Spondulicks Forever!

1. My spouse brought his work phone with us.
2. Although the spouse took WA-543 instead of WA-539 (Lucky Robin knows what I am talking about), we still managed to get downtown in time for me to renew my passport.
3. The Prius Map feature allowed me to show my spouse he erred in thinking WA-543 was a recently developed WA-539.
4. Border officials do not grill me when I tell them I am renewing my passport.
5. I had eight minutes left in getting back to the car before our time expired.
6. Fiamma Burger's "B'ham'burger." Enough said. (Lucky Robin knows what I am talking about)
7. A man consciously stepped back from the open elevator to let me in first. This has not happened for years. I was taken aback, then flush with gratitude and of course thanked him. Wow.
8. Antlers and red noses on the Translink buses.
9. Spouse bought LAMY ink cartridges for my fountain pen while I was waiting at Passport Canada.
10. May have seen the greatest ever Vancouver Canucks team player driving his BMW into Vancouver!

Everyone was polite and kind today. These greases of the social machinery really buoy me, you know?

The car odometer is now at 9999 miles.
Despite long lines, people were in good cheer at the supermarket. We braved the crowd because we needed eggs, pie crust mix (we're having tourtiere), butter, and I wanted some Market Spice (orange-cinnamon) tea.
Plus I needed to get my passport out because I am renewing it.

My Christmas present to you: Music can induce feelings of euphoria. Research

here includes 40 tracks used, most popular/effective music asterisked


Trans Siberian Orchestra performs Nutcracker Suite - after forty seconds my brain waits for Freddie Mercury.

Remember, the Drug Enforcement Agency cannot come for your playlists, and this info is legal to share across borders. Enjoy!

I guess the debt collectors read the last post. I answered the phone, was very sweet and clear and polite with them and they were sweet and clear and polite back, answering my request for the company name and telling me they would remove my number. I guess they figured that the person who requests contact information for them but insists the person they're asking for has never had this phone number might be planning to send a Debt Validation letter. Really, the validation letter is a favour to them.

Sad irony: the one family who can stand us (we're bookish introvert rationalists on various points of the autism spectrum -- i.e., socially awkward wackos) is avoiding debt collectors: they have changed their e-mails and phone numbers. I mailed them twice with our e-mail addresses and phone numbers, but they have not taken these cues to contact us -- was I too subtle?

I am sad that I live in a culture where apparently I can't appreciate and celebrate what I do have in common, other than genetic material, with relatives, but instead be grateful for loneliness and isolation as an alternative to hearing racist jokes (my niece and nephews are ALL biracial: our kid happens to be the only white one and he's the only one with recognized dual citizen status), or anti-immigrant rants (hey, I am an immigrant, why are you saying they are bad?) or treatises on how more violence will help to curb violence.

Why do families have to act tribal and cast out people who've had unique experiences? I am not talking about addictions, criminal history or sexual perversions, but experiences like trying out a different church, or growing up in a broken home, or growing up urban or rural, or moving to another country, or living without television.

I did have some great conversations with non-relatives today, about holidays and noncontroversial subjects. For that, as a positive experience to build against the daily shelling of social anxiety, I am grateful.

Grateful to have the opportunity to drive to my home country for a day to renew my passport.

Grateful to come across the expression: "'It's the end of life as we know it' said the caterpillar; 'it's the beginning of life as we know it' said the butterfly."

The spouse received an Odd Lot Buyback solicitation for his old employer's stock. He is considering selling to apply $$ toward the car debt. I may liquidate a stock of a company I don't much like for the same reason, or to help spruce up the house.

Bonus Question: Did I miss a widget or scripting hack to prevent the Chinese F*M*L*-----.com spammer comments?

Yes, you guessed correctly: some scofflaw deadbeat applied for credit with a phone number that actually is mine. I have had the number for five - six years. The one time I answered a call from Oklahoma I asked how many years old the contact information the caller had was, and she said she'd remove the number from her records. Way to not answer my question.

Then a 800- number called, which from the Web I could trace to a debt collector. I haven't answered, because they've called when I had fewer than twelve minutes remaining on my cell phone. But tomorrow starts a new usage cycle, and when they call, I am gathering contact information. The company with the 800 number has a branch office in Oklahoma.

Then I will use the Debt Validation letter method, and send my letter registered with return receipt.

For now I am keeping a file, with a printout of my phone bill, and documenting times and dates and caller information, and bookmarking websites on small claims court procedures.

The last time I had to deal with this I had the Attorney General's office intervene. This time I have car payments to think of, and the information that this one debt collector has paid out in small claims courts before, and paid $121000 in telecommunications and Fair Debt Collection Practices Act violations.

I am thankful there are people other than my creditors who are willing to have me in their lives.

I am thankful that the former coworker who dismissed all of us female workers as stupid b*tches is incarcerated for a different, more horrible transgression. He has shown himself by his felonious acts and odious conduct to be a manic sociopath misogynist.

I am thankful for peppermint mochas that are easy to come by as I walk through the melting snow, my socks fallen down below my heels in my rainboots, and the effort of the library staffer to track down all the items on hold for me so my trek was maximally productive.

I am thankful for finding addresses I shamefully have been lax in entering in my address book. I would much rather have solutions and strategies for my disorder than excuses, believe.

I did not sleep well even with my new pumped up, fluffed up pillow. The barista thought he was doing me a favour sneaking an extra shot of espresso in my drink.

Referring to my cycle. I will not believe that only two tablespoons are released over a five-day period: it feels like 1/4 cup so far (entering third day). And yes I am taking iron.

A great respite for misery: orange flower water, powdered milk, and olive oil combined, heated gently, and tossed into the bath. Sweet!

Taking 10000 IU Vitamin D daily this week and the next! I may run out by tomorrow!

Meals planned:
Today: Veal Paprika and Beer Bread (it is miserable out and dark inside)
Tomorrow: Pot Roast with parsnips and brussels sprouts and probably potatoes too
Tuesday: leftover Pot Roast with ratatouille
Wednesday: Kidney Bean and Quinoa Chili
Thursday: salmon
Friday: Coca-Cola Chicken

The two-week flurry of hemorrhaging expenses may be over: I have written and mailed a cheque for $461.60 for six months of auto insurance for the new car; scheduled a $728 payment for the computer I bought last month for Dec. 28.

I was going to work on only what we had in the freezer and pantry for the next week, then thought "as long as I use leftovers of what we do have, and have some meatless entrees this week, I can consider myself economical."

Blessings for the day:
1. The Postal Office worker who let me escape a long line of people with parcels because she read my sign 'I WILL BUY YOUR 45 CENT STAMP' when I was eleventh in a queue of sixteen. She called me out of line, we exchanged cash for postage, and I had exact change as she requested.

2. 30% discount of car insurance premiums.

3. A child who is willing and able to assist in grocery shopping.

1. Made chocolate chip cookies, in part as an act of gratitude, but mostly because of past sugar and carb cravings.

2. The house did not burn down after SOMEONE left the SPACE HEATER UNATTENDED AND ON this morning downstairs.
I turned the heater off, because I am not interested in sky-high electricity bills, and not interested in seeing the house destroyed.

3. New "QI" episode today and being downloaded! Last week, the all-male panel and host made like they were going to show their cox to the audience before "technical difficulties" affected the broadcast. A Reverend is on this episode, so let us hope of no cox repeats. Prof. Brian Cox of course is a welcome exception.

What I am thankful for today:
1. My red jacket smells like someone accidentally poured Dr. Bronner's Rose soap on it and the fragrance has left me feeling more positive and loving today.

2. A short, productive shopping session at a consignment store for a decent blouse I can wear to my tot's winter concert, under $15. I received also a beautiful rose print paper bag for it as I forgot to bring a bag with me for shopping. I found lots of neat things in that shop and expect to be a regular there.

3. Reviewing the Report of Sale document I filled out Saturday night today and figuring out I need to return it to a licensing office pronto. Not only did I visit the office and take care of that important business, but I had exact change for the filing fee.

4. My insurance policy provider making it superbly easy for me to amend or update our policies online. I have eleven minutes on the phone for the next week so I am loath to dial anyone right now.

Something I am not happy with: water heater started leaking when I took my shower today. The water heater is nearly twelve years old, seems too young to start leaking.

My friends were slackjawed to learn yesterday that we drove our car off the lot before presenting the complete payment for the automobile. "I can't believe they let you pay just $8800 before taking it home," said a friend who bought from that very dealer.
Her remark made me wonder if maybe we should have gone to the credit union last week to officially apply for a loan.

"So how then do you buy cars when you haven't yet applied formally for a car loan, and you buy at a date or time when the dealer cannot directly and immediately contact your lender?" I did not ASK to take the vehicle home: I was fine with picking it up in a few days.

I figured we would apply for the loan formally at some point, after the inspection and insurance, and the credit union would mail payment to the dealer. We visited the credit union today to get the loan and experienced a delay due to the "new"/"not new" status of the car, where we saw a cheque drawn for the balance of the vehicle. We borrowed 25% of what we were approved to borrow, so we knew acceptance was a foregone conclusion. We were to bring the remaining payment to the dealer.

"New" - present year model of vehicle.
"Not new" - previous title, 9500 miles on car.

So today I did drive to the dealer to bring in the cheque and a thank-you note for not sending the cops or repo men after us. To be hilarious (they have BMWs, Audis, Mercedes and Lincolns in the showroom) I showed up in my furs. I am relieved we were not reminded by the credit union or the dealership in a "what is wrong with you you car thieves" kind of way.
I feel this car purchase has just begun to change our lives.

I may even call the insurer today to remove the old car from our policy. I have to fax the insurer some documents anyway. But we have eleven minutes left on our phone for the month (family health emergency, car sales, car purchase, regular phone call home for DH), so I will download, install and run Google Voice.

Feeling poor but not broke: I bought a luxury down pillow from Pacific Coast, it has an outlet ten miles south of us, for 15% off, plus getting shipping free for ordering today. I am not sleeping, and I think the limpness of the pillows may be contributing to that.

Menu for the Week
Baked Chicken, from Nourishing Traditions
Chicken Noodle Soup, La Fourchette Cookbook
Spaghetti Sauce from Nourishing Traditions served on buckwheat noodles
Gourmet Succotash, from Nourishing Traditions
Foiled Pot Roast Eat Better for Less Money, with leftovers served with ratatouille for a casserole, perhaps with a winter root medley.
Red Bean & Quinoa Chili, from Feeding the Whole Family

Gratitude List
1. Learning new ways to protect my privacy, identity and anonymity online. Considering the lengths US and Canadian politicians are going to to transform the Internet to be that less of an open, unrestricted space, finding and using these options will be key for me.
2. The Portlandia crossover with The Simpsons, so I can view through Homer and Marge's eyes how we must appear to my relatives. My extended family is not hip at all. My immediate family is "punk in the head" without external signifiers like neon hair, leather, metal, ripped clothes, or tattoos -- it is all inside. DH's family is brainy and quietly subversive so we are at least 67% normal in their eyes. The hipsterish Springfield is not that far-removed from Seattle, especially when Homer remarks about how it's cloudier and cooler. At that point we doubled over. We saw these clips online, as we do not own a television.
3. The credit union representative and the dealership associate did not blink or yell at me for showing up a week later with the remaining car payment.

Washed my hair with baking soda paste: did not even wet it first, just glopped it onto the scalp and started scrubbing. Then rinsed off in apple cider vinegar diluted with water. The hair is so soft: I had been using argan oil shampoo and conditioner regularly and the oil accumulates near the roots after several consecutive cleanings.

What I am grateful for or to:
1. A full stomach. I made beef stew, and DH made dumplings. Excellent combination on a wet December day (if you live above the 45th parallel north, that is).
2. New York Times weekend crosswords.
3. The boy helping to decorate the tree, and doing it properly.
4. B & O Espresso for not closing up when its lease expired, but for planning to move closer to where I live, and giving us 20% discount coupons for use in their new place in January.

I now act on a request for some bath recipes. Here are some recommended for cold days and for the panicky/stressed:

Hot Ginger Friction Rub
3 Tbsp. almond oil
2 Tbsp. witch hazel
1 cup water
1/2 oz. fresh or powdered ginger

Steep ginger in boiling water for 20 minutes. Mix 3 to 4 tablespoons of the ginger water with the oil and witch hazel and massage directly into wet skin while in the tub. Use a loofah, brush or coarse cloth to massage lotion in briskly. Remaining ginger water may be added to bath if desired.

Buttermilk Bath
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup orange flower water
2 tsp. almond oil

Combine ingredients, heat gently, and pour under fast-running bath water.

Jasmine Bubble Bath
1 Tbsp. mild liquid soap
2 tsp. oil of jasmine
2 tsp. witch hazel

Combine ingredients and add directly to fast-running bath water.

Whoopee!

So that tops my gratitude list today!
Adjunct gratitude: spouse sold under stated price but not ridiculously so -- would you believe people were asking for 45% under the posted price? I could have traded in for that. I have enough to pay for the computer I bought last month now.

What else: no waitlist for a popular barbershop in town, so boy had a good haircut. Prices have gone up though.

Also, grateful to have three books to pick up from the library today: NW by Zadie Smith; Telegraph Avenue by Michael Chabon; Dear Life by Alice Munro.

Bonus: Alaskan Sockeye for $7/lb for dinner. I am grateful for that too.

I missed yesterday as I undertook an act of folly to sell a vehicle far away. Never again. I don't care if I have to mark the old car down 20%, people can come to the car to check it out. I feel stupid.

I marked the car down below fair condition for Kelley Blue Book, and indicated the ignition lock and starter are both new, but the calls I am getting do not factor this.

1. Thanks be to Craigslist for directing immediate attention to the car for sale.

2. Thanks be to supermarket websites with functionality to post weekly ads online and allow virtual coupon clipping. Easier to organize and better for the environment.

3. Thanks be to the spouse for having a big thick sweater I can wear at home. It is cool today, and think I will shop for men's cable-knit pullovers.

4. Free synthetic oil change for new car tomorrow.

Having a tough time thinking up things today:

1. Grateful for comprehensive factory-produced user manuals for new car. I felt more than slow trying for five minutes to get the car to move before understanding a more complicated procedure of getting the vehicle out of park was required for when it was on an incline.

2. Grateful for auto dealer offering to pay for oil service due at time of our test drive and purchase.

3. Grateful to have sweaters and zip-up cardigans to wear when the weather is cold.

I had researched for eighteen months, planned even longer, for affording a vehicle. This Prius is $6500 above my comfort level, but we are likely to have it for twenty years. I took it to my favourite mechanic for inspection: it needs an oil change and that will cost double what I am used to paying.

I may have a vehicle worth $23K more than our old car, but I do not feel $23K happier. I feel poorer. I am trying to enjoy a gimlet so I can brave the call. My husband tried to jolly me through the purchase process: "You're always like this when we buy anything priced over $300." [True. It took me thirty-six months to buy Sure-Fit covers for our catclaw-frayed furniture.] I look at the car in the driveway and do not feel ownership: I feel that I am driving an elderly aunt's or step-parent's vehicle while they are away on holiday.

Today I vowed I would call our insurer to add a policy for our new purchase and I am too much in a caffeine crash to do it. Yet it is against the law to drive the vehicle uninsured. A serious conversation with my family is due. My kid still has a case of the "I want I want". The old heap needs to be sold. I need to get a job but my kid needs to be nagged into doing his homework. Consequences do not affect his tiny but still forming mind. Adjustments must be made all around.

Things I am grateful for:
1. Permission to do the sudoku on the cafe's newspaper. Other people worked on the crossword, someone does the word jumble regularly (I did it too, but I used my own piece of paper to work it out). Someone at this cafe was irked to come in one day, pick up the crossword, and find I had been at it. "Oh, SHE's been here," and walked away. That the irked customer resembled the one who killed four people at the cafe May 30 has not left my mind ever.

2. New Winston Breen book by Eric Berlin. Yes I read middle-school lit based on mysteries and puzzles: a lot of it is clever and well-written and I wish we had more writers like that in the adult fiction camp.

3. Group family hug I got when I said I had a case of the sads giving so much money to the downpayment and to vehicle insurance.

Update My husband called to arrange for insurance while I cleaned up the kitchen. I caught a word on the comments I had not used: "enjoy", as in "enjoy new purchase." I have not yet "enjoyed" the vehicle: I was oh-so-cautious driving it on the test drive, and too much of a mess to drive the Prius home, although my spouse did give me dibs, and still skittish taking the car out of the auto service place. I have never had a new vehicle with a market value this high, never had a car loan this high. I should add that I am a faultfree driver with a long, excellent history.

Sixteen years carry many automotive improvements and new features, and the Prius right now strikes me more as a personal hovercraft with its digital display, bells and whistles. The one feature I thought was really groovy was the km/h-mph converter button: perfect for the spouse when we go to Canada. Me, I do mph/kmh instantly: it is the fluid ounces and millilitres that mess me up. And the USB port for our music. Man I dig it the most!

1. DVDs for making boot media disks and system repair disks. Never too early to make backup materials for your data.

2. The miracle of music that can change mood, and the brain's memory storage that can recall that mood-changing music in times of distress and stress and general duress.

3. Antisepsis as a modern medical practice. Reading Candice Millard's Destiny of an Empire, I learned that doctors thought nothing of leaving pus, blood and dirt on their surgical coats, nor of probing with dirty fingers bullet wounds.

It is a 2012 Toyota Prius III. We bought it for $22000. Its MSRP was a little above $24K but as my good buddy bought her Camry Solara at the same lot earlier in the week we received a 9% discount. We are not the first owners but the vehicle has under 9500 miles. And the previous owner is local so no Frankenstorm Sandy rejects.

We arrived at the lot with an eye to purchasing the advertised 2010 Toyota Prius III with 24K miles as it was within our budgeted amount. This one, not so much in the budget but I can sell our current car for $800. We did not buy the 2010 Prius as it had already been sold: absolutely no bait and switch though. My spouse said that before I mentioned my friend bought her new car here we were offered $22K as the dealership specializes in European luxury vehicles and the discount is an incentive to move the vehicle out from the lot.

A Yelp review is pending: we had excellent service and I owe my friend a gas card or something nice in exchange for getting a good deal. She told us that the car dealer ship has salaried workers who are laidback, but one does not get to negotiate unless one owns the dealership.

My nerves are frayed right now from test-driving and shelling out for the car. I am going "gakgakgakgak" like the aliens in Tim Burton's film "Mars Attacks!"

Wha: Neighbour's dog passed away, I will guess of old age or natural causes. As she was no longer able to go inside her house at will, and wandered outside during normal sleep hours to whine, and whined when her owner momentarily disappeared from view, I guess she suffered from age-related deteriorating cognition. We had lived beside the dog for ten years and know she was well-behaved, so we put up with the whining during the day (but we made sure the owner woke up and suffered wakefulness along with us at night) in her last six months. She was an Irish setter who lived to be at least twelve, so a long and mostly happy life then. I really hope the neighbours do not get a puppy: their children are too young and they do not have the energy or time to properly raise and care for a baby animal. The owners did not even figure out that old animals have low tolerance for being out in the cold, as their bones hurt.

Meh: missed Safeway $0.30/gallon gas reward by forty cents, and today I still do not have everything I want/need for a good week of food.

Double-Meh: credit union's 2.34% auto loan promotion expired Friday. At best we can get 2.74% now, because we will borrow under $30,000. That affects how much car we can get. I need to get cracking and convince myself the $$$ in our account is for spending on a newer car as our vehicle needs to be retired.

Grateful for (yeahs):
1. Other places in the house I can go sleep when my spouse's noises wake me.
2. Having the bed to myself when the spouse figured he was not going to get back to sleep immediately after tending to the cats.
3. Having exact change when visiting the post office to mail cards yesterday.
4. Household being quiet until I woke up.

Wha/Meh: mortgage payment still has not posted. The money has been debited from our account that is for sure, but our balance is not updated.

Making homemade bath and scrub goodies for my debt group today.

Grateful for:
Canadian Living subscription gift from my stepmother.
first Christmas Card of the year, this time with a request for a visit, from my stepfather.
Online banking showing the ortgage payment posted today, at the deadline. Updated balance is not reflected.

Contrarian git that I am, I aim, though I am sure I will miss, for as many immaterial or cheap/simple things for gratefulness. I heard William DeVaughan's "

Be Thankful For What You Got" yesterday. I do not drive a great big Cadillac with gangsta white walls, but do I need one? I can still stand tall. Naturally I type this on the eve of splurging for a newer car but it will not have killer rims nor a sunroof, but stability and/or traction control.

Today I am grateful for:
1. Payday. So grateful to have $$ to throw at the credit card balance.

2. Trees. Japanese do something called shinrin-yoku, or "

forest bathing" for health: walk among trees. People suffering from depression have experienced a lift in cognition after a 50-minute walk in a forest. Mushrooms, salmon, big trees, coffee: all these in my environment to help alleviate the winter gloom. We have tall evergreens where I live, and for that I am glad.

3. The older gentleman at Cafe Racer who suggested "The Graduate" when the young barista asked us what film available from Netflix we should watch. I had seen "The Graduate" decades earlier but now that I am closer to Mrs. Robinson's age I see how very funny it is in its deadpan way.

Bonus grateful things: ability to edit blog posts. And that Cafe Racer is still around after that awful incident earlier this year.

1. Hot water for shower.
2. DH came with me to Costco for shopping. Costco waits 3-5 days before cashing cheques so we wrote one (we have under $100 in chequing). Found 75 oz tub of Nutiva Coconut oil for $22. Considering an 14 oz Nutiva coconut oil jar goes for $11 you bet I jumped on this!
3. Did not need to run out for impromptu meal of pork chops with cabbage (red) and apples.
4. Found my BECU thumb drive and mp3 player. Not bothering with iTunes on this PC.
5. wowitsawonderfullife's idea to make this a frequently occurring theme.
6. Good and timely Costco parking and shopping trip.

Lagniappe: Is it baking season? Here is a

unique film on how to make a cake, as demonstrated by children.

1. Car Service gave me $5 for a mocha (they have a coffee machine). I had asked for $5 to be added to my bill so I could get a mocha but that would muck up accounting.

2. My son received a half-dollar for sharing with the gold dealer a little-known fact of the Declaration of Independence signing.

3. I did not get drenched nor was hit by a car while walking on this grey gloomy day.

4. My expensive medications were paid for fully by my our Health Savings Account.

5. I was allowed to activate my new computer's copy of office 2010 after uninstalling it on my old PC by a call to Microsoft. I saw that I still had Office Ultimate 2007 on the old PC.

6. Bed Bath & Beyond honoured my $5 coupon postdated as I furnished a receipt.

Picked up NHL Slapshot at $40 discount, plus $0.50 for Target discount, plus free shipping. Between this and the Don Cherry book plus two Rock Em Sock Em Hockey DVD compilations (one of them free and unopened), my tot should manage through the lockout.
So far that is all the Cyber Monday shopping I can manage.

Am choosing to use Costco for the used auto purchase. Researching new car ideas thanks to the bounty of suggestions from using the site forum.

Not new. Not an HP nor a Dell. I bought a Lenovo ThinkPad Edge 530 at a local business, not a big box store national chain. The TouchPad seems more durable, and there is more storage and a number pad. I like that I was not talked down to, and nobody minded that I used the one floor model with web access to check CNET reviews and user reviews/complaints. They could not ignore me because three people were on shift and my family were the only customers in for awhile.

I have backed up my documents, videos, songs, executables on the Studio 1537 to an external drive.
I will not use or start the Lenovo until everything has been backed up.

The outdoor plants think it is spring. Some muscari corms have green shoots, including some in a bucket. One rose bush has leaf buds. The rhododendrons bloomed again in September after a June prune. I know I am supposed to be mortally terrorized by climate change and greenhouse gases, and my heart did go out to the people on the East Coast who survived an unprecedented storm.

We did have a very wet day on November 19, with reports of flooding in an area one mile away from us. Nothing to warrant FEMA's attention though, and we are glad to live on a hill. I think I will put that in my list of requirements when I move: be on a hill away from floods. However, I walked without jacket or gloves today outside in the sun, and love that I could do that.

I have seen some good easy advice: keep separate accounts for your goals. I have my monies in various accounts, all presumably for the "OMG the credit union is gonna rescind our HELOC WTF lulz!" moment, which came only to people who banked with Washington Mutual and now with JP Morgan Chase, and even then I know only of incidents of reduction of HELOC limits, not outright rescission.


Some of us recognize the internal pressure and amplified yen that propel us to make a purchase. I fight with my mouse, my USB ports are broken or finicky. I may blow up to $500 on a refurbished business-class laptop.

We have not seriously shopped for a vehicle yet. We have been buying silver and paying bills and shopping for presents. My spouse wants a certain kind of car and now admits he likes the style of it, All my long-distance presents except for one CD to New York have been mailed. My friend is Jewish and it's domestic so I think any time between now and December 24 should be okay for her. I may owe her a $10 Amazon gift certificate, the prize for our private dead pools.
My stamp/coin/currency dealer has expressed interest in dead pools. I can tell you that after this morning I feel better about my position in the one I participate in with mjrube, baselle and others.

Thanks to our credit union. I feel some tension release: I am very pessimistic about our finances and about my life in general. I shan't share the maximum amount we were approved for, only that I am convinced we can get a car we can afford and live with, and that the process took twenty-two minutes instead of thirteen because our member services consultant needed assistance getting the loan docs filled out. We even got a free calendar.

Spending Turkey Day in Vancouver BC, but having turkey nonetheless as a Canadian restaurant is acknowledging the holiday down south. I hope to buy some CDs and maybe some silver.

My Dell 1537 will be replaced within a month too, I believe. The USB ports are damaged and very sensitive. I did not like that Dell's website balks at the idea of sending me, after I submitted my Service Tag info, to Windows 7 display drivers (because I AM running Win 7, 64-bit) and instead rests me at Windows Vista, which I do not have.

We splurged today at a candy store, where we found some longlost childhood favourites like Fruit Stripe (used to be Lucky Stripe, after the cigarette brand Lucky Strike) gum and Oh Henry! bars, and coconut curry cashews.

Oh yes, spammers can go die of septic shock while being tenderized by an auger at high speeds.

I did not meet my 2011 debt repayment goal either. I could say I feel defeated but what is the point.

I was to put the house up for sale or reduce HELOC to $13060 by June 6. Or buying a car when Precious Metals ($12989 today) and Money Market Account ($12653.36) are worth at least twice of HELOC ($12637.97). No new car yet, although the credit union has lowered its APR to 2.34% should we buy a late-model vehicle.

Most of the Christmas/holiday gifts I was to send in 2012 have been mailed. Thinking of sending our leftover tanning lotion to my brother in Abu Dhabi.

I do owe less than I did last year, and for those without Ghostery, Do Not Track Plus or AdBlock Plus you can see that most of my planned acquisitions have been covered.

My son lost The North Face three-way insulated jacket I bought him for his three-day stay in the Olympic National Forest, before he was to go. Why do we bother spending $$$ on him?

After a jaunt to Vancouver, purchases of new sheets for the bed, vacuum cleaner and handheld blender and SureFit slipcovers for our shredded (we have cats) upholstery, the credit card account approaches $1000. I did go to the Veterans Day evening sale at Sears, paid $249.99 plus tax for the Kenmore 21614, getting a Cuisinart handheld blender as well for about 11% of that.

Why the splurges? We had delayed the slipcover purchases for years, and the vacuum cleaner hose, with its silver-tape patches, showed its age and would cost close to $100 to replace. The handheld blender is useful for whipping cream, blending soups and salad dressings, all of which I do with bulkier appliances.

I regret nothing! Except my clutter, and attention deficit, and taking way too long to get back to people, and bothering to make golden orange cupcakes which were good but barely touched by my book group.

The school Fall Family Feast was cancelled due to low interest. Colour me surprised: the insinuation that junk food would be an essential part of feast food in other countries' harvest celebrations was insulting. This from a school whose country propelled Paula Deen and Guy Fieri to television stardom.

and tomorrow I go to Sears and spring for a new vacuum cleaner. Let us hope it sucks hard. I did my research and we arrived the day before a sale, so we saw the model in stock.

A mutual follower on Twitter had a Donald Duck-style rage on Tuesday night. For her, I vow to save at least $3.32 a day or at least pay my debt down by $3.32 a day. Fortunately for me my mortgage will count in that $3.32.

Looking at tax changes for 2013 I think I will go get some advanced or intermediate data processing skills and a wardrobe and head out for jobs.

It is 3:55 pm on a damp, breezy Sunday. We have just returned from Safeway supermarket with four bags and $53 worth of groceries, and nine more gallons of motor fuel at $3.42 US per gallon. I saved $20 and earned a 30 cent per gallon reduction. I need not buy anything other than fresh fruits and dairy for over three weeks.

The kid won even more money at scratch tickets. I feel dirty signing my name on the back of the winning tickets and bringing his cash home, like running to the store to buy cigarettes for the stepgrandmother, and I feel mild shame seeing him punch selections on the lotto vending machine. As long as he wins money and follows our rules and has a limit mild shame and dirt are what I put up with. His fourth grade teacher won $1000 at the supermarket from scratch tickets, so telling him nobody ever wins at those is futile.

We will need to replace our vacuum cleaner soon. I have been to Consumer Reports to identify an economical Consumer Reports Best Buy canister vacuum cleaner that works well on pet hair and wood floors.

I have not posted my weekly menus for awhile, and will not do so this week either -- the boys are out for half the week, and I may either attempt to invite people to my house for dinner, the economical option, or enjoy the $30 for three entrees November promotion with people. I like shellfish, Polish/Hungarian food, English food, Japanese food and Italian food. This week I crave chicken and waffles.

The anxiety gripping two of my acquaintances along with me is the recognition we will need to buy replacement vehicles very soon, before the DE/MD/PA/NY/NJ waterlogged vehicles make their way westward as Katrina vehicles did seven years earlier. One has less than a month, I don't know how much time we have but would like a newer car before December 31. None of us has the money outright to purchase our desired vehicle. I may try asking DH if he can broker a 36-48 month loan at 2.25% APY from his mom and dad. It'd be more profitable than a CD for them, and we would not have a credit hit before we sell the house and buy somewhere else. Otherwise, I will have him apply for a loan through the credit union.

Off-topic: my kid's school is hosting a Fall Family Feast for fourth and fifth grade children, staff and families. We are invited to bring family feast favourite (read "ethnic") foods, but the notice in the takehome bulletin contains the text "We are looking for healthy food, no 'junk food,' and I do not know what they mean by 'junk food'. My spouse says "They mean no 'Twinkies' or 'Zingers'," but I think "who brings boxed Hostess-brand foods to a traditional family holiday feast"? I will have my kid bring Yorkshire pudding, I don't know who among the organizers has the final say on what constitutes 'junk food'. Yorkshire puddings are ethnic (not in Canada but apparently the mixes are in the 'international foods' aisle at our US supermarket), portable, require no reheating, and are guaranteed to be eaten by the kid if there are any leftovers. Not all that healthy, but no sugar or high fructose corn syrup or peanuts, and yes we did have them at family feasts.

I generally ignore most food guidelines set by the school, the sole guideline I pay absolute attention to is not bringing anything with peanuts. I always print out an ingredients list with the label of the food I bring and check for food allergies or diabetes among the guests before I prepare and bring items and think that is enough. Offering food under any circumstances gives me anxiety: I am proud of what I make, I know it is delicious, but there are always leftovers UNLESS the food has frightening amounts of sugar, like maple syrup pie or butter tarts. The worst was when we went to British Columbia to a relation's for Thanksgiving, I asked what to bring, she said and I quote "salad" so we went to Granville Island in Vancouver for organic greens, and made salad dressing in our car with some oil and vinegar and herbs we bought from a supermarket, and the BC guests who are fellow relatives did not touch it because the salad had green, leafy ingredients...

My kid paid his dad to go buy some scratch tickets and he won money, a 66% profit. Our rule now is for every $2 frittered on lottery tickets, $25 goes into medium-long term investments, applicable to everyone. DH and I are to collect a 20% broker fee too.

Silver and gold prices sank, along with many equities. I will probably buy some next week. On October 31, my son dressed as a Knight of the Round Table, we walked to the local coin shop where my dear lad asked for the Holy Grail. One proprietor went into the back and got one for him. "Used, but still holy," he said. Of course other trick-or-treating happened too, then we went to a Secret Sprocket Society screening of Pre-Code horror and cartoons.

I am on track to pay 10% less in interest on the Home Equity Line of Credit by the end of the year. And as long as Lindsay Lohan doesn't freebase with Dick Cheney over the holiday season or in a murder-suicide bid I am likely to get some money from one of the dead pools.

Saved $210.74 with coupons for local retailers from November 2011 to October 2012.

For those who would shoplift from supermarkets, do carry a list and dress professionally, foregoing deep-pocket dusters and cargo pants. Do not be obtrusive.