Compulsive Debtor's Finance Blog

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....

Credit cards are like crack if you're an addict like me....

Fancy red sports cars with 6-year loans tend to break down around year 5....

Designer duds do not make the person....

Diamonds are not a girl's best friend and it's student loans that are FOREVER....

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 ordered half a honey-baked ham for Christmas and a turkey breast concoction for our Boxing Day party. It's the first time I've ordered a pre-cooked ham and/or turkey and I was a bit surprised by the hefty price tag. However, not having to stand over the stove Christmas Day is well worth it. (Fortunately, there was a $5 off coupon in yesterday's paper, so at least I'll get a little break.)

I still need to make the side dishes, appetizers and dessert, but I've got those recipes down to a fine art so no one should go home with botulism Christmas Day. (Boxing Day is another story...)

I have also come up with a detailed cookie baking list and am taking three days off to see how many of those little babies I can burn this year. Baking is not my strongest culinary area, but every year I try my best to make something resembling a Christmas cookie so Mini Me can have the illusion that her mommy is Martha Stewart, Oprah and the Queen Mother all rolled into one. So far I think I have her fooled.

All but one gift has been bought and I have my sister working on that one so I don't have to venture into anymore stores. (Praise Allah, the Lord and the FED EX guy!!!!) I do have a few gifts left to wrap, but for the most part I'm ready for the big guy in the beard and red suit. (And I'm not talking about my husband.....)

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...

After two days of keeping track of my calories consumed, I've decided to discontinue the counting until Monday since I'm going to start stuffing my face tomorrow for the long Thanksgiving weekend.

Two days of tracking my calories showed that I am indeed eating about 300 more calories than I should be. I may have to cut out the mid-morning snack and -- God forbid -- give up one of my Tazo teas!

Ummmm... maybe the saddle bags on my hips don't look so bad after all....

I have to go into my "office" job tonight for a few hours, so I decided to take advantage of the warm weather and went for a run this morning. Now I'm working on the booming side business and, well, wasting time by blogging. In an hour or so, I'm thinking a nap will be in order.

This is probably not a good week to commit to a weight-loss plan, but I'm trying to shed a few extra pounds that have attached themselves onto my hips so I've begun a food journal. My goal is to consume about 1,700 calories a day.

Lunch alone about wiped me out. I ate leftover Chinese food and by my calculations I'm at about 1,300 calories already. Dinner looks like it's going to consist of a few carrots and water if I'm lucky....

I'm fortunate in that I've never had to diet, so suddenly watching what I eat is very eye opening. I exercise so I can eat, so exercising and NOT eating is not much fun. Thus, I'm trying to tame the ever-expanding hips by eating anything I want in moderation. Yet, there are certain things I'm just not willing to budge on.

For instance, my daily shot of caffeine in the form of a Tazo lightly sweetened ice tea is 70 calories. It's that or a Pepsi at 100 calories, so I'm sticking with the ice tea once a day (twice if it's a particularly harrowing day that requires me to kick it up a few notches). And, on occasion, I'm still going to have a Pepsi. There are just certain days when the world is going to hell that I would kill for something strong and lethal, so Pepsi is the alternative.

Yes, I do have a slight problem with will power -- as witnessed by the loads of consumer debt I'm carrying.....

Gil, the grocer, delivered today.

Even though I'm not cooking Thanksgiving dinner, I partook in all the holiday deals and ended up spending $133 on $218 in food.

I bought stuff I know we'll definitely use in the coming weeks, plus a few things we'll only use if the grocery stores all close down and it's a toss up between eating over-processed chemical-laden foods or chowing down on toasted terrier and barbecued Bichon.

As long as I'm talking deals and the end of the world, I'll also share that I went to my local beauty supply store to get some shellack for my hair. That and some goo stuff that makes it look less like a football helmet and more like ... well ... a bad toupee.

The store was having a deal that if you buy two of a certain product line then you got one free. It just so happened my "beauty" products were part of the deal, so I ended up with an extra bottle of stuff to throw on the 'do.

I now have enough hair product to last me through Armageddon as well.

So I joined the ladies in the 'hood for a friendly game of bunko last night. It was the first time I played; and aside from the constant moving around, I rather enjoyed myself.

Of course, it helped that I came home with $5 more than I went with. ...

This month, I have managed to double my business income thanks to a huge project that I took on. This is a good thing since Christmas is coming. (It's also a good thing because I went a little wild last month and drained a savings account that I need to replenish.)

I also found out today that another huge project is coming my way in December, so it looks like the financial "fun" will continue.

I'm leaving next Wednesday for a chi-chi hotel with my husband and daughter. After a hellish Thanksgiving last year, we decided to blow off both sides of the family and create a new tradition that is simply ours. It won't be a cheap Thanksgiving, but then I won't end up in the mental institution or in jail for tossing a turkey at a relative.

As long as I'm babbling on about things that are not even remotely related, I'll continue....

I've been enjoying Broken Arrow's slow-cooker chronicles. Personally, I rarely use the slow cooker because I found that after a while all the meals that came out of it started tasting the same.

Which reminds me that I'm still enjoying the

Quick-Fix Meals cookbook that I checked out from the library. I did buy a copy for $5 on Amazon that was marked as "nearly new." It was pristine, so I decided to give it to my sister for Christmas. However, I'm still going to buy my own copy at a later date.

Last nights' meal out of the book was a chicken enchilada dish that was yummy.

Tonight I've been invited to play Bunko with some neighborhood moms. I've never played Bunko, but rumor has it money could exchange hands so I figured it was worth an evening out on the town.

If I should "strike it rich," I'll let you all know in the morning.

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!

I doubt this is what the brains behind the "How I...." contest had in mind when they came up with the idea, but play along with me here....

I started my Christmas shopping back in June when I spied something I knew my husband would just love. Without going into too much detail (since I know he keeps abreast of developments on the homefront by reading this blog), I promptly bought the item in question and told Mini Me not to spill the beans. That I know of, it still remains a secret.

Then, about two months ago, my sister called to say the Discovery store was going out of business, so I rushed right over and bought the three pesky teen-age nephews who we rarely see and barely know a gift. Yes, ONE gift for all three of them. It's a game that they can all play together and I got it for $20, which was 75 percent off the original price. They need to do something as a family that doesn't involve spending time in family court or vegging in front of the TV.

As for the other nephew (half brother to the above-mentioned hooligans who also happens to be someone we rarely see and thus barely know), next week is the school book fair so I plan on getting him something there. (Perhaps a book on how to survive a bad upbringing????)

I'm also relying on another school fund-raiser for gifts. I bought a bunch of $9 ornaments with Mini Me's artwork plastered all over them for the various aunts and uncles. And, for the grandparents, I spent $19 on two calendars with inserts for more of Mini Me's artwork. The school gets a percentage of all the sales and I get quick-and-easy Christmas gifts. Can't beat that....

Because she did give birth to me, I decided to splurge on my mother this year. She mentioned that she wanted a new deep-fat fryer. This threw me for a loop since my mother needs a deep-fat fryer like she needs a heart attack. But, as my sister points out, it's better just to get her what she wants because she will just go out and buy one herself if I don't. After the hellish half-day of school last week, I stopped at Williams-Sonoma and bought a high-end fryer that's sure to clog even the best of arteries. It was not cheap, but the poor woman was in labor with me for days so I guess she's worth it.

As for Mini Me, I told her Santa could use some help this year so she should circle items she was interested in from the various catalogs we had lying around. After I ruled out the $1,000 ride-on Jeep, the Christmas-blooming bulb planter and the lacy bra-and-panty set from Victoria's Secret that she circled, I headed over to Target this morning. My first stop was the Starbucks counter because I needed my caffeine and something to toss on anyone who got in my way.

Surprisingly, nobody was there to get in my way, though. I don't know where all the other mommies were hanging out, but I had the store to myself. I was able to get everything on my list and even used coupons and a gift card to bring the price down considerably.

Tomorrow, I plan on getting my sister's gift at a kitchen store next to my mechanic, where I'll be taking my car for an oil change. I also have arranged to "draw" my sister-in-law's name since I've already picked out a gift for her as well.

So, the bulk of my Christmas shopping is done. I did not break a sweat doing it -- or break the bank (or even a nail, for that matter).

For those of you following

the comedy known as my married life, I just want you to know that my husband was just spotted emptying the trash cans throughout the house -- for the first time in a good six months!

And, wait, I think I hear him opening the dishwasher and inserting dishes into it!!!!

Now if I can just get the dogs to stop pooping on the floor....

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....

I made the seafood pasta dish from the Quick Fix book tonight and it was YUMMY! It was the same dish as my favorite pasta from Buca Di Peppo -- and just as good. The whole family loved it, so I bought it used tonight online. Well worth the $8.84 (the book plus S&H).

On another note, I actually bought just the right amount of candy to give away for Halloween tonight, so no leftovers lingering around for the next year. However, my daughter brought home a full bag of treats after making her rounds with my husband, sister, mother and Elvis (YES! THE KING LIVES!!!)

I am thinking about buying a cookbook. I never buy books. Instead I check them out from the local library. Every time I go to the library, I grab a new cookbook and try a few recipes from it.

Recently, I've been cooking meals from Robin Miller's Quick Fix Meals and I have to say it's one of the few cookbooks I've used in the last year or so that I think might be worth investing in. Everything I've tried out of it so far has been great, not to mention fast and easy.

Part of her schtick is that she starts with one recipe that includes cooking extra of something, which you then use for three or four other meals. Last night, I whipped up this incredible talapia dish with a sauce that I'll use later in the week with another meal.

Given how crazy busy I am, it might be worth having a book like this around for weeks like this one where I barely have time to sit down -- let alone stand in the kitchen for very long.

Tomorrow's big family Halloween dinner comes out of the cookbook. I've already prepared the sauce part of it. Assuming it's as good as the other recipes I've tried, I think I might splurge and invest in my own copy of the book.

(p.s. Checked PaperbackSwap.com and it's not available there for free, but I found it used -- but NEW -- for $4.85 on Amazon Marketplace. Definitely buying it at that price...)

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!

As the end of the month is fast approaching, I'm tallying up the monthly spending plan and it ain't pretty.

I've gone over in numerous categories and right now am "overdrawn" by $854. Technically, I'm not "overdrawn" to anyone but myself since the shortage is covered by one of my savings accounts. But I'm falling back into my old habit of robbing Peter to pay Paul.

My biggest problem area is eating out. Aside from the fact that I spent way more on food during a four-day trip with my husband earlier in the month, I've gone out for dinners here at home just because I haven't felt like cooking.

I also spent more on medical than I had planned to since my daughter had to have a vision therapy evaulation, which involves a $200 doctor visit -- not covered by insurance ($@$@!&$ insurance companies....)

Then there was the little issue of my utility bill being paid for twice due to user error when adjusting an auto bill pay with the bank. (Yes, I screwed up....)

The good news is I made $668 more than I anticipated I would this month. This allowed me to put more into savings and toward debt repayment. Of course, if I had known I was going to overspend, I could have put more toward the categories where I was over but it's always best to sock a little something away in savings and throw extra toward the creditors every now and then.

Hey, look at that ... two posts in two days. I'm on a roll!

If you look to your left, you'll see I've updated the debt and savings figures. The debt is very slowing going down and the savings is slowly going up. The savings could have gone up faster if I hadn't just spent $5,500 on a new fence. But it's a beautiful new fence and the dogs are happy with it, so I can't complain.

In order for a blog to be successful, it helps if one actually posts on a regular basis. I, however, appear to be going for the title of "Worst Blogger" since it's been two months since my last post.

I will try to do better. Seriously....

I'm tempted to splurge and buy an iPod Shuffle for running. (I'm tired of hauling around a brick on my hip in the form of my regular iPod while running.)

I can afford it, but it's not exactly in this month's spending plan. Thus, I'm hoping for a windfall to show up. Nothing big. $85 should about cover it. ...

No, we don't have any. But we did just go see the animated rat movie, Ratatouille, at our local dollar theater and I have to say it was a very enjoyable experience made even better by the fact that we didn't have to take out a second mortgage to do so.

I often forget about the dollar theater, but I think it's going to be the first place I look for what's showing the next time I'm up for a movie outing.

The total cost for three of us was $16.50, which included admission, a big bag of popcorn, three drinks and a bag of Skittles for the sugar fiend.

If we had seen the movie at the regular movie theater, I'm guessing it would have cost the three of us $50.

I probably could have gotten by with spending even less by either eating before we went or sneaking food in, but there's no beating movie theater popcorn in my book. Since we rarely go to the movies, I figured it wouldn't hurt to pay for the real thing.

As for the movie, it's very cute, but it did leave me starving for something other than popcorn, so dinner is calling now....

After failing to post for more than a month, I have returned to the blogging world. Rather than offer up a bunch of lame excuses, I'll just say I've been busy and leave it at that.

My husband started his new job, but doesn't get paid until the end of the month so we are making due with his vacation pay from the old job for the next two weeks. Fortunately, it was the equivalent of a two-and-a-half week paycheck at the former place, so we're doing OK.

I've also got money flowing in from the crazy freelance empire I've somehow built up. Plus there's that office job I sometimes clock in for.

On that note, it's time for me to get back to work. Until next time...

As my husband prepares to start his new job, I'm hashing out all the little financial details to make the transition go smoother for all involved -- mainly our creditors.

The extra income from the first paycheck will be going back in our fence fund. We used the original fence money to buy my husband a bunch of new suits this weekend since the new job requires that he wears a suit every day instead of his usual slacks and dress shirt.

After the first month, we will start divvying up the extra income into thirds, with a third going toward debt, a third going toward savings and a third going toward current expenses (i.e. vision therapy).

I did the math the other day and if we stay on track we should have all our debt paid off within 5 to 7 years. Also, once the vision therapy is done, we will be able to afford a car payment so we can replace my husband's van, which is on its last wheels. However, before we buy a new car, I want to sock away a huge down payment so it'll probably be more like a year from now before we go car shopping.

We have also decided to pay someone to replace the fence instead of doing it ourselves. I plan on getting estimates next month and then getting work done in September or October.

Meanwhile, my husband left me with all the automatic deposit and withholding paperwork to fill out this morning. Pretty funny given my history with banking....

My husband got a new job last week, which came with a gigantic pay raise. I did the math this morning and figured that if we take a third of his raise and put it toward our existing debt we could be rid of almost all our unsecured debt within five years. The only debt left would be my stepson's student loans, which we have not started paying on.

I did a little happy dance, and then calculated some more and figured out that we can now pay to have someone replace our fence. And -- most importantly -- I can keep our biweekly housekeeper visits up.

Big happy dance!

My husband took a bad fall on his bike trip. He got back on, though, and made it all the way home. But when he got here last night I thought we were going to be spending some time in the doctor's office this week.

He's missing big chunks of flesh all over his body. The biggest missing part being the size of a platter on his hip and butt.

Now that his personal medical team has dispersed, I'm in charge of changing the surgical dressing each day until he leaves for his next trip (which will be tomorrow). We went to Walgreens to get bandages and antibacterial ointment; and left $37 poorer.

I did pick up an Easy Saver catalog while there and am thinking about taking advantage of some of their deals. I'd be interested to hear from others who shop there to see if it's worth it. Also, is it worth paying the extra money for the Grocery Game list of deals at Walgreens?

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.

Wow! I was amazed that everyone was in agreement that they would have taken both of the items offered for free in my previous post -- Starbucks and mussels.

So, here is what I did and my reasoning behind each:

Incident 1: I ended up giving the cashier my debit card. It seems like any other person would have taken the free drink. However, my thinking was that I did have another means of paying for the drink (my debit card), so it would have been different if I only had the $50 and they couldn't break it. Also -- and this is a big ALSO -- I decided that in the end it would result in good karma down the line, which explains how I handled Incident 2....

Incident 2: I took the free mussels because I figured it was the good karma from Incident 1 coming back at me. Not to mention the clerk said: "King Soopers has billions. They can afford to give you 18 mussels." Plus, what kind of grocery store only sells mussels in two-pound increments?!?!?!??!

Here are two actual money-related things that happened to me over the course of the last week. I am wondering how others would have handled them.

Incident 1: I walked into my local Starbucks last weekend at 12:30 p.m. and ordered my usual -- a venti black iced tea sweetened. I handed the cashier a $50 bill for a drink that cost $2.14 because that was all the cash I had on me (although I did have my debit card with me, but usually don't use it for "personal" purchases like this).

Without even opening the register, the cashier said she couldn't make change and asked her manager what to do. The manager said to give the drink to me for free. Would you have taken the free drink or insisted that the cashier put it on the debit card?

Incident 2: I went to the seafood counter at a grocery store that I had never been in before to buy mussels. The mussels were marked $6.99 for two pounds, but I only needed 18 mussels. The clerk, who clearly didn't work in the seafood department, counted out 18 mussels but couldn't figure out how to print a sticker with the price for 18 mussels. He went to get the guy who usually works at the seafood counter.

The guy walks up, takes one look at my measly 18 mussels and says they could only be sold in the 2-lb netted bags that were in the display case. I said I was making paella and only needed 18 mussels, but if he couldn't sell me less than 2 pounds I would take them all and steam the rest as an appetizer. He then said he would just give the 18 mussels to me for free. Would you have taken the free mussels or insisted on paying for them or the whole 2 pounds' worth?

After I see what all of you would have done, I will share how I handled each situation.

I went AWOL for a few weeks while I was busy with various projects, but I missed you all and just couldn't stay away any longer.

One of the projects was a garage sale. I only made $120 over the course of one day, but I was so grateful to get rid of two huge pieces of furniture that were stashed in my basement that I consider the sale a success.

I pawned one futon off on a college freshman, who paid all of $5 to haul it away. And, I sold the other for $30 to a 14-year-old kid who convinced his mother that they should stash it in their garage until he went off to college. (I did feel a little bit of guilt about junking up her garage, but better her garage than my basement....)

I also had a ton of freelance work the last few weeks, which is a good thing since I'm now on a three-week vacation and won't be making any money during that time. My vacation consists of sitting by the pool, dragging Mini Me to various appointments and social commitments (her's, not mine), and overall just being a full-time stay-at-home mom.