I'm making DD a dress for Thanksgiving. The fabric was 50% off - woo hoo! I cut it out today and will get working on it during the next week and a half. My sewing machine needs to go to the shop, however. I opened it up to see if it's something that I can fix, but I do't think it is. I'll take it back to the place that sold it to me, which is in town. I've had it less than two years but haven't checked to see if it is still under warranty or not.

DH is helping his parents upgrade their computer and in return they treated us to dinner last night at a Greek place we all ike. Yummy!

Trying to keep the credit card bill low as possible this month, after last month's total. So far so good. This cycle closes in 9 days.

Went to Lakeshore Learning today with DD, to choose a birthday present for one of her friends. Boy oh boy is that another store that tests my ability to resist impulse buys. We managed to find a good gift, plus some art tissue and 6 small wooden gingerbread boy figures. There is a lot of neat art stuff there, but there are also aisles upon aisles of things we just don't need or could easily recreate at home with things we already have, or with the help of the Internet.

Back from grocery shopping. I spent less than $60, and that ought to get us through the week. I'm happy about that. I didn't have to buy any pantry items - spices, oil, flour, etc - nor did I need any cleaning products. We still eat out fairly often, but it's nice to see the grocery bills starting to creep down.

I finished a skirt this morning, but it's too big for Barbie. (Does fit the muslin doll I made for DD though, so it's a keeper.) I need to use smaller knitting needles next time around and/or a finer yarn. I used size 4 needles - smallest I have - but I think size three would have been just right.

Am off to Trader Joe's this morning, with meals for the week planned. Still subscribing to SavingDinner's menu mailer, and it has been very helpful for me.

I am going to try my hand at knitting for Barbie. If it works out, I can make up a little something or two for DD's friends here and out of state that like Barbie. I found some free patterns online via about.com, so I'm going to practice with yarn I already have. I finished an afghan this afternoon that I had started way back around Easter. It only took me this long to finish it because it got a bit monotonous - the pattern repeated every row, so there wasn't much thinking involved after a while. Still I'm glad it's done and it's nice to have a new afghan in the living room in time for chilly evenings.

Dh is making pancakes for us this morning, so while we all enjoy going out to breakfast on the weekends, this is nice too, and much cheaper.

I need to do some menu/grocery plannign this weekend if we're going to be back on track this week.

What a week. Between the elections, migraines and DH being sick, our routines have flown right out the window. But we'll get back on track.

Paying some bills today, oh joy. Took the dog in for a check up yesterday, two weeks post surgery, and that didn't cost anything. That's good.

We have the bulk of our gift giving taken care of thus far, except for DD. We're not done with everyone, but we have quite a lot already bought, and it's a relief knowing that so much has already been purchased. Frees me up for details, handmade gifts, etc.

One year, DH and I did all of our holiday shopping during Labor Day weekend. It was an awesome feeling, being done in September.

I have yoga tonight, while DH and DD are going to DH's parents' house for dinner, so no cooking for me tonight.

I get another tutoring check Wednesday from one of my students, and another one is due next week. All of my clients pay me for anywhere from 2-10 sessions at a time. Every little bit helps. Two years ago I was tutoring anywhere from 10-12 students a week for a while, but that was way too much, with DD here as well. This year I have just four students.

I've been doing a pretty good job about cooking at home, and even planned ahead to use my crockpot on Wednesday, which is a day when I can't be in the kiitchen from 2:15 until about 5:45 or so. It was nice knowing that dinner was done when we were all hungry and ready to eat. I've been trying to keep track of which entrees DD likes, so that in the future I can plan better to take her tastes into account, or plan for leftovers for her when I want to fix something for myself and DH that she doesn't care for.

I won't even tell you how much our credit card bill is this month. We will pay it off, like we always do, but ouch. Between car maintenance, the dog, and doctor/dentist visits, it's been a big month for necessary expenses. And it gets worse - 6 months of car premiums are due, as are property taxes. DH has the money for property taxes set aside already, so that's taken care of, at least. I should also have about $175 in Rx reimbursements coming my way, and my in-laws covered the cost of my visit to the headache clinic, so that helps.

Our Halloween party is this Sunday and it is coming together nicely. DH thought of a cheap costume - he bought a green apron and is going to dress up as a Starbucks barrista. With some planning I could have made the apron, but we did luck out and get it on sale. I made my costume, and my mom made DD's. I spent almost as much on my wig as I did on the materials for my dress, lol.

Did I mention we're having some trees cut down? And that our furnace is broken and while we're hoping it can be fixed, we *might* have to replace it? Ugh. And that our dog went under the knife for what is hopefully the very last time last week? Ugh again. Somehow, some way, we keep in the black despite it all. Thank goodness we save when we have it instead of spending it all when it's there. With al themoney we've had to spend and are planning on spending, we could have taken some mighty nice trips or done some terrific remodeling in the house. Oh well. The dog - wouldn't have it any other way, truth be told. And the other stuff - you have to do what you ahve to do, right?

Insurance/doctor's office update: I talked with a woman from the office this morning. They had DD's certificate number wrong in the computer. Now, why they told ME the claim had been REJECTED is beyond me. Actually, no it's not. The claim didn't get rejected, it just didn't get processed, and rather than figure out WHY, it was easier to just pass the bill along to ME. Now that I've done their job for them, they are going to resubmit the claim.

I've cooked every night this week except Monday (DH fixed dinenr that night, while I was at yoga), including two recipes that DD really liked. It was a good week, dinner-wise. I've started keeping a list on the freezer door of what I have in there, so that the next time I need a half a can of this or that, I'll know at a glance if it's in there or not.

I swear, there is a problem with every bill we receive from our family doctor! Today I got a bill in the mail with a sticker that said our claim was denied and we were responsible for the remaining balance (I ahad already paid the copay). This made no sense, though the bill seemed to indicate they had contacted our ins company twice. So, I called the ins co, and lo and behold, they have no record of any claim being filed! Grrr.... So I call the dr's office and conveniently, after being on hold for a while, I am told the billing person is gone for the afternoon (this was around 4 p.m.) and they would leave her a message. You bet your sweet a$$ they could leave her a message! We have had non-stop problems with this office staff billing the wrong insurance, getting accounts mixed up, etc.

So tomorrow I will speak to this woman and try to figure out what the hell is so hard about properly billing. Every time this staff claims that nothing is their fault, yet they're the only office that ever has any problems when it comes to out bills. So we get to take our time to do their job yet again, but I refuse to pay out of pocket for something that is covered by insurance.

We found out that something that should have been caught and fixed a year ago after our car was in an accident went unnoticed (or undone). Dh took the steps necessary to get our insurance company involved, and long story short, the car has been fixed and our insurance is covering it. So yea for DH and his persistence.

I bought three skeins of yarn a week or two ago, and after working with the first one, I decided I didn't like how it was working up. Rather than keeping the other two skeins, I dug up my receipt and returned them today. Actually, I exchanged them for two skeins of yarn that I've worked with before and like.

I sold one of my scarves in my store, as part of our fundraiser. I think I mentioned that before. Anyway, the scarf sold within 24 hours of my listing it! All of that money is going to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. I've got two more listed, with plans to make two more still.

I was just looking at how much money I had in savings, checking etc at the end of August last year versus how much I have today. It's down, but it's not down in an amount equal to the amount we've spent on our dog's surgeries, so in some weird way I feel like we're on the right track towards rebuilding our savings. I need DH to do the same thing to get a more well-rounded view of our finances.

I didn't get the crockpot out yesterday. We had leftover chili to finish, so we warmed that up and watched the debate.

I've been thinking that I need to get going on my handmade gifts if I don't want to be rushing around at the last minute this year. I have one more scarf finished, two more in progress and yarn for a fourth, but I'm not sure if they'll be gifts or not yet.

Seems like any time I have cash in my wallet it's gone in a flash. It's so easy to spend a few dollars here, a few dollars there. Much harder to make little purchases when I have no cash. I feel ridicuous using my credit card for anything under $10, so I don't.

I donated a scarf to my site's

A friend of mine owns a used bookstore and said I could try selling some of my beaded bookmarks there. I took her 11 today - we'll see if any sell or not. I've had them listed in my own online shop but haven't sold any, so I thought I'd try this route for a little while.

We went out ot breakfast yesterday morning. We used to do that fairly regularly, like once every weekend, but we don't go out as much these days. Still, we chose a restaurant where we know the owner and one of the waiters, and we are always treated so well when we go there. We ran into some friends while we were there, so we all ended up sitting together. It was a fun morning.

Had leftovers for dinner. ;-)

DH, DD and I went for a bike ride yesterday. I needed some more yarn to finish up some scarves I've been working on, so I got DD into the bike trailer and off we went. It was fun. We rode around the nearby neighborhood afterwards and let DD play at a playground for a while. Stopped for $0.99 ice cream cones, too.

I'm currently more in the swing of cooking at home. Kind of fell off the wagon for a while but feel back in control of that this week.

My mom gave me an idea for our hanuted house: instead of using black fabric, get heavier-weight black trash bags and use those. Might work! Would definitely be cheaper, and if we folded things up carefully, reuseable.

We're looking into having some of our trees thinned/pruned/taken out. Not going to be cheap. Not at all. Sigh.

I started picking up some things for the party at the 99 cent store today. I've got just about everything except plates and napkins, and the food - can't exactly do the food yet anyway. ;-) I spent about $20, plus about $5 at target for tumblers and invitations. Oh - I still want to get some Halloween stickers for the goodie bags.

We're going to construct a haunted house using PVC pipe and black fabric. It will be in the garage. I think we already have all the pvc stuff, so I just need to get fabric and we'll be set.

Last year I found a punch bowl with ladle and cups at Big Lots for $10, so I can use that again this year, along with some serving pieces and decorations that are still in good shape. We'll make a trip out to the pumpkin patch and carve up some pumpkins.

Spent some time working out back this weekend. Spent abut $50 on plants for our tiered hillside. Can't say how many times I've tried to make it look nice there, but hopefully this is the time that will work. We have to have an arborist come out to look at the GIANT eucalyptus trees we've got growing and get some options and quotes for dealing wtih them. If any of them were to fall in the direction of our house we would be in BAD shape.

October 1st...I love the first day of a new month.

On the Halloween front, it is time to start giving some thought to the party we're going to have. DD spoke with my mom yesterday, who is going to make DD's costume. She has done this every year - nice to not have to think about it. We'll keep the party fairly simple, but I do want to decorate, get favors, etc. without spending too much money.

Friday morning...my morning to stop at Starbucks before dance. I'm getting a NY Times as well, so I can read about last night's debate.

Add on another $107 for my migraine meds yesterday. Luckily, some of that will be reimbursed by my insurance company. (Must remember to photocopy claim form and get claim in the mail!) DH and DD had leftovers for dinner, so yea for us (OK, for them) for consuming leftovers again and not letting them go to waste.

Made two sales in the last day in the store - that is good news. :-)

Not much else to say this morning. We'll be able to get osme of our medical expenses reimbursed through DH's work. They have a plan such that employees can have pre-tax dollars set aside for reimbursement purposes. It will be nice to get some of that money back. I'm not sure what the tax ramifications are, but supposedly this is a good thing. I'll look into it more so I better understand the whole thing.

Spent about $31 on a prescription for DD today. She has something akin to bronchitis, but sort of like walking pneumonia in that she feels pretty good all day and then starts coughing like crazy at night. It's been going on for nearly two weeks, so I got her into the doctor's office today to have her looked at. It wasn't getting worse, but it wasn't getting better either. Also bought her some vanilla milk at Starbucks, and we shared a pastry. Checked out 12 books and one book (Peter Pan) on CD from the library - I love the library.

I've committed to spending about $200 for a print ad and banner ad in Venus for the next issue, trying to promote DivaTribe's store. Here's hoping it brings in some traffic, and sales of course!

We ended up eating in for all meals while our guests were here and it was fine. They even liked the vegetarian casserole I made on Saturday night.

A friend of mine owns a used bookstore now (I may have written about the store before) and said to let her know if there are any books she can watch out for for me. It's nice to have that connection when it comes to books.

Speaking of books, I think DD and I will go to the library today. Books are due back tomorrow, but today is wide open for us in our schedule.

Money going out today in bills was almost exactly equal to money I was depositing from tutoring. Nice when that happens.

I decided to forego my usual Friday morning trip to Starbucks this morning, before DD's dance class. Just didn't want it that badly.

We've eaten at home every night so far this week, including Sunday. We have leftovers to eat this evening, though going out sounds oh-so-nice. We have guests coming into town for the weekend, so we may go out to brunch on Sunday. Haven't decided yet, actually. I still need to get the guest room cleaned up and get to the grocery store for a few things, but they won't be here until lunchtime ofr a little later tomorrow, so there's time. DH will help, too.

I got some soy 'ice cream' today (am trying to cut out dairy for two weeks) and it was $2.99 a pint. not super cheap, but worth it. I miss ice cream, and this is actually quite tasty, to my surprise.

We have a good deal of our Christmas shopping taken care of, thanks to the great deals DH gets through work. It's a nice load of my mind, knowing that we are more than halfway done with the gift shopping AND that it's also already paid for. I'll likely make some gifts along the way as well.

So what will I be making? I'm not sure. I bought an embroidery pattern from Sublime Stitching that I may use for some bags or tops for DD and the younger set. In the past I've knitted, crocheted and sewed things, and tried my hand at lip balms and bath salts. We'll see what i come up with this year.

I spent about $63 at the grocery store today. I think I'm going to go through the last 3-4 months and figure out how much money we've been spending at grocery stores, and eating out. I'd like to think that my efforts to cook at home more and eat our leftovers will be relected in our total spending on food.

DH finished the tile work and it looks nice. A new toilet will be upwards of $200, I think, so we may just keep what we have for now. The next big project is re-tiling around the tub/shower in there.

I got some good deals at Target today on Halloween party invitations and plastic tumblers. The cups were 5 for $1, and I'm going to write the kids' names on them, as part of their goodies to take home. I hadn't planned on starting to prepare for our Halloween party already, but it was a good deal! I got a bunch of plastic bowls and trays last year at the 99 cent store for our party, so I won't need to get much this year, aside from food and treats.

After mailing off a book that I sold on half.com for $5 (woo hoo!) DD and I were driving home and passed a Starbucks. Not so hard to do in this town anymore, I might add. Anyway, I almost stopped for a blended drink, but decided not to. Came home and used some of our mocha latte ice cream and milk to make up milk shakes for DD and myself. Yummy! And much cheaper, too.

And I don't care if it's just a small thing - it saved me money that I can spend on something else now.