Got measured today. I lost one pound. I'm still above 200.

However, the really, really exciting news was in the body fat % and the inches and comparing them to the original mid-November control. I lost:

5 inches in the waist
3 inches in the hips
1 inches in each calf
6% of body fat

and converted 12 lbs of fat into 13 lbs of muscle...leaving the 1 lb difference.

The rest: upper arms and thighs, bust/chest I either stablized or increased slightly - but there is a lot less jiggling.

At this rate, I'll lose eventually (muscles eat more calories than fat), or I'll be able to beat people up for $20 challenge money.

My trainer got semi-upset at me yesterday over 5 girl scout cookies. Didn't matter that they were lemon coolers (not peanut butter tagalogs or samosas), that 5 was the suggested serving size, that I had them with a glass of lowfat milk, and that I bought the single box on the very last day of the sale.

You're coming into the gym tomorrow! And since today was yesterday's tomorrow, there I was after work, pedaling away for 30 minutes. I managed to work off about 200 calories, or about 7 girl scout cookies.

Measurements tomorrow, and we are on the home stretch of the fitness challenge, so I think she's nervous. I see a lot of little changes - I have a little notch between the top of my leg and my butt, my gym clothes are now loose, I now know how to do a workout when I get to the gym.

Ah well, tomorrow's another day.

Today was our lead auditor's last day, so I treated her to one of my favorite Vietnamese places in the Pike Market. Lunch for the two of us came to 20$. She did a number of boring projects for me, so 10$ was worth it to me.

And Vietnamese food will look good against the girl scout cookies.

Lots of people out "sick" today.

Had a St. Patrick's Day lunch with a co worker/friend that I rarely see. We both had a hankering for corned beef and cabbage, and we both wanted to watch the drunks. We left for lunch at 11:15 am. First place we went to had no seating, and a table had been reserved for CBS radio. In order words, the green hair/green T-Shirt/drink green beer for breakfast people were already here.

The second place we had heard had a cover charge, so we went to take a peek. Open, but no one was out collecting money, so we walked in, asked a waitress if we could grab a table, and took our seats. There was a third person, another co worker, but she said she would be late. We waited.

Three minutes later the bouncer was at the door, collecting the 10$. Our third person came. She didn't have 10$, we didn't have 10$, the bouncer wouldn't let her in without 10$. Whoops. But we warned her...

Sometimes being frugal means you have to be lucky and be ON TIME.

We ordered hard cider at 6$ (we both could hole up and do something mindless while we were at the tipsy stage), corned beef and cabbage. The food was alright, nothing special, not really worth the 9.50$. But the company was good, and the thrill of drinking a cider at lunch was delicious in its own way.

Tonight, DH made more corned beef and cabbage in the crock pot. It was delicious, far better than the one at lunch. The whole pot probably cost less than 1/2 of my lunch.

Got the optional cash slip for my fourth DRP. Its a slip with the dividends; eventually the company tells you when you get dividends, so eventually you get the slip. Wrote a check for 500$ to kick start the account, and signed up for their online account so I can monitor it.

Vacation between the 3rd and the 9th of April. DH bought an exercise ball. We now have an agreement, I can use his ball and he can use my yoga mat and red band. The chiropractor tells me that my back is getting better - its holding the adjustments for several days - and he figures that I've put on about an inch because my posture has improved.

Put another 8$ into the tip box.

Breathed in and out and connected with the one or two oxygen atoms that were in Julius Caesar's last breath.

Another celebratory lunch (dim sum, yum!) for another coworker who is going away. Walking back to the office, I mentioned to my lawyer friend that it feels like the end. He concurred; the executors wouldn't offer an advance if the creditors hadn't come forward and been paid.

I'll take the executors offer and ask for 30K, put it in a short-term CD and spend the next 6 months to plan.

Got paid today. My helper had exciting personal news - he's within a couple of months of paying off his student loans. He asked me for advice, now that he will free up about 200$/month. Should I hike up my 403B - I already get the match? Go for a Roth, I said.

Worked out yesterday by myself. I think it worked okay - I had trouble figuring out a cardio move in the set, and I didn't remind myself to drink water as much as the trainer would, but I got warm and sweaty nonetheless.

Spending log (3/15) - 1.65$ coffee + 14$ dim sum
Saving log (3/15) - 0$

Spending log (3/14) - 1.65$ coffee + 4.50$ lunch
Saving log (3/14) - 9$ tip box

Mailed off Vanguard's rollover paperwork (form, 4Q statement, screenshot from a couple days ago) to Vanguard this afternoon, and sent it certified mail. That way I get a receipt and a confirmation number. Still no TIAA CREF paperwork; it might take a more few days for that. In the Vanguard packet I wrote a little note regarding my phone call to them and the situation.

I see the chiropractor twice a week now. I talked with the trainer. For the rest of this month I'm scheduled for twice a week, rather than three times a week. On Tuesdays I workout by myself. We'll see how that fits.

Work has been crazy; the phone was driving me nuts. As a result of hitting the Do Not Disturb button on the phone, I missed a call from the executor. On the voicemail he claimed that he will be briefing me on what has been happening, dad's estate wise. I wonder what he's really calling about. Time to get the scoop from sister this weekend.

Spending log - 1.65$ coffee + 9$ lunch
Saving log - 40$ Drp + 3$ tipbox

Not me, apparently! DH told me about a mutual fund analyzer at the nasd.com site:

http://tinyurl.com/8sr3n

Even with TIAA CREFs relatively low fees (2-3X the lowest Vanguard fee) and the small amount of money I'm going to move, its still worth it. I don't even dare to put in the fees of the mutual funds in my current 403B from Merrill Lynch. That would really, really disgust me for no good purpose.

I sprained the back of my knee a little on the roman chair, so the trainer had me doing that rise up movement on the air dome, then turn over on my back for the ab crunches. After a little rest, my knee is pretty good, so its back to the new bus route and the mile walk home. Working on the posture now.

The chiropractor is having me come only 2X/week, so that will help my budget tremendously. I talked things over with the trainer and she's willing to work with me. But I know that to keep making progress, I'm going to have to go to the gym at least 3X/ week - perhaps use the routines that the trainer wrote down 1-2X/week and have her come up with something fresh once/ week.

Got a BOGO coupon from a guy handing them out in front of the sub shop. Lunch today and tomorrow!

Spending log - 1.75 coffee + 7.50 lunch
Saving log - 3$ tip box

Got word from sister, who had gotten word from the cousin who does grandma's finances. No more divesting of assets in March or ever; by law grandma has to have 5 years worth now. 20% of my greedy grubby self is bummed (naughty!); the other 80% is breathing a sigh of relief. I've been trying to figure out what to do with what's left of her money now since November. Won't have to worry about that.

Took the fateful step of rolling over my TIAA CREF money into Vanguard. Its never, ever as easy as the ads make it out to be. You usually have to alert both sides of the transaction what you want to do - Vanguard to set up the IRA that it'll roll into and TIAA Cref to alert them that I want to withdraw it. Worse, it could be that I'll have to call U of Arizona (my original employer). I just know that there's going to be an icky step where I'm going to have get a signature guarantee from my bank. But if a meth-addled identity thief can do it, so can I.

Anyway, I printed out all the Vanguard forms and my TIAA CREF current position, and my TIAA CREF Q4 statement, too. Then I'll call TIAA CREF Monday and set the wheels in motion.

Lunch today was weird. I just wanted to go to a quick quiet place. Unfortunately since this is the first nice, blue-sky, warm Friday of the year, it seemed like everyone and their unemployed uncle was out and about. Every place I wanted to go to and eat had a line and today I was not thrilled about a line. Found a quick sandwich and salad (6$) and saved myself some bucks. It was just plan c.

In gym I learned about the roman chair and doing upside down situps. Lunges yesterday. Geez its hard work to get thin!

Measurement day at the gym. I lost four pounds. Heavy duty ab and core day. When I suck in my stomach, it moves quite a bit, and my clothes are now starting to hang. I have six more sessions with the trainer, so next week I'm going to have to come to a decision. Clearly, I like the support I get from the trainer and I get along well with her personally; but I can't afford the expense. Time to figure out a polite way to cut my expenses. My thought is that we have several workout routines (upper body, lower body, abs) that I can follow throughout several weeks, but I buy the services of the trainer once a week or once every two weeks.

Life's rolling on.

Attended another little lunch and learn about our 403B's. Half an hour later, I was showing a co worker how to go into her account and rebalance it/ even readjust it. She'll teach her floor. The hard part is figuring out where to go when you get into your account.

Apparently the dog mutual fund in our set is getting replaced in the beginning of March but in these last couple of months that fund has been barreling along. Rebalanced it just to take my profit before we pick the next dog.

And they introduced the social choice fund. Someone asked about their criteria. The prospectus said basically it was whatever the fund manager picked as social choice. Ha ha. Talk about circular logic.

Changed my bus and have been doing my 1 mi walk now for a week and I've been pushing myself on the elliptical machines by keeping the same level of difficulty but trying to move faster. Tried the stationary bike for the last couple of minutes - what was a challenge in December now is not. Yay! Measurements on Saturday. Boo.

Nothing, no news at all from sister. Now that I've blogged will come news. Bought the I-bond for the month, two of my Drp stocks have declared dividend increases - about .04/ quarter/ share - good news there. I took one of the Pinecone invites and I now will be in a phone survey tomorrow. The money appears to good but if its going to take zillions of hours I'll have to rethink that. I will finish the month at 50$. Thank you God that February's short.

Got word from sister that Nut is a creditor because he wants us to fix the tractors. I'm confused. Are they the tractors he stole (well, duh, who steals broken items??!) or what he bought at the auction? What part of as-is do you not understand? Or is as-is, son of isis, living in denial, the main river of Egypt?

Nut is aiming for about $3000-$4000. Sister's lawyer is countering with $1500 if Nut goes away. If he goes away... of course as soon as dad's money hits our accounts its game over.

The nougat part is the ritual trading of chocolate for Valentines Day. We both got and dug into our chocolates before the day even began. The chocolates were a bit pricey - 20$/box - but you eat them and then when you run out (quickly) you stop eating them.

Implemented the walk. The new bus route is interesting at early evening, and its also interesting that different buses have different personalities. My more direct bus is definitely commuter bus; new one is a bit more hip. It only took me 20 minutes of hard, fast walking to get home. In another month when it stays lighter, I'll take another bus route and get dropped off even farther.

So for this fitness challenge, my trainer suggested (prodded!) me to get 30 minutes of cardio training each day. I can make it to the gym sometimes, but I don't want to live there. I finally figured out a frugal way to do it. I'm going to go home on a different bus than I normally do, which will drop me off about 1.5 mi from my house. My job is to walk home as quickly as I can, no cheating on the hills. I've tried it today. It definitely takes me 30 min and I'm breathing hard most of the way. I made myself a little laminated card of calisthentics so when I get out the yoga mat and the rubber band with the handles I can figure out what exercises to do.

Thinking about Valentine's Day. Why oh why are all the holidays (except Labor Day and the 4th of July) at the back end of my paycheck? We have President's Day off and even that is in the back half of the paycheck.

A freakishly good deal on red onions - .33/lb. Still have a ton of sister's cheese and now I have some milk to get rid of fast. Time for some simple, homemade mac 'n cheese. Nothing like the box type.

Wisconsin Farmhouse Mac 'N Cheese

2.5 cup uncooked elbow macaroni
2 tbsp butter
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
milk
lots of grated cheese - sharp cheddar and colby for this. The drier the cheese, the better.

Preheat oven to 325F. In a casserole dish, melt butter, add salt and pepper, add elbow macaroni. Stir to coat macaroni in butter. Spread the grated cheese on top of the macaroni. Pour milk over the top, keep pouring until milk level hits the mid cheese line.

Bake uncovered 10 min at 325F, then drop it to 300F for 50 minutes or so. Ready when cheese is brown and bubbly and the macaroni is tender.

Let sit for 10 min after you take out of oven to firm up. Microwave leftovers with a little bit of milk.

Not much ceremony to the fitness challenge. Got a before picture taken and was weighed with my shoes on because I figured that in the next weeks it will be a drag to take them off with each measurement. Still 205. Sigh. At least I have plenty of "before". And I'm going to be most toned 205 I can be. Did a lot of upper body work today.

Lunch with the lawyer friend, his partner and another friend, married. Lawyer friend and his partner have a difference of money management styles - lawyer friend lets the bills ride a bit and isn't so concerned about debt, while the partner is more like me, control and command - a problem now that they have a small joint account. They were asking for advice from the two of us married folks.

Me - straight separate accounts. If we meet our joint obligations, its not up to me to control his money, nor is it up to him to control mine. Other friend, married - joint accounts, discussion about all expenses, negotiate styles. So we were at opposite ends of the spectrum.

I can't say we helped my lawyer friend and his partner any. About all they know is that every couple manages money differently, and its usually a by-product of bitter experience.

Not much is happening financially. I'm waiting for: IRS refund, the BestBuy rebate, my paycheck for the back half of the month.

Used a BOGO coupon for both lunch and dinner, saved 6$, put the savings in the tip box. Still am fairly flush for the next few days.

Doing more of the free motion machines for gym interspersed with 10 sec of standup, hard biking. Lots of leg work, abs and twisting with weights. I now have a waist. Tomorrow is the first day of the fitness challenge, the before stage. Wonder what these measurements will be?

Today was just one snafu after another. Work is grinding yet again. Time to shut the door and hit the DND button.

and its six weeks more probate.

Got word from sister that Nut has filed as a creditor. Wonder what he thinks we owe him. I've got to be sanguine about this; as DH put it "everyone back there knows he's a nut - the sympathy is with your dad." Now its sister's lawyer's turn to do his stuff.

And I wasn't the only one to get bad news. My lawyer friend got his ATM password skimmed. He found out when he apparently bought something at my neighborhood Fred Meyer. "Geez," I said, "if you were that close, you shoulda stopped by."

I got my butt handed to me again in gym by the rubber bands with handles, aka the exercise cords. And now I can do the same things at home - my very own set of rubber bands with handles came in the mail last night.

Checked on my refund at the irs website. I should expect it to hit the savings account on Valentine's Day.

Spending log - $1.65 coffee + $5.51 lunch + $17.81 exercise cords (it was $9 with $8 shipping)

Saving log - moved $100 to ING + $50 to regular savings + 7$ tip box (tip box stands at $22)

Well, this'll be a short blog entry!

This morning right before lunch I nearly tore apart my office looking for my wallet. WHERE WAS IT? Awful thoughts - I had gone to the chiropractor, which meant I could have lost it outside... Argh!

Then I fished around in my back jeans pocket. There. I could not feel my wallet in my jeans. That was not the case three months ago. Progress, I guess, and a sneaky way of having gym intersect with saving money. I'll be thin, but I'll be pickpocket bait.

Turns out that I have good medical insurance chiropractor wise - 20$ copays.

Picked up my W-2 today. I'll take another look, but I think I have everything I need.

Like everyone else, I'm running on empty. No milk or wet cat food, which makes the cat cranky. It's every man for himself tonight.

A little weird today. One of the data entry staff got fired today and was escorted out of the building. He apparently threatened another of the data entry staff (via blog, deep irony) and that was that.

At one point I had thought that I might reveal to my lawyer friend (also co worker) that I had this blog (who has a blog), but you know that this journal is strangely intimate because its so detached. As soon as anyone at work knows, I'll be holding my thoughts, fearing comments and this journal will lose a lot.

Of course, I can have a little bit of fun. If anyone really wants to know what my lawyer friend looks like:

http://hoquiamhouse.blogspot.com/

He's the one holding the filthy underwear in the first picture from 1/20/2006.

Got the sewer/water bill.

Sister figures that if the medical creditors don't show by the beginning of February, the four months will have passed. Worked out at the gym today with the new personal trainer - she's funny and I think we will get along well. She does more stretches, which I think are very useful.

The spinal adjustments have been working pretty well too. I've never done a decent squat for a couple of months; I've always pulled from the left, my right knee had always buckled and my right foot turns out. Today - perfect squats, Straight up, straight down.

Miscellaneous: Last night I counted my tip box out and sent $42 into my brick & mortar bank to be later sent to ING. I sent $150 to PayPal for some miscellaneous payments. Wow - 4.3% without a hitch...might pay to shove a bit of ING money in there to incubate a bit. Sent 500$ to the credit card.

Used a Peet's complimentary card to get a latte, a nice break from the drip. Oranges, eggs, frozen green beans are cheap in the grocery store. I really like finding frozen green beans - they keep well and they very rarely are cheaper fresh.

The shocker news yesterday was that my trainer is moving up north. We made an appointment with another trainer as a transition. Apparently the trainers talk about me - that I work hard at this and how rare that is. Funny story - yesterday I was scheduled to do 15 minutes on the elliptical, making me 10 minutes late for my next appointment. I split the difference, only doing 10 minutes on the elliptical, and being 5 minutes late. All the trainers laughed at this; the usual thing would have been that the client would have completely blown it off. I'm not happy about the trainer leaving, but I'm philosophical - the trainer is the facilitator, but ultimately I have to be the one who loses weight and gets healthy.

Still have not lost pounds, but I am swimming in my clothes and my body fat dropped a percent, so something is going on. I figure that if I look thinner, I can always lie about my weight. Sister send another box of clothes - very nice ones, with tags still on them but now 2 sizes over mine. I'll put a little ad in craigslist before I send to the thrift store.

The next appointment was for the chiropractor. Most of my asymmetry on my workouts is apparently due to a wicked hunch and bad posture. The daily adjustments take 10 minutes, and they make me feel pretty good as long as I stand up straight. The only disconcerting thing during them is that my back and neck sound like a bowl of rice krispies over milk.

Collecting my 1099s and other papers for taxes - all I need is my W2 (or is it W4). Taxes are going to be different for me yet again this year. I used to Telefile it, last year I had to do paper because of dividends, this year it's online filing.

1-20
Savings log - $42
Spending log - $1.75 coffee + $5.00 lunch

1-21
Savings log - 0$
Spending log - 5.00$ lunch + 42.96 groceries

Talked to my friend to whom I sent an ING invite. Hadn't used it yet, but promised that she would by the end of the month. Sheesh. Sometimes my friends can be such putzes. Geez, a 9% return on 250$ and 4.75% on new money? I'm jealous!

Found out that paypal and ING don't talk to each other, at least in my hands. I think its because of the 6 withdrawl savings account and the fluid money market don't mix. On the other hand, ING and Vanguard talk well to each other - both savings accounts.

I've noticed that with the Vanguard account and whatnot that my junk mail has gotten classy with glossy investment ads. It just means I pack gifts with classy, glossy shreds.

My gym membership includes a free chiropractic referral, which I used this afternoon. My back doesn't hurt, but I do notice that I'm not symmetrical and that I favor one leg, one arm, etc. The chiropractor found plenty, because my posture is pretty crappy. X-rays and a little neck adjustment, which felt pretty good.

I managed to make one 40$ withdrawl last for 4 days - a big accomplishment for me. Tomorrow I'll look in my tip box and send some ING's way.

Spending log - $1.75 coffee + $4.37 lunch.

Three new ING accounts! Thanks, Jeffrey!

Today is a vacation day, and so is tomorrow for me. Today was also a gym day for me and so will be tomorrow. Its just like high school, all the fun stuff and then there's gym. Although these days I'm feeling a lot better about going to gym, getting into the swing of it.

But to keep this an actual financial diary I've got to mention that I signed up for a fitness challenge. Fitness, thankfully, won't be determined by the number of pushups (hah hah), but by decrease in weight and inches around various places and body fat content between the dates of Feb 9 and April 1. Winner gets $1000. It would be great if I win but if I lose, I still lose, so I'd still win.

After gym, I went to a Tully's and had a green tea and half a tuna sandwich, all while watching Jim Cramer's Mad Money and the Suze Orman show. Both are a whole different experience when they're mute and closed captioned. The advice is relatively good when you can disassociate it from the chair throwing (Cramer) and strange hectoring (Orman). When you think about it, they are both saying the same thing - make the psychology of money work for you, not against you.

And with that I came to a revelation. Several commenters noticed that I had a credit card balance with a fair amount of savings. All of that credit card debt comes from the personal trainer. I could pay it off in a matter of days but I'm not because if I did, the debt is behind me and I will blow off the gym. This way, as long as my debt is at the back of my mind I will say "dammit, I'm paying for this!" and go. My psychology of money is working in tandem with my weight loss/get fit plan.

Know thyself.

First day back at work and I'm still in a good mood. The horseflies landed in the two days I was away, so they were easy to swat and kill.

No gym today, but I did buy a yoga mat yesterday (Target - $19.99) and ran through some calisthentics. Soft but grippy. No sliding around and no carpet burns! I also bought a couple of large workout shirts - I fit into them, but not in the best way. Instead getting 10 lbs of mud into a 5 lb sack, its more like 5 1/4 lbs. I'm treating getting into them properly as a goal.

DH and I are going to use the free night at the hotel this Friday and use up a spare restaurant gift card. Frugal fun! And we will be off Monday, and I have another day off on Tuesday. All to chip away only slightly at the large quantity of vacation time. We should all have such troubles.

I'm going to get one last cup of coffee from the coffee card tomorrow. Tomorrow, the trainer promised that we'll work the upper body. Friday comes the paycheck.

1/10
Saving log - 0$
Spending log - 7$ (fun stuff from Body Shop) + 20$ (2 workout shirts) + 21$ (yoga mat & bottle of water) + 7.62$ lunch + 1.65$ coffee

1/11
Saving log - 0$
Spending log - $4.23 lunch

Day off.

Slept in, ate some breakfast, had a little coffee in a small cafe that I've wanted to try, bought a lunch and a water, and then suddenly it was time for an hour of gym. Yesterday I discovered that I fit into a large shirt, rather than an extra large. Exciting! I rewarded myself with some french toast (powdered sugar instead of syrup) and I went to the gym to work off some of it. I managed to stay on the elliptical machine two minutes longer each time, and that my heart rate went down or stayed steady as long as I took deep breaths. Gym today, gym yesterday. Suddenly, I'm a jock. Yikes! After gym I ate my lunch. Best tasting sandwich I ever had.

So to keep this a financial diary - got another tax form from my KO DRP, my 2006 IRA came through into my Vanguard account, I sent 40$ to my 3M DRP.

Ah...I have Monday and Tuesday off. Even though I was bugged a bit by co workers coming in and gossiping, I managed to get quite a bit done - everything done that I really wanted to get done, and that makes a four day weekend even sweeter. Think I will book my free hotel room this weekend. I'll have next Tuesday off too.

Broke down and actually got a chain-grocery store card - not Safeway. The grocery chain is going nameless - I only buy canned cat food there. When the card price for it was 20% lower, I broke down and got it. My dearest wish is that the data miner looking at all my canned cat food purchases will say, "remind me not to have pate and crackers at her house."

Curry place is back from vacation. Ah, lunch joy.

My trainer, stuck in traffic, was forty-five minutes late. He got a hold of me at the gym...so I ran through a warmup, ran through ab crunches, some weights, some exercises and stretches. He told me that he was very proud of me - I didn't play hooky. Came clean with him about the elliptical machine - he told me that we'll have to work on breathing and figure what level I should be starting from.

Saving log: Tip jar - 5$.
Spending log: lunch - 5$ (coffee card is still holding out, yay!).

Moved 50$ from checking to savings, and 3$ in the tip box. It felt good.
Also put 40$ into one DRP, 35$ into another. That felt good too.
Managed to use up most of my Christmas gift card of coffee - so I get a couple of weeks of non-1.65$ coffee. That makes me feel alert and good.

Did six minutes on the elliptical machine after the workout. My heart rate zoomed to 170. I stopped; that didn't feel good. I'm not proud, I'm going to have to work up to it.

For the last couple of years I've been calculating my net worth every six months (June 30 and December 31) for the last couple of years. Luckily its been going up. I'm just waiting for Friday night when I can do my net worth calculation for the end of the year.

Goals & Decisions for 2006.
1. Pay off the personal trainer credit card debt. This will happen by March or April.
2. Take a hard look in January and February at what I'm spending my money on. This December - like them all - I felt like I had overspent my promotion, that I was loosening up.
3. Decide just how much emergency money I should have in my ING account, then invest the rest. (If I have to, kill off the last of the credit card debt.)
4. Keep increasing my net worth. So far, I've been able to do it by about $10,000 every eight months, but this is in part due to a rising stock market.
5. Get most of my financial information - images of contracts and files - on a USB drive. Said USB drive must have a security system on it.
6. Write a will.

Speaking of the personal trainer, I got weighed and measured today. In a word, 1/2 a loaf. I didn't lose any total weight, but I did firm up 1/2 inch in the bust, waist and hips, nearly an 1 inch in the upper arm. Christmas strikes again!

Paid the credit card bill - 1/4 or so of the personal trainer - 500$
Paid the electric bill - 121$
Paid for $50 worth of KO stock & reinvested a $17.50 dividend, giving me 1.5 shares.

Realized as I was standing at the bus stop to go downtown that I forgot my gym clothes. I was going to walk back, but it would make me too late for work to be comfortable, and I need spare gym clothes to rotate through the laundry. So at lunch I went to Ross and bought gym clothes - $27.18

And then the ever present 2 little lunches - $9.00

Put 3$ in the tip box
Will move 450$ into savings, to buy an I-bond on Dec 27.

Got another piece of tax-vital paper today from one of my DRPs. Looked at a lot of pledges today, and I finished by actually going to the gym *By Myself* for a little cardio bike pedaling. I lasted at least 1 minute more than Friday.

Got a card from the paper deliverer this morning, or rather, I got a card with a self addressed, stamped envelope. Tip troll, if you ask me. I never know how to respond to these things, especially since he has an unerring ability to never, ever hit the driveway. I'm thinking of writing "5$ now if you hit the driveway, another 5$ if you keep it up". But then the turnover will kill ya. I'd have to train each person as they screw up.

Just like many other journals: after this week, I'd like to hole up this weekend.

Seattle is bright and sunny lately, but it gets bright late and dark early. The Hitchcock birds are gone - to where? - from the bare trees at my bus stop.

Neither DH nor I have great ideas on when to use the hotel room I've won. No Saturdays, No Christmas, No Valentines' Day. And we don't have great ideas for Christmas presents for his family. Sister is going to get a fish. Maybe we'll just give everyone a fish and be done with it.

I worked out today. I told the trainer that I was stressed, so he gave me a lot of upper body work. The hardest part of the diet that I'm on is to wake up early and eat breakfast, although when I do I'm a lot less likely to mindlessly snack at the end of the day. It took me a little while to figure out that the diet is decreases the starch and increases the protein and fat as the day goes on. Seeing a pattern like that makes it a lot more interesting to follow.

Of course, since this is supposed to be a financial diary, I'd be remiss to not write that I got my Vanguard mailings on how to start my traditional IRA. A little fun Friday night bedtime reading. It used to be that Friday nights were for romantic thoughts, but not this weekend.

I had about 1.5 M worth of pledges to check, stamp and send to our auditors. Eeeps! Time to lock the door, batten down the hatches, cancel a couple of meetings and get it done. Since I avoided the meetings, it really wouldn't do to be caught at the gym either (the gym is across the street from work), so I canceled today's workout. We are in the thick of it.

But lunch to me is sacred and I wanted to get some fresh air. I was also curious, with the re-routes in Seattle, whether a couple of buses that used to go in the tunnel would take me where I wanted to go in the International District. I hopped on, and satisfied my curiousity. Nope. Not really close. By the time I could get off, I was at least a mile away from where I hoped to be. So I had gym by other means.

Spending log - 1.65$ coffee + 7.00$ lunch and mini-lunch
Saving log - $0

On the inheritance front:

Sister has found some insurance policies from grandpa and grandma in some of the other papers we collected. Not very much, but a little bit. Sister emailed me asking for advice, and she suspects that these were held by mom for some purpose. Grandpa died in 1999; I suspect that mom was biding her time, waiting for grandma to join him so she could collect. That's the problem with waiting; it could be you who runs out of time. The Greeks weren't kidding themselves when they thought the 3 Fates were vicious old ladies that held your life by a thread.

About all I could say is that they were still part of grandma's estate, and that sister should ask grandma's financial advisor - our cousin. It could very well be that since grandma is dispersing assets that sister should hold them and not do anything with them (more assets to disperse and take care of), but that's really grandma's decision, not sister's.

Sister also sent two boxes. The first box was the usual fun Christmas stuff: candles and jam and mustards and greenie dental treats for my cat, who loves them. The second box was a bit more thought provoking. Clothes. Mom and dad clothes. The dad clothes were a bit larger than my size but the mom clothes were my size. Dad was 67 when he died; mom was 61. Thank you, sister, but when their clothes fit me it's really time for me to lose the weight.

Spending log - $1.65 coffee + $7.00 lunch
Saving log - $2.00 tip box + $40.00 DRP

Lawyer friend bought my lunch and blew my diet. We had a nice normal talk and said nothing about any inheritance issues. For a going away party of the payroll coordinator I ate fruit and skipped the cake. It was very nearly a no-spend day.

Sister got ahold of the insurance company and lo and behold the claim form was for the $2000+ check that we received last week. Weird to me that the form came after the check.

Stomach muscles are sore from the baby ab crunches I did yesterday. Nice to know I have abs. They will never be a six pack; I think if I get them down to a 1 liter size from the 2 liter size I'll be doing well.

Moved the 600$ extra from the paycheck to ING and started asking around. If I have to give it back, I can still catch the float.

Spending log - $1.65 coffee
Savings log - $3.00 tip box