I am so tired. I started work at 6:45am and finished at 12:45am. I'm too tired to even add up how many hours that is. O.K...it's 18. Yuck! My overtime is going to be huge again. I spoke to my boss about changing some of the workload, and I've been promised that things will change, although not everything that I asked for. Some compromise on both our parts will be happening. I'm looking forward to having tomorrow off. I may take Monday as well, but I'll see how I feel. Right now, the idea of two days off in a row sounds pretty darn great.

I'm glad that a new month is coming. I have to add up our budget for October, and I know we spent more that I'd planned, but we also made more than I'd planned. Something went into savings, but I'm not sure how much. Maybe tomorrow I'll have time to work out how much. Right now I am so tired I can't even think straight!

Well, the kids have done it again! I have been volunteered for classroom baking duties. Halloween is coming and the kids need witches' finger cookies for their classes for Monday. Normally this isn't a problem, except that I work today, tomorrow (all day--7:00am until 1:00am), and we've made plans with friends for Sunday to go out for lunch and to the pumpkin patch. Somewhere in there I still need to get costumes organized, as well as all the other normal household cleaning, organizing etc. The witches' fingers look great, but are fairly time consuming. On top of that, one of my customers gave me a gigantic bag of fresh cranberries, and I need to do something with them, too. I have some drying in the dehydrator (like craisins) and I'll freeze some. Hopefully, I'll be able to make some cranberry sauce as well. I'll give half of whatever I make to the gentleman who brought me all the cranberries. He's a widower in his 80's--a real sweetheart.

Work last night was ridiculous. The tech guy came in with a brand new computer for me (it's really, really nice!) but they forgot to install the program I need. I've only been waiting for 3 months. My boss at head office is getting frustrated because the work I was hired to do has yet to be started. I have enough to do with everything else going on, so it's not like I'm not busy, but I'm not taking the blame in all this because since August I've been given 3 computers, one of which didn't work, and none that had the program in it that I need. I work with a bunch of managers who think their job is to 'manage' which apparently means to sit in an office and tell everyone what to do and then complain when it's not done the way they'd like. I think I'm reaching the point where I either have to quit caring so deeply about what's going on in my department, or I'll have to leave. I can't find a middle ground and I'm very sad about it. Yesterday, one of the managers stopped by my office to ask me if I was going up to the main restaurant. I told him that I was and he asked me to pass on a message from another manager to the wait staff. He had just walked through the restaurant, saw something he wasn't happy with, phoned this manager and asked him to phone me and get me to deal with it! How stupid is that? Frustrating...

Barbara,
I, too, would love a maid! Whenever anyone asks me what I want for a gift (birthday, Christmas, Mother's Day, whatever), I always answer, "A maid." Guess what? I'm still waaaaaiiiitttting! When my friend had her first baby, instead of little baby clothes, her mom got her a cleaning service that came every two weeks for 3 months...I did everything but beg for that gift when I had my second baby...and my third...and I'm still WAITING! I can't justify spending the money myself but if my darling, sweet, wonderful DH should ever happen to come across this entry, well, Sweetie, I'm STILL WAITING!!!!!!!!

O.K., I feel better now. Truly, I do. My house may be messy, but I feel better.

So, my boss and I worked for 10 hours today and caught up on everything that was on the to do list. Well, not quite everything. I had scheduled her nervous breakdown for 11:00am (right before lunch), but we decided to forgo it for the day because we were too busy. We re-scheduled it for December 4.

I had a nice lunch with the General Manager and about 10 other people. All of us had birthdays in September. It was fun and the food was good. We went to a local pub. God forbid we eat lunch at one of the 7 restaurants available where we all work!

I'm planning a 3 night getaway for us in November. The kids were in school for 4 weeks, then the teachers went on strike for 2.5 weeks, now the kids are back in school for 9 days, and then they get a week off. Four weeks after that, they get a 2 week Winter Break...life is sooo hard. Anyways, I'm planning a little getaway for us during their November week off because we didn't go away in the summer and we always have gone somewhere. I emailed a whole whack of bed and breakfast places tonight so I hope to get some feedback tomorrow. I have the whole day off, and I can't wait. I plan on doing some baking and some house cleaning. Why? Because I don't HAVE A MAID!!!!!!

Well, we didn't go to the pumpkin patch today--it was too rainy! Ds11 had gone to a sleepover party last night so I went to pick him up at 11:00 while Dh and dd9 did her paper route. Then she went down to her cousin's to play and I watched a marathon Coronation Street. Dh went to visit his Dad with his siblings and I played two board games with ds5 and then went grocery shopping. I am officially over in my budget this month, and we're having KFC for dinner because I promised the kids we could have it for dinner theatre tonight--Beetlejuice is on t.v. I haven't seen that movie in years, but I really like it and I'm sure the kids are going to enjoy it. They're a little disappointed because it looks like they'll be going to be back in school tomorrow. The tears are rolling down my face...tears of joy!

I'll be turning in early tonight for sure. I really need to catch up on some sleep after the past three days!

I had a customer come in today and announced that he was changing my boss's name to Thelma and mine to Louise, so all night whenever we needed oneanother we called "Thelma" or "Louise" over our radios. By the end of the night I had staff from all over the building asking who Thelma and Louise are. We had a great laugh...the same customer came by later in the evening and brought us these lava chocolate cupcakes. I can't wait to eat mine tomorrow.

Things went much better staffwise at work tonight, however I did have to deal with an extremely angry customer. He was so mad that by the time I got to him I had to tell him that I wasn't going to speak to him while he was yelling and he was 'to remove his finger from in front of my face this instant'! HOLY COW!!! He was still mad by the end of our conversation but at least calm and, I think, understood that I agreed with him and felt for his situation...never ending fun.

Yesterday was no spend day number 6 this month. I'm nowhere near my 14 days I had hoped for but I'll keep trying and see how far I get. I bought my boss and I dinner tonight because I really wanted a steak sandwich...and I enjoyed every bite of it! Tomorrow I'm taking the kids to the pumpkin patch. I have a free family pass which includes a pumpkin, but I'll have to buy at least one more, if not two, and probably some treat food there. The pass includes the entrance fee, hay ride, and petting zoo. I'm sure that it will be quite fun--the kids love it!

I'm tired and going to bed now. The teachers may be back at work on Monday--parents all across B.C. have their fingers crossed....

Uh-oh. I'm not sure what happened but I've used up almost all the money in the grocery bag for the month. I guess I'll be running in a deficit this month because I still need to buy milk and coffee for next week, and probably some fruit and vegies, too. I'm okay for another week (I think) but not 10 days. Luckily, the freezer is still pretty well stocked, so dinners are taken care of.

I had an okay night at work. It was fairly quiet and lots of minor problems to take care of. I supervise about 18 people. Most of them I've worked with for a couple of years, but two of the staff that were hired last week I just can't warm up to. This is very unlike me and I hate the feeling, but I think that I just don't like them. Actually, I find them negative. In my opinion they have not worked there long enough to have the priviledge to be negative about our customers, staff, or general atmosphere...lose the attitudes, Ladies! I'm hoping to be able to wear them down to my way of service, otherwise I'll ask for them to be transferred into another area. I heard a few grumbles from other staff about the two of them tonight and I really don't care for that.

I work tomorrow and Saturday and have Sunday off. Then I work Monday and Tuesday, with Wednesday off. I think that's going to be my schedule for awhile. I would really like either Monday or Tuesday off as well, but it's not meant to be right now. I'm going to eat some noodles now and go to bed...no dinner tonight...

We had a great time at Science World today. Took my three kids plus ds11's best friend. We have passes, but I paid for friend and lunch out at the restaurant there. We spent an additional 20 dollars to go see the Viking show at the Omnimax Theatre--the screen is a dome so everything feels 3D. It was very cool and the kids had a great time. I'm debating whether or not we're going to renew our membership when it comes due in March. My Mom and fil both give us money for Christmas every year, and we use it to buy family memberships to different venues in the lower mainland. The kids really like Science World, but we've had this membership for two years. They'd love passes to Playland, I'm sure, but I don't know that I would! I'm not sure that counts as good use for the money...I'll think on that one. We've had zoo passes for a few years, but they get tired of going there--another one that you really can only use weather permitting. The aquarium isn't too far away but it's horribly expensive and always sooo crowded. It's an awesome place to visit if anyone is planning a trip to Vancouver, though. Anyways, we have time to think about it.

All in all, we had a great day...however, I did spend about 70 dollars on our day trip. Usually we bring lunch and don't go to the theatre, but I was feeling flush today.

I just got home from work and need a few minutes to unwind before falling asleep. I had an okay night...went by fairly quickly and I had lots of little chats with employees that I don't usually work with anymore as they passed by the main desk. I don't work in that area anymore so it was nice to see everyone. One of the security guards always used to bring me a hot chocolate when I worked the late shift and it was great to work with him tonight.

My boss is super stressed. She asked me to increase my hours over the next few weeks. I would really rather not because I think that I work enough and would prefer to be home with my family, but she is so good about my hours that I hate to say no to her when she asks for help. I guess I'll do it for a while and see if we can get ourselves caught up. Maybe by the middle of November I can cut back again. I know that December is going to be crazy with all the Christmas parties we will be organizing, but hopefully I'll be spending the bulk of my week at home!

I guess I'll head off to bed now. I didn't spend any money at work tonight. In fact, I found two dollars in my jacket pocket!

Dh's cheque deposit went through. Thank Goodness!

Went with dd9 to the mall today and mailed off a medical receipt for ds11's orthotic inserts. Originally I was told that he wasn't covered as a dependent, but of course he is, so my HR representative put together a package to send to them and I re-sent all the other information. Hopefully we're covered for it...$295.00 would be nice in our bank!

Ds11 has an infected toe...now he's on antibiotics and foot soaks. This is the third time he's had this problem. Feet are an issue with him.

I have to work the 6:15-3:00am shift tonight...yuck! I won't have to do it again after this. It is so boring after midnight and I'm tired, so it's going to be a struggle to stay awake. Then I'll be tired all day on Wednesday, so it's kind of a blah feeling knowing that I have to go in. If I'm not too tired then I'll take the kids to Science World tomorrow. We have a family membership so it doesn't cost us anything, and we haven't been in a while. It's a great place for all three kids...but I hate the hour drive. We'll have to be back by 4:00 because of the kids' paper route, and I hate hitting rush hour.

I have to finish up here now and go get dinner ready. We're having spaghetti because there's leftover ground beef from Saturday's tacos.

Another wet, rainy west coast day...got up with Dh because he had an 8:30 meeting, and then I went back to bed and snoozed off and on until 10:30. The kids were watching t.v. in my bed, so I was sort of awake most of the time. After I got up and had a shower, everyone changed the sheets on their beds and we did loads of laundry. Dh came home, made lunch and I made a chicken soup for dinner. I think our fridge is pretty much cleared out of leftovers. Ds11 rented a few dvds, so he and ds5 are watching Spaceballs and Dh took dd9 to gymnastics. I'm going to make some garlic breadsticks to go with our soup for dinner. I think the weekend did me in from working so many hours and I'll be heading off to bed early tonight.

Dh's cheque never was deposited into our account on Friday. He has direct deposit so we're not sure what went wrong. His boss is away until next Monday, so he phoned someone else and she's trying to figure it out for him. We have enough left in the account to cover this month's mortgage but RRSP's come out at the end of the month and if this happens again, we'll be short on our payment. We'll see how long this takes to fix.

I'm already back in my pajamas...it's only 3:30. I don't have a very busy week, work Tues., Thurs, Fri, and Sat. nights, but should just be regular hours. I don't think the kids will be back in school this week at all. The teachers strike is still going strong and pretty much the all of Victoria was shut down today in support. There's a big rally at the Parliament Buildings and supposedly the shut downs will move to the lower mainland tomorrow or Wednesday. Ds5 is supposed to go on a field trip to the pumpkin patch next week and it will be a shame if it has to be cancelled. I'll take my 3 to a pumpkin patch but, unfortunately, I don't have a school bus, and that's the main attraction for my little guy!

It is pouring here today and the kids are at my Dad's and Stepmom's for a sleepover so I told them that I would do their paper route. I worked yesterday from 2:00pm-1:30am...my overtime for this pay period is going to be huge and I can't wait to get my pay on Friday, but I'm exhausted from working 28 hours in two days...going out to do papers in the rain is not what I feel like doing right now. I think I'll finish up here, grab a coffee and some cornflakes, and get it over with. I'll come home and take a long hot shower and then my nephew is coming over because sil is working and my brother is still in Australia. My Dad will bring the kids back here later this afternoon and will probably stay for dinner. I better count on my sil and nephews staying, too, because she'll be picking them up around 5:30...saves her going home and starting a meal.

Latest in the teacher's strike...the court has ruled them in contempt and has put a hold on the federation's accounts. This means they are unable to collect strike pay and are not allowed to accept money from other unions for pay either. The government has told the teachers that they will re-open talks when the teachers go back to work. I think that both sides have backed themselves into a corner and it's anyone's guess as to who will break first. I, personally, think this strike could go on for a looooong time. I am thankful that Dh and I don't have the worry of childcare because there are some families out there--teachers now included--who are really going to be hurting financially.

O.K., enough stalling. I'm heading out into the wet weather!

I worked from 9:00am-1:30am yesterday...or this morning depending on how you look at it. Thank goodness I get overtime pay! It was so busy at work there was no way I could leave. I ate a chocolate bar that one of my customers bought me and that was pretty much it for the day. It could be a new diet fad! Needless to say, yesterday was a no spend day...simply because there wasn't any time to spend money.

My neck is feeling better, but not great. I have to be really careful not to lift anything. It's hard to keep asking for help.

Got up at 7:30, took ds11, dd9, and nephew 10 to go meet grandparents for a whale watching trip and a sleepover. The boat left at 9:30 and we live about an hour away...had a shower, packed their lunches and off we went...just made it in time!

Picked up some groceries that Dh wanted. He wants to make tacos tonight with ds5. They'll be the only ones home because I'm heading back to work shortly. I'll take Sunday and Monday off this week...probably Wednesday too.

The teacher's strike is still on...apparently at a standstill. Hopefully, they'll be back in by the end of the week.

Dh has informed me that out of his 200 dollars spending money, he has 8 dollars left. Wow! What a budgeter. I'm waiting to see what he's going to do now. We're not even halfway through the month...

Oh my poor neck...I moved a whole bunch of heavy stuff at work yesterday and woke up this morning at 6:00 with a horribly sore neck and upper back. It's so bad that I couldn't roll over in bed and had to wake DH. He thought I was having a bad dream until I started to cry from the pain. Now I'm in pain but it's not as bad (due to the pain killer and muscle relaxant I took). I'm supposed to go to work around 4, but we'll see about that.

I had a really nice time at The Olive Garden yesterday with my sils. I spent 20 bucks on my meal with a big tip, and 15 dollars went to my niece for babysitting my kids. I took that money out of the entertainment envelope. After I moved all the stuff at work (which is not my job!) the manager of the department I was helping bought me dinner. I had a delicious chicken burger.

The teacher strike is still going. They've been ordered back to work and are being held in contempt now. Today the union will find out what the penalty for this will be...jail time or a fine. We will be starting projects at home on Monday if the kids are still not in school. Ds11 will be starting a timeline between World War I and II. Dd9 will probably do a cookbook with recipes that she chooses and tests...this will tie in reading, writing, and math. Ds5 will bop between adding simple equations and practicing his letters. All will be good!

I don't think I did anything to save money...all the bills are paid for the month, though. I still have 1 paycheque and my 500 dollar bonus coming this month and DH has two paycheques coming (3 if he goes into the warehouse at all in the next two weeks), so we are doing well this month.

The kids and I all had dentist appointments yesterday...no cavities! Yippee! The cost for cleaning and general dental care is covered by my dental at work, but I hate when the kids get fillings because they dread them so much!

On Monday we spent 2.25 renting a dvd. We'd borrowed The Incredibles from sil but it turned out that someone had downloaded it off the computer which I believe is illegal and also incredibly annoying because it cuts out every few minutes. So off we went to the video store. I really wanted Monday to be a no spend day, but I gave it up in lue of teaching my kids yet another lesson in right from wrong! Yesterday I went to work 9:00-2:30 and after the dentist Dh and I went to Wal Mart to look for jeans for me. All the pairs I own now have holes in the knees. I found a pair that I liked for 19.00 so I snatched them up...very good price. Dh bought two shirts for work, casual but nice, and altogether our bill was 56.00, which used up almost all of the 60 bucks in the clothing envelope for October. I bought the kids a whack of clothes in September for back to school, so I think that everyone should be fine for now. With Christmas coming, anything I would pick up can wait for gift giving time.

I am going out for lunch with 3 of my sils today...Olive Garden...one of my faves! I love their salad. Unfortunately, because the teachers are still on strike, I have to pay one of my nieces to babysit. Well, it's not a big deal. One sil works for the school board, so if the teachers weren't on strike than she wouldn't be coming, and my kids are thrilled because they love their cousin. My ds11 is currently taking the Red Cross Babysitting Course, and he'll be 12 in January. He's very responsible so we may let him start babysitting once his course is over. We would only leave him for very short periods of time. Ds5 can be a bit of a handful...he is very headstrong and stubborn when his mind is set and doesn't see his brother as an authority figure, so having ds11 in charge could be very interesting.

Ways I saved money:
1) Brought breakfast and lunch to work.
2) Everyone had leftovers for dinner. Better yet, they were Thanksgiving leftovers from my Mom's house and we didn't even cook the original meal!
3) Bought the 19.00 jeans I liked instead of the 40.00 ones--I didn't like them twice as much!
4) Returned the 23 library books that would have been overdue if not returned last night. We are bad for having overdue books...really wanted to save myself another fine!

We had a great Thanksgiving dinner yesterday at sil's. She's an excellent cook and each family brings one item so dinner is done quickly. We had so much fun and as much as my sils drive me nuts, I do love them all. My favourite nieces were there and we had a lot of laughs...my stomach hurt when I was driving home!

On Saturday we did some grocery shopping and some banking. The kids were paid for their paper route so some money had to be transferred, ds11 owed me $15.00 for a book he bought, and they each took out $20.00 for their wallets. They had friends over for dinner and then dd9 went on a sleepover. I curled up in my bed with the boys and watched a show and they brought their blankets and sleeping bags into our room and had a sleepover with DH and I.

Yesterday was no spend day number 4...10 to go in October to meet my goal. I've started Christmas shopping, but it'll be delayed until the teacher's strike is over. I've heard they'll be back in a week, and I also heard that it will be 4-6 weeks! The government better smarten up and get on this. There are a lot of mad parents around and it's not the teachers being blamed.

We'll probably go out on a nice fall hike today and then we're going to my Mom's for Thanksgiving dinner tonight with sil and 2 nephews. She lives in a cute townhouse, perfect for one person, with a tiny yard. Our visit will be a quick eat and run because 9 people in there is pretty squishy and loud. This is the first family meal that she's had for all of us since she moved in 1 1/2 years ago and she only lives 5 minutes away! My brother is still in Australia and will be home in a week.

Happy Turkey Day!

I just got home from a 3 hour training session at work...I am now totally confused! I learned a ton and at the end of the session we were given a hard test. I'm sure I passed, but I messed up on one part, knew that I had messed up somewhere, and had to go back and re-do it...I know the instructors quite well so there was a fair bit of teasing on their part and I sure hope I got a good mark, or I'll never hear the end of it!

My kids are thrilled. We have a teacher strike in B.C. starting tomorrow, which gives them a 4 day weekend at the very least because it's Thanksgiving on Monday. Supposedly, the strike will last at least a week, but the government could order the teachers back to work. This is what happened two years ago, and the reason the teachers are striking, because nothing was settled last time! I like having my kids with me so it doesn't faze me to not have them be at school, but I sure feel for all those parents who work around the school schedule or who are barely making ends meet and will now have to pay extra for daycare!

I spent 19.00 on hair products today. I took 10 out of my hair/make up envelope for mousse, and 9 out of the miscellaneous envelope for a special shampoo that one of the kids needed. I'm liking the envelope system so far because everything has been accounted for and I don't feel guilty spending the money. We'll see what happens when the envelopes are running low.

I made DH beef barley soup today from leftovers. He has enough to freeze for a few lunches, so that should make him happy. I don't know what the deal is with him and beef barley soup, but if we don't have it in the house he goes on about his cravings for it...I'm just not that picky and will pretty much eat whatever is in the cupboard if I'm hungry...popcorn always works for me!

Tomorrow should be a no spend day...wait! I have to get turnips and carrots to take to sil's for Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday and mom's on Monday...yes, two turkey dinners in a row and I don't have to make either one,
AND I get the whole weekend off. This is the last weekend that I'll have off until the middle of May--work is going to be busy!

I'm keeping track of my no spend days in my entry title, otherwise I forget where I am...

Went to sleep at 9:00 last night, and was up for 11/2 hours through the night. I was so tired when the alarm went off this morning!

Took the kids to school, came home, tidied up and threw in a load of laundry, folded the load in the dryer, returned a few phone calls from friends, and am just about to go get ds5 from school. I will bring him home for lunch and then he's going to sil's and I'm going to work. Since DH got his new job, and it's part time, I feel that I'm not accomplishing what I need to get done at home. I know that it's partly because I am working more, but it's also because his schedule is all over the place, and I can't plan anything around him because I never know what he's doing from one day to the next. It really sucks when I've scheduled to go to work and then find out at the last minute that 'oh, yeah! There is a meeting at that time!' AAAAAAH! It's a hassle today, tomorrow, and Friday. Next week I am super busy at work so there were a few days that I told him not to schedule anything, because he needs to be home for the kids. Ds11 and dd9 are fine home alone for an hour or so, but ds5 is not and I don't want them to be responsible for him...not that he'll listen to them anyways.

So I'm off now to go get the little guy...Have a great afternoon!

I went shopping at the warehouse store with my friend after we went out for breakfast. Spent 17.00 there, got quite a bit of stuff, though. There were some good deals!
After I got home Dh (who did not go to work today) wanted to go for a walk, so we went to the dollar store, spent 8 dollars, and then went to Superstore and spent 16.00 there. We picked the kids up from school, and now am going to go put a roast in the oven for dinner. Dh already started the yorkshire pudding!

Things I did to save money today:
1) Shared the order of eggs benny for breakfast, instead of ordering two.
2) Walked to the school twice and to the grocery store instead of driving.
3) Convinced Dh that he didn't really want Chinese food for lunch--mostly because I was still full from breakfast!

That makes 2 out of 14 no spend days for October...

Dropped the kids off at school and went to work. I finished all my work over the weekend but my boss is stressed out big time so I went in to help her catch up. I took on another task that she's responsible for. I don't mind, keeps me busy and her calm...she always has tons to do. Our computer expert came in to see how my computer is doing (this is the one he set up for me last week, but is totally useless). I told him "It's pretty much junk!" He fooled around with it for a bit, agreed with me, and will have a brand new one for me as soon as he can--Yay! Yay! Yay! I also have the worst phone in the world, but one thing at a time...

Picked the kids up from school, went to my brother's to do some fundraising stuff for school and took one nephew home with me. My brother is going to Australia for 2 weeks to visit out great aunt who is 99 years old and still lives on her own. Sil wanted to drive him to the airport which is about an hour away, so 7 year old nephew came with me. We went home, got changed, and took dd9 to gymnastics, went to the bank, picked up ds11 from the school where he's taking a babysitting course, went home, got the kids a snack, made a pot of tea, picked up dd from the gym, went home, made dinner, other nephew came over from a friend's house, we ate, read some books, sil picked up kids, mine had baths, made lunches for tomorrow, packed school bags, read 3 more books, and they're all tucked in their little beds! Dh isn't feeling well and is supposed to go to his warehouse job tomorrow. If he decides at 4:40am when the alarm goes off and wakes me up, that he's staying home...well, let's just say he's going to wish he went to work!

I have tomorrow off and will work Wed, Thurs, and Friday. I have training sessions Thurs and Fri for 2 different things...my brain can only hold so much, hoping to retain something from these!

Things I did to save money today:
1) Brought breakfast and lunch to work.

oops, that's all I did to save money. Well, I didn't spend any so maybe I'll count that, too!

I did it yesterday...made my own laundry detergent. I spent 12.00 on ingredients for 400 loads of laundry. I usually spend 45.00 for 450 loads, so this is a huge savings. I think DH suspected I'd lost my mind as I stood there and grated 20 bars of soap, but after I explained to him that the price difference is about 3 hours of my take home pay and that will pay for a Chinese Food meal ordered in, well, the little lightbulb went on and he told me he was very proud of me...anything for an egg roll, I guess!

Anyways, I split all the money into envelopes (actually ziploc bags--no name ones, of course--because I don't want the money falling out and getting mixed up!) and took my treasure grocery shopping. We spent 215.00 which is huge BUT I now have dinners for the month and will only need to stock up on eggs, bread, milk and produce! Yay--I'm sure we can keep under 375 for the month, plus I have an extra 18.00 from last month to use.

DH happily took his 200 bucks and promptly went out and spent 80 at the bar and on Keno--spent the day with his Dad and siblings. I reminded him he was on his own after the 200 was gone...I am very curious to see the outcome of this. I suspect it won't be pretty. After he came home and complained because I didn't buy cans of beef barley soup (because I bought the ingredients to make it), I offered to let him be in charge of the grocery shopping and menu planning. He politely declined. This month is going to be fun, I can tell!

Today was 1 out of 14 no spend days...

DH just got his paycheque from his part time warehouse position and it was twice what I had budgeted for...very nice.

I went in to work for a meeting this morning. I sit on an employee board that meets once a month with an outside human relations specialist. Those of us on the board represent all the employees at my work, so we deal with everyone's issues that are brought up...wages, break times, customer complaints, staff problems, misunderstandings with managers, etc. We were elected by our prospective departments of which there are ten. We are only permitted to be on the board for one year and then someone else has a turn. Anyways, we are just finishing up the year and we were paid our hourly rate for attending meetings. We found out this morning that we are each being given a $500 dollar honorarium at the end of the month for all the extra work we did...on top of that, I mentioned to my boss last night that I was going to be asking for a raise and that I would put it in writing and cc it to our General Manager. She agreed that I should have one and told me that she will take it up with him personally. Even if he says no, I am thrilled that she will go to bat for me like this! It's been a great morning.

DH has gone with two of his siblings to visit their Dad who lives an hour away. Dd9 is camping and both ds11 and ds5 are playing at friends' houses down the street. I love my quiet house, and although I have lots I could be doing I'm choosing not to today. We will go grocery shopping later and the boys can pick a dinner for tonight and we'll have dinner theatre. It's a special thing that I do with the kids in our family room. Usually they are only allowed to eat dinner in the kitchen and we sit at the table...no television allowed!

So the first day of October will not be a no spend day, but I am going to try for 14 this month. Yikes! I may be setting myself up for disaster, but high goals set high standards.