Thanks, guys for your advice. I'm going to tell lawyer friend about it so when I stick his name on the cc:line he won't be surprised. Except for the 70% weirdness, the landlord and the rental are fine. We aren't insane nutball tenants; if we do call, they respond quickly. Best of all the rent hasn't changed any in 5 years.

So why do I rent? Well to tell you the truth in the simplest and least bitter-renter sounding way, financially we can't swing it in any fiscal responsible way right now, circa 2006-2007.

The median price of a house in Seattle/ King County about 400K. As a matter of fact, Zillow.com estimates the price of the place we rent at 370K. DH and I together make 60-65K, and we rent our 2-bedroom digs at 845$/month. Even with the most evil, fiscally suicidal I/O, neg-am, no doc ARM loan at a bogus teaser rate we would still pay about $500/month more than we rent. And a loan like that means that I would still be renting - from the bank instead of a landlord. To afford a 30yr fixed, we would need to at least double, even triple our income.

So we cheap it out, save our money, and wait. After all, a house is like any other purchase - you want to get a better price. No sense being frugal in your choices, save your money, then turn around and overpay in the largest purchase that you'll make in your life.

That's not to say we aren't interested. We're saving our money - house prices can drop, or they can rise even further. Conversely, we can save for a down payment or we will sit on a ton of money and rent. Either way, we sleep well at night.

Well, maybe not DH. His side of the bed has developed a slow leak. (Select Comfort is basically an air mattress with a phd.) At least with air, it is a lot less messy. Because my side is just fine, right now we are swapping out hoses, valves, etc, to narrow down just what is failing on DH's side of the bed. (BTW, take your best shot - I'm going to either delete or treasure your comments.)

Slushy, goopy mess today but a lot less icy. 2 buses on my normal bus route didn't come, so it was plan B - down the hill to the workhorse bus. I was 15 minutes late.

Savings log - $2 tip box (finally deposited this month's scrapings today), 8.04$ coming from this week's T-bill, and payday.
Spending log - $2 coffee/milk + $7 lunch.

Got the utility bill today from the landlord. Again, the claim is that according to our lease we should be paying 70%. Again, I will take the letter, edit the 70 to 50, edit the totals, print an image of our current lease (which says no change from the original lease), then print an image of our original lease which clearly says 50%. Since I have a .tif images of the two leases, I can and will do it over and over and over again.

What is the landlord smoking?

kashi - thanks for the tip on yaktrax. They look like chains that you can put on your shoes, like you put chains on your tires to keep your car from slipping. I was debating about ordering a pair, but then I thought - its November and I have a bad feeling about this whole winter. So I bought a pair.

Saving log - 2$ tip box + 40$ DRP.
Spending log - 2$ coffee/milk + $114.99 sewer, water, gas + 24.95$ yaktrax + 10$ lunch w/couple of co workers.

Actually made it to work today. The office opened 2 hrs late in honor of the ice. Actually it was even more confusing - we were to assume that we were to start 2 hrs late, but to call back 45 minutes before the opening to check if the decision had changed.

Sigh. Home in North Seattle was iced over, and DH had the car. In other words, no way was I was going to make it on time in a mere 45 minutes.

As for moi, I assume that the decision makers at my workplace are insane and so far I have not been disappointed. I figured that the office would open and the message would not be changed. So I started off a full 2 hours before the office opening. I waited a good 45 minutes before a bus, stuffed to the gills, stopped.

During that time, one bus drove past and two training buses drove past. Now I can understand that this is a perfect training opportunity for driving on chains in the snow, but in the words of my co-worker, "why not train for the full effect and pick up hundreds of crabby, cold passengers in the snow?"

And again, to my fellow passengers...why are each of you bringing tens of pounds of crap in a backpack, insuring that you are a double lump in the aisle, pickpocket bait to a pro, and a pain in the ass to other people? I'm sure you didn't use all or even any of the crap you brought. I went fiscal commando again today, and hung my MP3 player and keys from belt loops, keeping everything in inside pockets.

Lo and behold, I was accurate. We started and the message was never changed. Never bet against insanity

But one great, amazing piece of news. The trainer weighted me again today. Between last Wednesday and today (Tuesday) I managed to lose .75 pounds. How did that happen? I'd like to think its the red wine, the gravy tastings, and the three slivers of pie. A girl can dream.

Tonight I got a handwritten condolence card from the vet. Now I'm va klempt again. Talk amongst yourselves.

Savings log - $3 in the tip box. I now have 40$ and its time to hoof it to the bank.
Spending log - 1.50$ coffee + 4.50$ veggie sub sandwich

Am watching the Packer/Seahawk game, and I'm more of a Packer fan. Rats is the summary.

We only got a couple of inches in Seattle, so off to work I went. The commute was pretty light because everyone north of us was snowed in. Tonight I did a crazy thing and did my 8th Ave NW walk. Crazy because it was snowing a bit, there was plenty of ice and I was watching cars slip and slide around. I took it slow and discovered that my balance was much, much better than it had been in a long time. I'm never going to ice skate, but at least I'm not going to be as afraid of ice as I used to be. Tomorrow morning will be the acid test though. Everything will have frozen up good and solid and since I live on a ridge, its downhill no matter how I go.

But at work today I found that I'm in command for the rest of the week. My boss was going to come back today from the East Coast but was detained.

Giving my sister 8 months of a fruit of the month club for Christmas. Sounds silly but the fruit was fantastic. I knew I wouldn't have time to participate in cyber Monday, so I ordered Sunday night.

Not much saving today.
Spending - 1.37$ coffee (no milk in the deli) + 11$ chirashi (figured I needed the brain food this week).

Well, its snowing in North Seattle. Turned from rain to sleet to snow at about 2pm, while I was on my walk and trudging through to my errands. Didn't walk that much, but I'm expecting that if you're walking in the cold, you probably will burn off a few more calories because you are trying to stay warm in addition to getting somewhere.

There is about 2 inches on the ground as I type, and its still snowing strong. We tend to have snow days at work in parallel to Seattle Public Schools. If they're canceling school or starting late so do we.

Saturday
Spending log - $9.77 (brushes and paint container for a craft project) + 22.26$ groceries at Whole Foods (WF).

WF because we were in the Roosevelt neighborhood going to an art supply store. Seattle neighborhoods are funny - the Roosevelt neighborhood has about 6-7 audio stores within 3 blocks of each other. The neighborhood that I live in - Greenwood - had at least that many antique stores. Go figure why businesses are so lumpy like that.

I think I managed to get the only decent deals at WF, using my price book. It would have been about 15.00$, but I bought a bag of groceries for charity.

I think WF is so popular because its a prestige place to get caught. I wonder if that's a good general frugal rule. The chance of getting a good deal is in inverse proportion to a place's "coolness".

Sunday
Spending log - $3.28 (bagel and coffee) + 5.76$ (lacquer thinner) + 2.50$ box of crackers

Needed nice black pants for tonight, so I picked up a pair of Liz C's for 7.99$. Turns out that the thrift store has a black friday 50% off sale. So I got the pants for $4.35.

Great deals & no fights either.

Turns out that was the only good deal for today. The charity concert I was invited to and went to (wearing the pants) was a bore. Smooth jazz. The band was fine, the musicians individually were good, the people watching was interesting, but it was smooth jazz Kenny G-type stuff. Charity is one thing, but I had the distinct feeling that I was wasting an hour of my life that I was not going get back. Slipped away and fled during intermission.

Hope you all had a tasty thanksgiving! DH and I went to Issaquah, the next town east of Bellevue, which is in itself the next town east of Seattle. The invites gave an official start time of 12:00 noon, with a dinner ETA of 4:00pm.

We got there at 1:30pm, and we were the first people there, as usual, so we were put to work clearing, vacuuming and setting up. DH and I are used to this. The one T-day we showed when we knew everyone else would show was the day that they were wondering where we were. And it was our way of getting caught up with the hosts -- a private party as it were.

There was plenty to clear and clean. The father of the hostess had gone into the hospital with cancer, so his living quarters had shrunk, so the excess stuff landed in the house. The hostess and I gave each other a hug in support.

But here's a frugal dilemma. When you find change when you are cleaning at home, its yours. When you find change when you are cleaning a friend's house, whose is it? I gave thirty-five cents to the hostess, who absently gave it back to me. I absently put it in my pocket, so when I got home, I found it again. I guess I got paid for about an hour of work.

The turducken roasting was late, but whew, it was in the oven not the smoker, so that was one gravy making hurdle gone. Gravy making went pretty smoothly - although my judgment was hamstrung by about 3 glasses of wine (helped with the whisking though) and the fact that there was only whole wheat flour.

The workaround was to make a butter/whole wheat flour roux to cook the flour for a good fifteen minutes before adding pan drippings and stock. Duck pan drippings hide the flour flavor pretty well and having a whole stock pot of poultry stock means that anybody can make great gravy then. Host wanted the gravy a bit thicker than I did and thought that flour taste was still there, but those were pretty easy to fix, just keep the heat on a bit longer. Filled 3 gravy boats.

Didn't take any leftovers home, for which my metabolism is grateful.

Spending log - 3$ pumpkin latte & biscotti (gotta pace yourself)

Weighed at the gym today. I'm at 190, so very, very close to the goal of under 190 by T-day. I guess if I took off my shoes, I'd make it! The goal for this holiday season is not to gain weight.

Yet another extremely rainy day and yet another bowl of pho. Because I was off today, I had a bowl at a pho place in my neighborhood that I wanted to try.

Am bringing a wild rice pilaf for Thanksgiving Day potluck. All it has to be is at room temperature. No fuss or production. Our host's kitchen is of average size. Sides that double as big production numbers are just plain rude.

I'm getting used to the house being quiet when I get home and am getting used to not having an audience when I take a bath. I still see my cat at the patio door though.

Saving log - 0$
Spending log - 1.75$ coffee, 6$ lunch

Got the rest of our department's temp staff trained, up and running. Just in time because we now have plenty of money and pledges coming in.

Canceled today's gym class yesterday (so I wouldn't get charged). I found it hard yesterday to get through the day when folks were asking me how my weekend went. I just wanted a couple of days to compose myself. Besides, because Thursday is not igoing to happen, we scheduled for tomorrow morning.

Tomorrow's my day off. All I really have to think about is what dish to make and bring. I have Friday off and so does DH.

My sick and vacation time is turning into PTO (paid time off) on January 1. Good news - we're getting it at 100% par. We can also cash out a week's worth each year. Since I'm healthy as a horse, I have about 350 hours of sick time. I'll have to figure out the most frugal way to play this.

Savings log - 2$ tip box, 50$ into ING, 35$ into a DRP.
Spending log - 2$ coffee/milk, 10$ lunch

I'm feeling a bit better today. I want to thank you all for your wonderful thoughts.

My cat's decline was gradual enough and he was a stoic. But by Friday he refused to eat anything, meowed like he was in severe pain and didn't put anything in the litter box, so off to the vet he went. His X-rays were a mess - a mass of abdominal cancer and a crystaline kidney. The vet couldn't find the other kidney.

I donated the rest of his unopened cat food - about 20 unopened cans and several unopened bags of Greenie cat treats - to the neighborhood PAWS cat adoption site. The folks at the site were very happy to see them, and it made me feel a lot better, too.

I plan to get another cat in about a year, but I'm a firm believer that cats appear karmically. They pick us. A cat will appear or a friend will introduce me to one. Until then, fond memories.

Savings log - 3$ to the tip box
Spending log - 862$ for the vet, X-ray, blood tests, euthanasia, and cremation. (My cat got a war souvenir - a pellet - when he had a run-in with a BB gun about 15 years ago, which we found out by an X-ray at that time. I had better see that BB in his ashes!)

From a fairly good day yesterday to a very bad day today. We put down our beloved 19 year old neutered male cat this afternoon. (the one who knows the name we gave him.)

I don't feel like blogging anymore today.

Savings log - 3$ + 40$ for a DRP.
Spending log - 2$ coffee + milk, 8$ lunch at the hideout, 25$ bubble bath & bath salts.

The "fashion show" was a total hoot. The costume of our manager (a woman) placed 5th out of 12. The COO won. You have to give it to the guy willing to wear a flouncy dress and vogue to Nelly Furtado. The best part was the shell-shocked look of one celebrity judge. Her open mouthed shock on several of the costumes said it all.

I don't know whether I've blogged much on my hideout. If you know Seattle or want to know Seattle, my hideout is a small Vietnamese restaurant with a counter and 10 tables at the Pike Market two doors north of the proudly self-proclaimed "1st Starbucks". :P As I was walking past that freakin' Starbucks, I had to trip over the mob of 20somethings excitedly snapping away with camera phones at its front door. Retail tourism - eew! Not only are we getting hounded by buying stuff, now we're supposed to be excited about taking the historical tour of the retail shop that forced you to buy the stuff?

Thankfully, the tilapia pan-fried in ginger and chili made up for it.

Many thanks for the comments on my list! I did alter it slightly. What I meant with the vodka comment was a dig at a vodka martini, not vodka drinks in general. I sometimes consider a Bloody Mary a health drink; a Virgin Mary is just a V8, right?

Loved Fern's comment about the items being character studies. I was aiming for that effect, or if spoken, a bit like a Laurie Anderson piece. Sometimes a good sentence is a short story.

The ghost in the house generally popped the door leading to the upstairs, and would produce a cold breeze, even in summer with a hot attic. I got the description from my mom. I always slept too soundly to get a peek for myself.