Reality of a Budget

So, as I had posted before, last week my fortune cookie blasted me about making a budget and sticking to it. Nosy cookie. But I had to laugh, because the reality is, I'm a pretty damn frugal person. We rarely eat out anymore; even last weeks Chinese was paid for by my mother as a thanks for helping us. We only bought our new house because we walked into it with $30,000 in automatic equity and we could rent our previous house out for $300 more a month than our mortgage payment. My truck that hubby got me last year for our anniversary? Almost $10,000 under price because it was a dealer buy back. Plus, I "rent" it out to people who need hauling done, along with my muscle, with some months manages to at least bring in the payment, plus gas expenses. My favorite buy, most recently, though, was this weekend.
When we bought this new house back in October, it did not have a refrigerator. We left our fridge in our previous house because we could get more for rent in a house with all the appliances. We have been borrowing a friends 'garage fridge' for the last 4 months, and while it has worked and was free, it was little, and our friend was starting to need it back. I came across the fridge that I have been looking at for the last year, a stainless-steel-freezer-on-bottom-dual-door-fridge in the scratch and dent section of an appliance store. 60% off. I looked and looked and looked some more, and the ONLY issue was a small (1 inch) scratch on the freezer door handle. I brought hubby back a couple hours later to take a look and see if he could find anything else wrong with it, but nope, that was it. We had been planning to buy a fridge like this mid-summer or so, but with the discount, we grabbed it right then, and voila, it was delivered yesterday morning. I am sooo in love with it. I don't have to stoop anymore to look for items in the fridge, no more buying or making ice, as there is a built in ice maker. Filtered water on the door means my kids can help themselves without drinking all my water bottles. Plus, the best part? Since we had budgeted the full amount, I now have the balance to buy a dishwasher, mid-summer, and it is not going to run us anything more than we had already planned on spending this year! I love finding deals like this!

Are they trying to tell me something?

Last night I was so tired after spending the day at my parents condo doing remodel work, so I took the kids for Chinese for dinner. Yum! However, we get to our fortune cookies, and you wouldn't believe what mine said. Wait for it...

ADJUST FINANCES-MAKE BUDGETS TO IMPROVE YOUR FINANCIAL STANDING.

I just got told by a cookie :p

Gynecological joke

***This is a joke, I didn't do it!***

I was due for an appointment with the gynecologist later in the
week.


Early one morning, I received a call from the doctor's office to
tell me that I had been rescheduled for that morning at 9:30 am.
I had only just packed everyone off to work and school, and it was
already around 8:45 am. The trip to his office took about 35 minutes, so I
didn't have any time to spare.


As most women do, I like to take a little extra effort over hygiene
when making such visits, but this time I wasn't going to be able to
make the full effort.

So, I rushed upstairs, threw off my pajamas, wet the washcloth that was
sitting next to the sink, and gave myself a quick wash in that
area to make sure I was at least presentable. I threw the washcloth in
the clothes basket, donned some clothes, hopped in the car and raced to
my appointment.


I was in the waiting room for only a few minutes when I was called
in. Knowing the procedure, as I'm sure you do, I hopped up on the table,
looked over at the other side of the room and pretended that I
was in Paris or some other place a million miles away.



I was a little surprised when the doctor said, "My, we have made an
extra effort this morning, haven't we?" I didn't respond.

After the appointment, I heaved a sigh of relief and went home. The
rest of the day was normal .. Some shopping, cleaning, cooking.

After school when my 6 year old daughter was playing, she called out
from the bathroom, "Mommy, where's my washcloth?"

I told her to get another one from the cupboard.



She replied, "No, I need the one that was here by the sink, it had
all my glitter and sparkles saved inside it."

Never going back to that doctor, ever

Hello!

Happy Valentine's Day to those of you who enjoy the holiday! Quick update on Ian and the new school: He seems to be settling in nicely, although the first several days were rough and had me worried! He was very upset that he didn't make friends as quick as he wanted to, but he is getting over that. Hopefully he will be fully settled in with friends by Spring Break, and life will be (ha!) normal.

A little laughter is good for you

Gotta Love Old Men

I was at the mall the other day eating at the food court. I noticed an old man watching a teenager sitting next to him. The teenager had spiked hair in all different colors: green, red, orange, and blue. The old man kept staring at him. The teenager would look and find the old man staring every time. When the teenager had enough, he sarcastically asked, "What's the matter old man, never done anything wild in your life?" The old man did not bat an eye in his response, "Got drunk once and had sex with a peacock. I was just wondering if you were my son."