Today was a no spend day. Worked all day and decided I didn't want to go out into the frigid air to go to the supermarket(for dinner). I have to think of something to make for dinner. I have frozen chicken cutlets on hand and frozen shrimp. I'm thinking of the options that I have. No money in...no money out,today.

To all of my blogging buddies and their families,
I wish you all a healthy and happy holiday season. May your goals for 2007 be obtainable and satisfying and may you always have a few coins in your pockets.
Lorie

A very long day at work today. Very tired right now. Went to Chili's with DD for dinner, spent 19.00. I was too tired to cook tonight.

Posted a couple more books on half.com. The items aren't selling as I had hoped they would.

Finished reading Cross by James Patterson. It was suspenseful but kind of gorey and sad.

The Dollar Stretcher had some good articles posted for this week. Take a look.

Today is payday and I was able to save 100%. No bills this week. Went to the Bricks and mortar Wamu branch closest to my home and made a small deposit into my new savings account. Fortunately I didn't have any problems.

Brought my dog Teddy to the Vet for his shots $52.00. Hubby put it on his CC.

Dinner tonight Veal Parm and angel hair pasta.

More importantly today is Pearl Harbor Day and I just wanted to take a moment to acknowlege those lost.

My daughter was finally able to get a hold of one of those Nintedo Wii's. Yesterday she waited outside of Target from 6 am until 8am. They only had 27 units delivered to the store. There were other people waiting since 2am. At 7:10 am personel from the store started handing out tickets for the item. DD was number 21 of 27. She was so thrilled that she got the golden ticket for her Nintendo. Before she had left I gave her a 10.00 off coupon to use on any purchase of 100.00 or more. I wasn't sure if she would be able to use it towards her purchase but she was. So, other than waking up early on a Sunday morning and standing outin the bitter cold for two hours,she said it was well worth the effort. This experience has shown me that if my DD wants something bad enough, she is determined to get it. I find this a very admirable trait.

I have never done a Black Friday sale. I mean never. I just hate crowds, pushing shoving and bad attitudes. I don't care how good the deals are. To me it is just not worth it. My daughter went to stand on line at 4:30 this morning looking to get the Nintendo Wii for her boyfriend. She got back home at about 7:30 with absolutley no success. This was her first Black Friday and she couldn't believe the lines. I don't think she will be doing that again. Not a good experience.

Wednesday I went to the local Salvation Army. On Wednesdays they have 50% off their already low prices on most tickets except for the color of the day. Which is great b/c that means that about 80% of the items are half off. I usually do pretty well when I go. This Wednesday was no exception. I was able to get beautiful Hickey Freeman dress shirts for my brothers. I could swear they were brand new. For my DH I got a really nice LL Bean shirt A hardly worn LL bean winter coat and an LL Bean rain jacket. For my 7 year old nephew I was able to find a London Fog wind breaker with hood with tags still on. I also purchased a few thick hooded sweatshirts and a few zippered fleece jackets to keep him warm. All the items looked in perfection condition, no noticeable wear or tear. While I was on line at the check out I met a woman and we got to talking and she told me she freqents this thrift store once a month to find wool sweaters. She has a horse farm upstate and she likes to buy her kids the wool sweaters to keep them warm. She has also purchased Coach handbags and waterford cystal. We ended our conversation hoping to bump into each other again. My best deal was when I got an Ellen Tracey sweater with tags still on stating the original cost was 800.00 for 5.00.

Oops! My blog was a little longer than I inteded and I have to get back to work.

Finally had my ultrasound done after waiting two months. Everything is fine. It really is a quick and easy test. I don't know why there is such a hassle with getting an appointment. Anyway, I am thrilled with the results and can now enjoy the holidays. I didn't have to lay out any money for this, my insurance will cover the cost. I wish I could encourage more people to go for mammographies and ultra sounds. These tests save many lives. They are non invasive and realitively painless.


Payment for my daughters next semester at the University is quickly coming upon us. We will be ready. It is not such a huge payment now that she goes to a state school.
For Christmas she wants the Nintendo Wii. I have been trying to get a hold of one and every place seems to be sold out. They aren't cheap either $249.00 for the base unit. I wonder where all these people are coming up with this kind of cash?

It got kind of cold here over the weekend and I had to turn on the heat. I think that the cold is here to stay for the next several months. Yuck!

I just wanted to add that I thought that the lists were great! It is so nice getting to know you.

A very rainy day today, here in NY. I'm glad I got to mow and rake yesterday. I was able to put down my winterizer fertilizer too. Now, I hope with all this effort I have a beautiful lawn come next spring. Today was mostly spent doing things inside the house. I helped hubby clean out his closet. We have a lot to donate to the thrift store. We also have a pretty big trash pile too. Now hubby can see the floor to his closet. He aslo didn't realize all the nice stuff he had hiding in there. Next I was on to the regular house cleaning. When that was finished hubby took us out to dinner for sushi, yummy.

Had a pretty quiet weekend. Spent very little money( a little on food).

Today worked until 6pm. Didn't feel like going food shopping or cooking. Used my Chinese food coupon. For 10.99 I get a quart of Wonton soup, 2 egg rolls, a quart of chicken and broccoli and a container of brown rice. This place makes the best chicken and broccolli. Didn't spend anything other than the 10.99.

Yes, finally a no spend day! I have been waiting for one of these days to come around again. I had to work all day so no time to spend.
I made tinapbeana's dirty rice recipe. I had that for lunch today and it was very good. My husband enjoyed it as well. I think I went a little to far with the spices. Tonight, I will grill an Asian marinaded London broil for dinner, already have that on hand. Well, back to work I go.

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.

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.