Moneycents Personal Finance Blog

Today started off with the ususal...making hubby's sandwich to take to work,laundry,dishwasher and taking care of the doggies. I then sat down and began to write one of the three letters of complaint. I decided to write to my doctor first and describe in detail what happened to me the other day with regards to being turned away from having my procedure. The next letter will be to the vice president of the hospital and the third letter will be to my insurance company vice president. I made a new appointment today and the earliest they could give me was November 20, 2006. That will be a two month delay in treatment. I think that this is totally unacceptable but at this point I have exhausted all other means. I'm just hoping that the next patient that comes along will not have to go through this same scenario.

I then tried out my new crock pot. $19.00 brand new after rebate and it came with the little dipper. I made thai chicken in peanut sauce with jasmine rice. It tasted pretty good. Hubby liked it and so did DD. While that was ccoking I went out to do the yard work. Mowed the lawn. This will probably be the last cutting until the spring. Then I got up all the leaves and boy there sure were a lot of them. Next, I cleaned the walk to the front door. It took me about three hours to do but I didn't mind, the weather here was so beautiful today. It was sunny and about 70. When my hubby got home from work he complimented me on how beautiful the yard looked. He thought that I had someone come and do it for me. Saved a bundle doing it myself. When I got back in the house there was a lot of dog hair hanging around so I got out the vacuum and cleaned up a bit inside.
So, I have just finished cleaning up after dinner and I am relaxing making an entry to my blog.

Tomorrow is payday and I hope to be able to save a large chunk. We will see. I am a little tired now so I will say goodnight!

Happy Halloween! We had some of the cutest trick or treaters! Their costumes were really great. They were also very polite even the older ones. They all made sure they said thank you!( I love polite kids)Still have some candy left over but for the most part it went. My nephews came over to do their trick or treating in my neck of the woods and I have to say that they made out pretty well.

Made dinner and lunch today. Did a little food shopping saved about 25.00 instore coupons and manufacturers. My dollar trial is over for the grocery game and I only kept one of the stores on my list. This will cost me about 5.00 /mnth. I will try it for a little longer and see if I still like it. If not it is pretty easy to cancel.

Took Teddy(my dog) for his PT today he is really walking better. I am so happy. When I originally started taking him I was kind of skeptical about it. With only two sessions left he is doing great. His therapist is such a nice person. I will miss her. We gave her a thank you gift today for all her help. She was very appreciative.

Started looking around online for Christmas gifts and found some nice gifts for my daughter. Yesterday, Apple store had the ipod shuffle(refurbished for 29.00) I bought 2. One for my daughter and one for my nephew. I couldn't believe the price. I'm glad that I at least started. I hate when I wait until the last minute.

Kind of a do nothing weekend. I was kind of glad to get back to work today. The weather was pretty bad here on Friday and Saturday(alot of rain and heavy winds). Couldn't really leave the house and then Sunday it was really windy. Kind of ran out to do a few errands. I was able to catch up on the laundry and bake a little. I read the book A Rocky Road to Romance by Janet Evanovich. It was a quick read and it was a cute story. I took out a few audio books from the library on Saturday. I find them a little difficult to get used to. I think I need to pay attention more while I'm listening to them. I rented a couple of movies,Nacho Libre(What a stupid movie and a waste of time and money)Click(this was pretty good)total $2.18.
Because of this do nothing weekend I spent very little money. My brother did come over to borrow some. So, I am keeping a tally of his balance. He told me he will pay me back this Friday. I've heard this story before. I'm a softy when it comes to my brothers.

I'm thinking ahead to November...and I did not accomplish a few of the goals that I had set for October. So, I am going to cross my fingers and hope that all works out for this coming month. I'm talking about my investment strategy. I'll post, if all works out.

I have MDNY health insurance and I have had this particuliar insurance for the past 12 years. I have never had a problem with it, until today. I had a mamography last month and about a week later I got a phone call stating that I would need to have a sonogram and possible fine needle aspiration as they saw something on the mamography. Not to worry that it didn't appear to be a lump or a mass just something that they felt needed further evaluatiuon. They told me at that time to get a physicians order for the procedure and to set up an appointment. I set up my appointment for the soonest one they had, which happened to be a month away. I called the doctor and received my order in the mail on October 11th. Today I went to the Breast Center and I had to go to the cashier first. I presented him with my physicians order form and my insurance card. He preceeded to tell me that the order was still pending for the sonogram that my insurance company had still not approved it and for the biopsy he had nothing in the system with regards to that. So, I asked him well what should I do. I took the day off of work to have this done. I waited a month for this appointment. His response was for me to get another appointment at a later date and to get in contact with my insurance company,period... the end. I tell you, I walked out of there fuming. So, when I got to work I called the insurance company and they said it wasn't their fault, they out source their work to another company called Core Care National and it was up to them to approve my test. Okay, so I call Core Care and they tell me that they didn't receive the requisition for the procedure until this past Wednesday and that it was pending approval. They tell me that the blame lies with my physicians office for not calling in the request. So then I asked them "so what about the fine needle biopsy, who is supposed to approve that?" They say "oh your insurance company, MDNY" At this point I'm ABOUT TO SPIT FIRE through the phone. I call MDNY back and tell them the story again and they say "they won't approved a possible procedure, so the doctor will have to call the insurance company when they know that they are going to do the procedure." So I asked her "So I'll be lying on the table for days waiting for your company to approve the procedure????" "I told her that this was ridiculous and that I have been through these procedures twice before and have never had this problem in the past. I asked her for her supervisors name, number and address. She said that she would give her supervisor the message that I wanted a phone call back regarding this matter. Finally I did call my doctors office and spoke to the office manager and voiced my complaint and she told me that she would look into what had happened and that because she was going to lunch she wouldn't be able to get back to me until Monday. I GIVE UP! No words can express the frustration that I feel right now. I am so worried that if something critical were to happen to me or one of my family members that we would be up The Brown Creek. We are up to date on all the insurance premiums in fact they raised our rate in October and we paid the increase. I am going to start looking into other insurances. In the mean time, I hope that this was just an isolated incident(I have a feeling that it isn't the case). Is anyone else having problems like this with their insurance companies?

Mailed off my last payment to the last credit card I had a balance on. Yipee! Sure feels good knowing that it is paid off. I had 0% until January but I didn't want to take any chances.
I wasn't able to save anything from my paycheck this week. The entire check went to bills. I was able to roll 25.00 in coin, so I took that over to the bank to put into savings. Even though it is a small amount, I still feel like I'm doing something.
I couldn't control the spending this week. I ate out and took in food. Went to Target and bought stuff for my daughter that wasn't really a need but a want. Oh and went to Manhattan to watch my brother being taped for The Peoples Court. That was pretty exciting. I haven't had a no spend day in quite some time. I wonder what is going on with me? Oh well! I'll try harder next week.

Yesterday was my anniversary and to celebrate my husband took me to a very nice and expensive restaurant. He wanted to buy me a gift, card and flowers as well. But I said no. Why waste the money? I prefer that we save it and put it towards our goals. He was more than okay with that. So we settled on dinner out, something the both of us could enjoy.

Big mistake! Both the food and the service were lousey. The food was sparse to say the least. It didn't come with a salad, potatoe or vegetable . That was all extra. The bread that did come with the meal was cold and my creme brule was one of the worst I have ever had. The dinner tab came to $141.00+tip total came to $175.00. Can you believe we had to pay $6.00 for a small side of mashed potatoes? The food that we ordered wasn't exotic by any means. Rib eye steaks. Mine was a little burnt around the edges. Since we didn't order drinks with our meal our waiter didn't feel the need to give us his full attention, like the other patrons that were ordering bottles of wine. We don't drink and having water with our meals is our norm. This isn't the first place that ever gave us attitude because of this.
I have to say that I will not be visiting that establishment again. What a waste of money!

Today is payday. I am fortunate to be able to say that I am able to save the entire check this week. My bills are not due until next week, so that check I will not be able to save anything from. I will however try to roll some coins so that I can put something into the savings department for next week. I am also counting on some money that is owed to me from my 2 brothers. One owes $40.00 and the other owes 50.00. My daughter also owes my 50.00. So hopefully next week I will see some of it.

Yesterday I did my food shopping for the week and did pretty well with coupons. I was able to save over 35.00 at Stop and Shop and another 16.00 at Shoprite. My cost for food and other incidentals came to 120.00 for the week. That is pretty good for me. Not too long ago I can remember spending about 400.00/wk just on food shopping. And I can also remember alot of it going to waste. I do quite a bit more cooking these days and fast food is pretty much non existent. My family and I usually eat out once a week on Sunday, at a very nice restaurant. That is our treat!
The gas prices in my neck of the woods has been steadily declining(2.21/gallon)I filled up yesterday and have been pretty good with stretching it out to about a week and a half. I have been combining errands more and this really helps.
I washed both cars yesterday inside and out. Saving myself about 20.00. I used to go to the car wash once a week 10.00 /car on Ladies Day which was a discounted rate x 2.
Still haven't had to turn on the heat. I'm sure that it's just around the corner though. It really is a beautiful time of the year.

I took my daughter bra and underwear shopping today. She really needed them. For some reason the washer and dryer really chew up the underwear in my house. We went to Century 21 and I purchased 5 bra's, 6 underwear and 2 sweaters. Total$129.00

My daughter bought us lunch, 3 slices of pizza $5.70 we brought our own water. Very delicious pizza.

Next we made a stop at Kohl's. They were having a sale today. I purchased a bath mat, 2 vinyl table clothes and a ceramic pumkin candy dish(a thank you gift for my dogs physical therapist). Total=33.00

We had to stop at CVS for a birthday card and an engagement card. Total free. Used my extra care bucks.

I had to run out to the supermarket to get a can of chicken broth 0.75. Our supermarket now has the Red Box which rents new release movies through a big red machine. The price is 1.09 tax included/night to rent a new release movie. Pretty sweet deal as compared to Blockbuster which charges almost 5 bucks a night for a new rental.

All in all, I think I did pretty good. I got items that I needed at pretty decent prices and had a great time with my darling daughter.

The weather here on Long Island is still very nice. That's supposed to change tomorrow. We haven't had to turn on the heat yet.

Today was payday and I was able to save again this week. Hurray!

I had to schedule another 6 sessions of PT for my dog. He is not progressing as well as he should be. I think that is because of his size. He is a large breed and he weighs 112 lbs., he is down 9 since his surgery.

The grass seed that I put down last week is starting to sprout up. It's so cute and it makes me very happy. We took the heads off the Marigolds and the Petunias this week. We will save them for seed and start the seeds in February so they will be ready to plant next May. We have been doing this for the past 3 years and we get the biggest and bushiest flowers. They are really beautiful. This will be the fourth generation for the Marigolds. I don't need to tell you how much this saves us. The thing I like about the Marigolds is that when they are planted near the front door our ant problem goes away. In the summer we used to have a terrible ant problem. Not any more. Another plus is that the Marigolds have been attracting so many beautiful butterflies.

Went to the local supermarket yesterday, Super Stop and Shop. My total came to $175.69. My total after in store savings using my store card and my coupons came to $98.59. That's a savings of $77.10.

Today I will be going to CVS with a few coupons and I will be using my $15.00 in extra care bucks so I'm hoping that my purchases will be free.

My daughter was looking up the price for one way tickets from Burlington Vermont to New York. As of yesterday the price was 159.00. I told her to wait until Wednesday and she would most likely see the price drop. Sure enough, it did, the same ticket today is only 92.00 plus tax. I think what happens is the airlines see what is left over on Tuesday and the prices go on sale on Wednesday. This was the first time trying this trick and it worked. She will be purchasing her ticket later today. Thanks to good old Mom's smart savings.

Pay day today! Finally, able to save this week. It sure feels good. Was able to roll some coins too(25.00).

Checked my credit score today went up 9 points. I am in the very good range. I have a WAMU credit card and they give you your credit score for free for being a card holder. Pretty cool, it is usually updated every month. I hope things keep up this way for a while. I keep on having thoughts of Christmas in the back of my head and wishing it were a little furhter away.

Yesterday, I went to the dentist and had the usual check up with 4 x-rays and a cleanning. Lucky for me there weren't any problems noted. Doctor said I had beautiful teeth and to keep up with whatever I was doing because it was working. For not having any problems my bill came to $150.00 and that is with a professional discount. Needless to say I was shocked. I don't remember it being so expensive the last time I was in. Now here's the kicker, although I have nice teeth, my gums aren't as good. I have to see a periodentist 3 times a year for cleannings and exams. Her fee isn't too bad, she usually charges about 85.00 per visit and that is with x-rays. Now your probably wondering why don't I have dental insurance...I had dental insurance several years ago and found it to be worthless. I had to go to someone on the plan and then I still had to pay out of pocket. It really wasn't saving me anything because money was taken out of my pay check for the insurance and then I had to pay almost the full price at the office. Some procedures weren't even covered by the insurance. So, for dental I just pay out of pocket and it sure is getting expensive. Thank goodness I don't require major work at this point.

On another note. I have a gripe with my medical insurance carrier. The year isn't even up and they sent me a letter increasing my payment every month by $75.00. I didn't think that it was legal since we signed our contract in the beginning of the year. That means this January the price of our medical insurance is going to sky rocket (this years increased rate and the new rate for next year). I'm am going to have to investigate other alternatives. We already had to change doctors once this year because our regular physician no longer accepted our insurance. I would hate to switch again. Why does this have to be so complicated? Or maybe it's just me?

Cut the grass and seeded it today.

Went to the drug store and two food stores. Used my grocery game list and coupons and had very good success. Took me a while to get the hang of it but I have it now. So using it in the future should be much easier.

Tomorrow is pay day and I should be able to save some of it. Which will make me happy b/c for the last two weeks I wasn't able to save a thing.

I wasn't able to sign on to saving dinner to get my Mega Menu Mailer but the people who answered the e-mails were very nice and helpful. They sent me the download. Which was very easy. Now I just have to plan on a day to do all that cooking.

Happy October!
I wasn't able to save anything this week...Underestimated my bills by a long shot. Had to borrow from savings which I hate doing.
Maybe I will be able to make up for it this week.
I'm trying to use the gas in my car a little more efficiently. I'm trying to make it last a week or more. This week has been a good week.
In this vein I signed up for Joe's goals this week(very cute and easy to use site).One of my goals listed is a no spend day. Hey, if it helps, why not?
I also signed up for a trial of The Grocery Game. In additon I signed up for Saving dinner mega menu mailer. I'll let you know how both go. Right now I am having trouble signing in to the menu site and I am waiting for customer service to get back to me.
Went to Walmarts free sample site and ordered a few things. Sometimes the samples aren't worth the effort and other times they're great! It's free so what the heck!

Now that my youngest is in her senior year of college, we are seeing an end in sight (of tuition payments). We had made a promise to all three of them that undergraduate school would be paid for by us. Graduate school would have to be paid for by them. It was kind of rough in the beginning because we had two going to college at the same time (there was only 1 year age difference)we didn't have a savings account for this at the time and we didn't qualify for financial aid butwe managed. It was difficult, things were tight and gradually we got used to having and living on less. Now that the youngest has one more semester left we are looking ahead to a few things for ourselves.

We have property in PA and we would love to put a cabin on it. It has always been my husbands dream to have a fishing cabin.
I would love to have a decent sized townhouse in FL. for retirement. With regards to the FL.property I would like to purchase something soon and have it rented for the next ten to fifteen years until I'm ready to retire. This way it will kind of pay for itself. Anyway, saving for these two properties is my third goal. They are only dreams right now but maybe someday....

Saved 63.00 in coupons between yesterday and today. Twenty dollars off at Office Max and saved $43.00 in CVS today. Made me quite happy.

On another note. My husband was given prescriptions for his Psoriasis the other day and we were both exasperated at the cost of the copayments. They were astronomical. One copayment was over 200.00. He needed four different creams. We checked out a website in Canada that sold the same medication and the total was 65.00. How is this possible? We are still debating on what creams we will purchase and which ones we will delay purchasing.

Bought my daughter two cute tops at Target today 23.00.

This October I am going to really start focusing in on my savings vehicles. Right now, I have an ING Annuity IRA which is really not performing well at all. I had to roll over a pension fund and a 403b from previous employers about 4 years ago. That is before I knew what I know now. Back then I didn't have any idea what a front end load was and I had know idea what they were saying when they were talking about 8 year hold or incur penalties. It wasn't until the end of last year that I began to read finance books and began to learn and realize what exactly I had gotten myself into. The woman that openned my account at the bank was very friendly and she seemed like she was knowledgeable. But as timed passed I began to realize that the only time this person ever showed me any interest was when she was trying to sell me a new product. Finally, I was on to her(Beware account advisor = salesperson,large commission). So, now I am stuck with a just barely breaking even retirement account. Pretty much the amount I have in the account is the money I have put in. I really have not made any interest or gains. I think the new savings rates would give me a better return on the money. So, this is what brings me to my new goal.
I am going to check over this account again in October and see if I can move things around inside the annuity and see if that makes a difference. Next I would like to open a Vanguard account, total stock index and just have that as a mutual fund, not another retirement vehicle. I would also like to look into the stock market and open a couple of DRIPS. Lastly, since the interest rates on short term CD's are looking pretty good I would like to open a few of those and ladder them. Hopefully with some of these changes I will actually see some of my money work for me.

My goals are as follows:
1. Keep my self healthy. This one without question is the most important to me. If you don't have your health then you don't have anything. Forget about saving and spending. Too often this simple goal is so over looked. Ever since I had a cancer scare(Thank God, it wasn't the Big C) a few years back, this thought was really driven home to me. I changed the way I ate and the way I exercised. I also make sure that I go for all my anual check ups. General MD, Gyn, and Mamography visits. Even the dentist. Recent studies have found links between dental health and heart disease. I know that I want to be around for a long time to enjoy my remaining goals and to set future goals.
So on that thread, the things that I think that I do right for my health and my pocket are as follows:
Regular checkup. Or if I think there is something wrong I immediately go to my doctor before a promblem becomes more than a problem.
I don't drink alcohol, although there is proof that a small amount may be good for you. I just don't because more often than not one usually becomes more than one. Saves big bucks at the restaurants too. For me I drink a glass of OJ in the AM, water and tea throuhout the day.
I don't smoke. Just could never get my head around the idea of inhaling smoke through my lungs and finding it enjoyable.
Don't do drugs, prescription or otherwise. Big money saver. I know quite a few people that think recreational use of drugs is okay. These are the same people that complain that they are broke all the time.
There are areas that I could and should do much better in, such as exercisng more and gaining more nutritional knowledge but I'm still a work in progress.

Today, was quite a busy day as was yesterday. Went to work in the AM. Mowed the grass. Took down the puppy's crate cleaned it and gave it back to my brother. Then cleanned the floors. I brought my older dog to PT. Made lunch for hubby and myself and then cooked two PotRoast dinners. One to have tomorrow night and the other one I froze to have at a later date.
Today was also payday, so off to the bank I went. There was only 5% left of my pay this week to put into savings. I had to pay school taxes on some property I have in PA. Next week it will be the same deal for the property I have in upstate New York. So for about two weeks I will have next to nothing to save. Kind of a bummer, but the way I see it ...it is a payment towards an investment.
Today also turned out to be a no spend day. A pretty good and productive day

A friend of mine at work asked me when was I going to be getting a new car. I asked her why? She Said" Well isn't your car getting pretty old ". I then proceded to tell her, how much I loved my old car and all the benefits my old buddy provides for me.
1. No car payments. Haven't had one in about 6 years.
2. Decreased insurance premiums. Way cheaper to insure my old buddy then a new one.
3. All of the kinks are worked out. All my old buddy needs is regular oil changes and regular maintenance to keep her running smooth. My car still gets great gas mileage 23 around town and up to 30 mpg on the parkway.
4. Peace of mind...I never have to worry about where I park her,wheter someone is going to nick her or steal her(well maybe steal her). She's been bumped by plenty of shopping carts over the years.
I'm sure my list could be longer.
You see... I didn't even purchase my buddy new. She was somone else's beauty for two years before she became mine. I let someone else take the depreciation and then I scooped her up. I hope to have my buddy for at least ten more years. I sure do like not having to pay a car payment every month.
I don't think my friend will be asking me again,at least for a while about purchasing a new car.

I bought a townhouse back in the 90's in upstate New York. I bought it as a foreclosure. I thought that it would be a great place to have, especially for the kids. And the price was right. I knew when I purchased the place that I would have it paid off before the 15 year mark and I did just that. I had it paid off 5 years early. It wasn't a hardship, I would just put a little extra money towards the principle every month and before I knew it, that little extra was really making a difference. Now, for the past 6 years I have been enjoying my little slice of heaven free and clear. It's a wonderful feeling. This weekend I enjoyed my time up there. The weather was 80 during the afternoon and at night it would get cool. The leaves are already starting to change color. By next week the fall foliage should be in full swing. Even with the gas prices being what they are, I never regret buying my little get away. I know since buying my place that it's value has increased substantially. So, it also is a nice little asset. One in which I get to enjoy over and over again.

My 2 year old Rotti finally had his 3 week post op visit. Good news, he is healing like a champ and will be able to start his physical therapy next week. The cost for this 138.00. His physical therapy will cost 330.00 for 6 treatments. Pretty Expensive! I'm just hoping that when all is said and done he will be able to walk and enjoy an active quality of life and go on walks.

I was able to place most of my pay into savings this week! I haven't been able to do that in about 3 weeks. Makes me very happy.

Ordered dinner in tonight(Italian)it was delicious. Wasn't too expensive and I have left overs for tomorrows lunch.

I know my neighbors and probably their kids think that I am cheap because I don't have one of the kazillion lawn care people taking care of my grass and yard.
It wasn't always the case. I used to have a lawn care company take care of the yard, in fact I went through three of them trying to find a company to do as I asked . Never happened. I got tired of throwing my money away and having my front lawn dug up by their heavy mowers. So, two years ago I bought an inexpensive lawn mower, weed wacker and a spreader and started to take care of the yard myself. I have to tell you that my grass has never looked better. On top of having a beautiful lawn, I also save a bundle,$50.00 per cutting. Not including fertilizing and seeding the grass, which is an additional savings. It really isn't difficult to do and it is not very time consuming either.

Today was another no spend day for me. Went to the library to check out Kiplinger's and Money magazine, had some good articles. I'm thinking of buying the two magazines, only if I can get a good price. Made lunch and dinner with stuff I already had in the house.

I was able to roll another $37.00 in coins today. That money will be deposited into my totally free checking account for me to tag at a later date.

Went to Costco today and used their manufacturers coupons and saved a bundle ($35.75) on things that I use everyday. While I saved there I had a big expense to make up for it. I had to get my female puppy spayed today $160.00. I knew that I had to have it done since she was born so I had the money ready for it. Poor baby is so out of it right now. The anesthesia knocked her for a loop.

Made Hubby his sandwiches for work tomorrow, rather than have him buy them at the deli. Made him 2 sandwiches and two apples and a bottled water for $4.oo. At the Deli it would have been 7.50 for the sandwich and $1.00 a piece for the apples. I try to do this every Wednesday when he has to go to the city.

Today I brought the rolled change to the bank. Only 30 of the 60 dollars, not to upset the teller. And to my surprise she gladly accepted it. So next week I will bring in the rest.

Very sad day today...911 memorial service.I couldn't help but cry along with the ones that lost so much. It amazes me that they still haven't erected a memorial for all the lost souls. The mourners only had a hole in the ground to look at today. What a shame!

I had a no spend day today...because I had to work all day! No chance to spend.

Tomorrow is Costco day. Looking foward to it! I received a coupon booket with a bunch of great coupons in it.

Today was beautiful outside. Had alot to do around the house. Laundry the floors, etc.
Went to go and visit Mom today. Still doesn't look and sound that well. She is recovering from walking pneumonia. I told her to call her Doc. tomorrow but she said that she will wait until her scheduled appointment on Thursday. You know you can lead a horse Blah, blah blah...I just hope she is okay.
I was happily surprised to find that I was able to roll $60.00 in chage today. Now I only hope that my bank doesn't give me a hard time taking the rolled coin.

Today was a very nice day. Went hiking in a state park with my daughter. Hiked about 5 miles and then had a nice picnic lunch. The weather was really beautiful... a great day to be outside.
I paid of my balance on my Capital One card today. I'm hoping not to use it again for a very long time. I do have to say that I really like that card. It is at 6.9% and they offer a longer grace period than my other cards. So the only other card I have outstanding right now is my Washington Mutual card with it's promotional interest rate of 0.0%, until January. Which I will have the entire balance paid off by November. That will be a relief. I am going to try and not use them for a while and see how it goes. I'm really pretty good with the cards but I know I can do better.
I thought that I would have to buy new sneakers this weekend. The pair I was wearing was getting kind of ratty looking, so I thought, let me put them in the washer and see how they come out. I hadn't much success with this in the past. The insides would normally fall out and then they would be very uncomfortable to wear. But today they came out looking brand new. I put a little Clorox two on them and scrubbed the outsides with a brush and then through them in the machine with a little detergent on the gentle cycle and then I let them air dry. They really came out great. They actually look brand new and I didn't mess up the insides. Saved about 50.00 dollars.
Got to get ready to watch The Suze Orman Show.

Went to the gym today. Only to find that my ID card was denied. So I was not allowed access to the gym. I had a sneaky suspicion that it had to do with updating my credit card info. Which by the way I had personally gone down to the gym's registration desk two weeks ago and brought them my card so that they could update my account. So when I told this to the front desk person today,she told me that they had no new information on file. I pointed to the person that had helped me two weeks previous but she didn't even acknowledge me. Her response to me was just go home and phone in the information. No sorry, for wasting my time or anything. I was fuming because I had wasted time on something that was so simple.

I finally got an appointment for my dog Teddy to have a belated post op visit for his cruciate surgery(knee)September 14th. My dog was referred to the University of Penn. to have his surgery, back in August. I have been trying to get him a 3 week follow up appointment but it looks like it is going to be more like 6 weeks. What worries me is that he was suppose to start under water hydro therapy 3 weeks post- op. Now everything has been delayed. I just hope that his knee will be okay given the delay in treatment. The poor fella went through alot of pain and suffering the first two weeks after surgery. He is a big guy 120lbs.. On top of which, the bill topped out at about 3,500.00. Which for a teaching institution I thought was pretty steep. Follow up care will be additonal but he is worth every cent.

Finished reading Judge and Jury. A James Patterson novel. A page turner. Quick easy reading. Better than TV.


Spent 0.00 dollars today. Wish I could do that everyday.

Just wanted to say hi to all you savvy savers. I have been reading the blogs for a while and didn't have enough time to set up my own, until now. New experience for me. I sure hope I do this right.