the bits

Some more of Esme's birthday items arrived... it is stashed away.  We scored a little something on clearance that she will like, too.   I've got some more in my Amazon cart, one thing she had asked for and I just remembered it last night. I'm trying to get her nice things she asked for without going big budget.. we went bigger budget maybe than normally would have for her school start - but that has turned out really well.  I know I could have spent a lot more on that but we planned it out pretty well. 

I think checking the ads in the morning before we go to the store - and shopping at the K place as well as the W, is helping a little.  I never did like the idea of having to go to two places, but Mark doesn't mind if there are a few good deals we can jump on and then stock up for later ie: peanut butter, frozen orange juice and shampoo etc..  I'm putting in receipts at three different sites for payback rewards, and they are not big rewards, but still something.  And they add up.  One of the sites is offering free photo prints for collecting points on something we already buy.. and I'm collecting photos for our family album, so that adds towards that goal.  I started doing SavingsCatcher and - on things we have already bought - got a gift card that covered half of a tshirt I bought for Esme online.

Still forging ahead with the Amazon company, as well... that is what half of Esme's birthday presents were gotten on.

Esme and I went down to the lake yesterday, and saw what we thought were raccoon tracks.  They were right next to the water.  Then she came home and wrote her letter and made a drawing for her pen pal in Australia.  She received a letter from him a few days ago.  I had to push just a bit at the beginning but she sat down on her computer and wrote him a very nice letter in her own words.  The map she drew of 'her world' (our property, the house and the lake etc.) was very good.  I think he will like her response.  His mom knows Esme was sick last week and that is why we didn't get it done then.

I had today off (and we did the shopping) and will have tomorrow off, too.  And then the weekend.

I'm still in book 5 of Outlander ( I really think so...it gets hard to tell now).
Esme and I both got Toca Life on our tablets and she wants to play that tonight, if she remembers.

Pie Charts
I have been putting our receipts from last month into a spreadsheet and separating out the goods by category.  I am trying to see what the ratios of dairy, meat, household, canned goods, produce etc etc.. are to each other and where we spend the most.  I am also including the coupon information we saved on items.  I have a whole month of data from September to work with and then can compare it to October as we go.  I am hoping to learn some interesting things from this and also to develop a spreadsheet template to use going forward into a programming experiment.  Doing all of those receipts on Amazon got me to thinking about this, ratios, percentages, change-over-time and also getting into searching for rebates, coupons and rewards that would stretch our money further for the same buck spent etc...  It might seem like a silly pasttime - it would have to me six months ago maybe... but it has lots of avenues to explore and info to mine. 

bits of cold

It was very cold at the bus stop this morning.  And the bus didn't come, because no one informed us of the policy, or the phone number to call, to call the bus garage early in the morning to tell them the child who was absent will be back to school that day.  The school didn't know anything about that policy when I went to drop her off.  But, now the number is pasted up on our bulletin board.  And I hope they come get her tomorrow.  It was cold enough to need a blanket just to hide under from the wind.

Esme's backpack came, she wore it today.  It didn't fit her lunchbag up front, but I let her take hot lunch today anyway because she had been sick and it was something she said she could eat.  My Oolong tea came - I'll make a cup of that later.  Mark is quite happy because we found pork roast AND orange juice on sale and made good on both offers.  He now has lots of pork and orange juice (which he eats and drinks anwyay). 

We've been using coupons and following the sales for a few months.  I think we've about broke even moneywise, because we end up buying some other things we would go without when we can save some on other things.  We'll see if that trend continues.  I also need to start carrying the coupons in my bag all of the time, because we've bought at least three things that I had good dollar off or more coupons for and we didn't have the coupon with us because I didn't think we would buy it that day.  So, there is some to be learned there.  I would really like to find more shampoo deals with how much Esme uses.  I will just have to jump on any real deal we can use to the fullest extent and stock them in the cupboard.

We're still waiting on the things I ordered for Esme's birthday.  I'm still holding off on the t-shirt I was going to buy her.  And I have no idea what we are going to do for the actual day of (Friday) or the Saturday afterwards.  Well, not NO idea.. I've got a few ideas... but I'm not sure if we'll do them.  G's birthday party and Esme being sick afterwards has just made me tired and a little drained.

It's past noon and I hope that means everything was okay for her at school today.  She was so tired and floppy for a few days there, and about half-power yesterday.  She played outside in the sawed down tree top for a while with the dogs.  They love the tree Mark cut down by the fence.  He pushed it over into their area for them to play and chew on for a while before we cut it up into smaller pieces.  When I read Esme some book last night (Still on Sword in the Grotto) she laid perfectly still in her bed, no rolling, no getting up and jumping around.  Really under normal circumstances I'd wish for that.. but it made me realize how much the sickness had taken out of her.  Hoping for better tonight and that picking her work up yesterday will lead to not a huge load of homework tonight.

bits over a weekend off

Minion putting on her best dark attitude.

Esme has been in school for more than a month now.  Her report card came back with all A's.  And she is happy and liking school.  We took her and her friend out to the dog park today with Lucy and their dog (Shiva), and they had a good time. Lucy did very well meeting several other dogs besides Shiva she had never met before.  We stayed a little over an hour, then everyone headed home.  On the way home Lucy and Esme each had a separate corn dog!

I'm still branching out and trying other ways to bring little updates and income into the house.  It is using up some of the energy I put previously into maniacally cleaning the house.  So, maybe the house isn't becoming as spotless as it might be.. but my stress levels are better.  And we have a few new things from the Amazon work I was doing last month.... a handheld vacuum cleaner, some clothing storage bags and a new shower hose.  I'm working on another card and wondering what I might get Esme for her birthday from it.  The only bad thing is that it takes so long for them to ship it we couldn't use any of that for a birthday present for Esme's friend.  The party was more than two weeks away, but they wouldn't ship for a month.  But.. I have a little under two months for Esme's bday.

I knitted some dishcloths, and read a little bit more of my book (book 5 Outlander).  We watched the first disk of Cosmos with Neil deGrasse Tyson from Netflix, Mark and I did, while Esme was at Grandma's house yesterday evening.  It was better than I expected, yet it did respect the original.  Esme and I watched the original series first few episodes for homeschool last year.  I wonder how/when I'd have her watch this.  Maybe on a school break.

Esme and I talked about September 11th briefly today, as well.  She knows it was horrible, and where it happened - but she doesn't quite sink in what it meant for the nation.  I saw some nice tributes today but generally everyone I met was upbeat and having a nice Sunday with their families and friends.

That was my weekend off... a long week of all-on work now and then come up for air next Sunday again.

Getting things done

I feel as if I've been getting some things done.. although they aren't things easy to show off on the blog.  It's one or a dozen... I could either slump into doing nothing or burn off extra energy in a frenzy.  Instead, I'm trying a few things that aren't exactly 'fun' to many people but they energize me more because I feel like I'm getting things accomplished and things are nicer because of it.

I've been working here and there to earn a gift card by entering in receipts and doing small programming jobs on Amazon.  I tried it at a start just for something to do after I dropped Esme off at the bus - and have found that the mathematics and patterns in it are interesting in itself.  I'm sure very few people are able to say that they see beauty and elegance in the patterns formed by shopping receipts and mean it... but my brain works that way.  I got to do a handful in Spanish and another in French the other day - and that was truly interesting.  And I do get a small (this week not so small) monetary benefit out of it besides that.  I'm about to order a lightweight dustbuster vacuum thing that I probably  would never buy outright but it feels like when you sold enough cookies as a kid to earn the bicycle instead of just the visor.  *heh*  Mark really helped me out yesterday by putting a second monitor on my screen so the receipt entry isn't switching between tabs... I think that sped me up tenfold.

So, beyond that side job - the house is looking much better organized.  Much fewer things are going bad in the fridge because I am trying to pay close attention to using almost everything I open.  And I have lost a little weight.  The laundry is keeping up... things are clean.  There are nice kitchen towels hanging up and Lucy has a clean dog bed today.  I found a melted through bottle of pine-sol in the cabinet (eek) and cleaned that up... and the bathroom floor is now quite clean using up the rest of it.  Probably tackle the kitchen a bit with the last dregs tonight.

Best of all Esme is happy in her school and although getting up in the predawn is still a challenge it is a physical one not a mental battle.  She wants to go to school.  I tell her she has to keep on her schedule with making lunch, taking a shower, going to bed - and she grumbles a second and then realizes it really is for her own good. 

We're reading My Haunted House in the Araminta Spookie series.  Esme thinks it is quite funny.