May 31, 2008
Without delving into my little cushion of rollover minutes, I’ve been running really close to empty on minutes this month. I’ve been pretty careful about taking or making calls during peak hours the past two weeks, so figured I’d just be getting in under the wire or using a few of those rollover minutes. That’s no big deal, I banked them just in case there were months where extra chattiness cropped up. It turns out that my fond memory of one of AT&T’s policies, counting holidays as a weekend, is alive and well. Monday’s minutes were free!
December 26, 2007
I hope each and every one of you had a wonderful holiday. I’m just taking a 5 minute break from work emails right now. Though we’re on paid holiday, Little Boss said I could come in and work if I wanted to.
Friday night was nervewracking. Old DuckyPuppy, 18.5 years old, hadn’t eaten since 2pm, and wasn’t able to get up or move around on his own. He specializes in being a puppy-lump, but not eating is NOT him. Wrapped in blankets, he toasted in front of his favorite space heater for a few hours while I agonized about whether or not I should disturb his rest and take him to the vet. He was breathing normally and gums were pink so he wasn’t in distress, but I just couldn’t decide whether or not it was worth an emergency vet check. Finally, BoyDucky and I took him at midnight because I simply couldn’t sleep without knowing for sure that there wasn’t anything else we could do for him. It cost $200 to have him checked and get x-rays to confirm that we just needed to help him rest and get around until he was ready to eat again. He finally started to perk up on his own around 4 pm Saturday.
Immediately after that, the other bridesmaids and I threw together R’s bachelorette party for Saturday night and it turned out to be really quite fun, despite the last minute planning.
We took her to dinner at a BBQ/western themed restaurant at Universal CityWalk (parking: $10), where we ate WAY TOO MUCH and topped it off with mechanical bullriding. She managed to hang onto the bull for the full 8 seconds. Yeehaw! My portion of dinner, with some thrown in to cover R’s dinner, was $42.
Next up was dancing at a Latin club: the salsa/Latin/Hispanic musica was played downstairs for the dancers with coordination and dancin’ skill, all other dance music was upstairs. Unfortunately, cover was $20 because we got there after 10pm, but the bartender was kind enough not to charge for any of R’s drinks. The “bachelorette” tiara was a great investment, it saved us the cost of 5 bottles of water and 5 drinks. Coat check was $3, cash only, and ironically, I was the only one with enough cash to cover $7 of coat check for friends. I never carry cash; I only had cash at all because BoyDucky insisted on giving me money for the night since I didn’t let him go halfsies on the vet bill. I guess cash DOES have its uses. 🙂 And thoughtful boyfriends are great, too.
Total spent: $79 (-$65 from BD = $14) Monday morning found us decorating A’s grave with garlands and ornaments. He would have been 26 tomorrow, so I’m sure we’ll be back again tomorrow morning.
That night, I found out that MaDucky had gotten into a minor (ie: no injury) two-car fender bender because she was on a new medication and became confused while driving. I think it’s time she stopped driving. She’s been ticketed for making illegal turns, and turns on red lights that count as “running” the light and countless other minor violations. It all adds up to a very bleak prospect for her safety.
Tuesday was a good day visiting with R’s family. This may be the last year I spend any real time with them during the holidays because splitting my time between three families is just so complicated.
And that brings me to today/right now: (I need to get back to work!) This unexpected holiday overtime will help pay for the equally unbudgeted outlays of the past few days. I didn’t want to work instead of playing Wii with friends, but I may as well cover some upcoming bills while I can. Time enough for video games in the evening.
In great news:
1. I’m SO CLOSE to topping off my emergency fund!! Check out the sidebar!
2. R gave me David Bach’s Smart Women Finish Rich and we’re going to make 5 goals for 2008 together. Aside from my regular financial goals, we’ve decided that we’re going to make 5 goals that can be anything from personal, relationship, financial to educational and make a PLAN for how to accomplish it. I’m excited! Fresh year, fresh start.