when the baby shower is). This is an amazing woman who has five kids already (including triplet boys!) and she's NICE. Her daughter and F are in the same class.

Anyway, I bought her a little onesie and when I was given some free yarn by F's piano teacher last week I decided to knit this little cardigan, too.



Cost was just for the buttons...

I don't usually post about what I'm reading, but this book is so much fun!

It's called Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore, and I saw it on the book club list of one of our local bookstores. I got it at the library, of course!

It's a mystery (which I have to confess I love) about books (which I also love) and a bookstore (don't love that much, but that's because I love the library).

Speaking of the library... I am going to take a pile of books over there that I was saving for the garage sale I'm not having. The library has a store, and they make some money from the sales of used books. Our library is right downtown, and it's in a pretty building, and the librarians are super nice. And did I mention I have a friend who's a librarian at a local college? (Add librarians to the list of things I love).

I paid the car registration today. I saved 5% by paying it online, but had to pay a convenience fee of $1.25. In the end, though, even with the fee, I saved $1.00. So it made sense. A little snowflake, but it's still a snowflake, right?

Speaking of snowflakes, it's turned really cold here. It rained, hailed and snowed a tiny bit last night. With the time change it was very dark coming out of F's piano lesson. But the piano teacher told me she was getting rid of a ton of stuff, and she had some yarn in her garage/storage area. So we went out back in the dark, with the blowing leaves and drizzle. And I got a huge bag of yarn! F was excited to look through it with me after school.

Today I am subbing for another spinning instructor; I think the gym might pay me for these subbed classes (I have not really figured out the payment system). I already subbed a weightlifting class this month, so we'll see if I end up with more money. I don't get paid much as I've mentioned, but I do get to exercise for free! It'll be good to move around a little today. I feel like I've been sitting in this office forever!

Not-frugal decision #1 - it's the last day of fall soccer for F; the girls were so great! We are hosting the pizza party since D is the coach. Not sure how much it will cost in total (lemonade, pizza) but I had money left over in the food budget from last month, and so we're still in budget. And in my mind, this is one of the things I LIKE to spend money on! Glad we can be generous!

Not-frugal decision #2 - I was going to have a garage sale tomorrow. I anticipated making about $60. But I've decided to donate to a charity shop instead. It's gotten cold outside, and I want to spend the weekend with F - $60 isn't worth missing out on time with her. And the stuff will go to charity. I am going to go through everything and set aside a few things to sell on craigslist/ebay. I went back and forth on this, nearly making myself crazy! But I'll be glad to have the house decluttered, and to be able to give back to a charity!

Swagbucks gave me 50 swagbucks for my birthday (thank you, Swagbucks!) - I have about 900 right now. Would like to get to 1500 soon so I can add that to the Christmas shopping fund.

Other good news: yesterday on my run, I passed by a house where they were removing a dead tree. There were sections of tree lying around, and I need some round logs for a project I'm doing, so I decided to drive back up there and ask for a log. When I got back, the tree company was just chipping the logs; I tried to find someone to ask if I could have just one log, but no one was around. So - feeling sort of horrible, but also knowing it was 99% ok - I took one smallish log, shoved it into my trunk. So now the project is nearly done!

More good news: I spoke to my brother today. He and my sister-in-law L are coming or Thanksgiving (and my parents). So, I know that L doesn't like dogs. Really doesn't like them. At all. I asked him if our big white dog was going to be a problem for her; like, was she scared of dogs? Or just doesn't like them? He said that she hates dogs, and if there's a dog, she prefers it to be small with short hair (unlike our giant long-haired dog), but she's not afraid. He said that he understands our dog is a family member, and L will deal with it. So we don't need to lock her in a bedroom or anything (I'm talking about the dog, not L - haa!).

And... I got a very sweet card from F this morning for my birthday. D is still not on board with me not wanting more stuff. He says "Why don't you feel like you deserve to have gifts for your birthday?" Which is not it at all. I just want less stuff, and I don't want him paying for stuff I don't want. But he was sweet to get me a book (I am feeling slightly guilty and ungrateful that I don't really want any more books; I go to the library) and a heated car seat (unfortunately it's super uncomfortable - it doesn't cover the whole seat and the seam digs into the bottom of my legs - so we'll need to exchange - and I feel guilty about that, too).

What I REALLY want for my birthday: a backrub, not to have to clean up the dish that the cat knocked over and broke (in other words, a free-pass day), to be able to sleep in, cuddles with my daughter, to be able to sit around and watch a dumb tv show and knit. (Yes, I've told him this - he thinks I'm being a martyr!).

I am going to go bake some peanut butter brownies now, and then maybe chop a big log into disks...

Yesterday after F's soccer game we dropped her off at her friend A's house for a playdate (when I was little this was called "going over to play" but is now a "playdate"). Both girls were going to the class Halloween Party later that evening, so when I asked the mom when to pick up F, she said that 2:30 would be good because she had to work on A's costume for the party later that day.

OK, first of all, somehow I failed to notice on the invite that this was a costume party (although if you think about it, it's pretty obvious - a Halloween party is usually about the costumes).

I also failed to notice that the party was at 4 pm instead of 5 pm.

I was planning on making the costume (she had requested a mouse costume) on Sunday, so I had all of the supplies (total cost - less than $5!). So I had a leisurely lunch and started sewing like a maniac.

D picked up F from her "playdate" and mentioned to her that the party was a costume party, but not to worry, Mommy is on the case!

I managed to finish just as the pulled into the garage, and she was so happy! Made it all worth it! She wrote me this little thank you on a piece of leftover felt that I used to make the swiss cheese. All mice like cheese, right?



My sweet little mouse was a hit at the party; most of the parents buy costumes, but to me Halloween is an excuse to make something; I love a good opportunity to make stuff!!

My lunches usually consist of:
- things F did not eat from her lunch on the previous day (sometimes a few carrots or snap peas, some fruit)
- piece of fruit
- chips or crisps or something like that
- leftovers or an avocado or a piece of sliced turkey (a protein thing)
- a square of chocolate or a few chocolate chips with pecans

I realize this is not a very exciting lunch.

I eat it at the conference table while the dog sits next to me and eats her lunch. It takes about 10 minutes to eat lunch, which is not very long.

So... the solution to having a good, relaxing lunch is the walk that I take with the dog afterward. This is the real lunch solution: the after-lunch fresh air!

I work downtown, and there are lots of nice walks, but I like to walk through the nearby residential area. I took a picture for you of one of my favorite little houses.

What do you do at lunch?

Got my hair trimmed yesterday (I do this every 3 or 4 months) and used a coupon from Great Clips for $7.99. All of my friends get expensive haircuts, but I'm pretty sure you could cut my hair with pinking shears and it would look the same (an advantage of having curly hair). And no grey yet, so no dye (not sure I would anyway - I'm too cheap to spend money on hair dye and I don't like upkeep; also have a big aversion to smells and that dye smells awful!). Having saved money on my haircut, I may have to buy some wrinkle cream instead!

I sold F's old baby mobile on craigslist and got $20! It's sort of sad to see those old baby things go, but I know another baby will get some use out of it, so that's good. And of course I am keeping a few things (some finely made wooden toys and a few of her teeny-tiny sleepers).

Need to sell some other old baby stuff, too. A lot of this is just too good for a garage sale; I'll make more money on craigslist.

It's almost Halloween - right afterward, I start planning the Christmas shopping list!

In the meantime, I've started the Christmas knitting for D and F. F will be getting a little cuddly toy hedgehog. It looks like a pretty quick knit which is good because I'm also knitting her a cardigan. And D is getting a scarf (I am trying to find a pattern that he'll like but is not boring to knit).

And I'm still knitting a sweater for me, and I have to finish the slipcovers before Thanksgiving.

Did I mention that I work nearly full-time? Maybe I should revise the goals a little bit... Ah well - I'll think big and see what I can accomplish!

D just took F back to the "sleepover" party she went to last night (she didn't want to sleep over, so we picked her up last night, she slept at home, and now she's going back for breakfast). I'll pick her up again at 10:30.

So I have 2 1/2 hours to:
- sand the front door (dog scratches from when our dog was a puppy - she is no longer a puppy!!)
- finish the base of the slipcover for the large sofa
- finish vaccuuming upstairs
- finish cleaning the bathroom
- brush my teeth
- take a shower

And then F and I are going to hang out today while D does two photoshoots (this is now side money since he has a full-time job!) and goes to a soccer coach training session (he's one of the coaches for our rec league). Trying to figure out what to do that will be fun and frugal. It's cold out (41 deg F) but the high is supposed to be 61, so I'm thinking a short hike would be nice, maybe followed by hot chocolate at home?

I got paid $40 from the gym yesterday for teaching spinning - yay! But... I made a crucial mistake.

I always eat before the gym because I teach at noon and otherwise I get super hungry during class. But I usually save half my lunch for afterward because I'm hungry then, too, since I just exercised. Yesterday, I didn't bring anything for after class!

And I had this $40 in an envelope.

As I drove from the gym to my meeting, I saw that I was about 10 minutes early, and I passed a gas station, so I stopped and got a milky way, which I paid way too much for. Wasted $1.29 of my snowflake on an impulse purchase.

Here are my lessons:
- Always have food in the car!
- Put the gym money away immediately!
- Don't be too early to a meeting!
- Make sure I have a supply of 69 c Milky Way Midnights at home so that I know they are there (I eat one once a week)

OK, not going to beat myself up over $1.29.

We were going to have a low-key weekend, but it was supposed to be a great day for balloons (crystal clear, cold, not a lot of wind), so instead we went here:





It was not frugal, but it wasn't expensive either, and if you ever have a chance, you need to see it. We took F when she was really little, but she didn't remember it, so we got up at 4 am (D is taking a nap as I type this) and headed to Albuquerque.

F got a trading card from the British balloon (the balloonist's dad went to the same high school as D, in the UK) and the pig balloon (she loves pigs!).

I just read about an app/website called Manilla that tracks when your bills are due and sends you reminders - also will link directly to the site for the bill you need to pay. I'm pretty excited about this!

I always pay total balance (never minimums) but it's a chore keeping up with all of the different providers (work credit card, home credit card, old navy credit card, t-mobile, internet bill, gas bill, electric bill home, electric bill office). This sends you an email or text as soon as your bill is ready. And you can get into it at any time to see what is unpaid.

And it's free!

OK, off to make dinner, now that I know my electricity bill is paid! (I somehow put that one in the trash in my email - ugh).

This Saturday:

- soccer game at 9 am (we are going to freeze! It's supposed to be 39 deg at 9 am, 43 deg at 10 am when the game is over. But I'm bringing my sleeping bag)

- Harvest Festival at our local living history "museum." We get to smash grapes with our feet. We have a membership, so we don't pay.

- I promised F we'd go to the gallery that represents my friend, then walk up the road and have tea and scones. The tea and scones are so awesome! A relatively inexpensive outing.

This Sunday:

- F is going to a friend's house and I am going to start sewing our new slipcovers

- We have a neighborhood potluck at 4 pm... we'll pop in and then head to...

- soccer practice in the park!

Part 1 - Clothes for Free

When I drop F off at school I often stand around in the hall and talk to the other parents. We're a tight-knit bunch, the 3rd Grade parents! (There are only 19 kids per grade, so you get pretty close).

Today I was talking to J who informed me that she had a bag of clothes in the car that no longer fit her daughter and asked if I'd like to look through them. Yes!

So we scored about 4 pairs of leggings and two shirts (I was selective, knowing that F is sort of picky). All great condition. Very cute, and exactly F's style! She likes to wear leggings. Every day. (But you know, I'm a creature of habit, too).

This is an advantage of having a daughter who is smaller than the other kids in her class!

Part 2 - Pet-Watching Swap

My friend G who is in my knitting group is at a wool festival this weekend (so glad I'm not there - it's just a giant temptation to buy yarn I don't need - plus I'd miss F's soccer game which would be sad). So I'm watching her pets - yay! Why am I so glad about this? Because we have a swap! I watch her pets and she watches ours. She lives close by, and her pets are cute! And we don't pay for pet-sitting.

Part 3 - Online Math Game

I found this online math game http://www.mathsisfun.com/numbers/math-trainer-multiply.html for F to practice her multiplication tables. She loves it (she loves to do timed activities)!

So I got a "service engine soon" light on my car's dashboard, and took the car in today. They called to tell me it's some part in the fuel gauge that needs to be replaced. The part is some electronic thing that helps indicate how full/empty the tank is. They want $721 (gasp!) for the part/installation.

Now I have to decide if they should order it or if I just keep track of the mileage and fill the car up based on that. (I know how many miles I get on a tank of gas and could be really conservative with fill-ups).

What do you think?

This week:

1. A frugal weekly meal plan (taking advantage of things already in the fridge/pantry plus a few extras):
- polenta and salad
- big salad and garlic bread
- general tso's chicken and cabbage
- socca with zucchini
- very sweet salmon and rice and broccoli
- chipotle chicken stew
- something from the freezer and salad

2. I paid an extra $73 toward the mortgage principal. On track to pay off in early 2019.

3. I cleaned out the car - vacuumed the rugs and cleaned the film from the windscreen and cleaned the dog slobber off of the rear driver side window.

4. We went to our local pizza place today and had a great lunch! (We had a LOT left in the dining out budget this month; the rest will go toward the mortgage).

5. We had a busy day yesterday with F's morning soccer game, then a wedding (which D photographed) and then F went to a birthday party. The couple got married in the mountains and then mountain-biked to the reception. Our gift to them were the helmet-cam rental and then D will edit the video (he edits video for work) for them. F was the flower girl; she loved that all of the grandmas told her how cute she was!

6. Tonight it's F's soccer practice in the park; there's a new girl on the team who has never played before (and just signed up Friday night!). Planning on getting one of the other moms (I love Susan!) to join me doing skills stuff with her. She's a sweet girl - I hope she has fun!

Our dog came in the other night with a bloody foot - traumatic! It was obviously really painful, and I tried to wash it gently to figure out what was wrong. After I got it cleaned up, I noticed a really raw spot and slathered some neosporin on that.

I took her to the vet the next morning because I was afraid of infection. It turns out her dew claw got caught on something and was pulled completely off (ewww!).

The good news: it came off completely which meant no procedures were necessary.

The bad news: $95 vet bill (which included the antibiotics and pain medication and office visit).

The other good news: we have budgeted for things like this, so it doesn't break our budget.

The other, other good news: our dog is feeling much better, not limping anymore.

The question: is pet insurance a good idea? Do any of you have it? Is it worth it? Is it expensive?

As I drove F and her friend S to their horseback riding lesson the other day, I listened in on their conversation in the back seat. S was talking about all the things she wanted to buy. (She is very into American Girl dolls and wanted lots and lots of books which is not such a bad thing). F couldn't think of anything she wanted. I think this is partly because she doesn't see advertisements on television (she only watches videos ad-free). [Sidenote: it makes it very difficult to buy Christmas presents for her!]

And then she said to S: "Why do you need to buy books? Why not just get books from the library?"

S was pretty adamant that she needed to actually own the books, but F thought it was silly if you weren't going to read them again and again. (She does, of course, have some books, but if she owned every book she read we'd run out of room in the house!).

The conversation reminded me that you start pretty early as a consumer or non-consumer. (These girls are 8 years old).

A lot going on this weekend...

Today (Saturday) we had F's soccer game in the morning, then we headed over to the Renaissance Fair at our local living history museum (we have a family membership, so we didn't pay; brought a picnic lunch and just bought drinks at $1 each; we may go back tomorrow, too). This evening we're going to a get together to benefit the CASA program (court appointed special advocates for kids in foster care); we're happy to make a $25 donation. There's a place for frugality and a place for giving.

Tonight F's friend is sleeping over, so it's pizza night. Tomorrow: turkey bacon and french toast. And then back to the Renaissance Fair! Actually the only thing that weirded me out about the Fair today were the outfits. There were some that were definitely Renaissance, but a lot were just slutty corsets and bellydancers-meet-braveheart (??!!). Ah well, there's a joust and a jester and the kids probably didn't notice the vampire (yes, a vampire!).

OK, I get to relax for exactly 14 minutes before we go to the CASA get-together.

It was a good week for snowflakes:
1. Got a $15 Swagbucks Amazon card (will be used to buy things we need anyway - I get all of the bday gifts for F's friends from Amazon - and the amount saved will be put into the IRA or to pay down the mortgage)
2. Got $55 for teaching my spinning class (IRA/mortgage)
3. Got a notice from the publisher of my book that they are direct-depositing about $89 (IRA/mortgage)
4. Got $300 (!!!) from my parents for our Tenth Anniversary which is today! - we'll use this to pay for the new built in cabinet

No chance of actual snow here yet, though...
Actual weather: tons and tons and tons of rain! In fact it just hailed here at our house, but now it's sunny and beautiful.

We went out for lunch for our anniversary today (they have a prix fixe special at a fancy restaurant in town - $17 for three courses). Tonight we're having a normal dinner (soup and salad) but I'm making an apple/blueberry crumble for dessert.

So far I've spent about $150 on the various home improvement projects around our house. This project was basically a freebie (bought chalk at Office Depot - used a rewards coupon).

Before we had a corporate-y looking whiteboard.

I had the scrap wood in the garage and it's coated in chalkboard paint. I cut a bit of wood for F also, and she made her own little portable chalkboard. She's been playing with it all morning!

I am subbing for spinning tomorrow and my friend Liz just asked me to sub for her weightlifting class at the end of the month. Happy to do it, but once again I haven't gotten any money from the gym in a while (got paid in August but it was for July). I need to ask Liz if she's been paid...

In good news: F found a new book series she loves. I already ordered the second and third in the series from our library.

Other good news: D took the job he was offered. It's a pay increase, but he's also working more hours. Overall, it's a really good thing because I think it's just too stressful if we're both self-employed.

Even more good news: Since I paid the rent for the office, there won't be any difference when he's not there with me anymore. I already rent one office space. My plan for D's old space is to rent it out, too (but on a more limited basis since it's sort of part of the conference room - I was thinking I'd charge a nominal monthly fee - like $50 - and a few people could share it using a google calendar). Need to ask around on facebook (already have one person interested - it's a great downtown location, perfect if you live a little way out of town and just want to be downtown once in while or need a conference table occasionally).

More good news: My business reimburses us for our health insurance, but now D's job will reimburse for his portion of the insurance, so that's more money I get to keep in the business.

And, finally: We made a modest purchase today of buttons for the new cardigan I knitted for F... will share photos of the cardi soon! (Once I sew the buttons on!)

I was really scared to contact anyone about a living room cabinet because I thought I couldn't afford it. (I already exhausted ready-made options - I have a fixed width since it's between our wall and fireplace and nothing off the shelf fits in there. And I found "budget" cabinets online for - gasp! - over $500 - not even good materials!).

Some friends gave me recommendations for cabinet makers who are all super-high-end, but I somehow remembered that my friend's husband has a custom cabinet business. I see them mostly at parties since we met through mutual friends who no longer live here. And she and I both are volunteer chairs for the Folk Art Market. We don't hang out, and our kids are different ages, but she's so sweet. But Matt does high-end cabinets, too, and I figured I couldn't afford him.

Well he's giving me a deal in exchange for helping hang it and for referring some work to him if I'm happy with the result. So nice! It'll be $300, custom, all wood! Can't wait to get our living room fixed up - it looks a bit like a college dorm right now.

And I've discovered my new candy fix for my 3 pm energy dip - handful of pecans with a few chocolate chips mixed in. Yum!