Some of you may recall that back when I was working the "office" job and building up the booming side business I had the good fortune of employing Hazel the Housekeeper for biweekly visits.

Now that I'm only working on the booming business -- and I'm technically "home" all day -- I feel like I should be able to clean my own house again. So today is the first day that I will attempt to pick up where Hazel left off. I am enlisting the help of the Midget to help with at least cleaning her room, but I'm back to "doing it myself" for the most part.

Did I mention that I hate cleaning the house?

OK, maybe not the whole house, but I do hate cleaning the bathrooms. And the windows. And the floors.

But, I don't mind saving the money I would have paid Hazel to clean my house for me. $180 a month buys a lot of lattes....

I'm going to keep telling myself this as I go to scrub the toilets now.

As of today, the "office" job will be officially over (dancing a little jig here....).

Summer vacation starts Friday for Mini, though, so there won't be much sitting around at home working on the booming business for me (so much for those no drive days....)

This poses a little problem since I do have work that I need to get done and my laptop blew up last year. (I usually work on a desktop.)

Thankfully, I was able to resurrect an old laptop from the junk heap known as my office closet, and I'm sloooowwwwwly getting it up and running.

Slooooowwwwwly as in watching water boil slooooowwwwwly....

Part of the problem is that it wasn't mean to run anything above Windows 2000 and it's now running Vista.

I don't know enough about computers to know what -- if anything -- I can do to speed it up (or if it's worth it cost wise). But I do know summer will be over by the time this thing gets done processing one request.....

Because I only fill my car up every two weeks, I rarely notice the increase in gas prices. However, yesterday I filled it up and it took $60 in gas where just two months ago I remember it taking $40 in gas.

Thankfully, I rarely drive that far and quitting the "office" job means even less driving. Plus, my husband is taking the bus and train to work on a regular basis, so that's helping as well.

I just can't imagine paying that much for gas every week, which would be the case if I were working full time somewhere other than my home office....

I'm having one of those weeks....

The other day -- the day I called in sick with vertigo -- my husband's car broke down in the middle of a major intersection near our house. He had Mini Me in the car with him so I ran over and got her and then we went to the nearby garage to wait for the tow truck to show up with my husband's car. A while later, in drives my husband. Apparently the car decided to start again -- but it would only run if my husband kept his finger on the ignition switch.

The mechanic looked at it and said the ignition switch or some do-hickey had to be replaced -- for $600 (thank you, car repair fund....).

Also that night, I realized our rice cooker, which I had dropped a few days ago, was broken. It still will cook the rice, but the plastic is cracked, there are all these wires sticking out of it and one of the legs is broken so I have to stick a plate under one side if I want it to be level. (Did I mention it bounced a few times when I dropped it?) So that'll need replacing sometime soon.

Then, yesterday, I realized why I had vertigo -- it's because my husband has shared his nasty cold with me and my ears, head, sinuses, chest, whole body are a mess now. But, like an idiot, I went to work at the "office" job anyway (since the full cold hadn't hit yet and I was at the moment feeling OK). Work itself wouldn't have been so bad if some crazy lady hadn't gone ballistic in the middle of the "office" right before I was scheduled to leave.

Said Crazy Lady has done this numerous times over the last few weeks, but never to this extent. My response is to let the person in charge deal with her, because I'm sorry but I'm not making enough money to deal with crazy people.

So, while I was calling the person in charge (who just happens to be a control freak), Crazy Lady got right in a coworker's face in a very confrontational, threatening manner. Coworker told her to back off or she was calling the cops. Crazy Lady didn't, so Coworker did and in the course of all this Control-Freak-Person-in-Charge shows up.

I then went about my business (figuring one more crazy lady/control freak wasn't going to help matters), but while standing there counting down the minutes until I was off Control-Freak-Person-in-Charge came over and whispered to me "I really think the person in charge should deal with this and I hope nobody calls the police."

I point out that Coworker is still on the phone with the police, who appear to be on their way. And then Control-Freak-Person-in-Charge whispered to me: "That's not the procedure...."

At this point, I almost went crazy-lady ballistic as well, but instead I ever so nicely told her to shove the procedure up her you-know-what and that if anyone feels threatened it is fully within their rights to call the police if they so please. Then I walked off to count my blessings that I'll soon be rid of the "office" job.

I thought that would be the end of it, but after four policemen hauled Crazy Lady out, Control-Freak-Person-in-Charge came over to me and said "I'm not second guessing anyone." To which I replied that she was doing just that the second she whispered her little procedure comment to me and shame on her for putting someone's safety before procedure.

She said she didn't know what to say to me and I said "What about 'sorry'?" She then looked at me all befundled and wandered off to dwell on how to control the rotation of the Earth on its axis.

I'm still waiting for an apology. I figure I won't get one. But I do figure I'll be hearing from Control-Freak-Person-in-Charge and the real freaks in charge at the "office" job about this little incident sometime between now and the end of my tenure there.

As far as I'm concerned, the only thing that should have been said to any of us worker bees by Control-Freak-Person-in-Charge was: "Is everyone OK?"

That's my story and I'm sticking to it and I dare one of those "office" bosses to question me on this one!

(And this is why I am the best CEO of ME!!!!)

I got $3 for doing a survey, so I'm putting that toward the challenge. The new total is $8,929.33.

My husband's car died on the way home tonight. He thinks it's something to do with the electrical system and is an "easy" fix (i.e. cheap). I hope he's right because shopping for a car right now sounds about as appealing as getting a root canal.....

Yes, Mini Me made it back to school after a lovely spring break and left me with her cold. Between my achy tooth and clogged sinuses, my head is one big stuffed-up mess. And, tomorrow is the first of my two formal dinners that I mentioned last month.

It should be lovely:

My husband: "This is my wife, Karen."

Me: Achoooooo.... Pardon me for blowing snot all over your tuxedo...."

Went to the dentist this morning for the achy tooth. The doctor cleaned it up and then shot the gum full of antibiotics to try to clear up some infection. He then referred me to a periodontist to most likely have the tooth yanked and an implant put in. I've secured an appointment for three weeks from now for the initial visit. I'm hoping to put off the BIG pain until after the new insurance kicks in this July....

I have been dealing with a problem tooth for a while now. Lately it has been getting worse, so I'm slowly accepting the fact that I will probably need to get it pulled and have an implant put in. I'm trying to hold off until our new dental insurance kicks in this summer, but today I've been popping aspirin like candy to deal with the pain so I might give in and call the dentist in the morning.

I don't know which pain is worse -- the pain in my mouth or the anticipated pain in my checkbook....

I got another freelance check in the mail today plus a Pinecone check, so I'm adding $700.50 to the challenge. The new total is $7,628.34.

My husband is itchin' to buy a new $3,000 memory foam mattress for our bed and I'm itchin' to pay down a credit card. He keeps asking me when we can buy the mattress. I was just sitting here trying to figure out how to distribute the freelance money (between savings and debt) and he started whining about the mattress again.

I think I'm going to have him sleep on the couch for a few nights, so he'll shut up about a new mattress and be happy with what we've got.....

At least once a year, I'm forced to dress up in something either than jeans and a t-shirt, and be my husband's Trophy Wife at a black-tie event related to his work.

In the past, I've gone shopping for gowns in January, which is when you'll usually find such things on sale. I've always lucked out and have never spent more than $100 on gowns that were originally much more than that.

Last year, I actually lucked out and came down with dysentery or some other cleaver excuse not to go (the exact nature of which currently escapes me). And, this year, I figured I would be off the hook since my husband switched jobs last summer.

Boy was I wrong. I now have two prom-like-events-for-the-geriatric-crowd coming up in the next month that require "formal" attire -- both of which involve me having to sit at a table with the same people, so wearing the same dress to both events won't work....

Aside from the fact that I didn't bother with my usual January gown shopping outing this year or last year, I've also put on a few pounds so I now either need to shed some weight fast, suck it up and invest in a new dress, or just suck it in and hope that nothing "pops."

The things we do for love.....

I worked this morning at the booming side business, then swam a mile despite my low-grade cold and ran a couple errands. I am now barely able to stand upright and still need to pick up Mini Me in 7 minutes at the bus stop, then take her to karate, and pick up Beauty and Beast at the groomer's, come home to cook dinner and then work some more on the booming side business.

I really hope there's a check or something in the mail to give me a little boost....

After a month of stealing the neighbors' newspapers (kidding....), I renewed our subscriptions last week at the much lower rate and while doing so signed up to get two Sunday papers for the coupons. Today was the first day they came and after spending way too much time clipping and filing coupons, I've decided not to clip them from now on until I actually go to use them.

I've been storing them in baseball-card holders inside a notebook, but now I'm going to dig out an expandable file and just mark the date on the entire bundle of coupons each week and then take it from there.

My grocery savings this week were pretty much a wash because the Grocery Game folks said I would find two coupons in the paper today that weren't there so I ended up paying full price for the items -- plus I bought Tide on sale, which is like buying any other detergent at full price



I'm not sure if it's the time change or the slight cold I've got, but I ended up getting a whole lot o' nothing accomplished today. I did book the beach vacation early this morning, but from there the day went downhill as far as productivity. I got very little work done on the booming side business -- mainly because I was redoing something that someone else worked on before me and it was a mess that took forever to fix (GRRRR....) Of course, it probably didn't help that the whole family laid down for a nap after a late lunch and the nap turned into a two-hour snooze fest for my husband and I while the kid and dogs bounced on the bed every few minutes while watching Monsters Inc. for the 50th time this weekend. (Please don't send me any nastygrams for sleeping while my child and dogs were running amok. We were all in the same room, sober and watching/listening to a G-rated movie -- not exactly "quality time" for Mini Me, but I'm sure she'll get over it....)



This cold is just annoying enough to make me want to lie low for a few days, but I have a bunch of commitments this week so I don't think that's going to happen.

I promised I would put in a few appearances at the "office" this week. In my line of work, it's usually a bad thing to go in if you're sick but I'm not so blatantly sick that I should stay home (then there's the whole no play/no pay deal I agreed to, so financially it's at least to my advantage to "suit up" and show up for at least a couple minutes every now and then).

Mini Me's also got a "gallery opening" that I have to attend this week. Yes, at the tender age of 7, she is having her first art exhibit.... I don't know how it happened since her kindergarten teacher once questioned her artistic ability (to which I reminded the wench of Jackson Pollock and others who looked at the world through a different lens). But no matter now, because the little Picasso's artwork was chosen for a display at a local gallery -- a real gallery as opposed to the gallery on my refrigerator.



To give you some idea of what we're talking about, here's a self-portrait that she did, which I thought was so good that I got it framed and it's now hanging in the area between the kitchen and living room.

It was 70 degrees here yesterday. I had the windows open and thought there was hope for an early spring.

It's now snowing and 27 degrees....

So last night someone who won some eBay stuff from me a few weeks ago -- but who still hasn't paid me -- emailed after I filed a dispute to get my fees reversed. Mind you, this was the first I had heard from the winning bidder, who assured me that she would be paying for the item today. She did point out that her Paypal account is closed, so I wonder how she's going to pull that off. Now that it's getting fairly late and I still haven't received payment from her, my guess is she's not going to come through.

This really irks me. I, of all people, know people buy stuff they can't afford. But I have yet to stoop to this level of "debting" in my compulsive ways.

Onto other things ... I avoided working at all today, which was kind of nice. Working mostly at home, I can easily fall into the trap of never taking time off, but today I gave myself permission to not even look at any work-related stuff on my computer.

I will have to get back to the booming side business tomorrow, but I'm not returning to the "office" job until next Tuesday so I'll have plenty of time to get caught up.

Due to illness, work and all-over malaise the past few days, my house is a mess and I'm a mess.

Mini Me stayed home yesterday so rather than deal with housekeepers and sick kids, I canceled Hazel the Housekeeper for this week. My intention was to clean the house myself yesterday, but of course I didn't. I worked for part of the morning, then took a long nap with the walking germ factory and then worked some more last night. (Hazel's not scheduled to come back for two more weeks, so I'll either have to get off my butt and start cleaning or live with this mess for a while.)

Meanwhile, because I didn't come home from work until late and was a little wired when I did get home, I decided to watch a DVD and found myself still awake early this morning. As a result, I've been mentally fuzzy all day.

For example, I had a hair appointment this morning and on a whim cut all my hair off -- on only one side of my head. I've kind of got this Flock of Seagulls/Rihanna/Posh Spice thing going right now.

At first I thought "Cool!" but having slept on it for 30 minutes after falling into a heap after the hair appointment, I'm not so sure I like it. Luckily, I own some very sharp scissors so I can always even it all off if it comes to that.

I'm trying to get motivated to work some more tonight, but all I want to do is go soak in a hot bath (and get all those nasty little hair remanants from my shearing off of me so I'll quit itching)and then follow that up with an early bedtime. Yes, the winter blahs have set in....

I made another $13.20 on eBay today after shipping. That adds up to $2,555.43 in the challenge.

We were supposed to visit the rock 'n' roll accountant tomorrow to get our taxes done, but we have yet to receive my husband's W2 from his previous employer. The HR department said they mailed it, which I think they probably did; but it never got to our mailbox (or it did and someone walked off with it). I had some other mail disappear in the last few weeks, so I'm thinking of setting up a sting operation in my front yard to find out if the culprit lives in the 'hood. (BA, I might need to borrow that big flashlight and some handcuffs from you.)

Meanwhile, my husband and I are now trying to coordinate schedules to figure out another day that we're both available to go to the accountant. For the first time ever, we may be filing on April 15....

I just want to say upfront that this post has absolutely nothing to do with savings, but I need to get this off my chest:

There recently was an incident involving Mini Me and a couple of other kids in her class. I won't go into great detail except to say the other two kids were hauled off to the office and their parents were called in.

Today while at the school for my weekly volunteering stint, the teacher was talking to me about the ringleader of the two girls not necessarily being a bad kid (trust me, what she did to my daughter was AWFUL) and then the teacher went on to say "well, you know her mom works full time...."

HELLO!!!! I work full time -- AND THEN SOME -- and you don't see my child exhibiting sociopathic behavior at age 7!

There, I feel slightly better already....

After spending the morning volunteering, I came home to a house without power. The county is doing major construction on the road down the street and someone cut an underground cable -- or so the utility company said. As a result, the neighborhood was left in the "dark" from 11:48 a.m. until about 5:30 p.m.

As I've mentioned before, the booming side business is run out of my home office, so a power outage does not bode well for my productivity. Not only was I unable to do any work all afternoon, I couldn't clean the carpets, make the pasta sauce that has to simmer for 3 hours or do any more loads of laundry.

After visiting with my neighbor for a while, I came home and laid down. Two hours later I woke up to a dark and cold house. By the time my daughter got off the school bus, it was clear we were not eating anything homemade from my kitchen so after conferring with my husband we decided to go out to eat. We had plans to dine out tomorrow as part of a fund-raiser for Mini Me's school, so we just switched it to tonight and the school will have to do without our money.

Of course, just as we were walking out the door to go to dinner, the power came back on. However, by this point, we all were tired and hungry -- and I was cranky from lack of productivity today -- so we opted to continue on to the restaurant.

When we got home, I was able to complete one project -- a pro bono job that I do monthly. But somehow in the power outage my printer got screwed up, so I can't officially finish it until I can get that figured out -- probably in the morning.

Meanwhile, I was surprised at how fast the clothes dried on the outside line today. I was able to get two loads of laundry washed, air dried and put away. I put one load in the drier because it had stuff I needed to dry faster, but I think ultimately it would have been speedier to hang everything outside.

Also, I did get a free drink at Starbucks this morning because they messed up my order. Unfortunately for me, two venti teas is more than my bladder can handle, so I ended up giving the extra one to the saintly lady who sits with Mini Me during math time and tries to make sense of what's going on in that brillant little mind of hers.

I now think I've crossed the line into babbling, so that's it for me tonight folks....

It doesn't look good for the vacation in the tropics. My husband did a rough estimate of the taxes and my business situation; and instead of frou frou drinks poolside, I'll have to settle for plain water while continuing to slave away at the ol' salt mine.

Ugh....

The cold, miserable weather we're having is making me cold and miserable as well.

It doesn't help that I'm being asked to do something at my "office" that I have issues with. I plan on quitting the "office" job in May, but this is making me want to quit NOW.

I'm also irritated that one of my business clients owes me a couple thousand dollars and I haven't seen any money in a while from them.

Then there's the issue of the kid in my daughter's class who slipped three hateful letters in her backpack. My daughter can't read yet, but I can and I was so surprised by what I saw that I immediately sent off an email to the teacher asking her to discuss the issue with the kid in question. You have to wonder about a first grader who wishes someone dead.

The only good news I've had lately is that the insurance company approved three more OT visits for my daughter. We've been paying out of pocket for 6 months, but the OT decided to submit a request for more covered visits just to see what would happen since it's a new year. Surprisingly she got a letter back saying we were good for at least the next three visits, so that's $225 less we have to pay. Good thing since we maxed out the flexible spending money last week and won't be seeing any more money from it until this summer.

I'm tired and miserable tonight. I've had a stuffed up head all day and I had to start my day off by driving down south for a work-related training session during rush hour and in the bitter cold. (There's a reason I mostly work at home in my nice WARM office where the commute consists of nothing more than stumbling out of bed and down the hall.)

The training session was incredibly long and incredibly boring. It was led by various managers throughout the organization -- including my manager -- so I couldn't sneak out. Instead, I sat there thinking how I really need to get one more regular, big client for my business and bale on the "office" job.

This has been on my mind a lot lately.
Physically, the job is wearing on me (it takes a lot out of a person when they have to climb up and down a metal pole all night. Don't believe me? You try it for an evening....). So I've begun to look around for another client.

Meanwhile, back to whining...

I was planning on another no-spend day today, but as I was driving back from the South Pole I realized if I didn't fill the car up with gas I would have to endure an afternoon ride home with Mini Me that consisted of her badgering me about how we were going to run out of gas. I was just not up to the challenge today, so $46 later I had bought myself some peace and quiet -- for all of about 20 minutes.

I'm trying to finish up a client's project tonight, but am having serious problems keeping my eyes open (they hate it when you fall asleep on the job....).

Tomorrow promises to be another "fun" day -- beginning with a trip to a new dentist. When my husband switched jobs, we switched insurance, which means finding new dentists for everyone. The first quack I saw started talking about replacing every tooth in my mouth so that he could make a buck. I ran as fast I could from that guy. I'm now going to someone else in his building (anyone want to bet what this guy will try to get away with????)

The other day I wrote about my adult stepson, who already has a very well-paying job just a year out of college. Today he got another well-paying job that is in the career field that he's interested in (as opposed to the other one, which is not).

I mentioned to my husband that I hoped he was saving some of his money and my husband said: "He doesn't need to be saving money. He's only 23."

I could not believe my ears. I'm still aghast by this thinking.

This is why we have more than $55,000 in student loans for his education -- because his father (and mother) were young when they had him and failed to save a dime toward his education (or toward anything else for that matter).

I know my stepson owes his mother a boatload of money and probably has a few credit cards he's paying off as well, but I see no reason why he can't be saving something toward his future -- even if he is just 23....

Not to gloat, but thank God my husband isn't raising Mini Me alone. She may only be 7 but I already have a bank account set up for her that her consignment money goes into (we re-sell her clothes). She's also got a college fund going and I make her put half her allowance into her piggy bank each month.

Why do clothing makers insist on putting tags on the sides of shirts right above your pant line?

Inevitably I spend each day scratching at my side because of the label or I cut it off and end up splitting open the seam.

I have thought about buying only shirts that have the label info printed directly on the shirts, but this limits me to primarily workout gear, which would be fine if I were a P.E. teacher....

I'm half way through the holidays and thought I'd spread some Christmas "cheer" courtesy of Toys R Us (But Customer Service Is NOT).

Today, we ventured to the above mentioned store to return a remote-controlled car that a relative got my daughter.

The car does not work and hasn't since my daughter opened it on Christmas Eve. I explained to the clerk that the person who gave it to us did not give us a gift receipt and all we wanted was a working version of the same toy. The 15-year-old clerk said without a receipt there was nothing he could do even though the car was still in its original box with a Toys R Us label on it and clearly hadn't been run into the ground over the last 72 hours.

I asked very nicely to speak to a manager, but was told they had all gone home for the day (it was 2 p.m. -- those managers at Toys R Us must really have it tough....) In lieu of a manager, I got a 16-year-old clerk who stood there snapping his gum while I explained the situation. He too said he couldn't do anything for me, so I dumped the non-working toy on the floor and said "Well, now that I won't be shopping here ever again, I guess you can have this broken piece of junk that you sold back." (I'm not positive but by the way the clerk jumped back 5 feet, my guess is the car bounced off his foot. Oops....)

Whew ... now that I've vented I feel much better.

Aside from that, we had an enjoyable Christmas and are headed into the home stretch with my mother's annual New Year's Eve bash.

Dear ol' mom is from another country and likes to do it up big for the new year. This year, she had king salmon flown in from some polluted waters off the West Coast. Because she's always off gambling away my inheritance or playing Bingo, she had the fish delivered to my house today. I thought it would be a pound or two of salmon that I could throw in my freezer. Little did I know that she was having a WHOLE salmon delivered and said salmon is as big as my 7-year-old.

Thankfully we're in deep freeze mode here, so the fish is residing on my back porch for the time being. Meanwhile, I'm wondering how much I can get for it on eBay....

As I was leaving the boudoir this morning, I slammed into the open linen closet door. Fortunately, my knee took the brunt of the impact. But unfortunately, it ripped the door right off the hinges and split the wood beyond repair.

I will now be shopping for a new closet door and possibly a new kneecap as well.

I thought briefly of just leaving the whole mess until after the holidays, but the man of the house is throwing a Boxing Day Buffet (even though we don't live in a country where Boxing Day is celebrated) and I'd prefer that the whole neighborhood doesn't see the messy state of our linen closet. The closet in question resides outside the boudoir/master suite and down the hall from the primary guest bathroom so it is very noticeable.

So much for being done with shopping....

I woke up to winter this morning. Mind you, it was almost 80 degrees Monday. Today, we'll be lucky if it tops 20 degrees.

As I have aged (gracefully, mind you), I have grown to hate the cold. I don't particularly like wearing sweaters, boots, coats, mittens,and the such.

Yet, I try not to hike the thermostat above 65 degrees or so. So I'm always bundled up. Yet, it still seems that my feet and hands are always freezing.

It doesn't help that my office sits over a crawl space. I fully expect to walk in one day and find icicles hanging off the ceiling.

This year, I got wise and invested in a space heater. It appears to be warming things up a bit; or, at least, that's what everyone who walks in my office tells me. The only way I can tell the difference is to walk out of the office and into another part of the house. Then come back into the office. For a brief moment, I get that "Ahhhhh ...." feeling that one gets when they are all warm and toasty. Then I go back to being frickin' freezing.

Such is my life...

I just have to get this off my chest:

In between volunteering all day at my daughter's school and working countless hours on job No. 2, I got called in to work today by job No. 1 because one of my coworkers called in because she was "just too busy to come to work."

Fortunately, I was not home to answer the phone and my boss had to leave a message, so I blew it off. I'm hoping she'll say something to me about it, so I can tell her not to ever call me in because someone else is "too busy" to work!

Almost as serious as my debting with money problem is my debting with time. I overbook myself regularly to the point of exhaustion -- and rarely on insignificant things. I'm either working, volunteering, taking care of my family or, well, working. Sitting down to veg in front of the TV or going out with friends just to hang out are things I rarely have time for.

Yesterday, however, it all caught up with me because on top of everything else I'm just tired of taking care of everyone else's crap. Mini Me stayed up late the night before eating candy while I worked at the office job and her dad snoozed on the couch. Yesterday morning she had an hourlong meltdown as a result of too little sleep and too much sugar -- a meltdown over a shirt, nonetheless.

My husband left his dirty breakfast dishes on the counter and stepped over the screaming wild child on his way off to work while I was left to clean up the mess and haul Mini Me to school, where I was scheduled to volunteer all morning. Then I had to entertain Mini Me all afternoon since it was a half day of school. This, while trying to get some work done for my other job, which requires a certain amount of concentration, quiet and solitude.

Oh, and in the middle of this, one of the dogs used the dining room floor to relieve him or herself.

Needless to say, I was not happy and I let everyone know about it.

Mini Me is now in detox -- no sugar and in bed by 8:30. My husband has been put on notice about his messy ways and being considerate of my time and work issues. And, I even had a talk with the dogs about what would happen if I found anymore "packages" left behind by either of them.

I then went to work last night in my home office -- and after everyone went to bed I even snuck in a three-episode Grey's Anatomy marathon via the 'net so I'm now caught up on the one and only show I sometimes watch.

This morning I slept in until 8 a.m., which never happens. And I let my husband deal with Mini Me all morning.

So far it appears to be working.

Mini Me had a smile on her face when she went off this morning for vision therapy, swimming lessons and the dreaded flu shot.

My husband managed to clean up the kitchen after breakfast -- and even threw away the nasty coffee grinds, which always make me want to puke when I have to deal with them.

As for the dogs, well, let's just say Doggie Diapers are in both their futures....

This coming week is shaping up to be a killer.

A coworker at the "office" job broke her finger, so I've been called in for some extra hours tomorrow even though I was already maxed out on my shifts this week.
I'm also scheduled to work Tuesday as well.

Then there's the classroom Halloween party that I signed up to help with. I have to make 40 monster fingers at the crack of dawn Wednesday, dress up like a witch (which should be easy for me), and then fly into school on my broomstick by 9 a.m. to feed the little buggers. The monster fingers consist of cocktail weiners wrapped in tortillas to resemble a surgical bandage, and then baked for a few minutes and dipped in ketchup so they look bloody.

That evening my whole family is coming over for trick-or-treating with Mini Me, so I have to feed them as well. My plan was to toss some leftover monster fingers their way, but that idea didn't go over so well with the Big Sis and her Germaphobe Hubby, so I'm whipping up some pasta, a caesar salad and bread after the kiddie party. Then I'll be dashing Mini Me across town for an appointment, then back here in time to eat dinner, then letting the kid and the rest of my family loose in the 'hood for some good-ol'-fashion begging.

Hopefully, soon after someone will toss a bucket of water on me so I will melt ala the Wicked Witch of the West, which would mean I can get some sleep before heading to the "J-O-B" Thursday to work a "double."

A "double shift" in my line of work is the equivalent of a regular 8-hour shift for the rest of you. But because of the nature of my work, we can only work in 4-hour increments or those around us tend to suffer.

And, lest you think I'm whining about having to work a mere 8 hours Thursday, I still have two projects lingering from my booming side business -- with another one expected to drop sometime tomorrow.

Oh, and then some brillant bureaucrat who obviously doesn't have kids of his own decided that Friday should be a half day at school, so after doing a couple hours of work on the side job, followed by a couple hours of volunteer work, I'll be entertaining Mini Me that afternoon as well.

In between all that, I need to hit the bank, dry cleaners, post office, Costco and Whole Foods this week.

Boy, I can hardly wait!

I took my daughter to the amusement/water park today. We have season passes, but they don't cover parking or lockers or food. Just admission. So we shelled out $12 for parking (it would have been $15 but I had a coupon). Then we hauled our stuff into the water park area and threw most of it in a locker for the day at the outrageous price of $12. Yes, $12!

We hadn't been to the water park side of the place before and I didn't feel comfortable leaving stuff lying out while we were in the water, so I shelled out the bucks. But next time I think I'll just save myself some money and leave everything but towels and sunscreen in the car until we're ready to move on to the amusement park side.

In the end, it was not a cheap day. I also spent $30 for lunch in the park because they don't let you bring food into the park. I also spent $30 on boarder shorts and a swim shirt for my daughter because she was cold and hadn't brought anything warm to wear after the water park. (Completely my fault for letting her pick her attire and forgetting that it's usually a good 10 degrees colder downtown where the park is located.)

I don't feel that bad about the clothes, though, since my daughter can use them. But the amusement park food was atrocious. It really ticks me off that they won't let you bring food into the place. All the other amusement/water parks that we go to allow picnics, but this one does not. We usually skirt the issue by eating before we go, but today we were there at opening and stayed until late afternoon, so had no choice but to eat there unless we wanted to picnic in the asphalt parking lot... Eghghhghg!!! It's just makes me mad thinking about it.