Toilet-Paper-Tracker

It's been a great week with my mother-in-law here! Well, all week until today when four people living in close quarters with different cultural norms caught up with us.

We mostly spent our days down at the soccer fields for F's practices and game (she scored the only two goals our team made on Saturday, so even though we lost, she was happy).

Yesterday we went to Madrid (that's pronounced Mad-rid with an emphasis on mad, not like the city in Spain). It's a former coal-mining village, and then it was a ghost town and now it's a funky artist community. I knew that my English mother-in-law would like it; it looks like the wild west (how far from the UK can you get?) and she loves to shop. She asked F if she wanted something in every shop we went into, and F is not a shopper and really doesn't seem to want anything (except another Arsenal soccer jersey).

We had lemonades and chips and salsa at a little outdoor cafe and we treated (we've been saving up our dining out budget). We had dinner back at our favorite place near our house, and were expecting to buy that, too, but D's mum treated us! So nice!

Today was a little harder... F is pretty sick of D's mum referring to herself in the third person "Shall Grandma get you a little jacket?" F is a little sick of Grandma always talking about clothes (I think it's pretty funny actually! If you ask her how the plane trip was, she'll describe what she wore). F and I both find it hard that my mother-in-law walks really, really slowly; we walk as slowly as we can to walk with her, but it's nearly impossible. My mother is quick, quick, quick, so F isn't used to that.

Grandma wanted to come with us to the supermarket so she could buy postcards and stamps, but our supermarket doesn't sell postcards, and F needed some time alone with me. She's having a lot of anxiety about her upcoming school overnight trip and wanted to talk about it. So D took his mum to the CVS instead (where they do sell postcards, but only US stamps, not international).

While we were gone, my mother-in-law was trying to be really nice and left a little container of something called Bio-Oil for me to try. I only use unscented products, and when I saw the oil I went to close the flip top and found that it was super smelly. And in carrying it down to my desk, my very wonderful but not that steady on her feet mother in law had dripped the oil across the floor. Had to wash my hands and then picked up the container with a paper towel. Then I put baking soda on the oily spots, but I'm not sure all of the spots will come out completely (we have concrete floors and the oil was probably sitting for an hour or so).

In positive news, our shower valve survived the visit (it's a bit titchy, and always in danger of breaking if it's handled to roughly).

I'm pretty much ready for this day to be over, though.

Grandma leaves in the morning, and then I have to do her sheets and towels before she returns in a few weeks (fortnight!).

So, it was a great visit, but a lot of work, too. And I guess that's the thing about visitors...

D's mum is here, and unfortunately I had to work today. Now F is doing homework, and tonight she has soccer practice. We're taking Grandma with us.

Dinner tonight: penne with turkey bacon, goat cheese and peas and lemon/garlic sauce. Mmmm... I am starving, but I still have to get through soccer practice.

Today was expensive, but not because we have an out-of-town guest. I got the (I hope) final bill for the endoscopy I had to have. The endoscopy counts as a procedure (?!) rather than a test, so it all goes toward the deductible. I've paid over $1000 toward this test so far. I guess I should be grateful that the results were good!!!

David's mum arrives in two days... I feel pretty ready! I've done the grocery shopping, have a meal plan. I washed the linens and D put them on the spare bedroom bed. Tonight I'm cleaning the bathroom, and we'll move F's stuff down to our bathroom so that she can have it to herself.

Our house is generally tidy, but I also vacuumed out my car since she'll be riding in it a lot, and I worked on our yard a little bit. I am building a little enclosure to hide our barbeque, and that should be done by tomorrow evening.

Here is our meal plan:
Cheesy cornbread with sundried tomatoes and a side salad (before she arrives)
Pad thai (before she arrives)
Turkey burgers with french fries and salad
Chicken piccata with rice and broccoli
Frittata with salad
Pasta with turkey bacon, peas and goat cheese
Barbequed chicken with veggies and a yummy sauce (friends over; they'll bring something, too)
Eat out one night

Our grocery bill was about 20% more than normal, but we usually don't eat that much animal protein (but D is pretty adamant that he wants to treat his mum to nice meals, and the concession is that we aren't eating out a bunch; fair enough!). We also bought sausages for easter breakfast tomorrow and an extra thing of eggs to dye for hard-boiled eggs (lunch!). I expected that, and I think I can make most of it up with an "eat out of the pantry" shopping trip later in the month.

When you have a guest, does your grocery shopping spending rise?

I had to toss a pair of pajama bottoms this morning. This was the pair my family called Franken-jammies because I had sewn them up so many times. (Make do and mend). The fabric just got thinner and thinner and they literally shredded.

It made me think about this movement to have fewer things... I absolutely am not into "stuff" and I don't have a ton of clothes. But the fewer items of clothing you have (like 33 things for 3 months! Eeek! http://theproject333.com/getting-started/), don't things tend to wear out more quickly?

I now have three pairs of long pajama bottoms; I put them on as soon as I come home from work (comfort!!!!). I think I may need to replace this pair.

Do any of you have a "capsule" wardrobe?

Yesterday I got my fuel gauge repaired. It was a repair I wasn't going to make, but the last time I went in for an oil change, they said that because the fuel gauge problem was triggering the check engine light, they didn't know if there was anything else wrong with the car. In other words, something could go wrong with my engine and I'd never know because the check engine light is always lit. They wanted $50 for an engine diagnostic; I told them I'd do it next time.

But on a whim, I checked online to see if the fuel gauge was part of any recall. It wasn't for my car, but was for another Nissan model. I called Nissan USA (corporate headquarters) to see if maybe they'd had issues with my model, too. The incredibly nice woman said no but that she'd look into it and call me back.

I totally did not expect a call back, but she did call back a few days later to say she was still checking. About a week later, she told me that Nissan USA would pay for the part and I could pay for labor. Instead of a $700 repair, I paid $198!

Later yesterday evening, we decluttered F's bathroom drawers. There were all sorts of dried up hairbands and old barrettes that F was happy to part with. And now the drawers are organized and tidy.

So, not a no-spend day obviously, but money well spent and a satisfying decluttering session.

The meal plan for the week was based on not having things that we want to have when D's mum arrives next Monday.

- tuna melts and salad
- crash potatoes and asparagus (on sale!)
- chinese night! general tso's chicken, spicy cabbage and rice
- cornbread and salad
- mexican eggs with toast
- zucchini socca
- matzo ball soup and deviled eggs and broccoli

Friday night is Passover and Sunday is Easter... we celebrate both in our house so this is a big weekend. I found gluten free matzo meal and decided to have matzo ball soup. It was a splurge, but I haven't had matzo ball soup in forever!

Today I brought a seriously stupid lunch (leftover soup but not enough to really be a meal, strawberries, berries that turned out to be moldy and dried apricots) so the office bought me a little tray of sushi. I didn't pay for it (well, at least not directly). I hate when that happens. I need to plan better tomorrow.

The weather is really nice, and D's mum is coming out in a few weeks, which has me thinking about our garden.

Today:
- buy some soil at Home Depot (see if the outdoor rugs are out yet)
- shop vac old leaves
- sweep
- think about sewing new cushions (I have the foam and fabric)

Next Weekend:
- build a small wall to hide the bbq

I need to call my good friend G who is an amazing gardener to find out when I need to put out vegetable plants here in the high desert (we could easily have another freeze). I've tried starting from seed, and when I put out my poor plants they all died. So I'm buying starter plants at the nursery.

The plan:
- lettuce mix (this you can actually start from seed)
- zucchini
- tomatoes
- thyme
- spearmint
- green onions

It's not super ambitious, but I'm not exactly the best gardener.

We've decided to bbq when D's mum is here, too, because the weather is supposed to be good, and that will be a treat for her, coming from England. And I need to wipe down the outdoor table so she can have her tea outside.

We did a lot of work on the garden last year and just have a little farther to go... I love it out there.

I was going to deposit my $84 gym money next week, but it's Friday and the bank has popcorn! So I'm going today.

Then I pick F up from school, take her to tennis and then soccer (this is the big sports day). It's pretty nice out, so I'll probably do one lap around the horse track at soccer.

Tonight: frugal dinner of soup and garlic bread.

Tomorrow: out to dinner with friends. We're going to our mutual favorite, a small locals place. That's a big deal in a tourist town like this! Much less expensive and better food. But it's not downtown, so tourists don't find it.

It's nearly the end of the month, and I'm itching to do the end-of-the-month summary to see how we did (pretty well, I think!). I bought gas today, because I was driving to a town about an hour away and I don't like getting low on gas. But we're still within our gas budget.

One more grocery shop for the month, and there's still $382 in groceries! So the remaining money after that shopping trip will beef up our "unexpected medical" and "household repairs" categories. D was supposed to call his mother to find out if she has any diet restrictions right now. That way I will tailor the menu plan in two weeks (when she arrives) for her. This will affect next week's meal plan because I don't like to repeat too much. I also want to know what she likes for breakfast, snacks to have around...

Hope everyone has a great weekend! I'm definitely looking forward to it!

The housing market in our small city has been really weird. Things weren't selling, and what was on the market was really weird or overpriced.

I don't make it a habit of keeping track, except that a good housing market usually means more work in construction which means more work for architects! I weathered the last economic downturn pretty well, but that was mostly because I don't design houses (I do mostly civic/public buildings). That slowed down, too, but not as much.

This morning I learned that the house two doors down from us is under contract. I didn't even know it was for sale; it must have just gone on the market. It was being rented out because the owner moved around the corner (same neighborhood); I didn't know the people who were renting it (it hasn't been that long). I can't wait to have real neighbors! There are only four houses on our street.

Anyway, the really good news is that it sold for $720k! It's a little larger than ours (maybe 2500 sf and ours is 2300). It has a little bit nicer view, too. But this is really good news for our equity! I've been figuring our house is worth $500k, but I think it's probably a little over $600k. I built it 16 years ago, and with the lot and an addition about 9 years ago, we've paid $300k total. We owe just under $57k.

I should be less nervous about money given the equity in our home, but you have to have somewhere to live, and you can't eat your home, right? Plus equity could disappear as the market changes. So I'll just continue being frugal.

Hello, I'm the tooth fairy. Well, at least at this house I am. The secretary at school told me "F has a surprise for you!" and it turned out she lost her tooth at school. She showed it to her close friend/deskmate who thought it was a blob of hot glue! Anyway, the secretary gave her a little treasure chest container, and she brought it home for the tooth fairy (reminder: that is me). Amazingly, I am actually prepared! I have a set of secret ink pens that the tooth fairy can give F under her pillow tonight. This was as stocking stuffer I forgot about and decided to keep on hand. There is also the tooth fairy certificate which I just printed out.

Now, the thing I'm not prepared for is Easter. Did I mention that I am also the Easter Bunny? The New Mexican Easter Bunny is a jackrabbit named Tomás. I don't want to spend a lot on Easter, and F still has candy from Valentine's day. I don't have a lot of time to go to the store, either. Tomas always leaves eggs around the house so that F can go on an egg-hunt when she wakes up on Easter Sunday, and I have the eggs which I rescued from last year. I think maybe the solution is some japanese erasers from Amazon. There is budget money for these kinds of holidays, but I think $20 max!

I did get some money from the gym today ($84) which will go toward our mortgage principal. It was a fun class today... I really love weightlifting, and what I teach is weightlifting set to music, which is even more fun!

The bad thing is that I have some very tight muscles, and it's pulling me out of whack. I went to the chiropractor yesterday, $60, and I have another appointment with someone different (who fixed my friend's problem) on April 14. I am going to ask for an assignment (stretching? exercises?); I will work hard if I know what to do! I'm going to go stretch right now!!!

I checked the Ink Cash rewards on my Chase Card (this is my business visa) to find that I had accumulated $140! I guess I've too been busy to keep track, because I usually cash out at $50!

Anyway, they now deposit directly into an account, and when I see it, it'll go right to the mortgage.

I ran around like crazy today. Lots of work, a long meeting, had to take D to the car place (it was $87, less than expected, so that's good) and then the Egypt Fair up at F's school (where the kids all shared their projects on Ancient Egypt - F did transportation; all of the kids walked in to "Walk Like an Egyptian" - ha!).

There wasn't much time for lunch, but the meeting was right near our house, so I went home and had 15 mins to heat up some leftover pasta.

F and I splurged on ice cream at Baskin Robbins; $3.25. That was to celebrate her excellent Egypt report as well as getting a head start on her next book report. She read Greenglass House, a newish book about a mystery in an inn. I read it, too, and we both loved it. Her project is going to be a floor plan of the inn. It's almost like Clue! Different people and objects in different rooms.

Now.... I guess it's dinner time. Sausages with rice and broccoli.

We were away for a week for Spring break - but we're back!

I got a ton of work done today, and I also made a trip to the bank to deposit the other half of our tax refund (state refund). Along with that, I deposited some snowflakes from selling some old technical books that I was considering tossing. I'm glad I didn't - I got $63 for them!

So I put 1128 toward the mortgage principal today; we've paid off $5104 this year.

Paying off the mortgage is crucial to paying for F's school (when she enters high school). We ended up getting $750 in tuition assistance this year (and it's really $1000 because we also don't have to pay the $250 finance charge since we're getting assistance; if you don't get assistance and pay monthly, it adds this charge - ugh).

The bad financial news is that I'm still getting bills for the endoscopy I had to have in January. I paid $422 at the time of service, and I thought that was it, but nooooooo... I've gotten two additional bills, one for $150 and another for $60. There is only $78 left in my "medical unforeseen" category. I need to beef that back up!

So... more good financial news: We did not spend much on our spring break trip. We stayed with my parents, so we just bought food.

I am hoping we can stay on budget when D's mother comes to visit from the UK in April. We have one dinner out planned, and one visit to the Tea House for a treat (I like the scones with lemon curd) and one potluck dinner with our friends at our house. D will probably also take his mum out to lunch one day. So that's pretty much our eating out budget for the month, but oh well! She's coming a long way.

We're trying to figure out some free entertainment, too. She'll want to go to the Plaza and probably buy something from the Indian jewelry sellers. She wants to go shopping for jeans, too. We can tag along since these won't be our purchases.

She can't really hike or walk too much (she uses a crutch), but she will go to F's soccer practices and Saturday game (they have a cart to take her to the fields) and her tennis lesson. And she'll go with me to pick F up from school. Not sure that's the best entertainment...

Any ideas?

It's almost the end of this long four-day weekend. We decided not to go x-c skiing today so that F could play with her friend. They are in different grades, so they don't see each other at school, and after this week it's Spring Break. We are going to CA to see my parents and her family is going skiing in Banff.

Another friend of F's is going to NYC and another friend is going skiing in Telluride. Wow! Those are some fancy vacations! I am pretty excited about our vacation, too. My parents live in a really nice area, and since we stay with them lodging is free! We're taking the train out, and from my parents' house we can just walk down the street and see the LA Marathon go by. So that's Sunday's activity. My mom is buying all sorts of food for our stay. We're going to Knott's Berry Farm one day with my 26 year old niece (F is over the moon! They looooooove each other!).

The train, by the way, was the same price as flying and includes a sleeper car and meals on the train. We booked early since they have a sort of tier system.

Other things to mention:
- I signed up for the local pool this summer and got a $15 discount since I was one of the first 60 to sign up.
- I bought some socks at Target for F and she realized it said "pack of 7" but there were only 5 (good spot, F!). So I returned them. They were out of this style at the store, so I bought them online and for some reason no shipping charge. I have no idea why.
- I just finished my state taxes and we're getting the last part of our solar PV tax credit. When the money comes into our account it will go right into the mortgage principal.
- I stopped by the office today and saw that I'd gotten two checks; yay!
- I also ran 1.5 miles from the office (it's a really nice run; less hilly than running from our house)

It's about 3:45 now, and I have about 1 hour to relax while the girls play... I'm going to go watch a show on the BBC about The Knowledge (that is the test that you have to take to drive a London taxicab).

I hope you all had a great weekend!

I got "perfumed" at Target today. It was from pushing the cart (it's my hands that smell). It's so strong that even after using germ stuff, washing my hands three times, rubbing with a lemon... they still smell! I am so grumpy! Now I'm going to have to sniff the cart handles before I use them.

Anyway, I bought F some shorts (we are going to CA for Spring Break and I realized her summer clothes don't fit!) $8, some foil and kleenex and wipes.

I also went to the grocery store this week and had a pretty good week. Total was about $75.

I am going to go wash my hands with baking soda; be right back.

I'm back; it didn't work.

Dinner tonight is Apricot Chicken with Basmati Rice and Broccoli. I'm going to go get started on the sauce to take my mind off my stinky hands.

We received our tax return money yesterday, so F and I went to the bank today (popcorn Friday!) to pay down principal.

This was a big pay-down! The return (federal) was $3104 and I put the entire thing toward principal. Our balance is now $57,917. If we don't put any more money toward principal, we own our house in February 2020.

I promised D that when we went below $50k we would have a nice meal out. According to my spreadsheet that happens in September.

Anyway, in the car on the way to F's tennis lesson, we had a big discussion about mortgages and interest and principal. She was pretty into it! I wish my parents discussed these sorts of things with me when I was a kid...

Our tax return money was deposited into our account and we got a notice about the portion that we decided to take as an Amazon credit. We opted for $200 to be Amazon and they added another $20 to it for taking that option (snowflake!). We'll use the Amazon credit for regular purchases, but the $220 (and the rest of the tax return money) will go to mortgage principal.

It makes the accounting a little weird, but whatever. We use Amazon for most of our purchases (bday gifts, birdseed, dog tooth treats, everything). So I just need to track those purchases as if they showed up on our visa.

Besides our tax return yesterday, we got our February electric bill. And it was ZERO dollars. Actually it was negative $1.32 but they won't cut checks for less than $20, so we need to wait for it to build up. You know what we'll do with the check when we finally get it of course. Mortgage!

It was the kickoff meeting for my new project today. You'd be proud of me: I stood my ground about our upcoming vacation (which I noted in my proposal to them). I said I wouldn't work on holiday, so that week did not count toward the schedule.

I ended up doing a midweek shop this week, which I never do. I really can't remember the last time. I bought some staples we ran out of (olive oil) and sour cream for tonight's dinner. I would have ended up buying these during the weekend shop anyway, so it is what it is.

While I was there, I picked up a prepared salad for lunch (which I also never do). I will get reimbursed from the office since the reason for the salad is that the kickoff meeting went so long I missed lunch.

Today F went to see the psychologist. She was great, and F came out of there seeming like a weight was off her shoulders. I think it was just the act of letting someone else in on her secret anxiety. So we have an appointment next week, and we've reserved the slot for the near future. The cost was $10 (insurance!!! yay!).

Tomorrow: parent-teacher conference at 8:45, and for the first time I'm dreading it (in the past it's just been "F is a joy to have in class and very bright"). I want to talk about F's schoolwork, but I know the teacher wants to talk about the anxiety (I'm not guessing - she emailed me). I'm just going to tell her that F has just seeing someone so maybe we can check back in a month after she's seen her 4 or 5 times. Her work notebook is sent home every other week and I look at everything and sign off and send it back, so I know the anxiety hasn't affected her work (she's getting all A's).

After the conference I need to go match a stucco color; F said that was fun and she'd help. Then I'm teaching spinning, which F definitely wants to go to. Then we'll have lunch together.

Friday is a no-school day, too, and F has a friend coming over. Maybe I'll get a little bit done while they play.

I popped into the bank today to deposit a check (side income) for D and the office rent check from my office-mate and also to pay down $174 on the mortgage.

On the way, I stopped at the post office to mail a bunch of old books to bookbyte. I should be getting about $50 for them, and of course that will go to the mortgage. Anyway, the books were HEAVY and the post office is up a series of steps. Ugh. But as I was piling my three boxes up in an orderly way on the hood of my car, I saw my friend R (he's the husband of my friend L). R is an archaeologist, and super nice! He carried my books up the steps and into the post office for me. On our way in, I saw another friend who is the mother of one of F's soccer friends. Soccer starts soon, so we'll get to hang out on the fields.

It was a reminder that I like living in a small city.

I ran today, too, and smiled at a lot of people, but didn't see anyone I know. I run from my office downtown, and it's mostly tourists after a certain time of morning.

Now I am busy making plans for F for the long weekend. She has Thursday and Friday off for parent-teacher conferences. Our conference is Thursday, but the rest of the day is free. And we're going running together with a friend of mine (that we met in the NICU when F and her son were both born preemie). That'll be early, too, while her son is in school, since she is very certain he wouldn't want to run with us. Friday afternoon is tennis.

Last weekend was pretty blah, so I'm trying to find fun activities and playdates.

Maybe x-c skiing, too.

F is super bored, but I sort of think it's ok to be bored sometimes so that you can learn how to entertain yourself... she's decided to do an art project. I know a lot of families that do something extraordinary and fun and fantastic every weekend. But we don't have the money or the energy for that!

D and I had to take some time to request another look at our tuition assistance situation. We had to analyze our Dublin house and send that info to the Financial guy at school.

I had to clean the house. Yesterday was a snow day, and I had to buy groceries for the coming week.

It was all very frugal and low key.

Our weekends are not keeping up with the Joneses!

Actually, next weekend we have plans to go x-c skiing. And the following weekend we are going to CA for Spring Break. So that all seems pretty exciting! Sometimes you just need a boring weekend and some down time.

I watched a show on Channel 4 called Junk Food Kids and it seriously freaked me out. We don't eat like that, but I do like sweets! I made pumpkin muffins this morning... yum! But those are home-made, so I control the sugar.

Anyway, I made our meal plan and then went out (a break in the snow! and the roads had been plowed!) to get this week's groceries.

This week's meal plan:
- sausage pasta with lemon and white wine
- chicken and rice soup with garlic bread
- white chicken chile (this will made enough for 3 more meals!)
- mexican eggs and salad
- tostadas (vegetarian)
- tuna melts with veg
- french dinner (a salad, some nice olives, cheese and crackers)
- quick chili

I realize that's eight meals instead of seven... I got over-excited about meal planning! This will take us through next Saturday night, and then I can shop on Sunday.

We're also trying a new recipe for chicken taquitos for lunch tomorrow.

Back to junk food kids... I put a cookie in F's lunch every day. I may try to do more baking instead of putting in a store-bought cookie. I love to bake and I think it's less expensive and healthier.

I spoke to the Director of Finance up at school about tuition assistance. He asked me to come in, which I guess is a good sign. It meant that event though we ended up getting no assistance, there was at least some hope.

What he told me was that we didn't get anything because of the large amount of equity of our houses. We have one house that we live in, but the other one (in Ireland) is our retirement savings. We have IRAs but no 401k's or pensions.

He said that if he were me, he'd write an appeal (he said it could be just an email; that it didn't have to be a formal letter). He said we needed to explain a few things:
- the Irish house is retirement savings (not a second home) and that it's rented year-round.
- the tax situation (Irish capital gains is 33% - so the value of the house is not what our equity actually is); plus the exchange rate is lower than when we did our tuition assistance paperwork
- Expenses mean we don't make anything on the rental of the home (we'd really like to sell, but the exchange rate is not great right now but we are hoping to sell the house and buy something somewhere else where we'll make money from the rent)

He said that we may get something if we do this, and we need to get the info back to him by Monday morning.

I already drafted the email!

Ugh ugh ugh. The financial guy up at school pulled me aside today to tell me that we received nothing, zero, zip, zilch in tuition assistance. He asked if I had a few minutes to talk, but I was picking up F and she's really nervous if I'm not waiting where I'm supposed to be.

We're going to talk tomorrow instead. He mentioned that we could appeal.

I want to talk to him about a few things:
- did my health insurance count as income? (it is included on my W2 because I'm self employed and that's the way the IRS has to have it)
- I had to enter my husband's side income twice in the online system; was it counted twice?
- the income we get from the Dublin house is completely wiped out by the mortgage on the house, but that doesn't show on our taxes; we pay tax on the entire amount
- if we don't get any tuition assistance can they at least waive the $250 convenience fee for paying monthly rather than pre-paying the entire amount

I took a look at our budget, and our school savings, and I think we can make this work if we scrimp even more. We have about $150 to make up.

I got paid by the gym today for January - $200! I was shocked! I did sub for someone, but I haven't been paid this much by the gym ever! I drove right over to the bank and paid down mortgage principal.

We now owe $62,100.

I am waiting for the $24 pinecone payment to show up in my bank account (it already showed up in paypal and I transferred it) and then I'll pay that toward the mortgage, too.

Our mortgage payment posts on the 6th of the month and we'll be in the $61k's!

I know most people would advise us not to pay down principal but rather to put this money into IRAs, but there are two big factors which make me want to finish the mortgage: piece of mind and getting the mortgage paid off before F starts jr. high school (when our school payment will be very large).

In the meantime, we are fully funding the IRAs, too.

I did my weekly shop today, and I did quite well. We are well-stocked with the storms coming.

The Menu is:
- risotto with peas, sundried tomatoes and goat cheese
- cod pieces (they sell small pieces for a lot less) with aioli and broccoli
- shrimp sushi (already have shrimp in the freezer) with cucumber and avocado
- pasta with homemade red sauce with basil
- roasted chicken with lemon and cauliflower (one casserole dish - easy!)
- soup with garlic bread

F is at her friend's house, so I got a lot of sewing done. I fixed three pajama bottoms (cannot believe I was wearing them like that - so embarrassing!). One had a giant hole in the back, and the other two were so long I kept tripping on them.

Now I am fixing a little hole in a shirt and darning some socks. This is all hand-sewing. Need to fix a little hole in a pair of F's leggings, too, but they are still wet from the laundry.

Every time I was clothes, my mother reminds me that when she was little they had a wringer-washer. I think that I'm so frugal, I might be ok with that. Then she says, "And we hung our clothes on the line outside! Oh... wait, you do that, don't you?" Yes, Mom, I use the patented Solar Dryer (clothesline).

Didn't do that today, though. Everything is drying on hangers in the laundry room (we have a rod under a shelf that's on the long wall of the room) because it's so windy and awful outside. It's supposed to snow starting around 7 pm, and then it's supposed to snow all day tomorrow.

I am thinking now that I mention my mom's wringer-washer, I never told you about my mom, who is really funny, still very young and quick and walks every day, but is NOT frugal. I'll save that for another post...

F and D are watching the football match, and I am taking a break from cleaning. I need to brush our dog before I finish vacuuming! I want to wash the towels today because they need to dry outside, and tomorrow is supposed to be snowy (which means even under the portal they wouldn't dry).

We were supposed to go out to dinner last night with our friends, but F had a bad stomachache, so we went home instead. We talked about seeing them for lunch today instead, but they have lunch plans. So I guess that's money saved.

Instead, F is having a friend over. Two very sweet girls, and the house will be clean by then (just need to finish vacuuming and get the towels in, but I can't vacuum until the football is over). So I'll take the afternoon to relax a little.

I guess it's a frugal day by default.

I just paid off another $20 toward mortgage principal. It's not a lot, but every little bit helps, right?

We have 3 years (best scenario) until this is paid off entirely. Worst scenario is 5 years. I should be feeling really positive, but I am just antsy!

Just to remind myself:
- We have put $300k into this house
- All but $62,310 is paid off
- That is our only debt
- We are living on last month's income
- Our house is worth about $500k
- Three years ago F was 6 and starting private school; it seems like yesterday! So three years will go by quickly (that actually is sort of sad!)

Because we live on last month's income and because I have several sinking funds and because we have an account specifically for car replacement (in 3 years or so), it looks like we have a lot in the bank. But that money is all spoken for. It is not for paying down our mortgage.

What if we took that car money and just wiped out like a third of it, though? Then it would take 8 months to pay it back in. I guess this is my plan for the end of the mortgage.

I just received a check at work (final payment for a project! Yay! It's always good to get the final payment because that basically means they're ok with the project). When I got the check I logged it in as usual, and checked to see if any of it was reimbursable so that I could put it properly in my check register. None of it is reimbursable, but I had a weird moment where I saw two checks from last month and realized those did have reimbursables (a lot) and I just knew I didn't log them correctly.

This would be ok in just about any other state, but in New Mexico (and about six other states) we have gross receipts tax. It's like sales tax, but on everything (not just goods, but also services). I don't charge my clients gross receipts tax on reimbursables, though (things like permits and printing) because I've already paid the tax and they'd be double taxed. So I don't pay the tax to the State either.

Except I logged it wrong and made it all look like it was taxable, and I already paid the state for last month. Ugh.

Panicked call to the Gross Receipts Division, and the woman helped me amend my gross receipts tax return. I just saved myself 177.88! Yay!!! The payment is still going through wrong, but she said call back tomorrow so they could fix that (the system needs 24 hours). And she gave me a direct telephone number to call.

You should be very thankful your state doesn't have gross receipts. It's a pain! Are any of you other states like mine and have experienced this, too?

We're putting together a recipe book for our school (something we've never done before which surprises me).

We've asked for healthy, easy recipes...

I looked through my recipes and these are some candidates:
pad thai
white chicken chili
chipotle chicken stew
lemon crumbed fish
chicken piccata
bad breath pasta
zucchini socca
tunis cake
pumpkin corn muffins
summer pasta with bacon (we use turkey bacon)

In the meantime, I am really wanting some new recipes, and I can't wait for the cookbook...

Here is what we'll be trying in the next few weeks:
Corn Bread with cheese and sundried tomatoes (having this tomorrow night with a salad)
http://www.thekitchn.com/recipe-double-corn-bread-with-52538

Chicken with cauliflower and olives (not that frugal, but a one-dish meal)
http://elanaspantry.com/chicken-with-cauliflower-and-olives/

Baked chicken taquitos (these look so good!)
http://www.fromvalerieskitchen.com/2013/01/baked-chicken-taquitos/

Potato farls with carrot/coconut soup (haven't had potato farls since I lived in Ireland!)
http://allrecipes.co.uk/recipe/6847/potato-farls.aspx

http://orangette.blogspot.com/2014/10/even-on-good-day.html

I had to have an endoscopy today, but the dr. said everything looks good! So that was great news! (And $442 but I have the money in a sinking fund called "Medical Unforeseen").

I'm having a little bit of discomfort though, so dinner isn't sounding that great tonight. It's baked potatoes and broccoli. Pretty mild.

And for dessert - pancakes (crepes here in the US) of course! It's Pancake Day! Shrove Tuesday!

I know there are some UK people on here, and people who have lived in the UK, that know this as Pancake Day. Are you having pancakes, too? Savory or sweet? (We do sugar and lemon).

Frugal Things from the Long Weekend:

1. We used a coupon at Baskin Robbins and got another to replace it.

2. I did 3 hours of continuing education online for free.

3. We all went out to eat on Friday, but D and F went to a local burger place (it's really awesome apparently, but I can't have the burger or the bun). I went with a friend (she took me out to lunch so it was free for me!

4. We spent nothing on entertainment. On Friday F and I hung out. On Saturday, we helped her with a school project (it's a video and was super fun to make except that I am the worst actress ever). On Saturday night F and I went down to Albuquerque with her friend (it was me, the mom and six girls) to see Cirque de Soleil. Completely mind-blowing! And the family covered all of the tickets. I drove three of the girls, and we had so much fun in the car (all six girls were amazing). Then the girls went out to dinner, and D and I went somewhere nearby (it was Valentine's Day after all - spent $40 on a very nice dinner) and then went back to the other restaurant and hung out with everyone. On Sunday we filmed the other half of the video for F's project (I still can't act; there's even a blooper roll at the end that is basically me losing it; F decided to include that). And today F went to the gym with me.

5. Had a very inexpensive grocery shopping week for us. Very happy because friends are coming into town on Friday, and either we'll eat out or host them.

Our menu plan this week:
- pasta with turkey balls
- baked potatoes with broccoli
- quesadillas with guacamole
- frittata with spinach and cheese
- chipotle chicken stew from the freezer with a salad
- sundried tomato and cheese cornbread with salad