Thought I would make this a true vacation so I took a break from everything even though I stayed at home. The one disadvantage with vacations, even the play at-home version, is that you inevitably spend more money. I did some free stuff, but in the kicking around, I spent more money than I would normally.

I did walk nearly all of the Burke Gilman Trail... I'm not sure. On the Golden Gardens end, its easy - there's a sign: Burke-Gilman End. On the Kenmore end, the Burke-Gilman morphs into the Sammamish Park Trail and where that happens is different depending on the map. Anyway, I got past the Kenmore City Hall, saw no identifying signs and said to heck with it. Whatever I did, I did 6-7 mi/day for 3 non-consecutive days.

Did a bit of frivolous spending. $60 worth of CDs, which dates me. (Mommy, what are CDs? ). Ate lunches out, and hit a different coffee shop everyday. (Hey, its what a tourist would do.) Visited the Experience Music Project & Science Fiction Museum using a $5 off coupon that I got from Valpak. Did gym on Tuesday, but with all the walking, I knew Thursday that I wasn't going to be feeling it for Friday gym, so I canceled that. I figure that I've spent about $200 more this week than I normally do.

Managed to find found money every day. My grand total so far is $39.09: 859 pennies, 32 nickels, 140 dimes, 31 quarters, 2 $1 bills, 1 $5 bill, 1 10 pence coin worth 15 cents.

The only thing I didn't do over vacay was finish up painting the patio table. There's always tomorrow.

Seattle has apparently averted a garbage man's strike. In a weird way, I'm disappointed: one of the perks of being frugal is due to the not-buying and using until its used up is that you throw away a lot less. As it is, we pretty much only set out the can every other week...it takes us longer to fill it.

Two quips going around the UK, according to the New York Times:

In its last request, the Icelandic economy wished that its ashes be strewn over Europe.

Cash? I misheard. I thought you wanted ash!

Found money log -
Thursday - $0.01 (sidewalk)
Friday - $0.13 (fire hydrant, floor by Coinstar machine)
Saturday - $0.02 (table, planting strip)

Not much has been going on, spending has been the same old, but I am on the first day of a week off. Burglar's note: its a staycation. Plans include painting that patio table, planting the planters, hitting the EMP (got a $5 off admission coupon), perhaps even walking the entire length of the Burke Gilman Trail. I think that's a good 20 miles from Golden Gardens to Woodinville.

Lawyer friend is in Europe ... he's supposed to be heading home tonight, for work Monday. Not going to happen, he and partner got caught by the ash fall from the Iceland volcano.

I'm still a bit swamped at work, but I helped out screenwriter friend whose son has a film entered into the Seattle International Film Festival. The film has to get into HighDef format to be shown, and a production studio has to do the deed.

Said production studio is on 15th Ave W, a route I know well, so I offered to deliver the film to them on my lunch hour. Studio is a business in a part of town zoned industrial & in a scruffy neighborhood, the place outside was a tad scruffy so I've been curious about what the place was like inside.

Not at all scruffy. Deceptively tasteful and colorful. Plenty of movie posters along the walls, comfy chairs, an espresso machine (I'm sure its make your own or have the receptionist make one for you). The very large, imposing front desk had three Emmy awards clustered on its right side. They looked heavy - like they really couldn't be used for corncob holders in front of Susan Lucci as in the SNL

monologue.

Told the receptionist, who just sat down, that I was going to ask a dumb question: are those Emmys real? Not a dumb question, she said, and yes, they were.

Dropped off the film to them. So much for my fun today. The rest: my tax refund check came yesterday, as did a dividend check.

Saturday
Saving log - $0 tip box
Spending log - $14 breakfast + $12 groceries +$15 paint (used a gift card)
Found money - $0.22 (floors, sidewalks, roads)

Friday
Saving log - $4 tip box
Spending log - $1.75 coffee
Found money - $0.25 (parking meter, floor, sidewalk)

I kind of like the new overlay listing the blogs. Keeps things from getting stale. Now if I don't have to scroll down through the big sample blog (or is it the first one on the list) and can have my 2005 entries listed on my Archives, it'd be perfect. (My Archive only lists to 2006).

Back in the swing of finding change again. Haven't found a quarter in a number of days, though. I wonder what's up with that?

$30.86: 771 pennies, 29 nickels, 123 dimes, 29 quarters, 2 $1 bills, and a 10 pence coin worth 15 cents.

I bought the paint - Clover Red - for the patio table, along with more sandpaper to finish the rest of the smoothing out process. Showed DH the various possibilities for replacing the cushions (2 Rosses and Target). Still think that despite the extra cost, I still like the Fred Meyer cushions the best.

Thursday
Saving log - $4 tip box
Spending log - $1.75 coffee + $1 bag of spinach
Found money - $0.16 (sidewalk, Safeway floor)

Wednesday
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $1.75 coffee
Found money - $0.08 (road, Safeway floor)


Bless the FC Sounders fans (soccer) and the return of the rain. They brought the spare change back onto the sidewalks. In another week or so, baseball begins, and with the Mariners fans. Between the two sets of sports fans, spring is here and I'll have to get used to lots of traffic on 1st Avenue. we'll see what that means for found money. Its not to hard to figure out what it means to the buses. Tonight I waited, in vain, for my 5 express bus that is supposed to come at 5:38pm. Started waiting at 5:30pm, gave up and caught the 6:04pm 15 bus. Grr. What's really frustrating with the 5 express bus is that I'm waiting at the first stop. I can see if I'm waiting in the middle but there's nothing to make it late.

All was not lost however. Screenwriter friend's son has a film that has been booked into SIFF (Seattle International Film Festival). I'm helping out by paying for transferring the DVD into HD, and as a result, I'm in the credits as an Executive Producer. My task as an EP in the next couple of days is deliver the film to the studio where they will render and make 2 copies in HD. (Screenwriter friend had the choice to get just one, but I insisted - you never want to make just one copy of anything. Why beg the gods to screw you over?) The studio that I'm going to is on the 15/18 route, about a block north of the Interlake Whole Paycheck. And no taking the express 15/18 - express wouldn't stop.

That reminds me - transit log
3/24 - no car, 3.5 mi walk, 11 mi bus
3/25 - no car, 2 mi walk, 14 mi bus

I still have the weekend when I'm likely to use the car, but my car use (DH driving, me sitting in car) is about 15 - 16 miles per month. This month, I've reduced the me sitting in car by about 3 mi. Not great from a mileage standpoint, but fantastic from a percentage standpoint - about a 20% decline.

Tuesday
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $1.75 coffee + $12 groceries
Found money - $0.01 (road)

Monday
Saving log - $4 tip box
Spending log - $1.75 coffee + $20 book
Found money - $0.01 (sidewalk)

Sunday
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $3.88 coffee + $5 croissant, coffee + $2 weekend newspaper
Found money - $0.12 (sidewalk, road)

3/20 - 1 mi car (1 mi fewer than usual for Saturday), walk 4 mi, bus 4 mi
3/21 - 1 mi car, walk 5 mi, bus 4 mi
3/22 - no car, walk 3 mi, bus 14 mi
3/23 - no car, walk 2 mi, bus 12 mi

Cloudy, cooler day on Sunday so I left the patio table alone. Wanted to pick up the book Elements of Investing but the U Bookstore had sold their copy. They pulled a copy from the Bellevue store and I picked it up Monday. Its what you'd think it is: a homage to Elements of Style, except the subject is investing rather than writing. The basics, but frankly, we all need the basics. You lose money the fancier you get.

Honestly, not much else has been happening fiscally - I'm waiting, probably like millions of others, for my tax refund. Put $300 into stock and am waiting for that to be bought. Been hitting the gym even though the trainer's away. Holding at 169.2 - despite the all you can eat lunch to wish lawyer friend and his partner a bon voyage for their own trip to France. Still working hard, not finding many coins on the sidewalk - a penny or so/ day. My total is $30.14. Not complaining, but boy the sun and nice weather has dried up the money.

Called up sister. BIL, who told me he is going to EAA (farmette is about 6 mi away), hasn't talked to her yet. Is he flying in, or driving? Important to know for planning purposes because he'll need a car to get to EAA. Time to put a "pilot" light under him.

Friday
Saving log - $3 tip box
Spending log - $1.75 coffee + $24 groceries
Found money - $0.01 (road)

Saturday
Saving log - $300 Drp
Spending log - $15 brunch + $26 Ross (used my gift card, have $20 left on it)
Found money - $0.01 (Ross floor)

Made it to $30 even in found money.

Today was a beautiful, warm day in the mid 60s, warm enough so I could strip the paint from the patio table today. (Did it outside so I didn't have to worry about ventilation) I used a "green" product, so it meant that it didn't strip all that well. I think I will aim for something artistic rather than perfection - strip enough of the dark green so that when it won't conflict much with the dark red that I'll put on. Dark green and dark red seem to "go" together reasonably well. And for a $10 yard sale investment, I'll go for making something intriguing.

So I put the paint strip on the table and while the directions said 30 minutes, then try, I knew that 30 minutes was nothing - so after I went out and about to price patio chair cushions. Ross had single cushions (one for the seat, one for the back) for $5/per but not enough for all 4 chairs; Target had the two piece universal cushions for $20. Both better deals than Fred Meyer, but I'll loop around and double check. Not today, though. Although I did walk to the mall and got my 2 mi of exercise in.

Came back and did some scraping on the table. Not everything came off, so the next step is to brush and sand some more. As long as its smooth and the strip is off, I'll paint over it - aim for a mission style.

In fiscal department, DH and I signed the lease for another year. No increase in rent. I suppose we could have pushed for a decrease, but we've only had two price increases in 10 years, so the rent has been reasonable. The other decision is to buy $300 worth of SYY stock.

A tad early - as I'm writing, all I need is five more clicks. Who could have thought that I'd be the hostess with the mostest, hosting a million visits. Thank you all for reading!

Found 11 cents yesterday and 12 cents today - I'm at $29.84.

My weight has risen a hair, so I'm now at 170.2. But I did wear my size 10 jeans. They were a hair tight in the stomach, but still comfortable and definitely not denial-tight.

Not much more has happened money-wise, the rest is routine. Filled out the census form. Made crock-pot corned beef, which is straightforward. Rinse the slab of beef, drain, dry. Load the bottom with halved onions, stuff the beef in, add cut in half carrot to fit, add some water- tops maybe 1 cup. Maybe. If there's a packet of herbs, toss 'em in. Set on low for 8 hours, high for the last hour.

Sunday
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $3.88 coffee, bagel + $14 conveyor belt sushi
Found money - $1.03 (sidewalks, the $1 in the grass and ivy right before Queen Anne Hill)

Saturday
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $14 brunch + $27 jeans, 2 sets of outdoor plastic glasses (pd for by Ross card)
Found money - $0.16 (road, Ross floor right against checkout counter)

Friday
Saving log - $2 tip box
Spending log - $1.75 coffee
Found money - $0.03 (counter, parking meter, sidewalk)

3/12 - no car, 2 mi walk, 12 mi bus
3/13 - 2 mi car, 4 mi walk, 9 mi bus
3/14 - 1 mi car, 7 mi walk, 4 mi bus

Again, all quiet on the fiscal front but some action on the money finding front. I found another dollar bill in a similar place to where I found that dollar bill in November - in a grassy, ivy waste area. The only difference is that I found the November bill in the grassy waste area between a parked car and the sidewalk. This one I found on the grassy waste area toward Queen Anne Hill w/ no parked car.

Lately, save for a dime I found yesterday and the bill today, it has all been pennies. People getting more careful? People happier with more sun and daylight so they aren't futzing with stuff in their pockets? Hard to say.

$29.61: 736 pennies, 27 nickels, 115 dimes, 29 quarters, 2 $1 bills, 1 10 pence coin worth 15 cents.

Also went to Ross yesterday for laughs. I managed to get into a size 10. It was all right at the hips and butt, tight in the waist - I still have a bit of a lower ab pooch to lose. I bought the size 10 to keep me focused and give me a goal. 5 more pounds should do it to get me firmly into size 10.

Also picked up two sets of 20 oz plastic glasses - we are going to use them for gracious living on the patio table. Still not quite warm enough to strip the table, then paint it. If the weather holds, I should get that done late March early April.

Monday
Saving log - $1700 tax refund
Spending log - $0 coffee (free)
Found money - $0.03 (sidewalks, bus stop)

Sunday
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $3.88 coffee, bagel + $7 apple, magazine
Found money - $0.01 (sidewalk crack)

Saturday
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $0
Found money - $0

3/6 - no car, no walk, no bus
3/7 - 1 mi car, 4.5 mi walk, 3 mi bus
3/8 - no car, 2.5 mi walk, 14 mi bus

Last few days, I've been a feeling like karma has been dancing around my head like Will Farrell in a too tight hideous 70s knit. Like

this.

Saturday:
Good - sunniest, warmiest weather of the year so far. Bad - laid up all day with a case of self induced food poisoning. The day before I packed my lunch with the last of a bean stew. Quit when you are penultimate. Nothing ucky - just shivery, achy, and sleepy. Slept all but 6 hours that day.

Sunday:
Good - Enjoyed the Oscars, got a lot of ideas for refreshing the Netflix queue. Bad - not enough bad dresses. I'll have to make do with Quentin Tarentino's girlfriends' pink pjyama black boa fetish number or Charlize Theron's cinnabon bustier.

Monday:
Good - Filed my taxes. Am getting a refund! Bad - late for work, meeting meeting meeting, big set of errors hitting the fan at around 4 pm today.

Clank clank clank.

Saving log - $1 tip box
Spending log - $1.75 coffee + $14 groceries
Found money - $0.11 (driveway, road)

I couldn't resist: blueberries @ $1.99/lb. Not local, not seasonal, cheap from Chile and probably put g%d knows how much CO2 in the air during its plane flight ... still a treat.

Fern, I found some real

ringers for your heat contest. Crazy, stubborn, super-cheap, anti-freeze for blood, all of the above?

Oh yes, after the third friday of 2010, we now have a second Washington state bank shut down. So much for moving your money to a local bank ... if it eventually creeps back to bigger and bigger bank.

Sunday
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $1.97 bagel (free coffee off the punch card + $1 apple
Found money - $0.22 (sidewalk, Safeway checkout, top of escalator)

Saturday
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $14 brunch, coffee + $4 vegetables
Found money - $0.33 (road, sidewalk, under parked car)

Christmas
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $3.88 coffee, bagel
Found money - $0.02 (sidewalk)

Yes, if you can believe it, I even found coins on Christmas day. $15.23, and counting. I reviewed my Excel spreadsheet of when, how much, where I found change and it turns out that I have found some sort of change every day between 11/21/09 and now - 37 days straight. I feel like the Joe DiMaggio of found money. Wonder what the record is?

DH and I had rib-eye steaks, gingered carrots, and garlic mashed potatoes for Christmas dinner. Saturday we were invited to dinner, movie, then back for dessert and digestif. We saw

Sherlock Holmes, which played to me like the steampunk version of Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels. (liked steampunk, liked LSTSB). The conversation was varied - I've been finding that I'm suddenly the to-go person for help in losing weight. If only people knew that it really takes a total awareness and a total lifestyle change. Nothing magic, hell I'm having issues - I'm up several pounds to 174.

Not much fiscal is going on - I'm waiting for the end of the year when the last paycheck, the net worth calculation, and the 2010 Roth gets started at the end of the year.

Monday
Saving log - $-20 tip box
Spending log - $1.75 coffee + $18 holiday lunch w/friends
Found money - $0.01 (floor)

Sunday
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $3.88 coffee, bagel + $4 groceries
Found money - $0.35 (bus stop, bus, sidewalk)

Saturday
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $15 brunch + $45 gifts + $15 dinner w/friends
Found money - $0.11 (floor, carpet)

Very spendy weekend and surprise holiday get-togethers crashed against the day before payday, so I had to use the tip box in a way that I rarely want to - to pay myself should I run a little short. Its not a biggie, I remind myself. I get paid tomorrow, with the credit card pay check (I pay the credit card at the middle of the month, rent at the beginning of the month). Credit card bill has been low, so it will be easy to pay off the card and replace the tip box.

With the penny today, I've found $13.04, expressed as 299 pennies, 12 nickels, 57 dimes, 11 quarters, and a $1 bill. Screenwriter friend asked me if there were rules. Sure, I said - found money.

I have to touch the money. I don't have to put it in my pocket - so if someone had dropped the dollar bill and I saw it, I can pick it up and give to them and still count it.

Foreign coins count at face value. I call it found money, not found US money. Heck, with the dollar relatively weak - the Canadian dollar exchange rate is 92 cents on the dollar, while the euro is $1.40 or so on the dollar - if anything, I could be shorting myself. I'll re-think if I find a Zimbabwean trillion dollar bill.

I don't go after money in fountains or pools. I don't want to get my hand wet; I'm not that pathetic; and frankly I already look kind of silly when I pull out my penlight to look under tables and the bus seat.

Safety first. There could well be plenty of coins in the middle of the road. I'm not going to be the one to get run over to go after them.

The only other fiscal thing today was that I'm finishing up Predictably Irrational - on behavioral economics. I'm fascinated on how we are blind to the cult of Free! and how choices are presented to us (think menus, online subscriptions, comparative advertising). I'm also thinking of getting and reading

The Great Depression: A Diary . After all has been said and done, and add another 60 - 70 years, I wonder if any of our blogs will be called up, edited, and read as a slice of our times? I'm guessing that Seattle is not in a depression yet - far too many people are losing far too many coins.

Tuesday
Saving log - $2 tip box
Spending log - $1.75 coffee + $10 groceries + $70 Christmas gifts
Found money - $0.01 (counter)

Monday
Saving log - $4 tip box
Spending log - $5 coffee, yogurt parfait + $10 lunch & snack
Found money - $0.10 (bus floor underneath my seat)

It is still cold - I'm in the Montana coat, called that because its what I wear in Montana in December. The one advantage I had when I weighed 210 is that I was never really cold; I was always insulated.

Bought (actually ordered from my Pampered Chef contact and paid her back) a set of 4 spirals with a stake at the bottom, and one bigger spiral again with the stake at the bottom. The idea is to plant the spiral in the ground with the stake, then set your drink in the spiral. The big spiral is to set in the bottle of whatever. I also got a set of pretty outdoor glasses.

The reason I decided on this gift for sister is that I saw pictures of some of her parties at the farmette. She had an amazing Tom Sawyer-like ability to get her friends in Milwaukee to come out and help shell beans or shell popcorn, or dig up potatoes. I figured that she can get a group together in a circle outside easily. Those stakes will be full of drinks.

Not much on the financial front. I did read about a

stooper, a person who gleans money finding the winning tickets from the mass of tickets scattered on the floor of the betting parlor. Before really going after found money, I wouldn't have believed anybody did this, or that it would pay. Now? Its like recycling luck. Someone tossed away a semi-winning ticket, and he recycled it.

Wednesday
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $1.75 coffee + $60 Christmas gifts
Found money - $0.05 (sidewalk, road, parking meter, in front of bus fare box)

Tuesday
Saving log - $3 tip box
Spending log - $1.75 coffee
Found money - $0.01 (sidewalk)

Monday
Saving log - $6 tip box + $35 Drp
Spending log - $1.75 coffee + $15 groceries
Found money - $0.06 (sidewalk, 4 cents in front of store)

Not a lot happened to me these past few days: I found out I gained 1 lb during Thanksgiving, so I dodged a bullet; I used up the last of the pumpkin raisin ginger filling to make pumpkin thumbprint cookies thereby giving me many more bullets to dodge ; am working hard at the pledges coming in; starting with the Christmas shopping. Steady as she goes with my finances.

The big news is with DH. He started work Monday. Temp job, semi-seasonal, but pays a reasonable hourly wage (mid-teens) with a strong possibility that its permanent.

Wednesday
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $1.75 coffee + $23 office supplies + $8 lunch/snack fixings
Found money - $0.03 (sidewalk, floor)

Tuesday
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $6.75 coffee, breakfast for DH and I
Found money - $0.01 (sidewalk corner)

So much for hoping for newness; the landlord came in and replaced the element. So touchy grandma stove is back from hospice. And just in time, too. Sister mailed me a butternut squash, cut in half to get in the box. I cleaned it up, and then took a cheese slicer to the cut side to remove the outer layer and expose the better one. Said squash is now roasting comfortably in the oven along with the new element. (Squash soup). One advantage to the fix is that now the dial and the oven temperature agree. It used to run about 25-50 degrees too hot.

Another fix it - our DVD has been cranky loading DVDs and tracking. DH googled our DVD make and the problem, took the DVD apart, cleaned the lens with isopropyl alcohol wipes (had some to clean monitors), put the DVD back together and now its a lot less cranky.

Monday
Saving log - $6 tip box
Spending log - $11 lunch
Found money - $0.01 (road)

Sunday
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $3.88 bagel, coffee + $5 trail mix, salad
Found money - $0.05 (by wastebasket, sidewalk, road, bus floor, Safeway floor)

Deposited my monthly tip box collection - $47. When one pulls out $40 from the ATM, it perhaps is a little strange. Still, saving is saving.

When I got home I expected a round roast dinner. Instead, I got a taken apart stove. DH filled me in. He turned on the stove and the element caught fire. He called the fire department, who told him how to trip the fuse to the stove and disconnect the element so it would cool off. He called the landlord - fingers crossed that it is done and should be replaced. I've cooked a lot of great meals with the stove but it came from the 70's and behaved like it was 70. Touchy, in other words. Now... whose stove do we borrow?

Saving log - $0
Spending log - $4.20 breakfast + $56 greek groceries + $20 greek dinner

It seemed like a spendy day, but it really wasn't. Upon advice in the comments, we hit both the Free Museum Day and the Greek Festival.

We really went on an adventure today - we got to the Museum of Glass in Tacoma from home using our free museum pass, my bus pass, and DH's ORCA card. While it was cheap (about $3 without the passes and no driving, gas, parking), it took a bit more time to get there (2 hr versus 1 hr). A few pics...

Close up of the ceiling of the bridge one uses to get to the Museum of Glass - we are in Chiluly land.


Museum of Glass is a smallish building behind a huge honking cone.


Inside the huge honking cone is the "hot shop" where you can watch the glassblowers at work.


To tell you the truth, there was only 3-4 galleries of glass, so it took maybe an hour to go through it. We could take the bus back to Seattle, and we were dropped off within a block of a bus that I knew would take us to the Greek festival. This was the pricey part - I get the good olive oil in the metal gallon tin, feta, grape leaves - this year, I also got jar of hot pickled veg, a package of the least deadly sugar cookies (dozen baklava is just too dangerous), and a small pack of pistachio halva.

Then there's the eating. This pic sums up the Greek festival to me.

Sunday
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $3.88 coffee, bagel + $26 vitamins, bath salts, apple
Found money - $0

Saturday
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $12 coffee, breakfast + $16 various yard sale finds in the neighborhood
Found money - $.10 carpet of breakfast place + $.01 crosswalk

It was this year version of the Greenwood Yard Sale - it used to be held in April, but ever since last year when it hailed the day of the yard sale, the neighborhood re-set the time to September.

I don't whether it was due to the recession or that it was such a nice day that a lot more people participated (what?

not going to the new Bravern mall), but the pickings were very good. I got a map from the Senior Center just up the street and began. I was specifically looking for a dutch oven for my sister, but I got:
2 bars of homemade soap (senior center) - $1
4 homemade brownies (senior center bake sale) - $1
1 metal bowl - $2
1 encyclopedia of container gardening - $1
4 burly patio chairs, 2 cushions - $7 (one had a strap out)
1 fold out patio table - $4

I could have gotten a foam cheesehead, a dehydrator, 2 bread machines, boodles of TVs (ha ha), a couple of flat screen monitors, a Bell & Howard film projector (got a flashback to second grade on that one).

We are in the process of getting rid of our ancient, flimsy patio chairs. Here's are two of the yard sale chairs. Stripping and repainting a patio table is in my future somehow.


In addition, we are going to give sister the smaller of one of our dutch ovens - we have two cast iron ones, each burly enough to make the NYT no knead bread recipe. I got the dutch oven that we're planning to give her from in a thrift store in Tucson for $10... made a lot of great meals in it.

Friday
Saving log - $2 tip box
Spending log - $1.75 coffee + $17 groceries (blueberries @ $3.88 for 2 lb)
Found money - $0

Thursday
Saving log - $1 tip box
Spending log - $22 Overstock.com purse
Found money - $0

My knee felt much better and I was much more confident on it than I had been, so I was bossed around by the trainer this afternoon. Did no knee exercises specifically, but during the twists and turns it was obvious that everything is connected. Got weighed today and I am at 173, so eating carefully to make up for no heavy exercise worked okay.

Received the purse at overstock.com. Some people are seduced by shoes, some by jewelry, some by jeans and skirts and belts... me, the purse. But this one fills a need. Vinyl, with a zipper at the top, useful because everything else I have is open or snapped at the top, I walk, and it rains in Seattle. As I was loading up my new purse, it occurred to me I carry expensive stuff routinely:

MP3 player - got it at $300
PDA - $150
Digital camera - $100
Spare prescription glasses - $200
Phone - $40

...depreciation, of course, so none of it will sell at those prices, but still, it gives me a jolt that I daily lug a pile that cost me $800. Bumping up against that 1K limit.

Sunday
Saving log - $0 tip box
Spending log - $24 groceries, sister's birthday card
Found money - $0.01 (under the elliptical machine at the gym)

Saturday
Saving log - $0 tip box
Spending log - $2.00 coffee
Found money - $0

My knee is still bothering me and it felt iffy to jog, so I did 45 minutes on the elliptical machine. And I got paid for it too by finding that penny underneath.

I'm down to $50 until the next paycheck next week - I broke down and transferred $200 from ING. With the chiropractor, mailing sister's birthday gift, and next weekend, I wasn't going to make it.

Saving log - $1 tip box
Spending log - $1.75 coffee + $4 smoothie/juice + $8 salad, grapes

2 ironies about our

soon-to-be-ex mayor:

1. named Nickels (is that why I can't find any on the sidewalk?)
2. a former Chicagoan, he got tripped up in exactly the same way as several Chicago mayors did: lack of snow removal.

Tuesday
Saving log - $1 tip box
Spending log - $1.73 coffee
Found money - $0.01 (sidewalk, corner of 1st/Cherry) + $0.01 (next to wastebasket on 1st)

Monday
Saving log - $1 tip box
Spending log - $1.73 coffee
Found money - $0

My knee swelled a little bit. I can walk on it, its just stiff, but I'm taking it easy - no long walks, no stairs, no jogging, aspirin, and (R)est, (I)ce, (C)ompression, and (E)levation. The chiropractor gave it some gentle stretches and twists yesterday and it moved a lot better. Today, better, but I'm thinking that the workout Friday is going to be iffy. Better to lose a week than lose several weeks.

Yesterday I did make it to the bank to deposit the tip box earnings for the month.

Buying the beef set me back - after my monthly commitments, I only have $90 from my current paycheck to last me until the end of the month. I probably will have to grit my teeth sometime next week and take a bit of money out of savings. I'll hold out as long as is convenient, then break down. Bartering for a duck is a go, though, and that will feel good - I suspect my Duvall friends could use the bucks and the customers.

Wednesday
Saving log - $0 tip box
Spending log - $12 groceries + $50 birthday gift
Found money - $0

Thursday
Saving log - $2 tip box
Spending log - $19 birthday gift
Found money - $0

With the exception of birthday gift for DH and birthday gift for sister at the end of the month, absolutely nothing fiscal has happened.

Saving log - $0
Spending log - $91 groceries
Found money - $0.01 (parking lot behind a concrete brake)

We now all vote by mail - we got the ballots 2 days ago and the voter's pamphlet today. We have to get the ballots mailed by Aug 18. The 20 cent plastic bag tax is on it - apparently the plastic bags that you put produce in does not count, just the ones at the front. Mr. goodspaceguy is running for mayor, which provided most of the reading entertainment from the voter's guide.

Walked the 7 miles downtown today, picking several blackberries along the way. They are nice and glossy black, but still a tad too sour. Give them another few days. I still don't understand why anyone in Seattle would actually buy blackberries, when there is such good hunting all around.

Saving log - $5 tip box
Spending log - $1.25 half 'n half
Found money - $0.25 (in gutter along curve, half buried in disintegrating leaves)

Tonight I found the rustiest quarter ever. When I saw it next to the curb on the road it was just a metal curve and I thought it was a rusted bottle cap. Nope - 1978 quarter. Surprise 1.

I renewed my prepaid cell phone a couple of days ago - my leftover minutes rolled over which was sweet. However in the last few days I've gotten a couple of calls from a collection agency. I have no debt, so they are not mine; I suspect they're coming from the previous owner of the phone number. Half buried surprise 2.

Question is: do I call them and tell them, or ignore them?

Saving log - $0 tip box
Spending log - $22 beer, dinner
Found money - $0

DH and I had a little date night tonight. At one point in the conversation, we toasted Walter Cronkite.

"That's the way it is," we said, and clanked our glasses.

Saving log - $1.01 tip box
Spending log - $3.80 coffee, cake
Found money - .01 (sidewalk on 1st/Pike along Pike Market)

I splurged on a store bought coffee, but I remembered to say that I had a bus pass. Twenty cents off, or about 5%.

At the lunch hour, I walked with DJ friend - he had an errand to buy flowers (3rd wedding anniversary), and it was on my list to deposit my tip box. Along the way I found the penny and added it to my deposit.

We walked past a demonstration in front of Jimmy John's (sandwich shop) - it was a picket line with signs and chanting. According to the flyer we grabbed, a delivery guy was fired at JJ's without cause. I have no dog in this fight, but it was interesting to note that someone will raise a ruckus for you.

Saving log - $3 tip box
Spending log - $0
Found money - $0.01 (sidewalk in front of parking meter)

Forty years ago Thursday, hours before a celebrated event, a

check was written to pay off a quick loan.

Fascinating to think that with all the last minute preparations said writer of the check had it on his to-do list. Probably didn't want it on his mind as he left Earth. Imagine if he used a payday lender.