Found money
Friday - $0
Saturday - $0
Sunday - $0.22 (sidewalk corner, Goodwill floor, Goodwill parking lot, Safeway floor)

Lots of little food and holiday things.

Yesterday, DH and I went to a coffeehouse "mugging". One of the arson fires in the neighborhood destroyed a coffeehouse and the quirky mugs therein. Another neighborhood business offered to host the destroyed coffeehouse, but no mugs, so on Saturday we could get a free cup of coffee if we brought our own mug and donated it to the coffeehouse by leaving it in the bus tub.

As I walked past today, I saw my former tulip mug being used.

Fish trade is being worked out - the fish in question is Alaskan sockeye salmon, always good. We have club, rib-eye, beef sausage (hot dog size) and ground beef for trade. The hitch comes from the beef cooking skills of the fish trader; to be fair, club and rib-eye are the classic slap on the grill/cook-hot cook-quick cuts, which you need a little bit of confidence/experience to do. She's interested in getting advice next week, and I'm to get information about the ground beef, so we can better assess the fish to beef ratio. Compared to the duck trade, this is definitely more business. The fish for beef trade will go through, but probably in a couple of weeks.

I was at Goodwill today, seeing what change I can pick up from the floor . We needed a platter or two for Thanksgiving; our ceramic platter broke when I dropped and it hit the floor. At Goodwill I found two matching circular metal with white-enamel platters, each at $3. No pattern - I liked the clean look, the handles, large diameter and the total unlikelihood of them busting when dropped. The enamel part is the only issue - carving and slicing directly on them is counter-indicated.

As far as change finding is concerned, winter has come. With the rain, cold, and wind, change hunting feels like it has become an inside game.

Friday
Saving log - $4 tip box
Spending log - $1.75 coffee + $9 groceries
Found money - $0

Thursday
Saving log - $3 tip box
Spending log - $1.75 coffee
Found money - $0

It would appear (maybe) that the arsonist has been caught. I looked at the picture, I'm sure that I passed him a couple of times on 85th as I walked home. We'll see whether it really was all him - one can't be too complacent because it might not be him or there might be a copy cat. Still, the mood around the neighborhood is a lot brighter.

Other things are looking up too. I always enjoy Friday the 13th because its going to be a payday. (We get paid on the 15th, or the Friday before, and paid on the last day of the month, or the Friday before).

I decided to talk a break from walking home tonight so I have a bit of energy to burn and don't totally feel like sticking my head in the refrigerator. Besides, this weekend is the weekend of cleaning house and preparing for T-day.

Took a break from hunting for change...actually I think it took a break from being lost. The weather has been freezing, so no one wanted to be out and about, and they kept their collective hands in their collective pockets.

Tuesday
Saving log - $50 DRP
Spending log - $1.75 coffee
Found money - $0.01 (gym floor)

Wednesday
Saving log - $3 tip box
Spending log - $1.75 coffee + $21 groceries
Found money - $0.28 (sidewalk, bus seat, between the sidewalk cobbles)

Right now its just watchful waiting. I bought a bit more gym time with the credit card last month, so I'm slowing my spending down (even more) and I have $700 in my bank savings account. I'd like to see if I can withdraw as little money as possible from my ING account.

Thanksgiving is only two weeks away. We are having the Duvall duck friends over. I picked up a few t-day specific groceries (cranberries) tonight and will keep buying. I saw a recipe for maple pear upside down cake and was intrigued, although the 11 tbsp of butter made me do a double take. (I'm 172, with a hope of being in the 160s by the end of the year.) I really enjoyed the roasted cranberries last year and it was fast, so I'm making that again this year.

Work is definitely heating up as it has every November since I've blogged - I see a lot more special event checks and much less fake pledging than in year's past.

Not much money news. My 403B is heating up to close to 6 six figures. Stocks are creeping up also. Real estate? Well, the arsonist is still around - hundreds of neighbors attended a community meeting last night hosted by the Fire Department. First order of business: noting that the meeting site (a local church) is at over capacity, and note where the fire exits were. We are to call 911 if we smell smoke, etc, and not to worry about over reporting.

I heard a fire truck as I walked home tonight.

Saving log - $0 tip box
Spending log - $12 breakfast, coffee + $17 mailing dutch oven to sister
Found money - $0.04 (by parking meter, door jamb, counter)

Mailed off our spare, heirloom cast iron dutch oven to sister. I bought it for $10 about 15 years ago in Tucson, and it has behaved like a champ. In June, when we visited sister at the farmette, DH made the no-knead bread recipe, but we had to use a casserole dish, which is a bit scary to heat up to 500F. It worked out but we mentioned that the dutch oven is the tool for the task. Since June, I have been looking for yard sale/estate sale/thrift store dutch ovens. Either nothing or minimum of $60. So sister gets ours and a clearly typed recipe.

After that it was breakfast and a good long walk. I've found that I'm positively the girl version of Jack Handey, thinking deep thoughts:

1. Visited the brand new Whole Foods down in Interbay. They have something called a "chill room". Its a nice little lounge just off the cafe and the wine/party foods/prepared foods are.

My thought: this grocery store needs a DJ. I mean, you have the space, and you would cater to two populations of people who pay for premiums ($5 cover charge and extra for watered down drinks, extra $1/lb for produce). Synergy!

2. Why isn't there a mailbox in/outside the bus? Right now you have buses driving and using gas, and you have post office guys driving around and using gas. Buses take a published route, and end up at a rest stop, transit center or a base, where the post office guy can open the bus mail box and grab it. This would be a substitute for the blue boxes.

3. Halloween is now second to X-mas, as measured by retail sales. I've seen a couple of mash-up decorations this year (a Halloween snow globe decoration, a ghoul being crucified). Why bother with 3 discrete fall/winter holidays? Next year: Santa with fangs pulling a turkey out of the oven.

Sunday
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $3.88 coffee, bagel + $16 conveyor belt sushi pigout
Found money - $0.11 (coffeehouse floor, gutter)

Saturday
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $14 breakfast + $6 Halloween hat + $21 miscellaneous
Found money - $0.39 (sidewalk, gas station parking pad, carpet)

Friday
Saving log - $9 tip box
Spending log - $1.75 coffee
Found money - $0.04 (road, sidewalk, under picnic table)

Still having reasonable luck finding change despite the leaves on the ground. This weekend was a do or die time to "do" something for Halloween - I usually say I don't have a creative idea for Halloween in the two weeks before but then pull something off. This time, still nothing. I'm going with a funny hat (keeping the price tag on for the Minnie Pearl fans out there) and be done with it.

Finding the funny hat meant heading to the Goodwill, change hunting all the way. You might have noted that I expected, and was disappointed, that the Goodwill parking lot would be a rich source of found money, and I have mused about the mystery. When I walked into Goodwill, I found a cheap, funny, fuzzy hat, but also a partial resolution to the mystery: Goodwill's inside carpet was the rich source of found money. Goodwill was extremely busy with shoppers; they made a mess of the racks and floors; and the only person who was watching the floor was me. At first blush, if people drop change in response to distractions, the Goodwill store is a primo study site to explore. But for now - easy dime and five pennies. With the other change found in other spots - Seattle has provided me with $6.54 since mid-July.

Later at the Fred Meyer, I bought another item for the months to come: a clip-on, five-pattern, 1/2 mile visible bright flashing pedestrian light. $6, but when I walk home in December, that car is gonna see me.

The other delight I've seen at Fred Meyer are the definite price reductions for food. For example, I needed some luna/clif bars for breakfast - last year at this time they went, cheapest, @ $0.99/bar. Now - $0.79/bar. I've now been seeing produce for under $1.00/lb and canned tuna at $0.65/6 oz can. I've not kept up my price book for the last couple of years (too depressing). I might restart it now.

A bit of our neighborhood news made even some of the national news (at least I heard that it made the morning ABC news). Our neighborhood lost 4 businesses Friday to fire - 2 places I ate at semi-regularly, 1 I drank coffee at every so often. The phinneywood blog has the fire pictures. Arson investigation is ongoing. Mine is from the back. That cooked area at the top is where the roof line was.

Saving log - $2 tip box
Spending log - $26 groceries

There is one thing about the 4th of July that irks me. Most of the street fireworks leave a little disc on the sidewalk, just about quarter or dime size.

I've honed my change detection to a fine point - basically I look for circles on the ground. You don't know how many false alarms I've had this past week.

Grr.

But most days I do find change. Today nothing, yesterday a penny, the day before a dime. Sometimes near a cigarette butt, sometimes not. Pickings seem a bit slimmer - as if everybody else is hunting for change too. It all adds up.

Saving log - $5 tip box
Spending log - $9 groceries

So it is back to business fiscally. I deposited my monthly tip box collectings - $40 worth - into savings, which I need to do because I took out $400 out of savings to pay off the vacation from my credit card. All told, the vacation cost me about $800 - gift to sister for hosting us, 3 hotel rooms, incidentals, some groceries, a few restaurant meals including one big one for family and friends. DH bought the gas on his dime.

And speaking of the car, the insurance agent offered him two possibilities - $3200 and he keeps the car & fixes the bumper, but no comprehensive, or $3400 and they take the car. While DH is not wild about the car, its the "devil you know" - it gets reasonable gas mileage (even coming back and merely 'driveable' it got 28 mpg), is comfortable, its an automatic and I can drive it (I'm not comfortable using a stick which was DH's former car), and is large enough not to get crushed by a deer. Looks like it will be the $3200 solution. The clunkers tax break is tempting, but you have to buy the new car first, then get the credit. And DH is is very interested in getting a completely plug in model for the next car. That would mean waiting several years - next couple of years the first ones should come out and then you want the bugs to be worked out first. Why don't we have innovative cars? Look in the mirror.

I went to the downtown grocery store for an apple, then for an apple and 1/2 and 1/2 for my work coffee, then I saw a deal - .99/lb for fresh, good looking green beans. Haven't seen that good a deal for a couple of years, so I bought a couple of pounds at the spur of the moment. And then I bought salad for lunch. A planned 60 cent purchase turned into $9 in the blink of an eye.

Got weighed for my gym session - still holding at 178, which is nearly miraculous, considering the fish-fry, the several restaurant lunches, the beer, the cheese, the baked goods (our hosts at the funeral home bake like crazy - yum, but yikes!), the driving-but-no-jogging. The trainer smiled - the more muscle you develop the more bad eating for a week you can get away with.

DH, Morgan (our cat), and I went for two weeks to the land of my fathers ... aka Oshkosh and Milwaukee WI. Sister has done a lot with the farmette, and we had a number of adventures, most good, one not so much.

More tomorrow!

Letting you all know - I'm on vacation starting tomorrow, so I won't be posting much for two weeks. See you in the middle of June!

Tuesday
Saving log - $6 tip box
Spending log - $2 coffee + $5 magazine

Wednesday
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $5 newspapers + $5 coffee and croissant + $7 lunch + $5 iced tea & slice of cake

Took the day off on my birthday (and splurged with the food), but I did make it to the gym - trainer was happy to hear of the 46 min jog, but still had me doing deadlifts with a 60 pound bar.

One of my little traditions on my birthday is to do something new. Today, after being a member of the gym for 3 1/2 yrs, I finally tried out the sauna. Relaxing, and strangely cool and refreshing when you step out. You have to realize that I generally have to finish in a rush, make sure that I both don't "emanate" and I get back to work on time.

After gym, I hit the library, and when I got back, I found a bouquet of flowers on the porch.

Hit the Milwaukee news first and was disconcerted hearing about 3 cases of the flu...I was thinking that it might change our vacation plans (and it still might), until I hit the Seattle news and read about our 6 cases.

Regarding the flu, can I mention how hard it is to wash your hands properly using "green" facilities stingy with the hot water - operating those hot water faucets that you have to hold down continuously - and stingy with the soap? We are supposed to rub our soapy hands over a continuous stream of hot water for twenty seconds. We need two hands free to do this, folks. NPR helpfully provided a kind of hip way of timing 20 seconds - the song soliloquy of Bohemian Rhapsody. Now all we need is the stream of hot water and the soap. Don't make us go Black Death on your a$$, folks.

Saving log - $2 tip box
Spending log - $2 cottage cheese

I got home tonight - my mail contained a $1.96 check from Ameriprise, closing my account. All of gramma's trust money is in my accounts. Consolidation at last. One less set of passwords to remember.

The container garden is smartly moving along. I see little baby carrot seedlings in my orange pot. (Purple ones, hopefully not hairy). Yesterday I looked in a different pot that DH planted and I saw baby beet seedlings.

Talked to sister about vacation plans. DH and I (along with Morgan) are planning a road trip to Wisconsin to visit the farmette. June 1 - June 15. Apparently many of the hotel chains along the way are pet friendly. No doubt it will be a busman's holiday - I'm sure that we will be put to work planting a few things in the 7 acres.

Saving log - $0
Spending log - $3.30 bagel, coffee + $.63 apple + $10 lunch

Well, not quite. I walked up Queen Anne Hill, this time with my heart rate monitor - my high was 151 bpm, which was much better than I feared. Call it a near death in the afternoon.

DH and I had our little Valentines Day at a new neighborhood French style bar. I had a combo of champagne and absinthe, called Death in the Afternoon, along with a round of escargot. So decadent, so cheap.

Saving log - $0
Spending log - $12 breakfast + $110 groceries

Stocked up on groceries and minor Valentine's Day treats. This weekend is a three day one for me - President's Day is also a holiday for me.

DH and I decided to go out the next day, Sunday the 15th. V-day itself is going to be a-stay-at-home for us. Frankly, the V-day festivities aren't really a bowl of cherries for many of the coupled folks I know of either. For the average ordinary, it used to be a card and chocolates and maybe a rose or two (in the 80's, before Columbia got into the rose business, roses were very, very dear). Then the romance became ramped-upped into expensive dinner, drinks, etc, all to re-create the "most special event" ever, every year. I might just be a curmudgeon, but all holidays seem to be turning into their own Christmas. The themes change, but the orgy-like spending continues. Stop it.

Anyway, also up for this weekend, I also plan on repotting a fern into two pots, get a little exercise, and pay off this month's spendy credit card bill. It caused me great sadness to move a bit of savings out to help pay for it.

From Feb 6, looks like the paranormal (aka ghost) investigation of our offices is scheduled for a Saturday in March. 7pm - 11pm, with maybe extra innings up until 2am. I'm in on the fun. Oh I caint hardly wait!

Saving log - $0 tip box
Spending log - $3.35 coffee, bagel + $3 hot dog + $6 batteries & box of creamy tomato soup

Very quiet non-work day. Walked about 2/3 of the way around Green Lake, then headed up to Greenwood Avenue for the ATM, and a stop to get AA batteries for the digital camera, or about 4 miles.

Found .26 in the Fred Meyer parking lot (a quarter and a penny). I managed to also find another quarter last night also. Last night I heard on NPR about a family of 5 who managed to save $1000 worth of sidewalk change in about a year. I'm not sure whether they are walking in a city where parking lots are paved with change or many people have holes in their pockets or whether with 3 small children their helpers are low to the ground - $1000 is a lot of sidewalk change. Good for them, but your mileage may vary!

Saving log - $0 tip box
Spending log - $35 groceries

Merry (sloppy) Christmas to you all! Seattle is now in the midst of a thaw - making driving is even more treacherous than it was over ice. Then - ice that you can drive low and slow, and while it was slippery, at least it was hard. Now - ten inches of white snow-slush-mudlike consistency over a sea of cold gray water. You have to "gun" the car to keep it moving through the quicksand-y white slush, but gunning it means you're driving on the water underneath and hydroplaning between parked cars.

We were invited to Christmas dinner, but we nearly got stuck several times. Heck with it, we canceled. Make the full dinner ourselves, play with Morgan, and keep an eye on our flat roof carport.

This afternoon I re-visited one of my favorite non-Christmas Christmas shows, a Homicide: Life on the Street episode set on Christmas Eve. I love non-Christmas Christmas shows much more than the Christmas shows, if that makes any sense.

I opened up one of the sections of the Seattle PI (Post Intelligencer) and found a sheet of printed gift wrap:


Close up of the pattern:


And I had a box to wrap so I used it. Does anybody else's newspaper provide this frugal service?

In another newspaper, I read about shoplifting going up (expected during a recession), but inside the article came an astounding (to me) statistic: 1 in 11 Americans use the five-finger discount.

Saving log - $2 tip box
Spending log - $10 lunch + $12 office party

Got caught up with lawyer friend at lunch and went to the office party (drinks and snacks) held two block from work, so there was a bit of spending. Tomorrow I'll bring the lunch and gym to even out the spending. I can now make $40 last the whole week.

Pulled the trigger on accumulating the devil money in the 403B. And yes, I definitely noticed the 0% 4 wk T-bill. I've learned my lesson - the money's getting pulled back into ING. To depress me a bit, I looked through my records on what my t-bills used to earn, $60, $70, $80/ month, quite a bit better than ING. Oh yes, I found two pennies today, so I immediately paid myself a better rate.

The cashbox came today, so it was time to arrange the recession kit. I want them to open it right away - no need to wait until GD v.2.0.
From the top, with Christmas card taped inside:


And from the coin tray and a peek at the till:

Saturday
Saving log - $0 tip box
Spending log - $10 brunch + $20 Christmas gift

Sunday
Saving log - $0 tip box
Spending log - $3 bagel, coffee + $1 apple + $20 cash box

I was very stiff and sore from gym and the trainer on Friday - so I went Christmas shopping Saturday instead. Ordered sister's Christmas fish(es) for Tuesday delivery - the fishmonger still had trout.

The recession kit is coming together. I forgot that my giftees now have a black lab (met him last summer), and chocolate is not for dogs, so I included a couple of doggie gifts along with the chocolate bars. I also picked up a $1.99 bag of chocolate coins.

Today I walked the 7 miles and began "interval" training. I asked him a couple of days ago what he considered cardio, and he told he whatever it took to maintain your heart rate at 110 or so for 8 minutes, and spike to 130 or so for 2 minutes. Rinse and repeat for 3-4 times. Both juggling a stopwatch (my PDA has a stopwatch program) and trying to take my pulse would be a PITA, so I came with a stripped down version: walk briskly for 5 blocks, jog for 2. I could do it six times going down to the Fremont Bridge, only three times coming back up because I go up a hill back home.

As I walked, I hit all the hardware/craft/general goods/ office supply store that I could to serve as the container of the chocolate. I saw ideas, but nothing that matched what I wanted to do. Then it hit me: cash box. Ho ho, there's a theme I can work with. Its steel, it locks, it contains things, the coins and dog treats can go into the coin slot tray, I can tape the Christmas card/recession kit note to the top, and the flat chocolate bars can be put underneath the till like dollar bills. If I feel really funky, I can get currency strips to bind the chocolate bars. And frankly, every family needs a cash box - just try holding a yard sale without one. Decided not to waste any more time. I found a cash box online for quick delivery - 20$ total.

Thursday
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $8 lunch + $6 groceries

Friday
Saving log - $4 tip box
Spending log - $2 coffee + $70 groceries

Spendy day today after several days of cheapness. The $70 of groceries was really the beginnings of a theme Christmas gift, plus a turkey ham for me.

Most of our Christmas shopping is family. My sister loves the salmon and whatever other fishy/shellfishy thing that looks good. (One year I gave them 8 months of Harry and David... meh, they said. We get good fruit here, too. But you can't buy salmon in Milwaukee) A few weeks ago the fishmonger had trout for sale. Fingers crossed that that's still around next week.

That's it for my family. DH doesn't have a big list either - his sister (and BIL), and his mom. Let's divide and conquer, I said. I'll buy for his sister and BIL, and he can buy for MIL. Done, he said.

I'm going for a theme here. Big fad in Seattle is chocolate - fair trade, dark, vegan, single sourced - in other words, treating chocolate like coffee, where it comes from a country or an estate. There's even a chocolate factory in North Seattle that gives tours. So I went to the Greenwood market and ran the table of large chocolate bars. Some were of countries, some were of flavors. 1 was even 100% dark chocolate.

Now to find a nice container, or maybe a military grungy one (like it was buried in the backyard), just for laughs. (Both his sister and the BIL have a sense of humor) When they open the box, I have a nice sign over the chocolate:
"In case of recession, break seal."

Saturday
Saving log - $3 tip box
Spending log - 0$

Sunday
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $5 groceries and lost $7 out of pocket

Did the gym laundry Friday night, then returned the gym bag to work Saturday afternoon and walked part of the way home. As long as I was at work, I put in a few dollars to show the tip box some love.

Walked Saturday and Sunday - it is getting harder to do the full trip because I much prefer to walk during daylight. When it gets dark by 4:30, that's my deadline, and it if takes about 3 hours, I have to start at 1:30. Not complaining particularly, weekends are for a bit of laziness. Even if I have only two hours, walking is good, because I made these three observations:

1. Listened to Marketplace radio. The piece talked about the price of eggs and the correspondent let slip that she pays $3.35 for a dozen. Yikes! Still the rationalizations flew: "But LA is so expensive and I have them delivered." Cry me a river. Here's a hint: buts cry out for a creative solution in times of trouble. Do you really have to have your eggs delivered?

2. Same radio show, except the piece talked about re-setting children's expectations. If only we can tap into peer pressure. What if everybody's teen was told, "nope, we can't afford it."?

3. Discovered that while my new hoodie is a magnet for sidewalk small change, its pockets expel dollar bills. Time to be more careful where I put my change. Sucks.

More signs of the times: the North Seattle Goodwill is doing brisk business, even on a Sunday (Monday's when the new stuff gets laid out), even at 4:30 in the afternoon.


Where am I going to get my colon cleaned now?
Before

After

Ah the seamy underside of the holidays...

Friday
Saving log - $0 tip box
Spending log - $3.35 bagel, coffee + $1.61 yerba mate + $3.60 for 2 pie crusts

Thursday
Saving log - $0 tip box
Spending log - $3.35 bagel, coffee + $17.41 many, many storage containers

Duvall Thanksgiving was a lot of fun, with a lot of food made for 4 people. Leftovers! We scored:

1. One large yogurt container of homemade pumpkin pie filling. Score because 2 pie crusts are way cheaper than one filled pie at the grocery store. Pumpkin pie is cooling comfortably on the counter. Now I all I have to do is ignore DH pleading, "is it ready yet?" No - not until its cooled.
2. Raw turkey liver. I love turkey liver. Its my tradition to fry up the liver with a bit of sage while the turkey roasts. Thank G*d none of my friends and acquaintences like turkey liver. More for me.
3. Goose fat. Cassoulet in January. I got several plastic bags of dried beans from sister. I gave the Duvall friends a bag of sister's dried beans.
4. Turkey bones. Not all the bones that I would have gotten had I hosted, but guests in general rarely get bones. Soup in a couple of days. Yippee!

Next week I'm going to brownbag it with the leftovers and I have a fresh supply of plastic containers. My homework with the new trainer is to hit the gym at least two more times a week in addition to the one hour per week with him. Unfortunately everybody seems to want to schedule over my time. The solution I've come up with is to hit gym at lunch (yeah, busy, the locker room will be like high school), then eat at my desk. Nobody schedules anything at noon, hah hah. Since I will have leftovers next week, it gives me a big break to try out getting into the habit.

Saving log - $5 tip box
Spending log - $12 lunch

We're getting our paychecks early this month - normally its the last day of the month, which this month falls on a Sunday. On a weekend, we get paid on the last work day of the month, which in other months would be Friday. Of course this month Friday is not a workday (hopefully its not your workday either), so the last workday of the month is ... tomorrow. 5 day early paycheck.

I finally got the hint and decided to cut off my recurring T-bill buying. For laughs I looked at what I would have earned on a 4wk $4,000 T-bill: 16 cents. The money that would have bought the T-bill now goes into the Treasury's no interest account, and I move that back into ING. What $4,000 will earn in ING in 4wks: $8.43.

I've been noticing more living thrifty articles. Here's one from Alternet.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Saving log - $4 tip box
Spending log - $9 lunch

Watching a guy do a very frugal 15 sec stair step workout. It wasn't busy, so he ran up the down escalator.

We got all of our temp staff here and orientated. Orientation included food, so I didn't have to tear into my breakfast/ energy bar stock. I got a little SBC coffee card which I will hold in reserve. Plastic in the bank, as it were.

Put my tip box squeezings in for this month.

Made the Thanksgiving Day plans - we are eating with the Duvall friends. It made sense because if they come here, they have to put the poultry away for the night (otherwise the free ranging cougar gets her own Thanksgiving) or they have to come here early to leave early to put the poultry away. When it gets dark at 5pm, it puts a crimp in the festivities.

A little bit of fun from the Halloween decorating contest...


Don't be alarmed. $4 buys a big bottle of red tempera paint. Cut it a bit with water to get to blood consistency (as opposed to paint consistency), lay out your butcher paper sheets on concrete, and flick gobs of paint with a spoon. Its all in the wrist. I thought of Jackson Pollock rather than Freddie Krueger. Tape up when the paint kinda dries. The effect is even better when the paint is a little bit wet and gravity helps out.


Our auditor's headstone, in progress...


And a puking pumpkin.

Thursday
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $12 lunch

Friday
Saving log - $6 tip box
Spending log - $9 groceries

We put the finishing touches on our "Vault of Eternity", did a little work, set up for the potluck, toured and took snaps of the other floors (the fear floor was very good - each cubicle had a fear), ate at the potluck, did a little work, voted for the favorites (of course it was us), cleaned up and broke down the decorations, did what I really wanted to get done that day.

Not a bad day until I found out that Studs Terkel died. RIP, Studs. Even twenty five years ago in Chicago, when I saw him perform in the red-checked shirt, he seemed old to my then teenage eyes. I learned from him that if you really embrace what you are, the name can't hurt you. One of the young college Republicans at the time called him a socialist. "Of course I'm a pinko socialist," he roared. "What's your point?"

Substitute "frugal" "cheap" or "thrifty" for socialist. Of course I am...what's your point?

Tuesday
Saving log - $2 tip box
Spending log - $8 lunch + $3 snack + $2 donation

Wednesday
Saving log - $2 tip box
Spending log - $8 lunch + $10 art supplies

Busy, busy, busy.

Work is heating up a bit, and for the internal giving campaign, one of our contests is a Halloween floor decorating contest. Down in our basement, we have so much - corridors where we can dim the lighting, an old vault, elevator out with a caution partition, all the cardboard we can possibly want. Our concept is a graveyard. We are busy making headstones, banners, brought out our fall and Halloween items. My headstone is particularly lovely.

Picked up some red tempura paint - I plan on decorating the vault with a hanging white paper curtain splattered with tempura "blood". Reverted to childhood by drawing my hands and arms on paper, cutting them out of the paper, splattering them with red stamp ink (this was before the red tempura), then sticking the hands under the elevator caution partition.

Thank you all for the ideas for a cheap Halloween costume. I got inspired last night by a photo of ... candy corn!

So white sneaks, long white socks, orange pants, light yellow long sleeved top, yellow hair dye. I saw a pair of orange pants at Value Village for $20... too rich for my blood. I got a pair of white jeans for $7, and two packs of tangerine Rit dye for $3/pk. I used both packs - I want the pants brick orange, because the dye always dries lighter. The pants are soaking now.

Festive, warm, non-slutty, funny, simple.

Oh yes, found a penny in the QFC parking lot.
.15 -.01 =.14 to go to equal my T-bill interest.

Saving log - $0 tip box
Spending log - $10 brunch + $60 groceries

Food is starting to become a bit cheaper again - I picked up canned tomatoes and canned chickpeas for .50/can. Pretty reasonable for Seattle.

Did the 6 mi mega-walk today, ending up at Goodwill. I pored through the costumes and Halloween whatnot, and as I did so, I thought, "why am I shopping for a costume that I'm going to wear once, don't want to store, and am spending money for the privilege? Clearly, I'm not feeling any inspiration or love. I remember feeling as a kid that Halloween was a kid pleasure, and the lack of Halloween must be an adult pleasure. No candy, maybe, but you didn't have to think about what you wanted to be - because as an adult you were it - and you didn't have to wear cheesy stuff in the snow (this was Wisconsin) and put on a mask.

Maybe its too early for me. I get into holiday spirits a couple of days before - when necessary.

Because its Sept 19

collectings - $1 treasure box
lootings - $15 raw fish cut by ninja

Avast ye hearties! The day was one big aaaarrghh! I took me treasure box to the bank, got one hundred doubloons (my jaw be tired from biting down on EACH of them!) in case we were raided over the weekend by the FDIC navy, then walked over to a spot where I knew that if Woo Hoo made other pirates walk the plank to keep their treasure, I would get a good picture. One picture is worth a thousand aaarrrghs, ye know.

The flat side of me spyglass was busted! No picture! I would ave thrown someone to the sharks if I could. Maybe draw and quarter them first.

Back on the ship, I went over the log of other possible pirates. Bad times means good slaves and wenches could be had for cheap. Spent the time between high sun and grog time clicking fer more of me doubloons.


Translation: Put in the tip box savings into the bank, got 100$ in case things got frozen over the weekend. Walked past the WaMu Center and was about to take a picture when I discovered that the LCD screen on my camera was busted. I was mad, and depressed. (and yes, I will replace.)
At work, I looked over who we were going to interview for temporary staff. The recession means we are getting some applicants who look really good. The rest of the afternoon I finished up a database project.

N.B: comparing 18th century pirates to 21-century investment bank.... Couldn't resist.

Saving log - $0 tip box
Spending log - $3 coffee, bagel + $9 lunch

This weekend, I did my gym laundry. Note: I do it every second or third week... not just on holiday weekends. But I bet if I did my gym laundry less often I wouldn't have an issue with machines.

Normally I bring my gym clothes back on Sunday and then walk, but since Monday's a holiday and Monday's when I'm thinking of going, well, waiting until Monday and hitting the gym beforehand was hitting two birds with one stone. So I hit the gym today and did an upper body routine from November. It still whipped my butt. Definitely a labor-ed day.

Afterwards I had lunch at a pho place near Macy's (didn't go in), and wandered a bit.

Last Saturday, DH and I went over to visit our friends in Duvall. They confided to us that they could not, for love or money, get a HELOC from any Seattle bank (tried WellsFargo (WF) first) to fix their roof. They were asking for 12K. It was suggested to them, in all seriousness by WF, to collect 6 credit cards. Yikes. But it is very telling - the friend tell us they have credit scores in the 700 range, and have converted their loan from an ARM to fixed rate.

SillyOleMe blogged about this in her life, I want to mention it here to let her know that no one is loaning anyone anything. Don't take it personally. Its the recession talking, and its saying, "cash is king."