The Week in Review

November
In our tourist town, November first signifies that summer is truly over. The locals come out from their hiding places and enjoy their town. The weather has cooled off and the leaves had long but changed colors and have fallen off the trees. This year has been different. It's November - the weather has been mild, some trees still have their fall colored leaves, and the tourists are still running amok though our town. Tomorrow starts the cold snap, so we'll see how quickly this all changes.

I made my envelopes for the month. It's so fun divvying out the money, I wish it didn't go by so quickly. I actually had to make more envelopes!

Budget is in place for November. Since I am on the pay this month's bills with last month's income -- I knew what I had available to budget. This has been the second month on THAT plan. I'm learning so much about debt and budgets -- it's been very rewarding!

Supplemental Income
So, I've been reading blogs lately. Trying to figure out what I'm doing ... what I should be doing ... and come up with what I'm going to be doing. It's a learning experience. I've signed up for a lot of different programs, surveys and commission sites. Most of which may just work if I had more traffic to my blog. But then again, how many people are interested in MY debt? LOL
I'll update you more about what programs are working for me in a later entry. I'd really like to come up with an extra $800 before the end of the year.

Chelsie
We go back to the vet on Tuesday. This cat - she's going to use all 9 lives. A couple of weeks ago, my blood pressure was through the roof because I was tortured by the notion of putting this cat down. You'd have to understand the nature of this cat, the story that resulted in her being our cat, and all she's done for this family in the 20 years we've had her - to fully grasp what a devastating decision it would have been. She's definitely blind in the one eye. There's no doubt about that. Her arthritis is settling in on her hind legs ... but she's more active than she's been int he last two weeks! She's not hiding in her favorite spot all day and all night. She's even battled with the evil younger cat who likes to antagonize the elders whenever she gets a chance. It's great to have her back. But I know, I'll go through the heartbreak again. I just don't know when. If it's true that a cat has 9 lives - I do believe Chelsie has gone through 3-4 of them that I'm aware of.

Christmas
My favorite message board: http://www.livinglikenooneelse.com/ has just started a Christmas Accountability thread. I've always budgeted Christmas, so I'm not too panicked by the thought of being held accountable for my Christmas spending - but I am trying to sneak by on a dime so I can have a sinking fund set up for next year plus sneak Christmas dinner and my son's birthday into that budgeted money = $750. My husband and I are planning on getting our wedding rings re sized as our gift to each other. It's been three years since I wore mine (and I believe I can still see the "groove" in my finger where the ring once was) and my dh was able to extract his ring from his finger...with lots of help from dish soap! Besides that, I have a few gifts left to buy.

Tastefully Simple Party:
I've been really good about staying away from the at home party scene. It's basically meant to be a budget buster. Tastefully Simple sells spices, dip mixes, bread and dessert mixes, sauces etc. After going to a party a couple of weeks ago and only being able to afford a couple of things: Warm Savory Cheese Dip and Sun dried Tomato and Feta Cheese Ball Mix -- but having a huge "I WANT MORE..." list - I decided to have a party of my own. If you happen to need a couple nibble nabs for the holidays email me at sbchat101 at yahoo dot com. Tastefully Simple ships direct!

In Search Of:
One of the people left on my Christmas list is my mom's husband who LOVES Yosemite Sam. If anybody knows of anywhere that I can find cool YS things - please let me know. I've done the EBay route - so anything but that!

Are you reading?
If you are there and reading. Please drop a comment and say hi. I'd like to know someone is out there.