My boss told me yesterday that I'll be getting a $1.00 an hour pay raise in September when I re-sign my contract (I work September through June). Yay! The other 11 Coordinators who hold my position will be getting .50 cent raises, so she suggested to me that I not share my increase with anyone so as not to cause waves...as if I would share that information with anyone I work with!

I used to work for a large company and the pay scale widely varied. Many problems occured when employees would spout off on how much they made...problems
galore would ensue. I'd definatley prefer to avoid that.

I spent last week at camp with my oldest son and the three grade 7 classes from his school. It was an absolute blast. The camp was actually a ranch and we went rock climbing, horse back riding and did archery. There was an amazing challenge course there where we had to climb over walls, shimmy across things, balance on swinging ropes etc. We had a great time.

I spent a fair bit of time with the grade 7 girls, which was very interesting. They were quite eager to share all sorts of 'gossipy' items with me...who likes who, things the kids have done through the year that their teachers are completely unaware of etc. I learned a lot from them.

The ranch has staff that do all the cleaning and cooking. The food was outstanding and it was so nice not to have to plan menus and spend any time in the kitchen...we just got up in the morning, went into the hall and poured freshly made coffee. I could have stayed up there another week!

I transferred money from our checking into our savings yesterday and we now have our emergency fund full again. This was after my little car repair in March and the new car purchase in April when I had to borrow from the account. I always feel so much better when I have a full 3 months of savings in the bank, and easy to access. We don't have anything unusual coming up in June...can't plan for surprises that I don't know about, of course. Property tax is due in July, but I have the money for that in our sinking funds, along with our holiday money for our vacation in August.

I really wanted to have an extra $2000 saved in another account because I won't be working all summer, and I don't want to penny pinch. I'm at $700 right now. I think I'll have $400 more at the end of this month to add to it. June is a 3 paycheck month for me, so that will almost fill it up. If I run out of summer money I have do have 3 options:
1)...borrow from the emergency account until September when I go back to work;
2)...find something to do that will make a bit of money to cover the difference, or;
3)...spend less.

Hmmm. Decisions, decisions, decisions.

I've been keeping my eyes open for a new summer purse. My winter handbag is big and black...not acceptable for summer clothes and weather. So far, nothing had caught my eye~until yesterday. I drove my brother to the airport and one of the kiosks there sells purses. There it was, on a stand. A beautiful light blue, swirled with pink and decorated with tiny beads...my purse!

And it only cost $13.50! Ha! What a steal.

Of course, it'll probably only last one year, but it's going to be gorgeous while it stays clean!

We got a letter yesterday from the high school stating that our 13 year old ds has qualified for the Honours Program in all academic courses! Woo Hoo! I am so proud of him...This means that he will take honours English, social studies, math, French and science and have regular phys ed. and elective courses. The honours program only takes 60 kids and, because it's the only program of it's kind in our city (leads to the International Baccalaureate program in grades 11 and 12), all grade 7 students can apply to the program, and not just those living in the school catchment. This will be super for ds because he'll meet a lot of new kids whom he probably wouldn't have had the chance to meet otherwise!

We have $40 left out of our $300 this week. Dh will probably take $10 or so, and I need to pick up a few things for dd's birthday party on Friday night. Ds7 has a friend's party to attend on Saturday, so we'll have to get a gift for that as well...I may take our weekly $300 out on Thursday instead of Friday this week, just to be on the safe side.

I'm working mainly from home today. Tomorrow will be a really busy (and long for me) working day, so I'll try not to worry about getting too much done today workwise. Besides, our house needs a cleaning...the bathrooms especially!

It should be a fairly relaxed day. Dh and I are planning to go for a walk in the evening. We make sure everyone's had their bath, leave ds13 in charge, and go walk and talk for about 45 minutes.

So, my $300 is all used up for the week...right down to the crunch!

Thank goodness a new spending week starts today. I'm off to the bank to take out our money and I do have to pick up a few things from the grocery store, but nothing major until tomorrow or Sunday after I've done the meal plan and grocery list for the week.

This should be a fairly quiet week...and I can't think of any unusual expenses. I do need new running shoes, but I have a gift certificate for $25 and I'm sure that I can find something suitable for close to that price!

It was dd's birthday yesterday...she's now 11...where did that time go? She is a wonderful, sunny personality child and we know that we are blessed to have her. She chose to go out for Japanese food for her birthday dinner and we'll be having a sleepover party for her next week. She's invited 9 of her giggly girl friends!

I opened the mail today and my Dad sent me an envelope with a cheque inside for $5000...no note or anything.

I talked to him later in the day and he said it was 'just because'. Hmmm...now he does do this every so often, but it's usually because he's sold some property, or lent my brother some money so he's trying to be fair. This was for no reason other than he felt like it. My Dad doesn't have any money worries and has done extremely well for himself.

We'll just tuck the money into the ef for now. It's fully funded back up to 3 months of expenses (and then some), but since I won't be working in the summer and won't be bringing in any money, I'm sure it will come in handy. What a guy my Dad is!

I told Dh that I was taking the cheque, cashing it in, and going on a HUGE spending spree. He didn't even blink--knows me and my frugal ways too well!