Frugal In Florida

Ds & I are going to the Bodies Exhibition downtown this morning and since my office is only a few blocks away, will swing by & pick up my paycheck & bonus check. The bodies show is about $20 a person. I don't think dd wants to go, she's a little leery about it. So it will be just me & ds. He does not want the narative tour, which will save about $5 a person. I will have to pay for parking which sucks, but that's the way it is. Probably a couple of dollars. We will NOT go out to lunch as I need to get back home so I can get the snacks & appetizers ready for this evening. We are the house where the other 3 couples will meet before we figure out where we are going to tonight. I really really wish everyone would agree to just stay here & party & ring in new year. Don't really want to go anywhere (crowds, danger, obnoxious, expensive, etc.). Of course, one person refuses to stay at home on New Years Eve, not sure if that means someone elses hous

Christmas was nice & quiet in our house. Thankfully! The kids opened the gifts from grandparents & aunt/uncles. Then I let them open one from us ... they chose the guitarhero iii one ... I wonder how or why? :) They ended up playing it til about 2am in the Florida room. I am so glad that we went ahead and accepted the television from our friends over a year ago for in there. Hubby had wanted to get one of the flat ones but I didn't want to spend the money, so when this came up, I said yes. It's a little 21 inch with a vcr player included ... which is good cuz I still have lots of vcr movies (odd, I know) and no vcr player :) Since we've gotten the tv hooked up in room, the kids have pretty much taken it over, which is fine. It is the most beautiful room in the whole house with a fantastic view yet we never use it cuz it didn't have a tv! :) What do you make of that??? Now the kids use it as their hang out room. Anyways, Did the Mcdonalds for dinner Christmas

Haven't seen kiki since Tuesday the 4th ... really worried about her. Hoping that her master scooped her up & has her captive (feel sorry for him if that's the case, the cat can get wacko) ... we've had a couple of foxes show up again and they are consistently by every evening ... hoping they didn't get ahold of her. So if anyone sees a bengal kitty by the beach area...let me know ... I've got some very distinctive markings to verify if its her or not :)

Was going to head out to the produce store (which is about 10 miles from home and way out of my normal way) since I'm looking to start back to eating more veggies and a little healthier ... lets face it, 10 lb weight gain since November 1st is NOT good. I know, it's good that I quit smoking but honestly do not see HOW I gained 10 lbs. I have not changed my eating habits that much!!!! :( I'm very bummed. I am usually around 130 which is ok for me as I'm 5'7" ... but 140 goes straight to my butt & thighs :( And clothes are starting to feel a little different which really sucks. So anyways, on my way out west. Then decide, heck, go to BJ's ... see what they have. Walked out $90 later :( BUT did get a 2 lb bag of chopped romaine lettuce, 3 lb tomatoes, 1 lb shredded cabbage, 2lb provolone cheese, 18 hoagie rolls, 2 loaves bread, 3 gifts for dh and 1 for me. Actually, if I hadn't bought the gifts, it would have only cost me about $20 ... oh well. My

Which in turn, means very very frugal! :) Black dress slacks (banana republic) from g/f L Black & teal patterned sleeveless blouse (really cool looking) from g/f K Black high heel sandels from g/f K FREE .... I love it when I can go to work wearing all free clothes. Remember, I work for 2 attorneys, and even though we don't have a 'dress code' per se, we do have to dress appropriately and for work :) If only I had my camera (still in the missing suitcase) I would take a pic & post! But in the meantime, Thanks Girls!! :) Jan

Stopped at Target Wednesday morning to pick up a few things on my way to work. Had to also return 2 things for a credit back of $10.xx. Picked up 2 pairs gloves, pair of leggings, 2 tshirts, 6 pk socks and spent $30. Also had my handy $5 gift card (from the game) so the total was $25. If you figure the $10 credit, I really only put $15 on the AE. :) Unless that confuses you ... On way home, stopped at Borders ... ds wants the niki stixxs book. Against my better judgement, picked it up (he's 15, I know he knows these things, but heck, it's pretty graphic. Maybe it will keep him straight if he ever becomes a big guitarist!), had my 30% coupon. Also picked up this stupid marshmellow bear that dd's been whining about ($8), 2 magazines for dh from ds, 1 magazine for ds (guitarist, of course, $15). Total was $50 including my coupon. So far, I've spent about $100 on Christmas for everyone else (not including my $30 gift!). My closet needs to be cleaned out ... I've got

I've started to pick up a few things here & there and making a list. Does it sound like maybe I procrastinated a little bit?? Only 6 days left, and 5 of them are real bonafide shopping days! :( Had gone to Target on Sunday with dd after dropping off ds at band practice. Had a $10 off coupon when you spend $100. Figured heck, we can do that! Actually, had looked at the sales paper and saw they had the undercounter stereo/cd I wanted on sale for $29 and a hand mixer by Oster for $17 ... stereo is for Christmas, hand mixer for instant gratification (mine broke when I dropped it a few weeks ago). Also picked up new boxers for ds as most of his were in his missing suitcase. Dh got a new wallet. Dd got leggings (need to take back as they have feet & that's not what she wanted!), and a Cranium game for the kids. The game was $26 and then a $5 instant gift card. However, looking at the receipt is confusing as heck. I don't know if the game was on sale for $21 and the

We always do a big party for the Winterfest Boat Parade, but because of all the traveling back & forth to Louisville and the surgery, we had decided not to do it this year. Well, 2 days before the day, looks like we will have about 20 people over. I've made it quite clear to everyone that this is not a 'party party' per se, like we always do ... more of a casual gathering. In other words, no the big food spread, alchol and such. Plus, hubby has said he'd like to make it a early night. I agree. Here are the food things I'm looking at ... trying to keep it from pantry & freezer to keep cost down: spinach dip - have all ingredients already smoked fish dip - dh makes this using canned tuna, have in pantry snausages - smoked sausage in bbq sauce spicy meatballs - have all, except may need to buy another can of rotel stuffed shells - freezer (from the cooking span before we went to surgery) summer sausage & cheese platter - picked up summer sausa

Hubby & I flew out Tuesday afternoon on a 1pm flight, got to Louisville around 4:30 and then caught a 2:15 flight back on Wednesday, putting us back here around 5:45. Dr was happy with progress from hand therapy. Not happy about the incision area that still has open areas. After 6 weeks ... well, that's just not normal. Wants us to clean with hydrogen peroxide and cover with a light layer of zinc oxide. Keep covered with bandage. Ok. That's easy enough. Come back in 6 weeks ... try to stay and visit a little longer. The dr is always teasing us cuz we fly in & fly out ... I guess he thinks we should try to make a little mini vacation out of it. Anyways, flight there & back was the cheapest yet. $99 each way. Southwest. We were quite happy about that. Hotel (hampton inn is just blocks from the hospital) is $89 a night. Car was free (courtesy from dh work - got to get a Sebring convertible this time). Dinner out was $55 (used my vip visa giftcard), drinks a

Saturday was daughter's 17th birthday. Wow ... that makes me feel so very old! Ended up running to BJ's that has just opened close by the house (5 miles or so away), originally just to scope it out & see if the prices were compariable with Costco. I already have a membership with Costco, but I have to drive like 1/2 hour to get there and it's kind of a pain ... so I wanted to see if BJ's would be better in the long run. Figured if it's a little more price-wize, that would be fine since it's much closer ... The parking lot was mobbed. However, since I was driving dh's new charger (i.e. no door dings), drove around the side & back and tons of open parking. 1 point for BJ's, none for Costco :) Had a free day pass that had come in the mail (or newspaper, don't remember which now) so decided to browse. 1. Guitar hero III - $79 with guitar. That's $10 cheaper than other places I've seen. 2. Uno Pizza - $7.99 for any of them - same as

Was off today. Had to take dd's friend to school & then we had 8 & 8:30 dentist appts. Did that and then went to Denny's for breakfast. Been a long time since I've been to Denny's. Guess they had to raise prices too since everyone else has. $27 for me & dd at breakfast (included tip). Good grief. Then we came home, laid out by pool for awhile (got some color), and then went & had a manicure & pedicure done, using 2 gift certificates I had gotten for Christmas last year. We each tipped $8.00 so that was $16.00. Better than the $40 plus tip each to have it done :) Came home & dd had to get ready for work at 4pm. My g/f Cat came over around 7ish. She brought a HUGE bag of stuff. 10 waffle rubbery place mats (which will have a different life in MY house), 2 complete full size sheet sets (for sleeper sofa), 24 dress shirts (half still had tags on them!), 3 skirts, 2 slacks/capris/clamdiggers (need to look more at them). And there was some other st

Dh went to Kansas City (missouri) and is freezing there (said it's windy as heck) ... ds went to Mexico City, concert was cancelled for Thursday but rescheduled for Saturday, so luckily they still got to play. His luggage got lost and then airport found it ... but airport was 1 1/2 hours away from where they were so he didn't get his stuff until Saturday am ... I won't even ask what he did for underwear & such :) So it was me & dd most of the week. She worked alot of the nights, was only off on Thursday which is the night her friend stayed over since her mom was in N'orlns for weekend. Since I get up early anyway, was not a big deal to take her to school on Friday ... make sure to read about Frugal Friday :) Dinner all week was pretty much low key as dd is sort of a vegetarian ... dh & I did take her out on Wednesday night to a japanese buffet that I've been wanting to try. It's not 'cheap' but the food is a heck of a lot better than the ch