Happy Halloween!

Do you know what I asked myself several times this afternoon while taking a streetcar across the city? It was this: Costume or real clothes? Because it's not always apparent who is costume and who isn't on the 31st of October in Toronto. For example, funky patterned tights with striped leg warmers and silver sneakers. Most likely real clothes. Shiny spandex leggings and very large, backcombed hair. Probably real, but you never know. Full 70s basketball uniform. Costume. I hope.

We just got home from hanging out with our friends and their two kids. At one point it was just me and her three and a half year old son on the porch, waiting for more kids. He was still wearing his adorable blue alien costume (Stitch from Lilo and Stitch) but was completely tuckered out and sitting on my lap. I asked him if he had a good time trick or treating.

Stitch: Ya. But not the haunted house. I didn't like the haunted house.
Me: You'll like it more when you're older.
Stitch: I think I'll like it when I'm 14 years old.
Me: Really? Not when you're 13 years old?
Stitch: Nope. And when I'm a million years old I can touch the whole sky.



!!! Isn't that profound! (Or have I just had too much candy?)

Total debt: $2731 and a bit (No new number. The trickling money is even slower than I thought it would be.)
Spent today: $0 (Lots of free pizza and candy. Now I'm taking my tummy ache to bed!)

You gotta have friends!

Can I just say, all of you are SO helpful! You're so full of great advice every time I ask for help. And one of you went above and beyond for me this week!

It's regarding my recent need for ski wear. A loyal reader and a lovely friend (Hi!) sent me a note to tell me that Costco sells a ski outfit every year for a really reasonable price. And then she offered to go and pick one up for me! "Don't worry if you need a different size or don't like it," she told me. "I can always bring it back or exchange it for you."

Seriously!

So she brought me the suit today. (I work with this lovely reader/friend, although sadly not quite as closely as I used to...) It's awesome! The medium is a teeny bit tight on my hips, but the jacket has one of the those two-way zippers, so I can just undo it from the bottom a wee bit and voila! She picked a gorgeous colour combo too -chocolate brown with light blue and white accents. Very chic. (The DP said he really like the colour...and then told me I looked like a big poo. What's wrong with boys?)

The best part is her incredible timing - tomorrow is the last day that I can return the Columbia jacket to Winners for a full refund. Ta dah!

Wait, no the best part is that the jacket I'm returning was $135 with tax and the ENTIRE SUIT was $94 with tax. SCORE!

I'm so happy and so grateful. This is my very public THANK YOU!

(And, just so you guys understand the full extent of her generosity, she also found men's ski pants on sale for $24.99 and has offered to pick a pair up for Jamie! I'm so lucky.)

Perhaps it was the knowledge of this great deal that lead me to Joe Fresh at lunch... where I purchased a pair of $6 glove and a $29 sweater. (Very cute raspberry coloured cardigan that will be a great layering piece all winter! she says defensively.) Alas, I'm a little over for my week, but a bit of the long-awaited money will trickle in tomorrow, so I promise there will be a new number for y'all.

Total debt: $2731
Spent today: $50-ish
Weekly total: $148.66 (Whoa!)

My lid needs to be flipped. Or something!

Once again I find myself in a hairdo dilemma. The latest cut by a mid-range stylist, which was done back in August, just isn't growing out nicely. It's not awful, but neither is it good. There's something wonky about the way she blended the left side of it, so it never sits as well as the right side.

Plus it's getting boring again.

So I called to find out if my original (read: expensive) stylist is back to work yet. The poor woman, who is actually a couple years younger than me, hurt her back earlier this year. The bad news is that she's STILL out and will be out the rest of the year. (Obviously I realize that this is doubly - or even triply - bad for her. But let's focus on me, since this is my blog.)

What to do? I'm very ready to shell out some dough for a haircut that looks good longer than three weeks, but who can be trusted?

I think I might try a salon that's a little edgy - all the better to banish boring hair - and that a few of my friends have been to in the past...

The date is set for next Friday. Stay tuned!

Total debt: $2731 and a bit (I'm so booooorrrreed of this number!)
Spent today: $6-ish

Have I purged too much?

I have often prided myself on my ability to purge stuff from my life. My nomadic upbringing taught me the benefit of never having too many things. (Although I'm still annoyed that my Barbies bit the dust before my 10th birthday. We were changing continents, though, so traveling light was a priority.) But isn't pride one of the seven deadly sins? If so, that would explain why my superior purging abilities are coming back to bite me in the ass.

Namely, I need a skirt for my choir performances. A plain black ankle-length skirt. A skirt that I owned for many years. A really nice one, too! Until plain black ankle-length skirts went out of style and I donated it. That was several years ago. And now I need a new one.

A couple of women in the choir regaled me with tales of how they had made their plain black ankle-length skirts. Just a bit of fabric, some elastic for the waist and a few seams through the sewing machine. I smiled and nodded, unsure of how to explain that I not only don't own a sewing machine, but that I'd have nary an idea of how to turn it on if I did.

*Aside* During an enlightening visit to Canadian Tire with my mom while she was here, she tried to convince me that I needed to buy several things that I don't actually need, including an entire set of pots that were on sale, despite the fact that the DP and I have two sets between us. One of those things was a sewing machine, which seems like a pretty big piece of equipment for a two-bedroom apartment, particularly when no one in the apartment knows how to use it. *Aside over*

Sure, I took home economics in junior high and we did have a sewing segment. But after I broke THREE of the machines, they made me sew all my stuff by hand. So I forged ahead in life and never looked back.

I'd really like to sew. And I was considering taking a beginner sewing course this fall, until I realized I'm busier than I thought. But I can't sew. And so I need to buy a plain black ankle-length skirt.

Any ideas where I can find one?

Total debt: $2731 and a bit (That's right. The money in the mail remains elusive.)
Spent today: $5.23 (Afternoon treat.)

Baring my bank account, but not my belly

I'm trying to determine whether I hate or admire this girl at my gym. See, lately I've been going to the gym near work during my lunch hour a couple times a week, to get in my strength training. It's a good break from my day and I don't get overly sweaty, which I would if I was doing cardio. Anyway, I keep overlapping with this one girl who does an ENTIRE HALF HOUR of ab work. Seriously. I timed her today, because I suspected it was about a half hour, and I was totally right. And it's not just basic crunches, but all these crazy ab exercises with weight plates and various other accessories.

My first instinct was to hate her. Wait - hate is a pretty strong word. I guess I was just annoyed by her more than anything. Particularly because the ab portion of my weight training is a little lacking of late. I know core strength is important for your back and blah, blah, blah, but I've just become lazy about it the last year or so. The only person that sees my tummy is the DP. And when ab-baring fashion comes back around again, I'm fairly certain that I will be past the age of having to comply with the trend. (Much like leggings this time around.)

But while I was busy being annoyed by this woman, I suddenly realized I was more annoyed by myself. Annoyed that I don't have the same single-minded focus that she does. When it comes to the rest of my strength-training I can easily push myself as far as I can go, but I give up when it comes to my belly.

That led me to think about money. (Not such a stretch. A LOT of things lead me to think about money.) And about a conversation I had with an acquaintance today about the $300 shoes she bought. Now I have NO idea what this woman's financial situation is. She could be completely comfortable, have no debt, and have an entire fund for shoes set aside. But I suddenly realized that I do have a pretty single-minded focus on something - on paying off my debt and paving the way for a prosperous life void of useless debt. (The kind I would inevitably incur if I thought $300 for shoes was an decent price.)

So it turns out that the ab-tastic woman in the gym and I have more in common than I thought. And now I admire her and will silently cheer her on through every core marathon. Just like all of you cheer me on, even when I wimp out and purchase frivolously.

I just don't ever want to run into ab-girl at the beach...

Total debt: $2731 and a bit (The money in the mail continues to be elusive. I can only hope to be showered with cheques all at once in the very near future.)
Spent today: $1.23 (Post-workout chocolate milk)

There's good news...and bad news...

The Yorkdale mission was, I'm happy to say, a complete success! Meaning that nary a cent was spent (by me) while in the mall. I just enjoyed doing a bit of browsing, seeing the new Crate & Barrel, helping the DP buy a couple of new shirts, and appreciating how much they've improved their bathrooms in the past few years. (As someone who pees before she leaves home and then again as soon as she arrives somewhere, and then again about every hour after that, I really appreciate good facilities.)

The DP and I were marveling at home much the mall has changed over the years. I lived only one subway stop away for 7 years, so I used to hang out there quite a bit, and he said it was his respite from York during his university years. It was always big, but now it's a behemoth and sort of fancy. There are certainly plenty of upscale stores that I can hardly even afford to browse through.

I experienced plenty of want. In fact, I didn't even contemplate going into Jacob, because I was in there the other day and saw at least a half a dozen things I not only wanted, but also believed that I needed. Funny thing is, my life is still ticking along fine even without them.

This was one of my many wants in C&B:

I'm not in love with this pattern, but I really enjoy the shape of the chair. And the ottoman. I adore an ottoman.

Anyway, the bad news part of this blog is that I did spend money today. I broke down and bought Japanese food for dinner, since the DP was on his way out to have fun without me and I couldn't bear the thought of the cooking and then the cleaning and blah, blah, blah. So I got my favourite: Combo #1. It comes with miso soup, a few California rolls, chicken teriayki with rice, shrimp and veggie tempura, and an orange. It was mostly yummy, although the chicken in the teriayki was overcooked to the point of being inedible. That's extra sad, because normally I would just take a bite or two of that dish and then save the rest of it for lunch tomorrow, because, hello, combo #1 is SO much food!

So, I can't deliver the zero I promised, but at least I didn't come home with a new chair. It all evens out in the end!

Total debt: $2731 and a bit (Could there be money in the mail this week!?)
Spent today: $12.42

Preemptive blogging

Okay, this is just a quick blog post to alert you all the I am going to Yorkdale with the DP and I am NOT BUYING ANYTHING! Truly and sincerely. My credit card is staying in my sock drawer. As much as I want to indulge my desire to make purchases (and reward myself for filing three - count 'em, three - freelance stories this morning), I am going to stay true to all of and to the mission at hand.

There will still be a zero at the end of this blog later!

Total debt: $2731 and a bit
Spent today: $0 (thus far)