Playing Hopscotch with My Money

But I like it!

Things are going well over here. My official first day of my new job is next week. I am writing monthly newsletters for one of the colleges at my university. It pays pretty well, the only downside is that there is no work during the summer. So I have been applying to several places for summer internships and the like. I'm hoping that I will be able to find something for the summer.

Classes are going really well. It is incredibly hard to drag myself to my marketing class though. It is a 7 pm class twice a week, and the last class of the day. It doesn't help that I've already been at school 10 hours by the time class starts.

I have been very good about not getting food at school. I have eaten at school twice since the semester began! I have found that the easiest thing to do is to just buy a bunch of fruit and veggies and eat that throughout the day. Sometimes I will bring leftovers from the previous night's dinner, but I have no fridge access at school and I don't want to keep the food in my car for hours at a time.

I have decided to take a student loan out for the next semester. Tuition is going up by 50% ! A couple colleges and majors have been cut from the curriculum along with a few graduate programs. Our governor keeps on cutting the school's budget. But that's another rant for another day.

I started volunteering with an organization called Guardian Angels. I've been doing mostly patrols, but they also would like me to help them with planning special events and fund raising. It is a lot of fun and I have met some great people.

The weather here has been insane. I wish it would make up its mind. One day it is in the 80s, the next day we are having freak blizzards that last for 10 minutes. Today I was walking from my class to my car and decided to cut through the student union. I am in the building for not even two minutes and when I leave it, it is snowing so much I can barely see in front of me!

I got my first fillings done earlier this week. That was nothing short of torture. I hate every second of the hour long process. I swore upon leaving that I will do everything I need to to avoid having that done again. And, according to my dentist, they were SMALL fillings!

Out of the 5 classes I am signed up for, 4 of the classes have a very large online component. For 3 of those classes ALL of the homework and quizzes are online.

And I hate it. The ONLY upside is that for those 3 classes, the textbooks are also online. I spent $251.95 on those 3 e-books, as compared to $551 on the paper versions. I ended up spending about $500 on textbooks this semester- the 3 ebooks, 2 books that I rented from Chegg (great deal too- renting the two cost as much as buying one used!), and 1 book that I had to buy from the bookstore (first edition and it came with a special code for online work). I am in the process of putting the ebooks on my Kindle.

I get that there are a lot of advantages to doing work online- less paper wasted on turning in assignments, the teachers don't have to spend hours grading papers, etc. But I don't seem to do well with online assignments. I can complete them, and get a good grade on them, but I just don't seem to learn the material as well as when I have to write it by hand.

It is going to be an interesting semester for sure. I have to spend about 12 hours at school every Monday and Wednesday. I do have breaks in between my classes so I can get homework done while I am there. Tuesdays and Thursdays I have only one class so I plan on going to school early to practice racquetball by myself. Fridays I have off!

I have several recipes I am gong to try this week so I can bring the food to school. Since classes started on Tuesday, I only had to spend one 12-hour day at school this week. And I ended up going to the vending machine (Pop-tarts). I don't want to get used to getting food at school as it will get very costly, very fast.

Speaking of food, I entered a recipe contest! I already submitted my recipe and now I am just waiting. The deadline is Feb. 1 and winners won't be announced until October. I plan on entering more contests as it was a lot of fun making the recipe. There is even a cash prize (not going to lie, good motivation!).

I have sold 6 textbooks the last couple weeks. A little over $300 made. I am going to use the money to buy a cheap pair of boots (mine are following apart) and then put the rest in savings.

That is about all for now. I am going to finish the reading and then make some lunch.

And 2010 is going well so far.

2/3 finished with my Econ class. I had the midterm yesterday and I feel like I did well. I can't believe that the spring semester starts in about a week and half. I have to do some textbook shopping.

My class schedule sucks next semester. I have Fridays off, but Mondays and Wednesdays I am there for almost 12 hours. Blech. I will have to prepare lunches and dinners for those days as it will be VERY tempting to eat on campus.

I have started playing racquet ball with some friends. So much fun! I haven't been playing as long as they have, so sometimes they hit the ball really hard and I run away from it. It has provided endless entertainment for the guys I play with. I am thinking of getting a pass to the school gym so I can keep my work out clothes and equipment there.

I had this really good sushi last night. It was a sushi place in one of the casinos and they had a dessert sushi they called "Sweet Maki". It was bananas, mangoes, cherries, nuts, and whipped cream on top. Absolutely delicious.

I'm looking for a job but having some problems. I am writing my resume (not that I have a long resume) and am sending it to a couple places. I never before have had a job require a resume, but there are a couple law firms and doctor offices looking for some part-time help and have advertised on campus. And they require a resume. Good practice though for later on when I am doing the "real" job hunting.

The internet has been wonderful help with the resume though. Plenty of example resumes to model.

I think that pretty much sums up everything. Hope everyone enjoys the weekend!

It has been so long since I have posted here! I have missed you all.

A LOT has happened in the tail end of 2009.

For one, I am no longer engaged. Or in a relationship actually.

Ex-fiance broke up with me in late October/early November. We had just decided on a date and begun planning the wedding. Randomly (to me) he told me that he wasn't happy and wanted out.

I'm doing ok though. Really confused and angry at first but I am doing better now. I actually have a date next week. Don't know if anything will come from it but it will be nice to get out.

I changed my major!

I love math but realized after taking a couple classes this semester that I cannot work in the field of math. I took a theory class, Theory of Positive Integers, that I just hated. Absolutely hated. I don't want to have to do proofs or anything to do with proofs ever again.

The second class was Probability Theory. I had taken a couple stats classes before and thought it was interesting but after this class... no. Just no. I can't stand probability I discovered. The class focused a lot on the types of problems actuaries have so that is one career that is definitely out of the question.

So I am now an accounting major. I am taking an economics class over winter break (business requirement) and I really like it so far. My accounting class were also really interesting this last semester and I found myself really enjoying those classes.

I've gotten so much better at cooking! I did a completely home made Thanksgiving this last year. I even made the bread for the stuffing and everything. It was a hectic two days of cooking as I didn't want any help but I really enjoyed it.

So I signed up for a cooking class at the community college here. It begins in a few weeks and I am really looking forward to it.

Christmas was good. A couple friends and I went to a midnight mass and I had Christmas dinner with their families. One large holiday dinner a year is enough for me.

For New Year's Eve a group of friends and I played 3 rounds of laser tag. One round was free which was pretty nice. Then we watched "Inglorious Basterds". Hilarious movie.

Financially things are ok but could be better. Tuition has spiked dramatically and if it goes up again it looks like I may have to take out a small student loan. I am, of course, looking for other scholarships and financial aid but a student loan may be on the horizon. Fortunately, even with my major change, it looks like I will graduate in 3-4 semesters so I am not worried about having a huge amount of debt.

I can't think of much else to say. I think that covers just about everything... I hope everyone has had a great new year so far!

My dad surprised me today by buying me a KitchenAid mixer!

He said it is an early Christmas gift- so don't expect anything under the tree. Lol.

I love it! We got it at Costco today. He told me we were going to do some grocery shopping and then led me to the aisle of stand mixers and food processors. I should have been suspicious- he said he wanted to replace the Cuisinart food processor he got 10 years ago (even though that thing still works perfectly). When we came to the stand mixers he said to pick one out.

I got a Professional HD 475 watt, 5 quart bowl, red KitchenAid mixer. I had to lift about 7 boxes of other KitchenAid mixers to get to the color I wanted. It came with four mini prep bowls and a kitchen timer (which I really need- I have been using my cell phone alarm as a timer). There is also a mail-in rebate to get a free attachment- your choice of a food slicer/shredder or a food grinder. I am opting for the slicer/shredder.

I'm so excited! I think I am going to bake some bread tomorrow using my mixer. The instruction booklet has some recipes so I might use one of those. We'll see.

In other not-so-exciting news, I had to buy light bulbs today because my cat decided to pounce on a lamp, causing the lamp to fall over, and the light bulb died. I was watching her from across the room and I just knew what was going to happen before it did. Cats.

I know it isn't healthy, and can lead down a bad road, but lately I have been feeling really horrible and have the urge to shop.

The first anniversary of my mom's death is only a few weeks away and it has been getting more difficult to deal with it. I just want something to take my mind off it (something happy- school is stressful right now). I should be looking forward to my second anniversary with fiance, which is a few days before the aforementioned anniversary, but I can't get excited about it.

I haven't gone shopping, aside from grocery shopping, yet. Fiance has been really great- he's been trying to come up with different ways to get my mind off it and is being a total sweetheart.

I am annoyed with my accounting homework. It is online homework, with the website checking your answers. It gives you three chances to get the homework right and then you are marked wrong. In one problem we had to do an income statement and we had to calculate the income tax expense. I am 99.99% sure I got the right number for it but the website kept telling me I was wrong. I think the website made a mistake so I am going to talk to the teacher tomorrow.

That's about it. I may or may not be updating much. School and everything else is keeping me really busy.

I accomplished most of my goals for the weekend. I did not do a lot of studying (I still have time... the test is Thursday) and I did not do the IS quiz. Why? Because there was no IS quiz. There is not a quiz for another month and I figured I will wait to do that one until about a week before it is due.

Everything else though is complete! Yay!

I will be depositing about $800 into our checking today- my last paycheck at my previous work and fiance's latest paycheck.

I am making spaghetti sauce as I type. Ok, technically, my crock pot is the one making the spaghetti sauce, but I am the one who mixed all the ingredients together! I decided to use canned diced tomatoes instead of buying tomatoes and dicing them myself because the canned version was a lot cheaper. Next time I will probably use fresh tomatoes. It was pretty easy and a lot more fun then buying pre-made sauce.

The sauce I am making is pretty basic in flavor. Oregano, basil, and a bay leaf are all the spices I am using. Oh, and a little bit of garlic and onion. I wanted to see what this tasted like before I started experimenting with different flavors. I figured I can use this recipe as a "base" and go from there.

It is (finally) beginning to get colder here. I actually need a little cardigan today. Towards the end of the week is when the temperatures will start to really drop. Our stove REALLY heats up the apartment every time we use it so I don't think we will have to run the heater a lot this winter.

I have been slacking the past few days. I did, however, have three tests this week so everything else got put on the back burner while I studied for the tests. Now that the weekend is here I can do some catching up.

So today's goals are:
1. Get my IS quiz done. And possibly get a couple quizzes done that aren't due for awhile.
2. Do the accounting hw and quiz.
3. Pick up my paycheck and turn in my work shirts.
4. Upload all the food pics I have taken and flip through my cookbooks for more ideas.

Tomorrow's goals:
1. Get the probability hw done and start studying for the test.
2. Clean the bathroom (tub and shower curtain- don't ask me how that got dirty, I really don't know), living room, and the kitchen. Also put the clothes away properly (fiance originally did this but I don't like how he put my clothes away so I am going to redo it).
3. Go for a bike ride in the morning.

My credit limit went up again- but this time on a different card!

I have a CC with wellsfargo that has a limit of $1,800 and a CC with Barnes & Noble that used to have a limit of $500- now it is $1,250!

Yay! I now have a total credit limit of a little over $3,000! Later this year I am going to check my credit score. It must be decent if my limits are going up.

I don't drink soda. I don't like it. Every once in awhile I will have a can of soda (almost always Sprite) but it is not a regular occurrence for me.

And yet, I so want this:

Just barely though. :P

I have been so busy this past week and a half with school and work and family... I've been popping in and out, reading a post here and there, or reading a thread.

Last week I did try a new recipe, but it wasn't from any of the cookbooks. It didn't turn out too well. In fact, I hated it. Fiance insisted it didn't taste that bad but I think he was lying to me to spare my feelings. Lol. Tonight I will not be trying a new recipe, but rather a new thing.

Chicken thighs with bone and skin. I have NEVER cooked chicken thighs or breasts with the bones and skins. I always buy them boneless and skinless. But, it is more economical to buy them with the bone and skin still on. We'll see how it turns out. I've seen cooks add herbs and spices underneath the skin so I think I will try that.

School is going well. Info Systems is really boring but really easy. I really like my accounting class. The only class I don't like is probability theory. It is challenging, which I like, but I don't like probability. Which is a bummer because several people have told me to consider becoming an actuary.

Fiance and I are doing well with not spending a lot of money. We went to sushi over the weekend and got all you can eat for $30 for the two of us for dinner. We even got a coupon for the next time we go. But we both agree we won't be eating out again this month.

I will be sticking to Walmart to do my grocery shopping. Last week I went to a different grocery store that my friend said is really good and not expensive and ended up spending a little over $50! I got the same items I usually get at Walmart. So I'll be doing my shopping at Walmart for groceries, with the possible exception of fruit. Sometimes the Walmart here doesn't have the best fruit so I'll go to another grocery store (same shopping center) for that if I need to.

So far my half.com total for this month is $21. Not bad.

I think that is all so far... it seems so little to update on for the past week.

(Sung to the same tune as "Love is in the air").

I've been noticing a lot of confusion the past few days with my life.

1) I had fun at work yesterday. And that made me question my decision to quit. Did I do the right thing by finding a new job and turning in my notice? I think so. One good day does not outweigh the many reasons I am leaving. But I have been there for a couple years and it is hard to say goodbye.

2) Marriage. I want to get married. Fiance wants to get married. Our families are mostly happy that we are engaged. But they don't want us to get married now. Or in a year. They want us to wait until after we graduate (2 years+).

I don't see the big deal in us getting married in a year. It is not that I am against having a long engagement, I just think for fiance and I it is kind of silly. We've pretty much been married for awhile now anyway. After my mom died and we started looking after my brother a friend commented "You guys have been dating for a year and now you have a 17 year old son!". And that was how it was for awhile. I know both of our families consider us practically married so why are they wanting us to wait?

They say we should wait because of the cost of weddings. But I would seriously be just fine with having the ceremony and then taking the family out to dinner. A pretty white dress is nice (and I have seen many beautiful ones that I like) and a reception would be a lot of fun... but I don't need that. Nor do I care about those things so much that I would want to delay getting married.

I think there is some other reason they are holding back from us but why? And what is it? It bugs me so much when people don't tell me things. Especially when it comes to major things like this. And when it has to do with a decision that is mine (and fiance's) to make.

And there are other things too. Much smaller things that aren't as important but still confuse me nonetheless.

1) My kitchen. It is so poorly laid out that it is hard to organize. I am so used to large, spacious kitchens that what we have feels like a shoebox sometimes. Ever since we moved in I have organized and re-organized the kitchen every few days. I think fiance is getting a little annoyed. But I just haven't found a way to organize my kitchen yet that I like for more than a few days.

2) Probability theory homework. I don't even know where to begin. Seriously. I take notes in class, I *think* I understand everything and I try to do the homework and I don't get it. At all.

3) My fish tank. Why is the water green? All the levels (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, etc.) are OK. I changed part of the water. I checked the filter. I cleaned the bottom of the tank. Why is it green? My fish seems to be doing just fine but I am a little worried.

When I start to get overwhelmed by one thing, every other problem (whether important or not) overwhelms me even more. I need to relax for the night.

A really random thought came to me today.

What do all of you look like?

I have images in my head of what all of you look like based on your blogs and what you post in the forum. I guess I like to connect posts to a face. I doubt, though, that my idea of what everyone here looks like is accurate.

I can understand why people don't want their pictures on their blogs. It's nice to have some anonymity. Still, I wonder.

Anyway, nothing exciting going on. I did laundry today. I've been noticing that fiance and I are having less and less laundry to do. It used to take literally all day, now it only takes a few hours.

My friend and I are playing phone tag. Both of our cell phones are dying because we forgot to charge them and we keep missing each other when calling our home phones. We'll eventually be able to talk to each other directly. Maybe. Lol.

Thank goodness it is a three-day weekend!

Fiance is getting paid Monday and I was technically paid today. Today was payday but I didn't pick up my paycheck as I will be working on Sunday and can get my paycheck then.

Tomorrow should be interesting. A friend of mine, who I thought was married but is actually engaged (really long story), invited her fiance to visit her this weekend and I get to meet him tomorrow! I'm really excited. He sounds like a nice guy (but of course, he hasn't gotten my stamp of approval yet. :P).

Actually, both my fiance and I will be meeting her fiance tomorrow. We haven't decided what to do tomorrow. She was thinking of going out to dinner (fiance works until 6pm), but that's not feasible for us and I don't want her to pay for us. If she wants dinner, I'd be happy to cook for the four of us.

Fiance loves to eat breaded fish. We ran out of bread crumbs today (guess what he had for lunch) so I was going to buy some when I go grocery shopping on Sunday. But then an idea came to me. Walmart sells a loaf of French bread for $1.42 (about $2 less than regular sliced bread). I normally get one a week. But why not buy another loaf this week and use that for bread crumbs? It will be cheaper than buying a box of breadcrumbs and I will probably get the same amount, maybe even more. And later on, if I get good at cooking and baking, I can make the bread myself!

The recipe I plan on trying next week is a ravioli recipe. But instead of buying pre-made ravioli I want to make it from scratch. Dough and all. So I googled "how to make ravioli" and I found the coolest videos! This guy demonstrates how to make various pastas using a kitchenaid mixer and the pasta attachments. It was so cool! And he made it seem really easy to make pasta from scratch (that may be how they get you.. lol). Since I don't have a kitchenaid mixer (and consequently, none of the pasta attachments), I am going to be using a rolling pin to flatten the dough. Maybe someday I will get a mixer. When, you know, I have a few hundred dollars to spare. And if I find myself making enough things that would be easier to make with a mixer. They do come in pretty colors though...

I found this website, I think it is called moviewatchlist or something. You pay a small fee and can watch movies that come out in theaters. I'm not sure if you pay per movie or if you pay per month/year. Seems like a good idea. You can download the movies to your computer and watch them from home instead of going to the theaters.

I read somewhere that it takes 60 days to make something a habit and 6 months to make something a lifelong habit.

I was a little surprised by that but it makes sense once I thought about it.

I started out so strong with my cooking adventure. I sat down religiously and planned out meals, searching for new recipes. And then things began to wane (probably just shy of the two-month mark).

But it really fell apart when fiance and I moved into our new place. Unfortunately, we just don't have the money to constantly be trying new and "exotic" recipes.

For awhile I shelved my cookbooks and recipe planning. But I have been inspired by my two new cookbooks to start again!

In a smaller dose this time.

My goal is to try one new recipe a week. Something I haven't tried before. Nothing really expensive- no lamb or three course meal here, but something nice that is still fairly inexpensive. And I will be sure to make extra so fiance and I can take it to school so we won't be tempted to buy something there.

I'm going to make it a little more interesting. The recipe I pick has to come from a different section of the cookbook. For instance, one week I might make something from the dessert section, so the next I might make a dish from the breakfast section. I haven't decided if I am going to go cookbook by cookbook (do a recipe from each section of one cookbook before moving on to another cookbook) or if I will skip between cookbooks. We'll see.

To hold myself accountable, I will take pictures of the finished meal. Probably of the cooking process too.

I am also going to set a day of the week to do the new recipe: Tuesday. Wednesday is fiance's longest day at school (from 9 am to 8 pm) so he can take "fresh" leftovers to school the next day and not buy something there.

I'm also doing this partly to curb my sudden desire for more cookbooks. I just got two and haven't even tried any recipes from them and I want more! They are addicting.

Every once while someone does something that is so annoying you just gotta rant about it.

That happened today.

Around lunch time I was walking from one class to another. The hall was very crowded as there were a lot of people in a small hall. The girl walking in front of me was texting and just randomly stopped walking.

I bumped into her. She gets irritated at me that I bumped into her (when she turned around to say something snarky is when I noticed that she was texting while walking).

Why the heck are you getting irritated at me when it was technically your fault I bumped into you? It is not like we were walking in a wide, open field of daisies and I had my mind set on running into you. Text and walk if you want to, I don't care. Just don't get upset with me when I run into you because you stopped suddenly!

Jeesh.

Ok, happy news!

A friend gave me a cookbook. It is a Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. It is a special edition and it features favorite recipes from the 1930's until now. Some of the desserts are so mouthwatering it was hard not to eat the page! I'm very glad to have this friend back. She was gone for two years on a religious mission and is now attending the same university as myself. She's really gotten into cooking as myself so we'll probably end up exchanging a lot of recipes.

I also bought a cookbook yesterday. It is a gluten-free, sugar-free cookbook (the recipes are gluten-free, sugar-free, not the actual book ). I don't know if I am going to go gluten-free but I bought it for a couple reasons:
1) A relative of fiance has Celiac disease. I was curious about what kind of recipes that relative could have.
2) The back cover really upset me. My mom had fibromyalgia, along with a couple other auto-immune disorders, and the back cover said that going gluten-free could help with that illness (among others). So it played at my heart strings.

My total for August for half.com was $162.88! One of my most profitable months! I even sold a book this morning so September is off to a great start.

As for savings... I'm not sure. Fiance and I did put money into savings this month but then we had to take money out because of school. So I think we ended up saving a negative number this past month. But that just reinforces the importance of a savings. We'll make up the lost amount over the next few months (hopefully).

This week has been pretty busy.

I quit my job.

I will be doing some "stuff" in the math department at my school. I say "stuff" because they haven't actually decided what I will be doing most of the time. I will most likely be doing paper grading and some tutoring.

I am sad but relieved to be leaving my job. It is time that I start making more connections with those in my department. I will be working at my job until mid-September.

I joined "Intervarsity Christian Fellowship" and ended up spending 12 hours at school Thursday. I got to school early to meet with friends before my classes began. And then after my classes I attended the bbq that the club was hosting and then the group meeting.

I also changed my church membership from the church I have been going to for a few years to the cathedral. Fiance and I have been attending the cathedral for mass for about a year now and no longer go to the other church. I've been meaning to do it for a long time now, but I have always forgotten. The cathedral is on my way home from school so I no longer had an excuse of not being able to make it to the church when the office is open.

For my IS class we have several online assignments. I have finished all but one. I hate it when teachers assign homework online. For one, I *always* forget about it until 5 minutes before it is due. Hence why I have finished most of the assignments already. I need to get them out of the way now or later on in the semester I am not going to have the time to do them or remember that I have those online assignments. For another, I do not learn well with doing things online. I learn best by hearing the material and writing out the problems step-by-step. Online assignments don't help me at all.

After spending 9 hours in the sun, I am exhausted. I was supposed to do the grocery shopping tonight but I think tomorrow will be a better option.

Fiance and I have a slightly older TV that would need a converter box to get the over-the-air channels.

Not wanting to buy a converter box right away, we decided we would wait until later to buy one. It's only been a few weeks, but I must say that I don't miss it at all.

When I came home from school today I did want to watch some TV. So I grabbed my computer, went to fancast.com, and looked through the shows. I watched an episode of Psych and then watched a couple cooking shows. Sometimes it pauses while "buffering" but that's no big deal to me. It gives me an extra second to soak it in. Lol.

I returned the textbook I did not need today and should be receiving the refund within the next week or so. I'm not sure how long refunds take but I have my receipt just in case.

I sold two more books on half.com! I will ship them tomorrow before I leave for school.

I've had this sneaking suspicion that the two accounting textbooks required for my accounting class were actually one in the same.

Those suspicions were confirmed today when the teacher not only told us we only needed one of the two, but that they are in fact the same book. So tomorrow I will gladly head to the student store and return the $200 version and keep the $132 version.

Fiance and I ended up stopping by B&N today. I wanted to look at books so I would have a general idea of what I wanted to spend my gift certificate on. It didn't work though- it only made me more confused about what I wanted! There are so many books to choose from...

I picked up an application for the store. They are accepting applications (but not hiring) which means they probably won't give me a call anytime soon but it doesn't hurt to ask. So I will drop off the application the next time I am there. Though I want to leave my job, I am not in a huge hurry. If it takes a few weeks to find another job, I am ok with that. But the sooner the better.

Is how much money I have made on half.com this month. I have sold 19 books this month.

What started as four boxes of books waiting to be sold has become three boxes of books. I can't wait until they are all gone. Too bad I don't have a never ending supply of books waiting to be sold. Lol.

I will be receiving a $25 gift card to Barnes and Noble in the mail very soon. I have a credit card with them and they have a rewards program where every 2,500 points (1 point= $1) you get, you receive a $25 gift card for the store. It is automatic so I don't have to do anything (besides using my credit card that is). And no annual fee.

I'm thinking a buying a cookbook or two with the gift card. My dad said James Beard is a great cookbook author to look for. I was also thinking of getting a Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. I could spend hours in Barnes and Noble (and frequently do) just browsing so it might take me a looooooong time to decide what to do with the gift card.

I called AT&T because I was worried about my bill. Or the lack of bill I should say. I signed up for internet about a month ago with them and no bill so far. So I called and the representative hunted down my account and told me they mailed my bill on Friday so it should be arriving within a week. If it doesn't arrive then, call again. I am very relieved to hear that it will be arriving soon. I thought I had missed it in the mail!

I did the grocery shopping this morning and spent $40.74. It was higher than usual because I had to buy cat food and litter. While there I completely forgot to buy notebooks for fiance and I so I must go back to Walmart again to get the notebooks. I won't buy them at the student store because one notebook will cost about $7! And I need 10 of them (or 2 five-subject notebooks...).

My first class begins in about an hour and a half so I have to get ready for it.

Though it hasn't been much of a summer- I was either in school or working. Lol.

I have so much laundry to do tonight. Fiance and I are going over to my dad's to do the laundry and move a desk. I am so sore from the past few days at work that I doubt I will be much help with the desk. I hope he has food. I have not been eating much the past few days because of work.

Speaking of work... major drama going on. I have decided to look for a new job. I won't/can't quit until I have something else lined up, but I am getting fed up with my job. I am going to ask my advisor on Monday or Tuesday if there are any openings in the math department. Who knows, maybe there is something I can do. Paper grader anyone? Lol.

I will apply to places outside of school for a job of course. I will be looking a lot closer to home for a job. No more driving 14 miles to work everyday. There are plenty of restaurants and stores within 3 miles of my apartment that I can apply to. So I will look there.

Finally deposited my paycheck yesterday. $530. Of course all of that will be going to school related expenses. I still have to buy notebooks for my classes. I will get that at Walmart when I do the grocery shopping.

Which reminds me... I have to do grocery shopping. Darn. Why can't the groceries just appear in the fridge/pantry when I need them?

I'm a couple days late to this game but I'm going to do it anyway. :P

Let me start off by saying that my life the past few years has been... interesting. Hard to comprehend would also work. I don't think I have ever told my entire story here, just little bits and pieces.

I was not raised frugally. Just the opposite in fact. My dad made good money and was pretty good with investing. I grew up having most of what I wanted and everything I needed. My dad retired about 9 years ago and we moved to our current state.

The first few years after we moved neither of my parents worked. I remember being able to go into just about any store and being able to buy whatever I wanted. My friends joked that every time I went to the mall it was a splurge- which wasn't far from the truth.

Then my dad got restless and decided he wanted to go after his dream of opening a restaurant. He found a partner to help him, a fantastic executive chef, and a pretty good business plan.

This is where it gets complicated.

Turns out the partner was a con artist and a couple months after we opened slowly tried to kick my dad out of the company. We took out of mortgage on our home to pay for the restaurant (the house had been paid for in cash when we moved so that was the first mortgage we had on it). The restaurant was supposed to be paying my dad what the mortgage was each month plus interest. As she started gaining more control, the payments for the mortgage stopped as did his paychecks. The partner stopped paying taxes, worker's comp. insurance, and even some employees. After a couple months of fighting we got the restaurant back and was able to kick the partner out. But we could not save the restaurant.

We needed investors to turn the restaurant around and pay off the debts the partner made. But nobody would invest. We had to shut the restaurant down a couple months after that.

Few months later our house went into foreclosure and we had to move into a condo. Since I was starting college, I opted not to live with my parents and moved in with my grandma and a couple family friends. A couple months later my grandma and I got an apartment to ourselves.

During this time, a couple of the investments outside of the restaurant that my dad made went bankrupt and stopped paying. We since have received most of our money back but it was horrible timing.

My dad did a few contract jobs but never found anything steady. Then in March of 2008 he got a job in a neighboring state. It was supposed to last 5 weeks but ended up lasting 17 months.

When my mom died in October of 2008 I moved into the condo to take care of my brother. My dad could not come home for good because without his job we wouldn't be able to pay any of the bills. So I stayed with my brother.

My mom was never able to work because of her illness. Some days she could barely get out of bed so holding down a job was almost impossible for her.

I think the turning point for me, when I changed from being very spoiled to saving every penny I could, was in between when we won back the restaurant and when are house was foreclosed on. During my senior year of high school I was working 30+ hours/week to save money and help my parents out.

I still can't believe how much I have changed over the past few years. Though I was very spoiled, I was never bratty and I did appreciate everything my parents gave me. But I appreciate everything differently now. It is hard to explain.

That's my story- at least most of it anyway. I am not bitter about anything that has happened and I appreciate everything I went through. It made me mature a lot faster and made me realize what is truly important.

Summer isn't even over and I am still being "schooled" each day.

Last night at the party a friend brought some fruit punch that was in a can. While someone was talking, I noticed the can read, "HI, ME $.05". I thought it was hilarious because I thought the can read, "Hi, me five cents".

Then just now, more than 24 hours later, I get what the can *really* reads: Hawaii, Maine five cents. Meaning, if you recycle it in Hawaii and Maine you get five cents.

And then while at work I discovered a new word for my vocabulary. A customer came up to my co-worker and I after the meal was over and said that everything was wonderful but her steak was a little sinewy.

My co-worker and I looked at each other: what the heck does sinewy mean?

My boss didn't know so we looked it up online. It means, when referring to a cut of beef, stringy and tough.

Which makes a lot more sense than what *I* thought it meant. Being a math weirdo, my mind immediately thought of sine functions. Sinewy. Couldn't figure out how a sine function can describe a cut of meat but that's because it doesn't.

So I learned two new things today; what did you learn?

(You can't say that you learned that I am incredibly blonde- that doesn't count!)

Yesterday was our housewarming party and it was so much fun.

Fiance and I started cleaning at about 1 pm for the party (started at 6) and I started dinner at about 4 pm. We took a lot of breaks from the cleaning so we finished just in time.

A friend gave us a huge basket with pomegranate tea and biscotti. Also in the basket was a tea set (cups and saucers) for four. It was so cute! I can't wait to use it.

Payday is Thursday which is a relief. For some reason a scholarship I normally get has not paid yet (and it always pays by this time). I need to go down to the financial services building tomorrow and see what is going on with that. I know I still qualify for the scholarship so I have no idea what is going on. I know I sent in my scholarship application on time. I hope it is just a glitch.

I ended up not going to the party yesterday. Didn't really feel like it. So instead I watched some DVDs, went on a walk, did some cleaning, and re-planned the menu for my housewarming party tomorrow.

I sold two books today, making $11.46! Before shipping of course. My total for the month is now over $120!

And speaking of half.com, I have a confession to make. I bought a purse. Well, a tote technically. I used some of the half.com money to buy it. It was $51, including shipping. It's a really cute tote and very roomy making it perfect for school.

One of the things I will have to get used to now that fiance and I have combined finances, is having to ask permission to buy something. Well, not really asking for permission but more double checking that he is ok with a large purchase like that (and he was fine with it). I have never really had to double check with anyone before I made a large purchase. With my parents, any allowance money I earned was mine to spend as I wished as long I didn't buy anything inappropriate.

I got a letter from my bank today. They are offering me a free iPod 1 GB Shuffle if I agree to try Traveler's Advantage. The first 30 days of the Traveler's Advantage are free and after that it is $13.95/month.

I would love to get a free iPod Shuffle. Fiance wants one but we haven't been able to buy him one yet. Should I take advantage of this offer? I read through the letter and it said I could cancel anytime within the 30 days by calling a number. It doesn't sound like I have to complete the 30 days in order to get the shuffle.

I think I will take advantage of this offer. I'll cancel about a week after the Traveler's Advantage is activated. I just have to remember to be firm when I call to cancel.

I hope they don't send my a pink one- I don't think fiance will like having a pink iPod shuffle!

Sometimes I wonder how people put up with me.

I am invited to a block party being hosted by a friend. And I want to go but I also don't want to go. I don't feel like being alone tomorrow (no work for me but fiance works all day) but at the same time I want to be alone.

I need to figure out what I want to do tomorrow... I told the friend hosting the party that I want to come but also don't want to come. She laughed and said she gets it and to call her when I make up my mind.

It is quite the pickle, ain't it? I just got off the phone with fiance and I asked him how he puts up with me and he said, "Carefully."

I sold another book yesterday and that brings my total for the month so far to about $110! It is a shame that eventually I'll run out of books to sell and there will no longer be any half.com money coming in... but that day is far, far away.

The weirdest thing has been happening lately. The past several weeks I have been hungry all the time! It is so strange... I haven't noticed any weight loss or gain. I don't track my calories so I am thinking I should do that- track my calories for a few days or a week and make sure that I am getting enough every day. How many calories am I supposed to get in a day anyway? I have no idea. There's probably a few sites that I can use to track what I eat.

I sold a textbook on half.com yesterday and made about $63 from that sale. That brings the total to $106.53 for the month so far!! I'm thinking of putting this money towards fiances' IRA instead of the textbooks.

I think I have lost something. I don't know what, I just have this feeling that I have. It is this nagging feeling that I have forgotten about something (either an item or an event or something else entirely) but I don't know what! I wish I could figure what is missing/lost/forgotten because I'm worried that it was something important.

Fiance and I have been pretty good about our fun spending. We went to the movies once ($18) and that's about it.

But school... omg.

Fiance and I bought our parking permits today. $200 for two permits for the entire school year. We went from a $200 permit to a $100 permit each. More walking but less money.

$200 for all of fiance's textbooks. $100 on my textbooks so far and I will spend another $3-400 on textbooks tomorrow. One textbook I might be able to split with a friend because we are taking the same class. We'll see.

Fiance has prepaid tuition so his scholarships are extra money. That will cover the cost of textbooks and part of my tuition (which is about as much as textbooks!).

I'm still in shock over how much my textbooks cost. In the past I have been able to get the textbooks for so much less. Guess I chose an expensive major and minor. :P

I sold another book today. I made $4.14 pre-shipping. Shipping will cost about $3. I'm going to apply this month's half.com money to textbooks/tuition and next month's money will go towards fiance's IRA. He didn't contribute to it last month. After we will probably use the half.com money for spending money. Every little bit counts.

Tomorrow I have to be at work at 5:30 in the morning! That means I have to get up at 4:30! Ugh. I like mornings but that is a little too early for me. This week I am working several days which is very good. My last paycheck was for $428 so this next one should be at least that.

I went grocery shopping today. I spent $26.48. Last week I spent $22.96. I have budgeted about $50/week on groceries so we are coming in way under budget. Next week's grocery shopping is going to be more expensive because I have to buy food for our party. I think it will add another $15-20 to our grocery bill, leaving us still under budget.

I have to do laundry at my dad's and I need to do a little bit of cleaning there today too. But it hurts to move! Fiance says the sunburn looks better today but I don't believe him.

My back!

My friends and I went up to the lake and I got a bad sunburn on my back. I did use sunscreen, SPF 30. Normally that is enough for me. I wonder if the higher altitude had anything to do with it (the lake is a couple thousand feet higher than our town) but most likely I didn't give it enough time to set before I went into the water.

I wanted to go swimming after I got home by there is no way. It hurts to wear a t-shirt let alone the swim suit.

Aside from that everything is good. We are having a house warming party soon and I finally have the recipe planned out. I am going to make Parmesan Mushrooms and most likely Zucchini Fuislli. I might change the latter dish.

Tomorrow I will ship the books I sold. I haven't sold any others this weekend so hopefully I will sell more this week.