So, erm, I realized a little too late this evening that I have no idea where my plunger went to when I moved this past May. I had just stepped out of the shower, too. On went the clothes and off I merrily went to Target to get a plunger (not-so-merrily, actually.)

I probably way overpaid, but the only option they had was $5.64. $5.64!!! I'm sure I way overpaid. But whatever. Again, I had just stepped out of the shower so my hair was soaking wet, my clothes were all askew, and dude, I just wanted a nice quiet evening without having to go out. Fat chance.

The good news is my toilet isn't overflowing. :-)

***

On a related note, I learned that most single men shop at Target in the early evening hours. Good to know.

***

Apparently, lesbian couples also shop at Target in the early evening hours. Another useful fact, I'm sure.

***

I'm going to transfer my highest card balance to a card with 0% on balance transfers. My min. payments have gone up (the year is up, sadly), and even though I can still afford them, it freaked me out just enough.

***

$36.54 for Frontline for the dog. Flea and tick season are almost over, but I don't like taking chances as we live in an apartment setting. That's with a 15% discount at www.PetCareRX.com (and nearly $20 less than at the vet's office.) So I'm fairly happy.

***

I'm also considering getting a weekend job, which I really don't want to do as I already work 10-12 hour days as it is. BUT the freelance writing thing isn't taking off as I thought it would. And again, while I can still technically manage my debt and expenditures, I'm really tired of feeling like I have no safety cushion. (And I feel this way because I don't, obviously.)

***

Starbucks is selling pumpkin spice lattes! Guess where I'll be Saturday? (No worries, I have a gift card.)

***

Geez, it's only 8:12 and I'm ready for bed. How lame am I???

I hope y'all are doing well!

Thanks to everyone who commented on my previous post! Definite food for thought. I'll visit the topic again in the future, as it's one that I still struggle with from time to time.

Today was one of those wonderfully lazy Sundays in early fall ... the Georgia sun is beating furiously down on us all, but I still detect a hint of crispness in the air! And right now I'm watching Randy Pausch's 'Last Lecture' on GPB. He was a really inspiring man.

Did some grocery shopping this morning, and my total was $25.82. Meals this week include turkey sausage and hot tots, veggie pizza, veggie sloppy joes and mushroom soup.

I can't believe the first week of September is over! This year has gone by way too fast. I'm hoping the rest of this year and 2009 will slow down some. :-/

I don't feel so hot today ... just really tired. My right hand feels all numb and tingly and weird. I think I slept on it funny. And I think I feel poorly because I made coffee this morning (I hardly ever drink the stuff.) Dang coffee.

Anywho, I went grocery shopping this morning. $26 for a week's worth of food ... not too shabby! I even spent some at Whole Foods. (Authentic hummus and homemade pasta, yum!) Kroger also had my dog's fave treats on sale, and I had a $1 off coupon from this morning's paper, so I got a BIG bag of treats for him for $1.50. Niiiice.

Other than that ... just trying to relax and gear up for the week. I have this Friday off and a happy hour scheduled for Thursday, so I'm really ready for the early weekend already! LOL! And I should probably clean ... I'm feeling so lazy today, though. I haven't even gone out for my run yet. L-A-Z-Y!

I went to Target this morning to pick up a few things:
- a multivitamin (actually, a bottle of 100)
- hair color (I'm 22 and already am covering up gray ... no kidding)
- a screwdriver (99 cents! I thought it would be a couple of dollars at least)
- a sports bra (2 for $8)

On my way to the cash register, I decided to stop by the shoe section to drool over the much mentioned red pair of shoes that I am desperately needing to go on sale at some point in the not too distant future.

... the shoes? They were GONE.

I quite literally said out loud, "OH NO! My shuuuuuuuuuuues!" as I stared forlornly at the black ruffle boots that had taken the place of those beautiful Isaac Mizrahi red high heels.

I wandered aimlessly down the aisle, trying to ignore the strange looks other customers were throwing my way after my admittedly weird outburst, and - sigh of relief - saw my shoes. Same price, just in a different location. Moved for the sake of fall fashion. *sigh*

This sounds stupid, but those shoes are a symbol to me. A symbol that I don't need instant gratification. I can save my money. I can wait for the sale that I'm just positive is coming up at some point. I don't NEED those shoes. I definitely WANT them ... but those high heels are my proof that my wants are different from my needs, and that if I want to give into my, um, wants, then I need to make sure that I've taken care of my needs FIRST.

Anywho, I almost very nearly snatched those shoes and bought them. But I didn't. I did a weird half-run/half-skip through the handbag department (another bad idea), and straight to the check-out lanes.

On my way home, I stopped at Moe's for lunch. $4.97 (For anyone who loves Moe's as I desperately do, get the Moo Moo Mr. Cow kids meal ... a slightly smaller burrito, chips, drink AND a cookie for way cheaper than the same meal for an adult.)

And, in keeping with my new vegetarian ways, I had it sans meat, cheese and sour cream. :-)

Now I'm home for the day, watching the Olympics and trying to discipline myself to get some writing done.

Have a great Saturday, everyone!

... or approximately $1.18 per meal.

Actually, the final tally includes $6.12 spent for dog kibble, so the food bill for ME is a little bit lower. I actually ran out of his favorite treats Saturday morning, but my mom stopped by to have lunch with me and brought the dog a whole new stash of treats and bones. He should be fine for a couple of weeks now!

Anywho, back to the grocery store. Each and every week I browse the meat department, my stomach turns just a bit more. I've decided to slowly but surely transition into a vegetarian lifestyle. The more I learn about the American food industry, the more uncomfortable I become. I'm not going to quit meat cold turkey, but by slowly eliminating it from my diet I hope to be entirely meat-free by the holiday season. (Tofurkey and faux-ham!)

This decision comes from both an ethical viewpoint and for health reasons. I've had problems maintaining proper hormonal balance since high school, and the more I understand about what JUNK is pumped into our meat supply, the more sense it makes that taking meat out of my diet could really make a difference.

In other news ... well, not much else is new. I've been trying to fit running in, but the smog is so bad in Atlanta. I would hate to be an athlete in Beijing right now! The air quality there is worse than we could probably imagine. (If you haven't noticed, there's a ticker set up in my 'About Me' section, counting down until next year's Peachtree Road Race ... one of my goals, people.)

I still have that "extra" $200 in a safe place ... I think I might actually make it without using it just yet. It is going to be a tight month ... I have car insurance, a doctor's visit and a vet visit for the dog to look forward to. But if I can get through until mid-September without using it, I will be extremely happy. Then, I'll put half in saving, half to CC payments.

Happy Sunday, everyone! Have a great week.

This southern heat is too darn oppressive. I have absolutely no motivation. I tried to take my dog for a walk earlier ... yeah, between the humidity and the smog, it just wasn't going to happen. So basically I spent this weekend sitting around, half-heartedly cleaning and looking forward to NEXT weekend when I have three days off.

I did manage to go grocery shopping this morning ... my meal plan this week includes pork chops, chili, and the left-over chicken fried rice. What was frustrating this morning was that I had my grocery list all ready to go, and in my rush to get my laundry out the door as well I picked up the wrong list (my weekly to-do list) instead. So I get to the store and have to mentally recall what I needed. Great. I actually just forgot to pick up eggs, and I decided that I can do without those this week.

Not much else. Just trying to scrounge up some motivation to write this afternoon. It ain't happening so far.