I logged in to our bank account to reconcile against our register, when I noticed a $302 withdrawal from the hotel where DH is staying for his conference this week.

I figured something had come up for work that he had needed cash to cover, and that he would be expensing whatever it was. Still, I called him to remind him that I need him to give me a heads-up when he takes money out of the bank account. We use credit cards and cash for daily expenses, so I usually don't keep any "buffer" in our checking account.

When I got hold of him, I found our that he had needed the money to pay for a speeding ticket!

Apparently he got pulled over for violating a construction zone speed limit (it was Sunday and they weren't working, but whatever...) and he either had to appear in court on Nov 6th or pay $750 ($600 in fines and $150 in court costs). Since we're going to be in LA on Nov 6th, he had to cough up the cash.

You have no idea how mad and frustrated I was. I wanted to yell so badly! Why couldn't he have been more careful? How could he be so irresponsible? Why has he been putting off getting his speed sensor fixed for the last 6 weeks! From where in my posterior does he expect me to produce this money?!?

Luckily, sensibility prevailed. I realized that neither one of us is perfect and it could just as easily have been me. Saying "I told you so" about getting his speed sensor fixed wasn't going to help anything and getting upset and making him feel worse about the situation wasn't going to change the anything.

So I swallowed my irritation and stayed calm. He's going to pay for about half of it out of his poker money and the rest from an expense check he should get next week. And I'm sure he'll watch his speed on the way home!

What can you do, I guess?

Things are pretty dull around here, on a financial front. All expenses are budgeted and all extra money gets split between the emergency fund and car fund. Not really headline-worthy!

I'm finding it a bit hard to stay motivated without the excitement of anything new happening. Still, we're making progress and that's good.

In other news, I finally set the goal that I want to quit my job at the end of next year. 14 more months to go!

While my job is convenient and it pays well, I really hate it. Plus, with a bit of luck, hopefully DH and I will be expecting a baby by then.

I think we've both decided that we're ready. I've got a wedding to be in next spring, so we're going to take the time until then to improve our health and get our finances as well developed as we can.

The "deal" is that I can leave my job when the car fund and my student loan are paid off. If I put my back into it and focus, I can have those done by the end of next year. That will leave us a bit ahead of the game and with some cushion in our budget.

Just thinking about getting to turn in my notice has been enough to make me put several potential purchases back on the shelf!

It's been a full few days!

In the last couple of days I've produced 36 little handmade Christmas soaps for gifts. I still want to make 2 or 3 loaf type soaps, and then of course I still need to get it all wrapped up.

I've also completed my last mass-baking endeavor of the season. The pet shelter I volunteer at has a bake sale table at a local farmer's market and I'm a regular baker. I did a lot of breads this week since it's getting cold and people tend to buy more breads in the fall. I did nut, cranberry, pumpkin, apple cinnamon, lemon poppyseed, and pecan swirl. Those are almost all packed and ready to go. I'm toying with running out to Aldi and getting supplies to make a couple of batches of rice krispie treats. We've got a regular customer who really likes them, so maybe I'll make them for him one last time.

In other news, I finally stood up for myself today about all of the unpaid overtime at work.

I'm a "consultant", which means I'm paid hourly, get no vacation/benefits (except 401k), and can be let go at any moment.

In my job, there are often time where you need to put in OT to get the job done. The client always comes first. However, they never want to pay overtime, so in the past we've worked out an informal comp-time type arrangement and I was perfectly satisfied with it.

Unfortunately, my old director left and I've got a new one now, and she's always breathing down my neck asking about what I'm doing and when will I be done and what can I take on next. Which means I'm not getting much downtime to compensate for all of the overtime I've been working lately.

So, I finally sent her an email today outlining the situation. She's a reasonable woman, if a bit anal, but I'm sure we'll be able to work something out. If I were a salaried employee enjoying all the benefits thereof, I would work whatever time was needed and not breathe a word of it. But as an hourly, temporary employee there is a limit to my generosity and I'm at it!

OMG!!!

Who else saw the Bears game tonight?!? Oh my goodness! My heart is still thumping.

It was beautiful!

I was opening the mail yesterday (a habit I'm strongly considering quitting!) and came across a piece of correspondence from The Toll Roads, the CA toll authority.

Inside was a bill for $86.50! Apparently there was a toll violation recorded for DH's rental car when he was in Orange County on business in June.

He called The Toll Roads to see what was going on, only to find out that their records show that when he went through their toll booth it recorded $1.25 instead of $1.50! The other quarter must have either fallen or just not gotten counted by the machine.

She said that he had the option of either paying the fine, or flying out to CA and requesting an administrative hearing in person (it can ONLY be requested in person, and of course the hearing can only be conducted in person)!!!

All of this over a quarter!

The whole thing just infuriates me. They're making this whole big deal over exactly 25 cents. I'm sure just the mailing alone cost more than that! Plus it was an honest mistake--it's not like he's a habitual toll runner. It may have even been a problem with THEIR machine! For crying out loud, he was driving around that day helping out their local government!

They're making it impossible to contest this, and impossible for an actual real person with a bit of discretion to take a look at it. We'll be in LA next month, but of course they can't actually give you a date for a hearing until you request one, and it won't be during the 5 days we're in town.

What a horrible way to treat people!

Well, we got our first snow here in Chicago this morning. It was beautiful--big fat, wet white flakes that brought to mind Christmas morning and hot chocolate. It's already melted off, but it was so pretty while it lasted!

This is also the first day the heat kicked on. We've got the thermostat set to hold at 60, and we've finally dipped below that. I got our gas bill for last month today and it was $35. Guess I can kiss that goodbye for the next 6 months or so!!!

Not much has been happening on the financial front. DH and I are still pretty busy with work, and we're in that lull time between paychecks. Plus, there isn't too much question as to where any extra money is going!

We may have another fire drill coming up next week. DH's car is acting up, and the shop thinks it might actually be a problem with the computer. It goes in Monday, but if it turns out to be a computer problem, the repair will likely cost more than the car. So then we'll need to think about replacing his car, which I really was really hoping we wouldn't have to do for another year. Ugh.

I was going through some paperwork today and found my Entertainment book coupons for a local grocery store. It was $5 off $50, and I also had a bunch of expired coupons, which are accepted at this grocery store. Putting the coupons and sales at the store together, I did pretty good.

I got:

1 box overpriced special cereal for DH
1 box overpriced special meal bars for DH
1 doz cage-free enriched eggs
3 25lb boxes of Arm & Hammer kitty litter
13 tubes Colgate Total toothpaste
2 packs Kotex
1 pack Stayfree
1 toothbrush
1 pack Shick Intuition refills

all for $48.24

It's nice to have toothpaste for a year!