$$: Christmas Shipping & Shopping

Posted on | December 18, 2008 | No Comments

Total Spent Today: $166.08

I had the car today and had to take The Son into the city for a school activity so I took the opportunity to get some Christmas errands done. It was a very productive day.

Apple — $48.42
During my last One-to-One session, I mentioned my database woes (currently using Access but want to move everything to my Mac so need a Mac alternative). The Apple rep gave me a trial disc of a program called Bento. I played around with it and initially dismissed it as a glorified spreadsheet program and not a true database program. I was wrong. I tried again the next day and got things figured out and ended up completely falling in love with the program. So today I bought a boxed Bento program (technically, my business bought the program).

Sur La Table — $59.25

A true indulgence. Earlier this year my mom gave me her old iSi cream whipper but it turned out that the whipper doesn’t work properly. I’ve always wanted one of these things so today I decided to splurge — after all, the holidays coming up and I have a whole box of Nitro cartridges in my kitchen drawer.

Claire’s — $1.35
A Joe Jonas pin [don't ask] for The Daughter’s stocking

Day by Day Calendar Company — $19.38
Jonas Brothers calendar [don't ask] — a Christmas present for The Daughter.

Cost Plus World Market — $9.38

2 tree ornaments — $2.50/ea. [one each for The Daughter and The Son -- Santa always leaves the children new ornaments in the tree complete with the year written on a tag so they'll always know which year they got which ornament]
bag of mint chocolate cookies for The Daughter’s stocking — $2.50

Office Depot — $9.68

3-pack of flesh toned drawing pencils — $3.00
5-pack of sketch pencils plus eraser & pencil sharpener — $5.99

Both will be stockings stuffers for The Son.

Postmaster — $18.62
The line looked horrendous but the wait wasn’t too bad. And don’t you just love those flat-rate Priority Mail boxes?

I shipped 13 pounds of American Girl world books (7 in total) plus the custom hardbound photo book I made and had printed through Apple for my mom this summer — all for $9.80. That box shipped out to my brother and niece #1. I’m not technically doing Christmas presents for any of my siblings/nieces/nephews but …. Technically the AG books are a birthday gift — an August event for which I never sent anything (bad Auntie). And why not send the Grannie photo book as a Christmas gift because 1) my brother really can’t afford to pay me his share of the printing cost and 2) even if he could afford it he’d never get around to actually sending a check.

I also mailed out the birthday card and accompanying gift card to Nephew #2 — $0.42 (I was afraid it would need extra postage).

And I shipped back the Emu Australia boots I bought The Daughter for Christmas but was pretty sure she wouldn’t like. No charge on the return shipping, of course, because free return shipping was an important criteria when making my purchase — no charge.

I also bought a book of Nutcracker holiday stamps — $8.40. I should get The Son’s school photos tomorrow and I’ve had The Daughter’s for a couple of weeks. It will probably take me weeks to get around to it, but I’d like to send out some Christmas cards to family including the kids’ school photos. The kids will also use the stamps when they send out their Thank You letters. Maybe the Nutcracker theme will inspire The Son to work on his Thank Yous but I’m not going to count on it. The exercise will probably be as difficult and drawn-out as always.

~ o o o O o o o ~

I’m too tired to do it tonight but tomorrow I need to take a look at what all I’ve found for each child’s stocking and get a sense of what else I’ll need to fill them out.

I also need to send The Husband in search of $1 coins for our unwrapping game. On that subject, I need to get to a TJ Maxx or Ross and pick up half a dozen dish towels — I use them in the game too.

And I need to sit down and plan out the party menu and figure out where I need to go shopping and on which days I can start buying the ingredients I need. The shrimp trays from Costco are always very popular but can’t get them too early and a trip to Costco that close to Christmas is a real time-killer. The logistics of party shopping and party preparations is a complicated dance and one that I’m not at all good at.

I still have to get gift suggestions from both of The Husband’s sons or daughters-in-law for their respective children (Niece #2 & #3 and Nephew #2). It’s coming down the wire and I have to get that shopping done. The stress levels starting to rise a little.

Luckily tomorrow is the last day of class for both children and I intend to put them to work right away with holiday and holiday party prep.

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$$: Dec 17 — A No-Spend Day!

Posted on | December 18, 2008 | No Comments

Total Spent Today: $0.00

‘Nuff said.

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Category: Daily $$'s
Tags: no spend

$$: Dec 16 - Groceries & Supplement

Posted on | December 18, 2008 | No Comments

Total Spent Today: $77.96

Whole Foods — $52.26

Whole Foods organic Farfalle pasta — $1.99
Whole Foods organic Fusilli pasta — $1.99
365 Lasagna pasta — $2.99
1/2-gallon Horizon chocolate milk — $3.99
1/2-gallon Horizon 2% milk — $3.19
91% lean ground beef — $5.35
fresh mozzarella log — $7.99
Organic Valley ricotta cheese — $7.49
Whole Foods grated Parmesan cheese — $3.99
fresh fruit cup — $3.74
2.08# navel oranges — $2.08
1.11# tomato cluster — $5.54
bag refunds — ($0.10)

Vitality Works — $25.70
I ordered a 2oz bottle of Digest-Aid tincture that works wonders if I accidentally eat something that my stomach is sensitive to (for whatever reason). My stomach’s been a bit sensitive lately so I’ve been using the tincture more than usual and the thought of running out strikes fear in my heart. This stuff is shipped from New Mexico so the price I paid included $6.50 for shipping.

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Category: Daily $$'s
Tags: groceries > meds > supplements

$$: Dec 15 - Physical Therapy, etc.

Posted on | December 18, 2008 | No Comments

Total Spent Today: $91.85

Physical Therapy — $25.00
This was, for now, The Son’s last physical therapy session. His range of motion is excellent though not quite 100%. His strength needs more work but he’s going to have to work on that on his own. If The Son should run into range of motion issues at some point — ie during basketball or baseball — he can go back for more therapy but the likelihood is minimal because he’s pretty sure he’s done with league baseball and the one season of basketball last winter seemed to be a one-off.

Target — $66.85

huge box of Tide — $16.29
iTunes gift card for Grandson #1 — $25.00
birthday card for Nephew #2 — $2.59
Star Wars bobblehead (exchange gift #1) — $5.99
huge Toblerone bar (exchange gift #2) — $4.00
two bags of Lindor chocolate ball treats (exchange gift #3) — $5.00
one more bag of Lindor candies (stocking stuffer) — $2.50
big bottle of Eclipse gum (stocking stuffer) — $2.50

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Category: Daily $$'s
Tags: gifts > health > medical > The Son

$$: Boosting the Economy

Posted on | December 14, 2008 | No Comments

Total Spent Today: $1,920.17

Well, I did my part to help the economy today

Kroger — $141.86
I went shopping with the kids today so the shopping bill was higher than normal

nacho Doritos — $2.98 (saved $0.32)
Oberto jerkey — $5.49 (saved $0.50)
2.10# organic Grannie Smith apples — $5.23
2.08# Navel oranges — $4.14
1.91# bananas — $1.28
2.66# butternut squash — $2.63
Rudi’s Multigrain Oat bread — $4.39
Rudi’s 100% Whole Grain bread — $4.39
Keebler chocolate chip cookies — $3.89
box of 15 Balance protein bars — $15.00
Lindt chocolate Santa — $3.79
5 cans of Bumble Bee gourmet Salmon — $3.19/ea. (saved $0.20/ea.)
2 cartons of Horizon chocolate milk — $3.69
Hormel slicked turkey — $3.49 (saved $0.50)
Land O’ Frost sliced ham — $3.00 (saved $0.49)
Kroger Colby Jack cheese — $3.99 (saved $1.00)
Kroger medium Cheddar cheese — $3.99 (saved $1.00)
box of 6 General Mills granola bars — $2.50 (saved $1.39)
2 boxes of Amy’s cheese & bean snacks — $2.99/ea. (saved $0.70)
6 boxes of Amy’s cheese pizza snacks — $2.99/ea. (saved $0.70)
Breyer’s chocolate ice cream — $4.99 (saved $0.70)
Cover Girl mascara — $5.99
Secret antiperspirant — $4.49
L’Oreal glitter lotion — $4.74*

*The Daughter pays for her own cosmetics. We pay for normal toiletries. The Daughter and I had an interesting debate tonight as to whether the lotion qualified as a toiletry or a cosmetic product. Of course, I won ;-) Since it’s a glitter lotion, The Daughter’s the only one who can use it so it qualifies as a cosmetics. Naturally, the mascara also gets charged against her allowance and the antiperspirant is paid for by us.

The Son — $125.00
We bought four Barnes & Noble gift cards from The Son. One gift card will go to The Nephew #2 as a birthday gift ($25); one will be given to The Granddaughter #1 as a Christmas gift ($25) [see Santa's Gift List]; one will be used as the Grand Prize in our family Christmas party unwrapping game ($25); and one card will go into The Husband’s wallet to be used whenever he goes shopping at B&N. The Son will deposit the check in his savings account tomorrow.

Apple Store — $1,653.31
Of course there’s a story behind this purchase. You can’t spend that kind of money without there being a back story, right?

For my birthday this summer, The Husband bought me a brand new 24″ iMac computer with wireless mouse and keyboard. A few weeks later, we bought The Son an educational copy of Photoshop CS3 for The Son for his birthday. We bought the Mac version and installed it on the new iMac.

Since then, I’ve hardly gotten more than 5 minutes at a time on my own, brand new iMac. The Son is having a great time teaching himself to use Photoshop and it’s hard for me to complain about it since I’ve done so much to encourage his interests in drawing and art.

But that’s not reason enough to buy another computer — no, I could offer any number of additional justifications for spending a wad of cash on a new MacBook Pro.

There’s more to the story. A couple of weeks ago, The Husband and I discussed my plan to downsize Christmas this year. I declared my wish to not receive a gift this Christmas. For one thing, I’d gotten the iMac for my birthday. Then too, The Husband received a big, expensive Christmas gift — an electric scooter — one that I’ve been enjoying myself so much that it seems reasonable to consider it for both of us. The Husband was all for spending less this year but didn’t think it necessary for me to go without a gift.

We knew we wanted an Apple laptop and The Husband encouraged me to go ahead and get one for Christmas. I argued that we should wait until this Spring when we’d again be qualified for a $100 educator’s discount (homeschool discount). I simply couldn’t justify the expense of the computer I wanted (I don’t need the biggest and the bestest but I don’t believe in buying the bottom-of-the-line either — I’ve tried that before and I always end up growing out of the computer and it’s capabilities too quickly).

Then, last week during my One-to-One session at the Apple Store, we were laughing about The Son’s taking over my computer and I mentioned my plan to hold off on a new laptop until the spring. My teacher, the same guy The Son and I almost always work with, recommended considering a refurbished computer.

Yeah, I’ve purchased a refurb computer before. An HP laptop. It didn’t work out all that terrifically well. It wasn’t a disaster but there were enough disadvantages that it’s not something I’d do again. But then I’ve sworn off HP and Windows altogether.

The Husband wasn’t thrilled with the idea of a refurbished machine either. He felt more burned by the refurb HP than I did. But I pointed out that refurbished Apple computers come with the very same warranty that new computers do. Plus, and this is huge, unlike HP which doesn’t offer any support at all (have you ever tried to get them on the phone? I have. What a joke), with an Apple computer we’d have access to local support and phone support. My past experiences with Apple’s Genius Bar have been stellar. Same with Apple’s phone support.

So tonight we went online and looked in the Apple store and compared the refurbished machines to the new ones. We ended up buying a 15.4″ MacBook Pro 2GB RAM 200GB laptop ($1,349). We also purchased an Apple Care package ($249) that will extend the warranty coverage from 1 year to 3 and the phone support from 90 days to 3 years. Boy, I sure hope we didn’t make a mistake.

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Category: Daily $$'s

$$: a cappella

Posted on | December 13, 2008 | No Comments

Total Spent Today: $20.00

Church — $20.00

The Son and I attended an annual Holiday concert. It was fabulous. Terrific. I’d have given up any two skills/talents if I’d been born with a voice. I have a range of two notes — both of them bad. Really, I sound like a sick cow. But I do love vocal music.

The check was a donation as there was no admission fee for the concert.

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Category: Daily $$'s
Tags: cultural event > entertainment > The Son

$$: Meat and Potatoes

Posted on | December 12, 2008 | No Comments

Ugh. Friday’s are tough because The Daughter gets one car and The Husband and I have to share the second one but we both have busy schedules because The Son’s in class on Friday and I volunteer.

Whole Foods — $11.06

2.83# organic russet potatoes — $2.80
@ 3# ground turkey thigh — $8.10

The plan is to make a nice big Shepherd’s Pie tomorrow. We’ll eat some and I’ll freeze a couple of portions (which The Son will likely consume in short order). Shepherd’s Pie is an easy-to-make hearty meal and a great way to substitute turkey for beef; The Husband usually doesn’t care for turkey in any form but he likes it in my Shepherd’s Pie.

Costco — $23.18

a two-pack of Cetaphil Lotion (I mistakenly purchased Cetaphil hand soap last time; oops) — $15.49
a 24-ct package of Costco cookies — $6.49 (to be taken as The Son’s contribution at tonight’s school/homeschool Christmas party)

[Costco has one of the best return policies. I have no doubt that they will issue a refund for the two-pack of hand soap I bought in error a few weeks ago even though one bottle has been opened -- the bottle look exactly alike. The Son loves the lotion but I have no need for two huge bottles of liquid soap. I simply forgot to take my receipt and the soap bottles with me today. Darned memory.]

Costco Gas — $23.38
The Tank had to log a lot of miles today so naturally it was a little parched. I pumped 16.953 gallons at $1.379 per gallon. The odometer, at the time, read 136,271.

Cash — $5.00
Admission and pizza tonight for The Son. The whole homeschool co-op, both campuses and goodness knows how many families, took over a local swimming pool/recreation center for their annual Christmas party. I wasn’t feeling well and besides, The Husband needed to be picked up from work, so I dropped and ran leaving The Son to swim, play basketball, climb the climbing wall, and eat (everything but ice skate which is still a no-no as the broken collarbone continues to heal nicely).

~ o o o O o o o ~

I’d guess The Daughter spent some of my money today, I just don’t know how much yet. She left the house early this morning for school then played in the first game of a weekend tournament. After her game, she stayed to watch the boys’ team play. They have a morning game tomorrow so she texted to ask permission to spend the night with a few girls from the team and I gave my permission. She did call to confirm she’d arrived safety at her friend’s house. Most likely I won’t see her until late tomorrow night — at which point I might or might not remember to ask for any new receipts. Should I remember, I’ll be sure to include those receipts in my Daily $$ posting.

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