So, technically not related to my budget at all ... but my brother is back in California after his tour in Iraq. YAY! This is really spectacular news.

He'll be in Florida with us in May for three weeks. My mom is thrilled, though agonizing over what to get him for Christmas ... but all that matters is he is home safe and sound.

Now to get Juliette to react positively to him ... she's been extremely anti-boy for the past couple of months now, and I don't want her to be negative to Will. I think it will crush him.

Sometimes it's hard for me to stay focused on my initial goal ... to get out of debt. It's easy to get in a mindframe of "Hey, I want to save up money to buy a nicer car." How easily one forgets that said mindset is the exact same way someone got in this place to begin with.

I've been really stressed about the move lately, mainly b/c my roomies are complete slobs and haven't done a THING to clean up ... but hey .. I shouldn't be surprised. However, they are moving SATURDAY! so lots of cleaning onmy end will take place once all of their junk is out of my way. I have to keep reminding myself of Saturday, or I might go crazy. Seriously.

Speaking of the move, I have almost al of our things sorted through, almost all of the laundry is done ... now I just have to actually put things in boxes. YAY! I feel accomplished.

Another thing I have to keep in perspective is tips. Lately, I have been bummed about the money, b/c it's just honestly not what it used to be. However, not only do I have to remember that the economy is down (way down in some aspects) but that I'm honestly not working as crazy ass of a schedule as I have in the past. I used to work 8am-4pm on Sundays and walk out with $130 ... lately I've been pulling 9am-2pm, and making $100. While the numbers aren't the same ...that's still GREAT money. It's just easy to get discouraged when I look at last years number and see the difference. I could go back to te crazy hours ... but I don't know if I want to.

On a good note ... I only used 3/4 of a tank this week. AWESOME! And techinically, that was over an eight day period ... so that's really really good in my book. I put $30 in my tank today, and I am going to try to stretch it for the next week and a half. I don't want to fill up until NEXT Wednesday. Fingers crossed!

I got a call from my friend Margaret tonight "Amanda, will you come watch Odin for a little bit so we can go see the new baby?" Margaret's sister-in-law delivered a very healthy 9lb 4oz little boy today ... so of course I didn't mind.

Until they were gone for four hours.

I love my friends, but at least warn me that you're going to be gone to nearly 9pm so I can feed my daughter something before we come over. I picked Juliette up straight from school so they could head over there.

So Julie had three(ish) bowls of Kix cereal (momma helped). They had "Handy Manny" on them, so she was all about this cereal. And three pieces of cheese. YUCK! Whatever, she's so small for her age, I think she needs the extra calories. I had to run to walmart for a couple of things after watching him, and she did pretty well, since it was nearly 10pm. I never like being "that parent" with the screaming kid in the store past their bedtime ... but after having the "talk" with her (Juliette, stop it or we go to the bathroom for a spanking sort of talk) she was pretty well behaved.

Except for in the bathroom (but we were there for a potty break, not corporal puishment ... yay!) when she decided to start talking back AND talking under her breath. Who replaced my sweet toddler with a teenager?!?!! We've been using soap when she spits at me, talks back or lies ... these are pretty big deals in my book ... but obviously you can't use soap on a toddler 80 times in a day. It starts to loose the effect. I can now pick up the soap bottle, and she's changing her tune ... I didn't believe my mom when she told me that your children have to fear you. So, in the bathroom ... I get as close to on her level as I can ... and threaten with tabasco.

Just so we're clear ... I don't like a lot of pepper on my food. If I did have to follow through and use tabasco, I'd have to go out and buy a bottle of it. By the time I actually got to the store and back ... I'm pretty sure she would have completely forgotten her offense. Needless to say, I'm blowing smoke up her butt, and praying she doesn't realize it. I'm pretty sure that she's never even seen tabasco ... let alone knows that it's spicy ... but I really need to nip the talking back/spitting thing in the bud .. as in yesterday. Let me tell you, I've never seen a child snap back into place so quick in all my days. It was like instant *wham!* momma's serious, and I think she might kill me sort of straightening up. LOL. Sweet, the threat is still enough.

As we're washing our hands, a woman leans over and says "I used vinegar on my kid's when they talked back or spit." Instant light bulb over my head, since I do always have vinegar in the house. I love the crazy mom advice that I get from strangers in bathrooms too ... it's really pretty creepy the way people will open up to you in a public place like that. It's kinda like "Been there, done that ...here's how I survived!"

Oh, and the expenses from the new baby came after we left walmart and Julie saw the Sonic across the way "Momma, can we eat there ... I'm really really hungry." (You can reread the beginning to realize why I thought ths was a pretty hilarious statement.) But, since I had starved my child that evening ... I let her go to Sonic's for a cheeseburger and a milkshake ... she drank like three sips and ate a bite of her cheeseburger and was out like a light.

I love my child ... but I'm glad I got the stubborn one first! Before children I wanted 5 kids! What was I thinking?!?!

This week, I was about $10 in cash too short for daycare. I really didn't want to "dip" into my checking account money or anything in savings ... I like to pay for daycare in cash that I put into envelopes. It doesn't make a lot of sense typing that out ... but the system works for me.

I decided to go cash in some change that I had laying around, keep the $10 in cash I needed and deposit the rest as a sort of "bonus".

Imagine my surprise when I was cleaning out my aprons from work and came across $80 in cash! LOL. Last week was pretty hectic going back and forth between my parents and my place (they were out of town) so somehow I threw an apron in the back of my car and didn't grab out the cash to put the money away. This is so NOT like me at all ... I'm very anal about my money, and deposit it as soon as I make it so I don't spend it.

OOPS!

So, instead, I made a nice addition to the challenge ... $50 in change (YAY!) and a $60 paycheck. So, $110 total ... the $70 went into the envelopes like it should have ... sometime last week.

$20 challange - $253.00
newest addition +110.00
-----------------------
$363.00

BTW, I am starting my $20 challenge again ... I haven't added any money to it since Jan ... how easily I get off track with things is a bit frightening.

So ... I've been trying to clean the entire townhouse, pack and well, you know ... do the normal things I usually do. My roomies haven't put in any sort of hint of effort ... and that's fine ... whatever. I really need/want my deposit back, so I guess I'll have to do all of the work. Which is why I am terrified about living with friends again ... but my friends are going to own the house, and I've told them if they act like this I will move in a heartbeat (I've been promised about a million times that nothing like this will happen, fingers crossed!)

So, my quick cleaning tip. Mr. Clean Magic Erasers are pretty freaking needed if you have a dear little toddler who sometimes let's her paint splash on the walls. I put a dab of hand soap on the eraser ... and *poof* like magic, it was gone. I thought I was going to have to repaint her entire little area ... b/c she gets a little carried away. Nope, it's all gone! YAY! She's also got expo marker on the front door tonight (she was holding it in her hand ang trying to close it after me.) I panicked, tried a couple of different things and then tried the eraser ... Wow, it worked. Right off, barely any scrubbing involved.

Needless to say, I'm sold. It's also worked really well with "Kaboom" at getting our kitchen tile clean ... triple yay! The grout was getting a little, icky, and no amount of mopping was getting it back (what's up with that!) ... eraser and kaboom ... it's almost perfecty white again.

I never in a million years thought I would be this excited about cleaning products ... sigh.

Sigh.

Two nights ago, Juliette was sitting in my lap and we were watching tv. On the show, two little friends were fighting, but they made up and hugged. Aww! Until my daughter decided that it would be the best time to hug me ... and smacked me so hard she broke my nose. LOL ... ouch! And this is the second time she's broken my nose, one time it was as a tiny little thing ... maybe right at a year when she head butted me ... on accident again.

The swelling is going down ... and the pain isn't as bad ... but ouch! The thought of them rebreaking my nose sounds pretty ... well, not in the work ... so I'm just dealing with it. I didn't do anything about it the first time (no reason to according to the doctor) and now my nose is just starting to get some "character."

And can I just say that I remember the pain from Julie breaking my nose so much more than the pain from her birth. What's up with that?!?!

Last week was a windfall of unpleasant news. Luckily, things are quickly turning around.

1. And this makes me the happiest! My brother wrote to me on myspace that he'll be home in May. We thought he was coming home from Iraq in April, but maybe he means he'll be in Florida in May? Who knows ... just great news, b/c we don't really hear from him all that much.

2. Julie's dad called me today to tell me he's going to give me $220 on his next paycheck. I REALLY have my fingers crossed that this actually happens, but he's the one who brought it up, so maybe, just maybe, he means this.

3. My bestfriends are married and have a son together. Well, with the help of his familly, they are buying a house. I was talking about renting an apartment, and they asked me to move in with them. It's a 4bd/3ba house, so Julie and I will have our own space. It's got a HUGE fenced in backyard, and a patio ... everything Margaret and I were talking about "wanting". They offered to let me just pay utilities and just save up as much money as I could. I told them it was something I could very much do for a couple of months, and then I would have a lot of money saved to move into a nice(er) apartment than the low-income one I was looking at.

Well, Patrick *one of my closest friends, I've known him since I was 16* said "Why don't you stay with us for a year or two? Then you could save up enough money for a downpayment on your own house and everything would be easier for all of us."

SOOO, I think this is what I am going to do. We had a very serious discussion that if at anytime any of us are about to murder the others, instead of loosing the friendship, Julie and I will move. We all seriously doubt this will happen, but after the year I have had with my roomies, I don't want to loose anymore friends. Julie and I are at their house nearly three nights a week for dinner anyways, which I know isn't the same ... but I think it will save us all on gas to just live together. LOL.


So ... fingers crossed that everything good actually works out! There's a lot of bad on this end as well, so triple fingers crossed that everything works out on that end as well.

I don't know what else to call him anymore. Scum bag is a pretty accurate term. Sperm donor is pretty mean, but the truth for the most part.

Back in Feb. I met this amazing guy who I began seeing. Amazing guy is well, more than a few years older than me, but we have lots in common. I was complaining to him one night about Juliette's father, how I wanted to go into his job and make a scene. Well, how I honestly wanted to castrate him, but that seemed to be going a bit too far. Jeremy looked at me and said "Why don't you?" I was assuming he was talking about going into his workplace and talking to him, not the later. I realized at that moment I was dragging my feet, being scared of the unknown ... which isn't fair to either my daughter or I.

So, we went to his place of work for dinner one night. I was positvely shaking, so nervous I could barely eat. He came over and said "Hey ... I wish you guys would have told me you were coming." I swear, he actually said that. I looked at him and said ... "Weeeellll, considering I don't have your phone number or address, that's a little hard." He apologized, got my new number and promised to call me.

And he actually did.

Over the course of the next month or so, we've talked a couple of times, but he hasn't offered to come and see her. He's talked to her a couple of times on the phone, but ... even though we live about five minutes apart, hasn't taken it further than that yet. Juliette, once she saw him at the pizza place, hasn't asked to see her daddy anymore. She was getting to the point where she was crying for him, which broke my freakin heart.

During one of the phone calls, James offered to pay me $110 a paycheck to help with her. He's supposed to start after his first paycheck in April ... so, maybe this week sometime? We're currently waiting for a court date on child support, so this is pretty awesome news in my mind. I know not to count my chickens and all, but I am really hoping he's "seen the light" and wants to help out. He has never given any money for her, and when he was around at the beginning, his contributions were a case or two of diapers and some formula. I'll be so freakin thrilled if he actually starts helping.

So, a tiny update ... maybe we'll have lots more to update on by the end of the year. Fingers crossed!

My darling daughter is really a ball full of energy. I love her to pieces, but I can some stories that would make anyone question if they really ever wanted to have children.

Last night, she decided to try to jump off the couch. I was cooking dinner, and after repeated "No's!" I watched her fly through the air ... and right onto the laundry basket. CRACK!

She got up and came running into the kitchen.

"Momma, I think I broke your basket."
"Julie, I know you broke my basket, are you ok?"
"Yeah, I'm good. I wanna try that again!"

Sigh ... maybe there's hope for her in clown college or something.

But, I am proud to say that I went to Target for a new landry basket and walked out with ONLY a new laundry basket. I really think that's a first for me. I didn't even stop at the Starbucks. LOL.

A coworker of mine has one of her daughters enrolled in the local headstart program, and I was practically begging her for some infomation on it. Julie's father has offered to help me pay part of the daycare cost, even though we don't have a court ordered child support enforcement in place, but he wants to pay me around $220 a month and daycare is $540. While his money will help me BIG time ... with the move and everything, I am still looking to be a bit short.

Most of you know I am a server, and I am really honestly, pretty scared about what's going to happen with my line of work if the economy starts tripping. If things are already getting tight over here, I don't think I can make the belt any tighter.

Well, I got a call from my coworker tonight. She has the application and everything I need to turn in. AND, if I get the application in by April 10th, I will be put on the waiting list for the June enrollment. Supposedly from what she was telling me, the program runs 5 days a week at a local elementary school from 7:30am-5:30 pm. It is closed Christmas break, Spring break, and according to my coworker for only 2 weeks out of the summer. It's a free program, which would help soooo much! I also already have an agreement with my friend that she will watch Juliette during the off weeks for $75. I can handle $75 a week!

So, keeping my fingers crossed that I actually am considered to make a low enough wage for this bit of government aid. So far, I've pretty much been laughed at when I apply for anything. I don't make a lot, but I guess I make more than most?!?! I don't know. I also hope that Julie's father actually starts sending me some money every month. Hey, she's only three ... I mean, better late than never, right?

I am on of those people who pretty much over analyze everything. I hate that I do that, but it's pretty hillarious to watch what I do and don't spend money on, where I "hide" it from myself. Things of that nature.

In an effort to keep myself strictly under budget this month, I'm gonna track things here. They won't be the most interesting updates, but damn, I might know how many times I find myself at Starbucks for some coffee (or McDonalds, let me just say I am in love with their caramel iced coffee.)

Income for this month:
April 1st - $0

Money spent:
April 1st - $20 at Target. (This included some new socks and an outfit for Juliette). $135 for daycare for the week.

Dinners made -
April 1st - Tonight will be spinach and mushroom pizza, homemade. Today I also was good and ate both breakfast and lunch at home.

Chalenge money -
April 1st -$0

Last night's dinner was amazing. I've made it before, but this time it came out so much better. I fixed Juliette ravioli for dinner b/c it's her favorite thing and I knew there was no way in heck I was going to get her to eat the chicken. I knew she thought it would look "weird" and well, I wanted to enjoy my dinner.

Sure enough, as I sat down a few hours later with my plate of food, she looked at me and said
"What's that?"
"Chicken, potatoes, and squash."
"Oh, I don't think I like chicken."

Riiiiiight. No, you like chicken, you silly ridiculous picky eater. You eat chicken nuggets like they are going out of style. Then, she pointed at the squash.

"Ewww, what's that?"
"Don't say "Eeewww" about peoples food, it's rude. And it's squash. It's good. It's a vegetable."
"Oh, I don't eat vegetables."

I would worry about her lack of weight gain, if she ddn't eat more than I did!

With the extra chicken, I pulled as much off from the bones as I could, and probaby sometime later this week we'll have chicken noodle soup. The last time I made chicken noodle soup, I add celery too it and got "scolded" for it.

"But, moooom, I don't like green beans!"
"It's not green beans Juliette, it's celery."
"What's celery?"
"It's a vegetable, it's really yummy. Try it."
"Oh, I don't like vegetables. And, yuck, you put carrots in here too?! I don't like carrots."
"Don't say "Yuck" about people's food Juliette, it's rude."

Needless to say, if I waited for her to like something I've cooked ... well, I might have lost more than 25 pounds at this point!

My goal for this week is no more Starbucks. Seriously, I don't know if I can do this. I think one trip a week is more than enough, and well, I used that trip yesterday ... so ... no more Starbucks this week!