Jen's Blog

I got a latte, a kid's cocoa for DD, two rice krispy treats and an iced latte for a friend today at Starbucks. $8.70 right there. I know their treats are waaaaayyyyyyyyyy overpriced and yet I still buy them sometimes. I do much better when I make treats at home - they don't look nearly as appealing when we're out if we've already had some at home, or if I know we have some waiting for us.

We had dinner with some friends this evening and contributed bread and a salad to the meal. It was a good evening, though both of our kids stayed up a little too late. They had a good time together, and we adults enjoyed the chance to talk and linger over dinner and dessert.

My parents will be here tomorrow and I have nothing planned as far as dinner goes. I'll be going to the store again - I was just there this evening, picking up salad fixings and bread for tonight's dinner. Actually, I need to plan something for them for Saturday night and something for DH and I to take to a potluck coed baby shower we're going to. I think I'll use time tomorrow morning while DD is in her drawing class to make a list and do some planning. Either that, or use the time to go walking and make the list in my head (and write it down afterwards). I haven't done any exercise other than yoga in way too long.

7/1 - 7/7:
Groceries: $44.18
Dining: $0
Starbucks: $8.70 (including treating a friend today)

Total: $52.88 (about $7.56/day)

I am so tired tonight. I've been staying up way too late for too many nights in a row. Despite being really tired and wanting to order a pizza, I made a pizza at home instead. So yea for me. It helped that I had pre-made dough and all the fixings on hand - it really is a pretty simple meal to prepare.

We have a big change in our budget, in that we signed on the dotted line and enrolled DD in the private school. We paid the year's tuition already to avoid finance charges, so now we need to work into our budget a way to refill those coffers. That is going to have to come from both increased frugality and increased income, as we don't have that kind of money to cut from our spending month in and month out. We'll figure it out. I have mixed feelings about the coming year but am hoping that whatever is meant to be will be.

Edited to add a couple of goals I wrote out in the beginning of the year, and commentary (inspired by kashi!)...

One of my goals for the new year is to limit my trips to starbucks to no more than twice a week.
This is going pretty well, although I haven't been tracking my visits. Still, I think on average I'd say I'm meeting the twice a week goal.

I've decided to give Quicken a try this year.
This is going fine - I have been keeping up with it and am learning more about the ins and outs of the program.


Food totals 7/1 - 7/6:
Groceries: $35.91
Dining: $0
Starbucks: $0

Total: $35.91 (about $5.99/day)

More sewing - I cut out a messenger bag to sew up for myself. I got the fabric on sale for $2 a yard, and it is gorgeous. Hopefully I'll find some time to work on that today. It's all cut out, and cutting pieces out is one of my least favorite parts of the sewing process.

I need to get to the grocery store, as we are running low on dinner choices. We have breakfast and lunch covered (with the exception of fresh fruit - could use more of that too).

I need to check and see if our library books are due today or next week. I am pretty sure they're due next week, but I'll double-check, just in case.

Watching the fireworks last night was fun. We met up with some friends and watched from a hilltop parking lot. The kids had a great time, though they all seemed pretty tired as we were getting into our cars to head home. DD went to bed a good hour later than usual.

--later--

After messing up the bag the first time through, I got it finished earlier this afternoon. Luckily I had enough extra fabric to cut out two new pieces and compensate for my error. It turned out OK. I'm not as thrilled with it as I'd hoped to be, but it will be a good bag for hauling more than a little purse can hold. I may use it the next time we go somewhere like Disneyland, or when I know I'll be away from the house all day and want to bring along some extra things like sunscreen, wipes, etc.

I like parts of the pattern and learned a couple of new sewing tricks, which is always nice.

I've been using up remnants of fabric sewing Barbie clothes for DD this weekend. I've made two dresses, two tops, a skirt and a pair of pants so far, with another pair pf pants, a jacket, a skirt and another top to go that are already cut out. Sewing those little arm and neck holes is a pain, and I'm sick of sewing on tiny snaps. But DD loves them, and it's a creative outlet for me. I find that I need that sort of outlet when I'm bothered about something. It gives my mind a chance to wander while the rest of me creates something tangible. I made DD a skirt earlier this weekend, too.

Dinner on Saturday night was excellent, and very reasonably priced. We went to a restaurant that serves South American food, and we were happy with the experience. DH had been there before, only in the old location. I've never been. We had a nice table right by the window, so we could people watch while we ate. I took a draw from DivaTribe and let the biz pay for dinner.

I think we'll be going out to watch fireworks tonight. DD really wants to. It's been so cloudy for a week now - I don't know what kind of visibility we'll have this evening.

DD got moved up to ballet lessons twice a week, and I've got her in swim lessons twice a week as well for the month of July.

Groceries: $369.35
Dining: $55.58
Starbucks: $35.55

Total: $460.48

That is pretty good, compared to other months (I think). I'll have to go back and take a look. The analytical side of me can't wait to create all sorts of custom reports and graphs in Quicken to compare spending throughout the year. But I only have 6 months worth of data right now, so I'm holding off on that little project.

Edited to add other totals:

Jan = $486.55 (326 + 131 + 29.55)
Feb = $495.51 (351.33 + 100.28 + 43.90)
Mar = $713.33 (415.81 + 292.02 + 5.50)
Apr = $516.21 (310.72 + 151.05 + 54.44)
May = $493.98 (277.11 + 182.32 + 34.55)

I did something different in June - I went to the grocery store more often, as opposed to less often, and I think it helped. Isn't that funny? I think the advice is to limit your trips, but for us, it meant choosing more fresh food that suited our mood that evening, thereby reducing our meals out. We also got taken out to dinner once by my parents, so we had a couple of nice meals out but only paid for one of them. Our anniversary celebration got postponed, so that will show up in July's totals.

The contract arrived for DD's new school, so I'll be writing a hefty check today. They have payment plans, but those have fees associated with them, so we're going to pay all at once and then work to rebuild that account. The interest we would have earned in now way would exceed the fees we'd have to pay. Even just breaking the payment up into two payments would cost an extra $100, IIRC.

I have a lunch meeting today, and happily people agreed to brown bag it. I really didn't want to go out if we could just bring our own lunches.

I also have a potential tutoring student. I'll be directing her studies in Algebra II over the summer, and it looks like we'll meet once or twice a week. From her mother's description of her work habits and level of self-startingness, I'm going to suggest we start out at twice a week and go from there. I'm trying to figure out how to deal with prep time. I will be putting in some time behind the scenes with planning (and possibly correcting work), but I don't know how much yet.

I was just thinking about appointments that need to be made - dog and one of the cats to the vet, plus DD to the doctor for a well child check-up. I have my annual exam in a couple of weeks. I need to make some phone calls today and get those scheduled.

I need to stop by the post office today and mail another book. Things have been going pretty well at half.com the past month or so. I've made about $50, give or take, and my bag of books is about half full now. I hope the rest of them sell sooner than later.

I think DH and I are going to start tackling the kitchen floor this weekend. Hopefully the original subfloor is in good shape so that we can plan on refinishing it instead of having to put down some sort of brand new flooring.

We've been doing well at eating dinner at home this week. It truly does help to buy a nice variety of food and make a quick list of possible meals so that I don't have to think about it all so much on any given night.

Things have been rather status quo around here. DH and I were supposed to go out for dinner and to see ap lay on Saturday, but I had a bad migraine, so we had to postpone those plans. we're going to try again this weekend. I was looking forward to it.

Food spending has been pretty good this month. I'll look at totals once July gets here, but so far I think we've been doing a good job of keeping the dining total low and the grocery total at an acceptable level.

Dh got paid somewhat unexpextedly for some work he did for a friend a while ago, and a sizeable amount of money at that (though it still doesn't cover his hourly rate for all of the hours he put into the project). It was a nice check to get in the mail, and it is on its way to our savings account. His regular tutoring clients are back in town now, and tutoring will start up again with them next month. It's a bummer to have him gone an evening a week after a rushed dinner, but it's not forever, and it is easy money that helps keep our reserves up.

I have no tutoring right now. I think it may be the first summer that goes by in a while that I haven't taken on a student. A friend of mine in an affluent area is making $60/hour for her writing workshop/tutoring. That is apparently the going rate there. Pretty incredible. I will probably raise my rates this fall, particularly if I start tutoring more of the college students.

A spendy day...not too bad, but it felt like we were buying things right and left today.

It started out on a good note - exchanged a book (gift for DD) for four Magic Treehouse books, and it only cost one cent. Very cool Next we went across the street to the bank and deposited change into DD's savings account - put $23.50 in and brought her total up over $300. This account is the account we set up for her that is at a local bank, so that she can physically deposit money into her acount and get the thrill of seeing her account grow. That's the idea, anyway. (Worked for me.)

Next was lunch with DH - $15. After that was a gift for DH for our anniversary ($80+), and a birthday gift for one of DD's friends ($30+). Then it was a stop at the fabric store for a skirt pattern, $2 for two ice cream cones, $16 at the grocery store, $4 at the 99 cent store, and finally home. The finale - $50+ on printer ink online this evening.

Phew.

I've had some sort of sinus cold for days now. It isn't getting worse, but it isn't getting better either. Very annoying. I've blown my nose so often that it's really starting to hurt now. I hate that.

I started knitting a sweater back in February/March, but I haven't worked on it lately due to being intimidated by it. I'm not working from a pattern but trying to replicate (somewhat) a sweater I already own. I got it out again this evening and have started working on it again. I'm not trying to make an exact duplicate of the sweater, but it's helping me with measurements and whatnot.

Food/restaurant/starbucks total hasn't changed since my last entry. However, DH and I celebrate our anniversary this month, and we usually go out for a nice dinner to celebrate, so in addition to some grocery shopping that needs to be done, there will be that expense. Since it's for our anniversary, though, I don't feel bad about it at all.

The one gallon of paint may be enough for our cabinets, but I'll need to go more so that we can paint the walls. Not sure if we'll do the same color or something that's different but coordinates. We need to look into concrete counters and price those options.

My yoga class starts up again this evening, and I'm looking forward to going. I feel like my body's been run down for several weeks, and I can't help but wonder if there's any connection between that and not having gone to yoga in about the same amount of time.

DD starts swimming lessons again tomorrow. We have a $25 credit there right now, due to a scheduling foul up. I'm going to see how she does the next couple of weeks before deciding what to do next there.

Today was a good day - play date at the beach, bath for DD once we got home, and now she's playing in her little tent while I update Quicken and get my financial house in order.

As much as I didn't want to, I reheated leftovers last night for dinner. So while dinner wasn't exactly amazing, it was easy and cheap.

I was able to take a couple of things back to Lowe's today and get store credit (didn't have a receipt). With the store credit, I bought a gallon of paint for the kitchen cabinets. We may need another gallon, but we also have enough store credit to pay for it.

I'm not sure what dinner tonight will be. We're going to see one of DD's friend's dance recitals this evening, so dinner needs to be earlier than usual.

DD got bumped up to the next level at ballet, with the option of going to lessons either once or twice a week. We'll do once a week for the remainder of this session (two more classes) and then figure out what to do next. Twice a week comes out to an extra $32 every four weeks.

Today's playdate for DD was a no-go due to illness on her friend's part, so we hung out at home. I worked in the garden out front while DD played with sidewalk chalk, swept and pushed a stuffed animal around in her doll stroller. She had fun, I got some work done that was sorely overdue.

Tomorrow we're meeting some friends at the beach, and then Monday we're supposed to see the friends we were supposed to see today. All of this is free and fun, so long as we remember to pack snacks and drinks.

Stopped at the grocery store on the way home from ballet for milk. Picked up some butter too (we're out) and a couple of California Pizza Kitchen pizzas that were on sale. Easy dinner there!

$261.78 spent thus far this month on groceries, restaurants and Starbucks.

DD and I went to the zoo today (no spending there, thanks to season passes and bringing water and snacks). On the way home I was thinking about where to stop for lunch, but we ended up eating a late lunch at home and it was just as well. DH and a friend from work had lunch here today (while we were gone) and finished the leftover lasagna. I was glad to see that. Dinner will be at home, which makes today a no spend day.

DH turned in our medical receipts, to the tune of $600+. That will be a nice check to get back.

Tomorrow I have a playdate set up for DD with a friend whom we have not seen in months. I think we're going to go the beach. We have one beach with a playground, and there's a jetty we can go for a walk along as well. It's cloudy and dreary here these days, but warm enough to still make being outside fun. If we bring snacks/lunch and water, it will be a fun and free activity.

I've sold another 2-3 books in the past week, two of which went for $10 each. It's nice to clear out my shelves and get a little bit of money for it at the same time. I've got two or three bags of clothes that need to go to a thrift store. Maybe I'll do that tomorrow, while I'm out to mail the book. I think I might take DD to the zoo tomorrow. We have season passes, but it's been a few months since we've been.

Dinner tonight is premade green chile and cheese tamales, with some rice and beans. I found the tamales in the freezer - forgot I'd bought them and was pleasantly surprised to see them in there.

I splurged at Barnes and Noble yesterday - three books to read aloud with DD, plus a Usborne book comparing world religions, and a gift card for DD's ballet teacher. I think I spent about $70.

Did I mention that DD has been accepted at the private school? The contract is being sent to us this week. What a mental shift this will be for me, going from years of thinking about and planning for homeschooling, to gearing up for a school, and a private school at that. I hope it's a good thing for DD. I think that it will be (obviously, or else we wouldn't do it).

DD and I are going to a family reunion with my mom later this summer. I bought our plane tickets this weekend, to the tune of about $560 for the two of us. Not an expense I was planning on, but it's good that we're going.

We still have a lot left in the way of food from my shopping last week, so that money that I spent will go farther than I thought it might. We had lasagna two nights and still have leftovers!

I need to go through recent medical receipts and put some together for DH to take to work for reimbursement. (done) I also need to submit 1-2 months worth of PT receipts to our insurance company. Come to think of it, I have a check to deposit as well from the hospital. (done)

We could have gotten ten dollars back in the form of rebates for paint, but the receipts are nowhere to be found. Lesson learned - put them in my planner right away, instead of leaving them in the bags. We also have two products to return, but without receipts I think the best we can hope for is a store credit. (Update -- I found the rebate receipt - yea!)

DH and I spent all day stripping paint in the kitchen. We have at least another day ahead of us. My hands hurt, my arms hurt - I'm tired all over. The new cabinet doors look terrific - my dad really did a super job, and it is going to look so nice when it's all done. The aches and pains will be worth it, and the overall price for new looking cabinets will be very low, especially compared to the quotes we were getting for refacing nearly two years ago. My dad even took us all out for pizza tonight, and my mom entertained DD all day while the three of us worked. A good day all around.

Tomorrow is DD's dance recital - can't wait!!

Groceries: $200.34
Restaurants: $12.55
Sbux: $14.85

I did some shopping at Smart and Final today, and Vons, so that combined $110 ought to last at least a little while. Otherwise, at this rate, we're looking at $600 this month just in groceries! I don't think so! I also bought my dad a box of Smartees, which he loves, so some of that money can be considered gifts given rather than groceries.

We're going to take the spot at the private school for DD. I called and left word with the admissions director today, so this coming year will mean taking care to rebuild the savings account.

I managed to get DD's hair into a pretty nice bun, after two attempts. The rehearsal was long, but most of it was standing around waiting. I think her grop was only on stage for 5-10 minutes tops. The girls were so excited - I can only imagine what the energy level is going to be like backstage this weekend. :O One of the mothers took charge this year and got things extremely well organized behind the scenes. I'm thinking of writing her a thank-you note at the very least. From what I've heard, it was a chaotic mess last year.

I've got sheets in the wash right now, and once they're done I'll make up the guest bed and that room will be ready for my parents. Still need to go get food and drinks. Three dinners, two lunches, two breakfasts, and snacks.

Things are going well at DivaTribe these days. Busy, but fun. There's going to be a 15% off sale starting this Monday, to celebrate the store's one-year anniversary. The code for that is ONEYEAR15. Feel free to stop by and take a look - great opportunity to do some birthday shopping or early holiday shopping and support some talented women at the same time!

DD and I went to the 99 cent store today to see if they had bobby pins. They did, so we got those, along with hair gel and hair spray. If I can't get her hair into a nice, neat bun with all of that, then I'm hopeless, lol! I can do a decent bun if I braid her ponytail first and then pin it, but there are still wispy pieces of hair to contend with - she still has some fine little girl hair. We got a three-pack of Jergens soap for the extra bath, and a 33 cent triple chocolate Kit Kat, too. Yum.

I need to go grocery shopping tomorrow, before my parents get here. My mom's bringing produce from her garden, and some homemade granola. Both will be tasty, and appreciated. I also need to get another paint stripping product - the 'after' product for this line of stuff, I guess. It's supposed to take off the residue. Years ago it appears my kitchen was lime green. Yowsa. What a sight that must have been.

DH and I have an annivesary coming up. We have talked about going out of town for an evening, but so far we haven't made any plans. I think we need to get going on that. We've never left DD with anyone overnight before, so this will be a first for all of us. I think she'll have fun with her grandparents, and they completely dote on her and would enjoy having her stay the night with them.

Spent about $12 today on lunch for DD and I. We have half of it leftover, so it ends up being about $6/meal for the two of us. Fair enough - it was nice to go have lunch with my daughter after visiting the private school today. We are seriously considering enrolling her there for the coming year. It will mean dipping into savings and then working to rebuild those savings. We've done it before; we can do it again. I think if I commit to working in the classroom once a week we may get a tuition reduction. I need to follow up on that if/when we agree to enroll her.

Listed one more book today at half.com. Looking at what I have, I think there are still more that I can part with.

I've been stripping paint off the cupboards in the kitchen last night and this afternoon. What a lot of fun, ha ha. I found a product that doesn't have bad fumes - it smells like oranges and cleans up with soap and water (the brush, that is). It's taking longer than I thought it would, but it will get done. I think I need to buy their other product that removes the residue.

I ordered a book from an Amazon seller today - a math book that sounded interesting. With shipping it came in at about $4 under the list price, and it's supposed to be brand new.

I don't know why, but today feels like Friday. I have to keep reminding myself that it's actually Wednesday. Weird.

I sold another book today for $10, which made me happy. I love those "You've made a sale!" emails from half.com.

We've spent about $84 this month so far on food - groceries, dining, everything. I'm still not 100% over whatever was troubling my stomach/GI tract last week, which is a bummer but does lend itself well to frugality where food is concerned.

DD goes out tomorrow to spend half a day with one of the classes at the school we're looking at. We'll see how it goes. We'll make it work if that's the route we go, but it sure is a big chunk of change.

Returned a huge pile of library books today, save for 5 that DD wanted to renew. They were due today, and I'm glad we didn't forget and wind up paying fines on 13 or so books.

The guest bathroom is essentially done - we want to replace the toilet, but that's about the last thing to do in there. I bought a few extra things at Target when I went there for a new curtain rod and shower curtain - little things like a new soap dispenser, soap dish for the shower, a white toilet bowl brush/holder. It looks really nice in there, and I am looking forward to the time when we redo our own bathroom. That was sort of our practice area, figuring if we made mistakes here and there at least we wouldn't be looking at them several times a day, every day.

Next to do is start stripping paint from the cabinets in the kitchen. My dad gets here this Friday with our new doors!! We still need to figure out new fronts for the drawers, but I know my dad will make it work. He's pretty crafty.

DD's dance recital is this weekend. I'm really looking forward to it.

I'm feeling better, although last night DH and I had beef ribs at a party. Now, we strive to be vegetarian and never have meat for dinner. I never buy it for us. But, if we're at a dinner party and that is what is served, we're not going to leave it untouched. It's a waste of food and seems disrespectful to the hosts. So, we had these ribs, and today we both feel kind of lousy. Seems our bodies just don't want to handle beef anymore. I'm not unhappy about that. It's not like we were going to start buying meat again anyway, but it's nice in an odd way to see how our bodies have moved away from being meat-eating entities.

Dh and I were talking about when to next reevaluate our budget. We wrote the current one last December, so I think we'll plan on looking at again this winter. Make it a yearly sort of thing. Things are going to change if we do indeed send DD to the private schol we looked at. There is a spot for her. We'll make it work.

It's easy to be frugal when you're sick. I haven't eaten anything all day, and we haven't gone anywhere either. The bad news is that I can't bear to even look at the leftovers from last night's dinner, let alone eat them, given I *ahem* vomited last night. Hopefully DD and DH can eat some of them so that it doesn't all go to waste.

I need to go out with DD and help her pick out a birthday gift for a friend. The party is tomorrow, so either she goes out tonight with DH or we all go tomorrow on the way to the party. I hate doing things at the last minute like this.

We've had a couple of no-spend days during the last week or so, which is nice to see. Dh and I were talking last night about maybe setting a goal for ourselves of going out to eat once every two weeks. If we're feeling tired and uninspired some evening, we can give ourselves permission to go to the store and buy something easy that appeals to us. It will be cheaper than $25-$30 at a sit-down place.

A new month, a new opportunity to keep building new habits to replace the ones we want to replace.

DH got the bathroom tiles and it looks great. I'm so happy that he took on that task. We painted but there's more to do still. It's going to be so nice when it's all finished. I commented to him that it made me feel good to know that we were making these improvements for ourselves, to make our home feel more like we want it to feel, rather than doing it because of some event or some people coming to stay. It's just for ourselves.

We need to get the paint stripped off the kitchen cabinets before the tenth, when my dad gets here with the new cabinet doors.

I stoppd by the grocery store today and picked up some fresh fruit and sandwich fixings for DD and I. Picked up some more milk too, so that I can make some more yogurt. Fruit, cheese, bread, rosemary tortillas (sounded good!), milk, plain yogurt (1 cup) - about $25. Seems too high, but part of that is buying organic when possible. It adds up, but it's worth it to us, for our own health and for the wider reaching effects.

Thought about going to Starbucks today before picking up DD from her grandparents' house, but elected not to. Thought about it again while at Vons and again, chose not to. I'm glad I passed it up both time.

May spending totals:

Groceries: $277.11
Restaurants: $182.32
Starbucks: $34.55

Goals were $296 for groceries and $153 for dining/sbux combined. So we came in under on the groceries by about $19 but were over in the other category by about $64, putting us over our goals overall by about $45. The goals were 10% under the average of our past four months' spending totals. Based on our averages over the past four months our totals were under in groceries by about $50 and over in the other category by about $46, which means we were just under our averages. Not bad - we'll try again next month and see how we do.

Dh has finished tiling and is now taking down the wallpaper border in that bathroom. He has been working so hard! I wish I'd felt better yesterday and today. I'm going to do the painting in the bathroom and the room/hall/passageway that connects to it. I think I'll get two colors - paint the walls one color and then rag with a second color.

I have a promotion going in my store - enter code MEMORIAL10 at checkout for 10% off your purchase. Ends 5/31/05 - www.divatribe.com/catalog/index.php

DD is organizing her change right now. She has her pennies in stacks of 5 and has about 24 stacks, she says. She is saving her money for a house for her Polly Pockets. I don't know if they make a "Polly house" but she sure wants one.

Sold another book for another $4 today via half.com. Of course, I got the notification after I'd been to the post office already today. Oh well. I'll go on Tuesday - maybe I'll make another sale or two over the long weekend.

The visit to the school went very well, and DH and I have some talking to do this weekend.

We're hoping to finish the tiling and painting in the guest bathroom this weekend. I wanted to go look at paint this week but never got it done. I'd go this afternoon but am dealing with a migraine and feel pretty wiped out. All I want to do is relax here at home. DD and I are watch The Aristocrats.

I sold a book tonight at half.com. It was only four dollars, but four dollars and one less book that I don't need anymore is better than a book sitting on a shelf, collecting dust. I will mail it out tomorrow.

I found out today that posed pictures of DD in her costume for the ballet performance will be $20. That will include 2 5x7s and 4 4x6s, and two poses. They will make nice gifts for the grandparents.

Tomorrow we go check out a private school. I am curious to see it, and find out more about how it is run and what a typical day might entail. The possible scenarios that might ensue?

1. We all love it, and they offer us a spot for her.
2. We all love it, and we are offered a spot on the wait list.
3. We don't love it, and they offer a spot.
4. We don't love it, and they offer a spot on the wait list.

Until very recently I have been 99% sure about hs'ing. I still love the promise of hs'ing and all that DD can get from it. The one thing that is lacking is any real sense of community. But maybe I am making more of that than I need to. In any event, I am looking forward to tomorrow's visit if for nothing else more food for thought. If we did go the school route, I think I could do some tutoring during the day for students at the junior college and make enough to pay for the first few years' tuition. I would have to adjust my rate slightly and work a few more hours each week, but it seems very doable. If I could do all of my tutoring during the day, I would be available to DD every afternoon. And by tutoring, I'd have breaks when she did. I do not want to even consider daycare of any sort for her. It works for others, but it isn't what I want for DD.

I think DD and I will go look at paint chips today. I need to track down a piece of our floor tile, so that I can try to pick something neutral to coordinate with the floor. Some sort of sandy color, or a taupe - something like that. The shower, toilet and sink are all bright white, and the floor tiles are mottled sand/white/brown colors. Hard to describe, but nice looking.

We went out to dinner last night. DH and I were both tired, and I've been holding a migraine at bay every eveing since last Friday. I suspect that I might have some success in sticking to the food budget if I used the crock pot a little more. Right now I barely use it at all. But if I set it up in the morning, we'd have a home-cooked meal even if we were both tired or not feeling up to cooking. I'll do some looking for vegetarian crock pot recipes.

I won an eBay auction for a leotard for DD - $0.99, and $1.25 for shipping. It's a shame the seller didn't make more for her trouble, but it's a great deal for me! I haven't sold any of the books yet that I listed last week at half.com. But that's why I like half.com - it doesn't cost anything to just leave your inventory up there.

DH did a lot of work on the extra bathroom this weekend. He's got it almost all tiled, and it is going to look great. He's doing a good job. We've spent about $400 on this job so far. I'm going to go look at paint this week. Other than that, we want to hang a new mirror and get rid of the medicine cabinet, and replace the toilet so that it is bright white to match the sink. We have a contractor's store that is open to the public, and the prices on tile were much better than the prices at Lowe's. That was good to see.

We're over on our food budget. The grocery budget we're still OK with, but we went over on our dining out budget this weekend. However, just because we already went over doesn't mean we won't still try to stick as close to it as we can for the remainder of the month.

So far it's been another frugal day. DD and I went to the park as planned, and then we came home and had lunch. I helped her make some play doh this afternoon, and I think we'll head outside in a bit to enjoy the sunny afternoon we're having.

I transplanted some basil and catnip seedlings yesterday, and so far they seem to be doing OK. DD and I had been growing them on a windowsill in our kitchen. She likes pesto, so I told her that once the basil grows big enough, I will show her how to make her own pesto. She thought that sounded like a good idea.

DH wants to do something fun this evening. We're not going out to dinner, so we'll see what he comes up with. He worked a lot last night, and despite staying up later than usual, DD was already in bed when he got home. I suspect he wants to make up for that.

Will probably work some more around the house this week, both inside and out. The laundry needs to be done, but hopefully this warm weather will continue through the weekend so that we can hang everything to dry.