Not only is The Midge home sick, but so is my husband. I've ordered them to stay away from me so I can get some work done -- and so I don't catch the cold again....

So today should be a complete no-drive/no-spend day for the whole family. I'm getting ready to make BLT sandwiches for lunch and for dinner we're having homemade pizza.

I also might defrost some pastry puffs from the freezer and make them a treat if I'm able to get at least one booming business project done today.

My doctor finally emailed me and said I have a "slightly abnormal" esophagus and I should go to the GI doctors to get it stretched again, which would be the third time they've stretched it.

I'm thinking I'll wait a while since there's no mass and I'm not going to die or anything like that.

After a spendy day yesterday, I managed to have a no-spend day today despite actually leaving the house to volunteer this afternoon.

The Midge has a sore throat, so I think I'll keep her home from school tomorrow -- and hopefully keep myself home as well, which should result in a no spend/no drive day.

No word from my doctor about the results of my esophagus x-ray yesterday, so I'm going to assume I'm just a hypochondriac and forget about the whole nasty experience.

I got up early to run this morning and now I'm fading fast so a quick dinner of tortellini with homemade pesto (using basil from my garden) and homegrown tomatoes is on the menu tonight. Then it's early to bed for me and the little sicko kid.

Managed another day without spending money. Aside from taking The Midge to karate, I didn't go anywhere today.

The French dip sandwiches I made yesterday in the Crock Pot were delicious, so I ate one again for lunch this afternoon.

Tonight I'm making lemon linguine with prosciutto and I also made a peach cobbler for dessert -- both of which should provide another yummy lunch tomorrow.

I do need to make my monthly run to Costco tomorrow, though. It's also my volunteer day at The Midge's school, so I'll probably treat myself to a Starbucks to sustain me through 3 1/2 hours of small creatures following me around....

I took a "sick day" today and didn't leave my house, so technically I had a no-spend/no-drive day. I say "technically" because my husband did bring me Arby's for lunch -- but he paid for it so I figure it doesn't count against me personally.

The problem with working at home full time is that you can't really take a "sick day." I still found myself wandering into the office every now and then to chip away at a project I'm working on for the booming business.

But, for the most part, I spent the day napping and reading Twilight, which someone sent me for free along with the second book in the series.

Shipped off some eBay stuff and made a $5.04 profit so my Challenge fund is now up to $11,410.03 and my Vespa fund is $302.83.

There's a big convention coming to town next week and one of the "events" is this thing called the "American Presidential Experience." I humored my husband and let him drag me there today. I should have stayed home and continued nursing myself back to health....

Not only am I now feeling worse (thanks BA), but we also spent $40 to get into the thing, which was worth more like $4.

I did manage to stay home yesterday and not spend money so I logged another no-spend/no-drive day. The Chinese food craving has passed, so I think I'm safe for now....

I would run the rest of my eBay stuff to the post office, but I'm coming down with a cold, the flu or ebola (not sure which, but it's not pretty....)

Since today is the first full day of school for my daughter, I decided it would be my work-at-home-all-day-without-passing-GO-and-spending-$200 day (i.e. I didn't have plans to go anywhere or spend money). However, tomorrow I was planning on volunteering at the school so I figured I would mail my eBay stuff on the way, but then I woke up feeling bad and decided I should probably stay home again.

So basically I'm sitting on almost $180 in challenge money that I can't claim until I mail the eBay stuff.

UGH...

Hey, but on a good note, I pulled our credit reports today and despite my attempts to muck them up with all that debt over there on the left I somehow managed not to.

And, of course, I didn't drive or spend money today (and with any luck won't be for the duration of the day since I'm now going to lay down with a bottle of Nyquil...)

Thanks to a rare rainy day, I didn't drive or spend money today.

All but one of my eBay customers has paid up after I sent them each an email reminder. (I'm giving the other person until the end of this week and then I'm relisting the item.)

I'll post the challenge additions tomorrow after I ship the stuff that did get paid for.

My general savings and money market account aren't looking too good this month because of the huge vet bill so I'd debating putting the eBay money toward that instead of into the Vespa fund, but I haven't made up my mind yet.

The dog came through surgery just fine. Her bladder was almost completely full of stones, so the vet said he thinks we'll "be seeing a totally different dog soon." Since the only sign of illness was her incessant need to pee before, I'm hoping the big change will mean my carpet won't be stained anymore....

Because she'll be spending the night in the hospital, I haven't actually paid for the surgery yet and ended up with a no-spend day today. Kind of a nice little treat considering tomorrow I'll be shelling out $1,400 to the vet.

A no-spend day and a no-drive day today! I got the floors cleaned, but still need to get some booming business work done tonight....

My daughter is spending the day with my sister, so I'm thinking a no-spend -- AND no-drive -- day might be possible today.

I've got tons of work for the booming business that needs to be done (plus I need to clean the carpet). And, I've got the makings of a tuna fish sandwich for lunch. I see no need to leave the house today....

Yes, I achieved a no-spend day. We did go to the library and tennis lessons, but didn't spend any money while we were out.

We had leftovers for lunch and I even made a special dessert involving peaches and ice cream so we won't be tempted to hit DQ tonight.

It's going to be 95 degrees again today and we're all in need of some vegging out time here, so I'm going to try to limit our outings to the library and tennis today -- and hopefully create a no-spend day out of my self-imposed seclusion.

With any luck, I'll also get more stuff listed on eBay today for the Vespa fund. So far, I've listed two things and have no bids to show for it....

Without even trying, I managed a no-spend day. I don't know how it happened. The money's just been flying out of here like crazy lately, but today I must have done something right....

I finally eeked out a no-spend day. With my daughter out of school, it seems like I'm always on the go and at some point handing over money for some activity or another.

Since we had money leftover from our vacation a few weeks ago, my husband and I bought a tandem bicycle over the weekend from a couple who had bought it a few years ago and rode it all of 70 miles. (Not kidding.... The bike's computer still has details of their one and only ride.....)

The bike is in perfect condition (looks brand new) and we paid $650 for it (the original cost was close to $2,000). My husband's an avid cyclist so he's excited that I'm going to join him.

The tandem couple also sold us a year-old tagalong bike for $75. We have another tagalong, but the new one has gears and is perfect for my daughter to learn how to shift. Since we were given the first tagalong for free by some friends whose son had outgrown it, we're going to give it away to the family behind us.

The same family is also in the market for a Burley to haul their daughter in. We have one of those too and I think we're going to sell it to them for $75, which will cover the cost of the new tagalong.

Tomorrow is going to be a spendy day since both my daughter and I have hair appointments, plus I need to pick up some dog food and a few other things. Doubt I'll be seeing another no-spend day this week.....

I managed to spend nothing today -- our first real day of summer vacation at home.

We made use of our pool and ate lunch at home.

I also waded through all the mail from the last two weeks and found some checks for the booming business. After I made my spending plan minimums on payroll and taxes, I had $77.58 left to put toward the challenge, so the new total is $10,380.61.

Also in the mail was the statement from my one and only personal credit card. I was thrilled to see the balance was 0. I don't think it's ever been 0. I might just have to frame the statement for future inspiration.

So someone (I'm not saying it was me) forgot to take into account the time it will take to get through customs on our return from our upcoming vacation and booked the second leg of our flight home a little too close for comfort.

Oh, and that second flight is the last flight out of Dodge for the day. So, if we happen to miss it because we're standing in line in customs for longer than the 1 hour and 7 minutes that certain someone allowed between flights, we'll be spending the night in the Lone Star State.

Anyone in Houston got a couch we can crash on?

I went on the airline website to see what it would cost to fix this little boo boo and found out it will cost a whopping $300 to change all three tickets.

Uh, no thanks.

I'll just take my chances; and if we do miss the flight home, I'll be playing dumb at the airline counter and hope all I have to pay for is a really cheap hotel room for the night.

Hey, but good news: I had another no spend day yesterday.....