Wore my new jeans to work (I'm a department where we put the casual in business casual), got my compliments.

On the bus - the first one had some sort of issue so when its replacement parked behind us, I motioned to my seat mate that we want to make a break for it to get onto the bus behind us when the back door opens. We did and we managed to get decent seats. He laughed and said that he's so oblivious when he was reading.

Man, its just so nice when you just take up your side of the bus seat. You even feel confident enough to flirt. Kinda flirt.

Had a serendipitous lunch with a friend. She came to my office and told me we had to cancel the lunch to my "hideout" two weeks from now. I countered that I was going to go to the place for lunch today - would she like to come? So we went, and we had a nice gossip session. The food was great, cheap, light, and best of all, no one from work goes there.

Actually, she's one of people I sent to my trainer, so we had a nice conversation about that. She asked me whether she was willing to split a few sessions with me. I'm very interested, but she does tend to be flaky, and I'm pretty consistent. Oh well, maybe she'll will be useful for dropping that expense by a few bucks.

Spending log - 1.37$ coffee + 10$ lunch

Saving log - 5$ in the tip box. I should be depositing this month's scrapings at the end of this week.

That's what I bought today - $1.75 coffee + $4.90 2 grey L tops + $21.75 tweezers. A few footnotes.

Coffee - at the weekend place, where I have a punch card and have saved up for a couple of free-bee coffees.

2 grey L tops - at the thrift store. I always go for the best feeling stuff in solid colors. Nice to be able to buy Ls, as opposed to XLs, but when I try them on with the 14s, I get the "muffin top" effect. So I'm jazzed, but I shouldn't be too jazzed because I have plenty of work to do.

Tweezers - couldn't find my favorites and my eyebrows needed shaping. Anybody got a problem with that?

Got an update letter from the executor (US Bank, in case you forgot) regarding the second piece of land, the house, and barn. It's in a holding pattern. Sister and I are waiting for the formal appraisal from the Wisconsin DNR (WiDNR) which should happen in 4-6 weeks, and the formal offer a month later. I'm getting from the tone of the letter that everything from the WiDNR is happening too slowly for even the executors. But its hard to know - the WiDNR considerations are different, perhaps more scientific and observational. Flight of fancy here - how good is the water quality, how many chemicals are in the soil, how many and what type of bird uses the creek and wetland as a migratory stop... To the WiDNR, finding a rare bird or rare critter might be part of the assessment. The cynic in me is thinking that the WiDNR is simply waiting for land prices to drop to their price.

And the executors are asking whether we should winterize the house. Wonder how sister's garden on the place is coming along?

On a more shallow front, I hit Ross today and bought new clothes. 2 size 14s jeans, 1 size 16 (in case of a couple big meals and monthly bloat) jeans, and a black DKNY turtleneck - $70.86. Increase in self esteem - priceless. No thin spots in the crotch - also priceless.

Not much financial happened today. Got the cheap coffee @ 1.37, with tax. So only a 17% savings.

We are doing a living room reorganization and DH found my passport. Even though its older than ten years, its still exciting because it be a whole lot easier and cheaper to replace than to get one from scratch.

Work is getting crazy again. Today in gym, my trainer was shadowed by another pre-trainer. I ran through the exercises pretty well - I must do better with an audience.

Put 6$ in my tip box.

Had a chat with the chiropractor. Week after next, I'm just going once a week. One $40 check drops to $20.

Glancing at a before and after diet commercial, I realized how incredibly frugal I am. Everyone else in these commercials is wearing the great condition fat pants, sticking their thumb out from the waist to show how big the pants are. Dammit, I'm wearing my too big stuff until it falls apart (or it falls off - hah hah). No one's getting me to pose in perfectly new usuable stuff. Besides, everything's incredibly comfortable and easy to get on.

Put the $7.45 from this week's T-bill into ING.

Put $10 in the tip box, sent $40 to my MMM drip.

The trainer was very happy to hear about the 2 sizes down and that I was in shape enough to hike for 6 hrs and be comfortable.

"You have to celebrate!" she said. "Don't be shy, tell the world. Your homework assignment is to tell at least 5 people after you leave the gym."

"But I bl--" and then I stopped. "Never mind. I will tell the world."

Honestly, it probably would be all right if I told her, but like any good journal, this blog works best as a secret inspiration.

Paid back the free coffee I got on Friday, added 3$ to the tip box to replace some of what I took to make it through Friday. I could have made it one more day without getting money, but a girlie emergency caught up with me. Tampons are way more expensive downtown than they are in my neighborhood. Sigh. They know.

Trip 1: to get an emergency nice outfit in case I have to go out on the road with the fundraising staff for the non-profit that I work at. The mission is to look nice, but not too nice. You don't want people to assume that their gift goes to your favorite boutique, and besides, this blog is part of Saving Advice, not spending advice.

So it was Ross Dress for Less, where I got a wonderful surprise. I am 2, count 'em 2, sizes down. I'm now a 14, instead of an 18. Freakin' Woo hoo! Got a brown suit and a pair of nice black pants = $38.06.

Trip 2: Best Buy. More of a treat, but it will be used a lot. Got an FM transmitter that plugs into the cigarette lighter of the cushmobile, and it broadcasts what's on your MP3 player on an unused FM band. Not fancy, but it'll work with either mine or DH's MP3 player. Set it up and it did what it advertised. Best of all, you can unplug it and take it with you or hide it from prying, thieving eyes = $54.39.

Used a 2 for 1 coffee coupon at a local coffeeshop - coffee for DH and myself = $2.00.

Saturday, the five of us (me, DH, friend, friend's wife, friend's dog) went hiking on Heliotrope Ridge, on the northwest side of Mount Baker.

We didn't quite make it to the end of the trail to the lookout, but me and the friend did make it far enough to see the Coleman Glacier from afar. It was rated strenuous (2000 ft elevation change), and I was very very thankful that I was in decent enough shape and had enough energy to enjoy the trip...and I was not the least fit person in the group (like I usually am). Turns out that the dog, a little white poodle, was strongest hiker of all us. It was fun, it was even fun enough to take up as a hobby.

My only nemesis was this. The picture's deceptive - what looks like a friendly little bridge crossing is at least a 30 ft drop into the stream and onto rocks. I'm deathly afraid of heights. The only way I could cross it was sandwiched between friend and DH, and look at friend's backpack while I mechanically moved my feet.

Our goal was this. We did get close enough to see it from afar here.

Cost of the trip = 17$ food (sandwiches, water, trail mix, McDonald's breakfast) + 5$ trail pass + 56$ (split in half - Mexican dinner after the hike...after 6 hrs of hiking, what's a little lard?) + 45$ gas (we took the white Buick cushmobile - fantastic to be able to stretch your legs after a hike). The Buick gets surprisingly good gas mileage - in the upper 20s, despite the fact that DH has a bit of a lead foot. Friend paid for a bit of gas, but he had driven me so many places for work and social stuff that we considered this trip payback. He's a DJ and gave us one of his CD mixes to sweeten the accounting.

Yesterday I got all bummed out and wigged because I took that test that I promised to take after the Nashville trip...

I failed it. By 3 questions.

The Director of IT took it about a month and a half ago and my other two compatriots took it and passed, so we got our three people for the cheap rate, and yep the questions were crapily worded (blame the tools, not the craftsman)...but still. Sigh...

I'm not the gal I used to be in that regard. In my first year of grad school, I took a immunology midterm when I hadn't even bought the book and had to borrow a pencil from a nervous pre-med (frugally excellent psych-out technique, FYI) and scored second in the class. "Imagine how I'd do if I bought the book," was all I said.

Good times, good times.

Bought my third 4-week T-bill. So my plan is to have 4 $2000 4-week T-bills, staggered so each is bought a different week, and bought from the account that the T-bill matured in. The interest earned from the bills gets scraped back into ING. This $8000 and the $6000+ in my ING account comprise my liquid emergency fund. Everything else is medium and long term-investment.

Got paid today at the raise rate - it was a 30$ increase, so increasing the pay-yourself rate to 75$ from 50$ at the top of the month means I've saved my raise.

Gym was upper body. For the last several days, I've been stopping on 15th NW, a 7 block further walk.

Its weird how people will bust their butts and get all excited about a 4% raise. It is exciting, but if you save 4 pennies off of each dollar, its like giving yourself that raise.

I was talking to a mid-aged friend of mine who remembered $60/month rents, and how he joked that he was bugged when it when up to $70...all for only $10, he said. What do you mean? I said. You should have been bugged - that's a 16% increase. Man, that's an accountant's answer, he said.

And why save a dime per pound on 99 cent potatoes. Yeah, sure that's a dime, but that's also 11% savings.

Well, it's a lot easier to get into the frugal mindset and easier to rationalize your purchases if you calculate your savings in percents.

As far as gym is concerned - 0%. I lost a pound, gained .5% of bodyfat, lost an inch on the waist and chest, gained an inch on my arms and legs. Considering I punked out on eating and exercise for 2 weeks, I dodged a bullet.

Found a quarter sitting on an empty bus seat this morning as I was leaving. That was a good sign for my first day back to work. Best haul I've had in a year or two. Mostly I find pennies and dimes.

And it was just in time, too. Vacation just breeds spending opportunity. If you work on an outside job, you have little time or opportunity to spend. I was okay with not buying lunch, but it seemed like everyday I was shelling out bucks for printer cartridges or a bed or a sheets. Good deals, but the best deal of all is 0$.

Shoveled out 155 emails and went through my day. Caught up with the groom from the second wedding I attended (the couple who got four personal finance books) - we hadn't talked for about 6 weeks. Most of my department is getting back from various vacations, so very soon we will be at full strength.

Got my other habits in order. My back was stiff, but the chiropractic adjustments seemed to hold, even with two weeks on the air mattress and couch. The personal trainer threatened measurements tomorrow. Got the footlong sandwich so I have lunch today and Wednesday - got the special for 5$, so it would be $2.50/lunch. Tomorrow I have lunch with lawyer friend (before measurements). I should finish the month with $60 in my checking account.

Savings log - 7$ tip box.
Spending log - $1.75 coffee + $5.00 lunch.

$3 more in the tip box

Spent $1.75 for coffee, and $8 for lunch. The price per lb of salad rose .50/lb to $5.49/lb. Bummer! Although they still have mango slices, baked salmon, fried mushrooms, and tofu with black bean sauce, so .50 more is still worth it.

Saw the chiropractor checks online, which was a treat in each sense of the word; last week my bank "upgraded" its site. I couldn't get into my bank account so I couldn't reconcile my checks. It could have been worse. I don't use online bill pay, thankfully - that was completely knocked out during the "upgrade". Welcome to the icky side of the digital life.

Worked out at the gym by myself today. Because I'm in the fitness challenge, I have to get weighed and measured. Another personal trainer did the deed, and I got another piece of rotten news - no weight loss or inch loss. To be fair, a bad before number means that its easier to win.

And tonight, I joined a night out party put on by the Seattle Police & Fire Dept to promote block watches. The block in question wasn't my block, but the block on the next street over. We live on a high traffic street so we had no ability to block off our street. No matter - there were at least 3 parties within 2 blocks of us.

Not that much saving going on.

Lawyer friend's partner is alright, but I found out that I knew another friend, initials CG, who worked there and had gotten shot in the knees. Time to circle the wagons, figure out what is needed for her and how to help.

Now for the more mundane:
- I put 7$ in the tip box.
- I managed to "play my cards right" and get a week's worth of breakfast coffee for $1 (usually runs $8.75).
- Payment made it to the transfer agent in time to buy comparatively cheap 3M stock next week.
- Signed up for another fitness challenge, along with the two friends from work. The personal trainer rates are cheaper during this time, and she was in a contest to sign up the most people. Since I put her over the top, she's giving me a free session. Might just as well make gym pay me if at all possible.

We are having a heat alert in Seattle tomorrow, so I expect to have another not-so-good night of sleep. Last night our 19 yr old cat kept hurking up, so his food is being cut back a bit.

Today I spent stupid money. I left my bus pass in my yesterday's pants pocket, I had to beg to get on in the morning and pay $1.50 on the return trip home. Lunch out with lawyer friend, but at places charging only 6$. Compared to 10-11$ a month or two ago, we are making progress.

Last night I was going to change a bit of information on my Treasury Direct account. I was so clever a year ago answering the security questions. Too clever: I locked my account. I highly recommend their customer service - no hold, no hold music, just a nice guy who answered the phone on the second ring, asked me some security questions and unlocked my account in all of five minutes.

I've still been doing gym. I haven't been measured lately, so I think I will ask next week. My large gym shirt is comfortable (It'll be years before I become a medium), the upper ab bulge is disappearing and the shirt is not creeping up. Yippee! My trainer is now working with my two co workers, who are now gym buddies and come in nearly every day. I'm excited for them, too.

Spending log - $1.65 coffee + $6 lunch + $1.50 bus ride.
Saving log - $1 tip box, scheduled a $2000 transfer from ING to another 4 wk T-bill, moved $1000 into another DRP.

I read this while I ate my Friday curry special. Nearly put me off my food. Kudos for the anarchists not being black hooded and smashing up stores, but I think it takes group frugality just a tad too far. And actually, group frugality and those rules just make that shared house seem like a joyless experience. Guys, the revolution has to be attractive, because to the average American, living well is the best revenge.

Put another 3$ in the tip box. Did the gym and the chiropractor. I'm getting my routine going and it feels good.

Word from sister: Sister and I are still waiting for the WiDNR final proposal. I have to remember that this is a government entity. Its not like they can just hop on an opportunity in a matter of days.

Might just as well do the net worth calculation.

$ 6,747.81 - stocks
$56,147.34 - IRA and 403(B)
$ 8,297.96 - bonds
$30,334.50 - 6 mo CD in brick/mortar bank
$19,385.48 - ING, checking, bank savings
-$ 652.00 - credit card*

$120,261.09 - grand total

*I signed up for more personal training on June 30.

I learned from my trainer that gym time is a bit like the car lot. The trainers in the gym have a quota; if you sign up at the end of the month you'll probably get a better deal.

It turns out that I will get a freebie from my trainer. I only got two new members, but by coincidence the managing CEO was working the table at our site. Seeing that I was an ad ... He got the idea to scour his records, find other downtown worksites that have a lot of clients, then schedule a gym "roadshow" at those offices.

Turns out that I'll need that extra training. The wedding on Friday night was beautiful with great weather, but the reception was a blowout - a couple of glasses of red wine and my judgment turned poor for the buffet.

We had a little benefits fair at work today. My gym is a benefit, and guess what? - my trainer was there, working the info table! I got a couple of coworkers who had been complimenting me these past months to sign up with her and try it out. It's fun being the ad! She struck a deal with me - if I could get three people to sign up, I get a freebie. Only got two, though...that I know about.

But one my coworkers that I got to sign up came down to my office and we chatted about what you could expect. My trainer is very enthusiastic; annoyingly so at first. Then I realized that the opposite would entail not being enthusiastic, and that would be way, way, way worse.

Filled out the expense report for buying bowling awards. It came to $205, but we bought a lot of awards, and 5 of anything is going to be spendy. We'll see how the budget worked out for the event.

This is so rare, but I'm down to my last $6 this month. I even raided the tip box. Payday tomorrow, and it can't come fast enough.

Only spent $4.50 today. $2 for a coffee and $2.50 for 1/2 a good tuna sandwich. Saved the first half of today's lunch from yesterday.

Put 40$ in the 3M drp. After 2 years, I now have 27 shares. Put $35 in a WEC drp two weeks ago, I now have 18 shares of that. Put $50 electronically in KO last week, I now have 72 shares of that. Dividends for this quarter are: $22.28 (KO) + $12.05 (MMM) + $3.95 (WEC) + $2.98 (MI) = $41.26. It's not a bad deal - I put in money in quantities that I don't miss and it generates reinvested money that I also don't miss.

Haven't heard boo on the 2nd property.

The trainer has raised the resistance weight on most of the machines. Where it was 20 lbs, its now 30 lbs. We are now being to do "future" exercises. She had me try to do several real man-style pushups. I could still only bend my elbows and dip a couple of inches or two. For the future, the trainer said. I surprised both of us by holding a decent full plank position for 45 seconds.

I broke down and figured what I've paid so far to get in better shape - trainer, gym fees, chiropractic copays. Look if you dare - its high...


$5,154.85

Waaaaah!

I am feeling better, my posture's a lot better, I've lost a lot of inches, and I got a compliment from my trainer. She looks forward to our workouts and told me how rare it is for a client who comes in 10-15 minutes early to warm up and - our new thing - to roll out my knots in my legs. It means that our workouts together are for the full 60 minutes, or from my perspective, 70 minutes. Everybody else seems to go for about 45 minutes. I did my best old fart voice and said, "Harrump, I bought an hour's workout and by G*d I'm going to get one." Grinned while I said it of course.

Thanks folks for you all thinking I'm an fitness inspiration. I still wish it didn't cost so much.

I'm under 200! 198 3/4. Lost another 1/2 inch on the waist, and another 3/4 inch from the hips. According to the original measurements, I'm very close to the loss of inches and loss of body fat 6-month goal that the first trainer set up for me. Except for the weight - he figured that I would be around 180.

Call me Ahnold. I guess I'm not a girlie-man girl. I turn fat to muscle instead of having it go poof.

Checked up on my 403B, the accounts where my vestments were weird. One was right; the other showed 80% vested, which was right before Feb 1. It take a little more work, but at least movement has appeared. HR didn't appreciate that I emailed my co-workers about it...so screw it. I can look at my accounts and I can report to my friends my findings. HR is not your friend, usually.

I'm going on the junket to Nashville, so I've booked the hotel and the plane ticket. I used Priceline to get the cheapest round-trip ticket I could ($435), but comes with a real Twilight Zone itinerary. Hopefully William Shatner is not flying the plane; bad enough when he has a window seat looking out at the wing.

Put 5$ in the tip box.
Gave DH $2000 to get the car fixed.
Pulled the last 740$ of gramma's gift to pay off the credit card completely, for now.

Had a nice quiet day today. Did a little walking to drop off an item to the library, then back, taking the brutal hill again. I'm getting used to that hill, or at least I figure that since I didn't die the first time, I'll make it this time too.

I just realized that I'm not a good medium goal setter. You'll notice I don't set any monthly or weekly savings goal, nor have I set any Xlbs in Yweeks.

I'm good at the short sprint eg. "I want to try 10 minutes at Z level on the elliptical machine", and I'm good at the long haul with a vague eg. "I just want to save as much as I can." If you ask me my number that I need to hit before I retire, or what weight I will eventually end up being, I won't be able to tell nor will I really care. I think the correct answer to "how much should I have saved to retire?" is: All of it. Or when can I stop exercising and watching what I eat? is: Never.

I'm pretty comfortable with vagueness. Comes from the scientific/academic training. Plenty silly saying to my advisor "next Tuesday I'm going to discover X"; not so silly saying "by Tuesday I will run this experiment twice". The medium goal just frustrates me. To keep at something, for me, I have to be even. Frustration, or any strong emotion, is my enemy.

Another thing that motivates me that comes from the scientific/academic training is the pleasure I get is learning something new from careful observation. I dig the fact that the bath towel goes all the way around, or that after I stretch the knots on the sides of my legs, my walking stride is longer and looser. I'm going to learn some economics and how to buy 28 day T-bills. I want to find out how that works and how much I can make.

I guess I'm putting the "P" in my personality type - INFP.

Sister called today. The Wisconsin DNR (WiDNR) is interested in quite a bit of it, but of course not really interested in the farm and the buildings. Sister's thought is to again split it, use a realtor, and try to sell the house, barn and 5-20 acres as a farmette, leaving the back 50 wetland acres to sell to WiDNR. The thought (maybe) would be that WIDNR would begin to restore the wetlands, making the farmette potentially appealing for a buyer interested in what a wetland would offer - a hunter, fisherman or birder. But real estate is chilly right now, so who knows?

The executors were trying to get a renter for the land this year. The month of May is not the time. It should have happened in January/February, but I suspect that they had hoped that the second piece would have sold by then and they would be done. City slickers!

Ah the weekend. Not that work is bad right now (not like the nightmare of late March), its just that on Fridays I have a low tolerance for ijits. You know the type, the ones that call or stop by to give you one of their projects that they've procrastinated on for the week, and then they have to gall to tell you to hurry up with your tasks so they can "supposedly" do theirs. Ahem, stop wasting my time then!

Gym was yesterday, lower body and abs. I'm still marveling at the fact that I can touch my toes and walk my hands to out to get into a push up position. The personal trainer tells me that the goal is to touch toes, walk my hands out to push up position, hold, do a pushup, walk back, straighten up again, then do a squat. Its nearly a full workout on a yoga mat. I'm supposed to drink even more water than I am, which I have to work on. I did change my walking route home. My normal route is to go up a moderate hill, but one block closer to home is far, far steeper hill, so I took that. I felt like a mountain climber.

More measurements next week. And I'm marveling in the fact that I can wear any piece of clothing that I own.
"New item?"
"Yes - from the house of chez baselle."

Another 4$ in the tip box, $35 in a DRP.

$5 in the tip box.

Decided to put in only $100/month into I-bonds this 6 month cycle. I like the idea of 1.4% fixed more than 1.0% or 1.2%, but I think I will see something higher than that in the near future. Just a feeling, 'cause I'm an INFP.

Did the footlong sandwich strategy for lunch. Bought a footlong, put every vegetable on it (I want a salad with my sandwich), had it cut in 4s. In other words, I bought 1st lunch and 2nd lunch for today and tomorrow. (I'm supposed to eat 2 small lunches slowly instead of huff down 1 large lunch). Washed it down with water.

Gotta love water. It does what you ask of it with no calories and probably at no cost to you. I think its even better than diet or unsweetened tea. You have to pay for it, and somehow a flavor conveys an expectation. I don't know how to explain it. If you get used to water, you have less of a craving for sugared soda or even diet soda than you would if you got used to diet soda. At least for me; YMMV.

Did gym yesterday. Balancing and upper body. I'm improving my balance each time. Now can balance myself on an air dome thingee and do bicep curls and shoulder presses. Exciting!

The junket to Nashville is getting more interesting. Apparently I can save my non-profit some money if I take a test and certify myself in special training. It smacks of taking a test for money, a situation that hasn't presented itself to me in twenty years.

I'm a ringer! Ha ha.

Put together a crock pot split pea soup this morning.
.88 worth of frozen smoked ham hock,
1/2 onion, chopped, leftover from a week ago
2 carrots, sliced
4 cups chicken stock
Dried parsely, 3 bay leaves
about 1 lb dried split peas
water to the level of "stuff"
(option) 2 chicken boullion cubes
salt/pepper
Turned crockpot on low.

A few groceries today - $28.51 for the usual, 2 jars of mayo, 2 cans of tuna, 2 lbs of frozen corn, 2 whole fryers, 1 bunch of celery, 2 lbs of carrots, bread, 2 lbs of fresh salsa, 1 lb of butter...and a very yummy pink frosted coconut flaked doughnut. Romaine lettuce prices are positively insane due to flooding in early April, but nothing is really a deal, according to my price book.

Yesterday, I woke up early (early for me) to walk to the nearest branch of my bank. I just wanted to deposit the $15,000 in person. All weekend, it was walking our errands - bank, weekend breakfast, library, 3 grocery stores, and a yard sale. I must have walked at least 5 miles total yesterday and today, and with buying groceries - 1 mile with 20 lbs of weight. Figured that I really didn't have to slip into the gym...I'm living the gym.

Oh yes, the yard sale - $1 shoes - they are those 1/2 tennis shoes, 1/2 clogs (they dip in the back). They were the rage a couple of years ago. They are bright white and looked like they were never used. Because I bought them, I tossed out a seven year old pair of sneaks with holes that I rarely wear. Also bought a $1 Burts Bee sample kit - 2 soaps, 1 cream, and the heavy plastic bag that I can use as a travel bag for my little soaps and shampoos. So 2$ total there.

Today was my day off, but I did hit my appointments with the chiropractor and personal trainer.

It was a chain of money mistakes, though. For the want of writing a check the night before, I had to pull money out for my chiropractor copay, and as I got my copay my bus pulled away from my stop. Still have my timing with buses - exactly 15 seconds too late! Five minutes late for the chiropractor, so a new customer was ahead of me. I was five minutes late for the trainer and no water, so I had to buy that. A big bottle - but $2.50! It's what you get for not planning ahead.

I made up for it. I knew I had good Szechuan leftovers at home so I didn't spring for lunch, but headed straight home.

DH and I had a long conversation about the car. The insurance companies are dueling and it will take up to six months for DH to get the money there to fix the car. These three weeks have been okay but DH needs a car to pick up temp work. We struck a deal. I will give DH the bucks to fix the car; he will pay me back with the insurance money or his mom's gift money. And if you don't DH, I joked, you will be living in the car.

The CD earned me 114$ in interest in April; ING increased its APY to 4.15%, new I-bonds have a higher fixed rate of 1.4%. I'll figure out in the next couple of days how I want to play that.

You might notice that the age in my bio went up a notch.

Today was a rainy day in Seattle, which I love (I'd better!). I got paid yesterday. I've got Monday off (little quirky benefit of the workplace). I worked out today. DH treated me to my favorite Szechuan place that we can walk to.

Time to get philosophical. If you can't get philosophical on your birthday, when can you? Yeah, yeah, any other day.

I've learned in these last couple of years money-wise, and in these last couple of months health-wise, some strange little paradoxes:

You may decide to transform yourself in a flash, but to radically transform yourself you have to have to use the least radical of tools - a routine that you follow slavishly. Pay yourself first; 90% of everything is just showing up.

Any purchase can be considered frugal if you can afford it, and you use the dickens out of it. Its frightening the amount of money I spent on the trainer and the gym, but to my defense, my attitude is that "I've bought it, I'm using it to the utmost." I've only cancelled twice, and my trainer has cancelled twice. I come in ten minutes early to warmup so to use the trainer's full hour. I bought her time after all.

Contentment is like peripheral vision; its never straight on. After the workout today, I waited for the bus. I walked to the bus stop in the pouring rain - which nicely washed the sweat from my hair - and as I waited in the overhang by Macy's, feeling my muscles still warm and loose, I ate a delicious breakfast bar. All my needs were met and I was content.

Last Sunday, I made chicken goulash. At least I tried to make chicken goulash. I grabbed what I thought was sweet paprika, a lot dropped in, and I thought...oh well, its sweet, no harm done. Unfortunately for me it was hot paprika. The dish was, quite frankly, inedible. Weaponized.

G*d I hate wasting perfectly good chicken.

Bites of yogurt between bites of weaponized goulash tamed the fire a little bit so I could eat some Sunday night. Monday night I caught a break - sour cream was on special at the very grocery I pass by on my 8th Avenue walk for $1.39/pt. I got two pints, mixed one in the goulash (keeping with the ethnic theme) and put a couple of tbsps on top. That helped quite a bit, but eating it is still a challenge.

Here's where the frugal tips come in:
1.) did not waste food
2.) culinary solution was a loss leader (yippee)
3.) tasty, but there is no way I'm eating seconds or have a ton of firsts.
4.) portions I'm taking of this are appropriate for a meal of an actual adult, not an eating contest champion.

I think I'll call it the hot pepper diet.

This morning I reached high for something in front of the bathroom mirror and I caught a fleeting glimpse of...the barest definition of the top two cans of an ab six pack. Maybe I'm imagining things.

Or omusubi. Rice, in a triangular ball with a filling inside wrapped by crispy nori seaweed. Don't make a face, they are great! I had several for the two lunches today - and generally at $1.29/musubi, ethnic frugal. I had a bbq ground beef musubi (a little more pricey at $2.39, but you want reasonable ground beef) for main lunch, washed down with a can of chrysanthumum tea $.59; the vitamin D I got from the sitting in the sun was free and priceless at the same time.

Then gym - crunches and balance, and squats with the medicine ball. The trainer is going on a M-F schedule, so no more Saturday gym unless I go myself. I've now settled in with the new bus route. Since the nights are now so sunny, I've been thinking about taking a different bus that will drop me off 7 blocks further.

Second lunch was a salmon musubi and a ume (salted plum) musubi for dessert. Yum - the only problem I have with them is that there is a trick to open up the package. The dried, crunchy seaweed is wrapped so that it doesn't touch the rice ball and get soggy. There is a way to open and unwrap it in one sharp, clever motion but I always tear the seaweed.

Oh well, it takes frugal skills to eat a frugal lunch.

Saving log - 1$ in the tip box. Deposited the $47 savings from last month yesterday.

...without any car.

DH's car withdrawl symptoms seem to be passing quickly. After all, if he had a working car, he'd be buying gas and getting medical symptoms of a different kind! I secretly miss the car - out in the car with DH doing errands really sets the weekend off from the week. Now that we have to stay close to home or close to a bus line. DH is waiting for the insurance to settle out, so who knows? It might be quite awhile until we're out on the road again.

For you Seattleites - and a know that a couple of you are on this blog - I've been having a good time with Seattle Bus Monster

http://www.busmonster.com. Its a mix of three great sites so you can see traffic cameras, color coded routes, and little icons of buses as they run along their routes, so you know where yours is at any point in time. If this gets on a cellphone, fantastic!

Worked out Tuesday by myself using the machines, and Thursday with the trainer doing calisthentics and balance moves. Been walking home from my alternate bus route every day as a habit. I noticed last night that the bath towel goes all the way around, if you know what I mean.

The chiropractor claimed that my eyesight improved because of the neck adjustments. "Stop it," I said, "if my eyes improve any more I'll waste 350$."

Ate a nice cheap lunch with lawyer friend. Lesson 1: get the special. We'll get there, we'll get there.

I have 42$ in the tip box so far this month, and will probably go to the bank with it on Monday, after adding a few more dollar bills to it. I will head into the next paycheck with about 150$.

Spending log - 1.65$ coffee + 5$ lunch (it was still 4.36$, but I tipped) + 2$ for a birthday gift collection.
Saving log - 6$ tip box.

Measurement day today. I lost 4 pounds, putting me at 200 and 1/4 pounds. Knew I shouldn't have had that breakfast bar...
And lost another 1/2 inch in the chest, hips, waist, arms, calves.

On the wrecked car front: insurance companies are talking. Talk about infinitely slow and infinitely fine.

Got the glasses this evening. I like them, they are very different in style. I look like I should be reviewing German existential films. I have to learn to tilt my head up slightly to read the fine print.

Sent 40$ to one DRP, 35$ to another. Managed to finish the end of the paycheck with over $200. Slowed down my lunch spending by buying a footlong, having them cut it into four 3 inch pieces, then lunched on them for a couple of days.

90% done with the last nightmare project; now its catchup booking of a lot of little projects and my "pile of shame".