Wow, I have had over 200,000 visits to my site. Boy, am I flattered!! I am going to toast each and every one of you at dinner tonight!! Cheers! (and thanks)

There is a sticker in my refrigerator that says my frig uses 843 kwh per year. that is only 2.3 kwh per day. My electric runs about 9 cents per kwh. so it is costing about 21 cents a day to run it, or $75.55 a year. that is a lot cheaper than I thought for an appliance that runs 24/7.

Well I just earned $1. I took a survey about diamonds. Yes, I do have a few, but they are all pretty old. I inherited 2 diamond rings and I won a diamond ring when I sold tupperware. I still have my original engagement ring, but I need to get it fixed. The stone fell out. My dh bought me a diamond watch for an engagement present.
Currently, I pretty much wear rings that I bought from QVC!
I like this survey place. The points add up quickly. I have already gotten 2 $10 checks and I only need about 160 points to get another $10 check. The other survey place I do will not issue a check until you hit $30. At 3 cents a click, that takes quite a while. I have been doing that one for a year and no check yet.

We had a great dinner out last night. I get so stir crazy when I stay home several nights in a row. We had lots of left overs to bring home too. My dh made up a big pot of ham and bean soup last night. That will be his lunch for the next week or so. The ham was free so the only cost was the beans and some pototoes. I am not a soup lover, so I will eat the leftovers from last night.
Today is a pretty sunny (but cold) day, so I will probably make my liquor run to North Carolina.
It sure would save me money if this county wasn't dry and I didn't have to drive to another state to buy liquor. Well,I have been here 22 years, so that is not going to happen anytime soon.

I called my favorite restaurant this afternoon to see if they would be open tonight. They are not, nobody is except the fast food places. Even the mexican restaurant is closed.
Guess I will be fixing dinner at home tonight. Well, there is some more money that I can add to my challenge money.

I think I am going to resolve to stop watching QVC and Home shopping. Those programs get me in trouble. I was almost tempted to buy a ring I saw on there yesterday. Lucky for me, it sold out before I could. I did spend some money on there for christmas. I need to keep those shows turned off. Anyone else have this problem?

Well, I burned a few calories this morning. I went out to sweep off the deck overlooking the creek. Wow, what a job. We have not been out there since last summer, so all the fall leaves were piled up. And it poured all last night, so they were heavy and wet.The deck is under a lot of trees, so there were limbs down too.
Now, I will let it dry off then Holly and I can go and sit outside for a while.
Last night I read some of Clark Howard's book, Get Clark Smart. I am not sure if I will finish it or not. It is good, but not much that I did not know already.

I just took my puppy outside to go pottie. We had lots of rain last night, so the creek is really noisy. The sun is out and the day is beautiful. I think I am going to go sweep off the deck that my dh built over the creek and go out there and sit a while. I love watching the water rush by.

I know New Year's day is a holiday, but I always wondered what every body does on this day? My husband has gone to work and it is just another day for me.
thank goodness the bad weather we had last night is gone and it is a pretty day today.

I just want to wish everyone a happy and prosperous new year!!

Have you ever heard of a possum drop? They are having one near here tonight and have been doing it at least 22 years. (as long as I have been here)
They get a live possum, put it in a cage and lower it at midnight. They do it at a little old gas station and hundreds of people turn out to watch.
I am not making this up folks. This happends in Brasstown, N.C., right over the gerogia line! Someday I will have to go and see it for myself!

We were invited to a party tonight but i think we are staying home. It is a very formal affair (tux or suit and tie) but it ends at 9:30. (It says so on the invitation.) dh needs to draw some house plans, and he wants to just stay home. I will have to run to the grocery store and get something for dinner. It is a miserable rainy day, so maybe it is better to just stay home. There is a local lodge serving dinner with a live band for $120 a couple tonight. I have never been to it (brand new)so I think we will just save the money. Talk about a cheap new year's eve!!

We had a window cleaner here last week. we have spotty windows from pressure washing the house so much. He tried on one window and could not get the spots off. He is back and trying again. We may have to live with these spots forever or sell the house!! Or put up curtains!

I just got back from the grocery store. There is a whole table full of valentine cookies for sale.
Hey, it is Dec. 29th, right?
Valentine's day is Feb. 14th??

Who is going to buy valentine's day cookies right now??

I am going to show our spec house today. Ok, I know, it is sold! We have a contract.
However, it is just sitting. It is finished and just sitting. I called 3 weeks ago and said I was ready to close. Nothing much has happened.
I am losing over $50 a day in interest. I am still paying the water and electric bill. I am still paying to heat the place.
We are closing by mail and the bank is blaming the slowness on that.
The lawyer handling things has decided to close this week.
The people in fla. are in no hurry to close cause they will have to make two house payments.
A Lady called yesterday and wants to see the house so I agreed to show it to her.

Now, I wish I hadn't. After we set the time to meet this morning, she asked me a lot of questions.
I told her my husband was the only licensed builder in the county and he is. Licensing is not required until next year, but my husband got licensed in North Carolina 17 years ago.
She said, how do I know you are telling me the truth?
That did not set well with me.
This is a small area and we are old fashioned here.
We do things with a hand shake, not a contract.
I have letters from all the people that he has ever built for. My husband is considered the best builder in the area.
I think I will be wasting my time this morning. Oh well, I have it to waste.

I made a liquor run today. That is part of our weekly budget, so technically, I did not spend any unbudgeted money today. I called the place we ate last night and asked about their tipping policy. all the employees are paid at least minimum wage, so tipping is optional. I do tip at places like that. They do bring out your food and will bring you a to go box.

After 3 nights of sitting home, we tried out a new restaurant last night. It is a seafood place named Mike's and they allow brown bagging.
You have to stand in line to order your food and get a ticket with a number. Some young girls come out with your food and call your number. They went around the dining hall cleaning up the "dishes" Actually, there were no dishes, just plastic baskets and plastic forks and knives.
My husband was a little upset with the tip I left. I only left 10%.
I honestly feel that the girls working there were not working on waitress wages, which is $2.17 an hour.
I think they are making at least minimum wage, so I did not tip as much. (You get your own drink too there)
What do you think? We are going back tonight.

I needed to make a bank deposit so I stopped at the grocery store. I was out of sour cream, so I picked that up also. I could not believe how busy the grocery store was. I thought that all we had done the past 3 days was eat!! Why do we need more food?? also, the lines at the post office were very long too. Hey people, Christmas is over!! Bring on the new year and the new $20 challenge!!

I hate the days being so short. As of Dec, 21 or 22, the days are now getting longer. Only a minute a day, but longer still. I only wish my husband did not have to work outside all winter. This has happened 4 winters in a row.

I had planned to cash the paycheck then head to Ingles and CVS. It is such a raw cold day, I never got out of the car. I just went thru the drive in at the bank and came home.
My favorite restaurant is closed all week until Friday night. It is going to be a long boring week! Guess it is honeybaked ham again tonight.

I hope everyone had a wonderful day. We always open presents late, after breakfast. We really tried to cut down and not spend much money this year and I think we did a good job of it. Using the reuseable bags and tissue made the clean up much easier. I bought my husband a lot of "edible" presents so we have pigged out on junk food all day.
We are having a "free" honeybaked ham for supper tonight.
I bet I am the only person on the forum to get an Elvis nightlight for christmas!! Happy 2007!!!!!!

I had a sweet treat at a party last sat. night. It was so good, I called to get the receipe. But I forgot to ask the name.
I am not much on cooking , but this is fast and good, so I will give you the recipe. all you need are:
2 sticks of butter or margarine
1 cup of light brown sugar
1 cup crushed pecans
graham cracker squares

Spray one of two cookie sheets (with sides) pre heat over to 350 degrees

Melt butter in medium saucepan.
Add brown sugar
Bring to a rolling boil and boil for 2 minutes, stirring constantly
Take off of heat and stir in pecans.
Immediately pour over the graham crackers (liquid will spread a little when baking, so crackers don't have to be totally covered.
Bake for 10 minutes in oven.

Don't let it cool too long, then cut into bite sizes pieces.

Help me name this!!

I had a great dinner last night. First of all, I learned that one of the teenagers that works at the restaurant, is an orphan and lives with a brother. she is working her way thru high school. But she has no clothes and has to wear shorts to work in the wintertime. I gave her a christmas card last night with enough cash to buy a few outfits. I am not thru with her, I intend to give her money to help her out thru this coming year.
Second, I got to see my granddaughters for the first time in over 3 years. They are both bigger than I am. They are just like grown women now! (16 and almost 18) They drove to come and have dinner with us. We had a wonderful meal, but they sure don't eat much!!
They have had a very hard life, with both their mother and father giving them up, but I think they are turning out well.We have all just written off the mother and the father. It is sad, but maybe that is why the kids seem so grown up for their age.
We really enjoyed ourselves.
I have some more money to give to another teen at the restaurant tonight. She is one of 7 children and money is tight.
This is what christmas is all about. I am so glad I save my money. It is so fun to give it to people in need. That hug I got from the orphan teen last night, means more to me than any gift I could ever get. Merry Christmas!!

I am disappointed. We have the house completely finished and I am taking the papers to be bank today. But the loan officer that is handling the loan says it cannot be closed before the end of the month. Everything has to be mailed back and forth. So, no closing til sometime in January. We have so much money sitting in that house and I can hardly wait to get it back into the bank.

I turned on the heat on Oct. 15th, so yesterday I checked my propane tank. I have used about 100 gallons in the past two month, or about 50 gallons a month. Of course, I know that winter has not really started yet, but I feel that is still doing pretty well. I have a little less than 400 gallons left, probably not enough to do me all winter, but I should not have to order but one more time this winter. I budget $30 a week for propane. I use to only budget $20, but since the price of everything has gone up, I found that $20 a week is really not enough.

Someone accidently drove thru the wall of our only post office. It was right where the customers stand too.

she meant to hit the brake and stepped on the gasoline. There had been a long line 5 minutes earlier. Luckily only two people were hurt and not serious.

Some on the computers were down today, so it was a long wait that stretched out the door. I think all of us were a little nervous and wish they would install a gate around the post office. I spent almost $5 to send a register letter to the licensing dept. Still trying to get my husband a license to build houses.

We closed on the land on October 15, 2005. After 14 months of hard work, the house is completely finished. The guys are cleaning windows today and hauling boxes to the dump. I just checked it out , and everything looks beautiful. Now if we could just move to the closing!
Then i will be doing the happy dance of Joy!!

I will be having a no spend day today for sure. I have 3 ladies coming over to play bridge all afternoon, so I will not be leaving the house. We all took bridge lessons together, so we are trying to play each week, so we don't forget what we learned. The lessons will start back in January. Bridge is a lot of fun, but learning to bid is the hardest part.

I earned $5 yesterday doing a Pinecone survey. The survey was all about drinking coffee and I have had maybe 2 cups in my entire life. I had to answer "I do not know" on almost every question. I feel guilty taking the $5. I won't add it to my challenge money until i actually get it. They may decide that I really did not earn the $5. That is ok, if they do.

I just heard from my FIL and he is sending us a free honeybaked ham for christmas. We sent him a gift certificate to his favorite restuarant. I love gifts of food, cause I just love food. Last year, we did not know he was sending one, so we ordered one. We got two hams on the same day. They are not supposed to be frozen for more than a month, so there was a lot of ham eating going on at our house for a while. Yum!