I spent a lovely weekend in Minneapolis with my dearest Minnesota grrrrlfriends. I've known one of them since second grade, and the other one is probably my best friend, so it was a terrific weekend. Usually airfares from MKE to MSP run about $250-300, but I got a great $96 airfare and a hotwire rate on a 4-star hotel that ran less than that.

It was pure luxury to stay in a downtown hotel, go walking by places where I worked for years, places that all held so much history and so many memories for me. And to top all that off, we had a terrific time. The weather Friday and Saturday was terrific. We had cocktails, walked, and chatted on Friday afternoon--then dinner. Saturday we walked to Loring Park, ate a great breakfast at Loring Kitchen, went to the sculpture garden, then got the fun rental public bikes and rode through downtown to the Stone Arch Bridge and St Anthony Main. We shopped a little in the late afternoon, and I got some great bargains.

Saturday night we heard terrific jazz and had a great meal at the Dakota, followed by breakfast yesterday, a wonderful free day at the Minneapolis Art Museum including a Rembrandt exhibit and tour and terrific woven works at the Swedish Institute. So much fun!

I'm not sure I calmed my tummy with that eating and drinking, but it sure was fun.

To top off my glorious weekend, I came home to an e-mail this morning asking if I wanted to teach an overload section this fall. Indeed I do! That'll help with the deficit around here and enable us to cross some items off our lists.

Good all around!

I'm certainly better today although my meals have been limited to yogurt and a piece of bread. But I think I'd better continue the yogurt diet into tomorrow as I'm very burpy. Yuck.

But much has been accomplished despite being in somewhat slow motion. I've written letters of recommendation for students, counseled friends, paid bills, transferred cash, returned and received library books, donated a box of books to the library, and planned the upcoming weekend in Minnesota. Heck, I even dropped off four-year-past-its-expiration Tylenol PM at the police station. Why on earth do they need to see an ID for that? And why do they need to summon a police officer to take it? Anyway, it's gone from the medicine cabinet and not in the watershed.

But Minnesota here I come--right back where I started from! Looking forward to a weekend of fun with my pals. DH and DD are holding down the homefront in my absence.

Sunday is my blogoversary! I've learned so much from so many of you--and laughed so much at so many stories. Thanks for all of it!

This afternoon DD went to her first day of Church Vacation Bible School Challenge. It's supposed to be a combination of Survivor, Amazing Race, The Apprentice, and Top Chef. She'll attend three afternoons and have an all-night challenge. All this for the $35 fee.

While dropping her off I ran into another mom from school and told her I didn't know they attended our church. She said they didn't, but her kids go to four or five different churchs' summer programs. Man--I've been paying $150+ for the great nature camps, but what a bargain this is!

DD and I have also started a fitness challenge--walking 2 miles every day and doing some other floor exercises. After one walk, I can't tell you how much better I feel. Looking forward to increasing zip!

I think I've mentioned before that the viability of my semester in London depends on my recruiting at least five-six students. Prices drop for additional students after that baseline.

I've had pretty good luck with my initial prospecting, sending information to my own former students, and today I asked our undergraduate chair to forward information to our majors. I had a huge wave of people e-mailing me for more information. I'm pretty excited, though I know we'll lose plenty of folks once they crunch the numbers. But still!

Tomorrow I need to e-mail the undergrad chair in the Education Department to see if they'll do something similar.

On a more prosaic front, my garage sale pile is growing magnificently. Since it looks like another darn 100 degree day tomorrow, I expect to spend plenty of time inside unearthing treasures.

DH purchased his car last night. Please don't ask me to divulge the kind of car as it's more suitable for someone 40 years older. But despite some last-minute wrangling, we managed to escape for just over $4000. Since he only drives the car to the bus stop and on Saturday errands, I was hoping to pay less. But so many of the used cars we saw were either priced much higher and had mileage over 150K. The mechanic checked it out, and it's in very good shape. It'll need new rear struts sometime, but that can wait until fall.

I'm still trawling the house for more garage sale items, but paused to read this very depressing article (another one?) on retirement. It's here if anyone feels too cheery today: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/22/opinion/sunday/our-ridiculous-approach-to-retirement.html?_r=1

As I said earlier this week, I continually find myself doing an analysis of how people are coping with the economy in the UK. First, it's undoubtedly more expensive than it was last year--and a lot more than when we were there 12 years ago. A lot. VAT has risen significantly, and food and energy are much higher than ever.

Everywhere I turned, it seemed folks were talking about money. There were lots of articles about posher types now using the Pound Stores--their equivalent to our dollar stores. All the magazines and food markets seem to have a continual chatter about how much per serving things cost and lowering expectations, and simplifying lifestyles.

I had a long chat with a friend who does not have a garden allotment because of the long current waiting lists, but is growing all sorts of veggies in pots. This may not seem unusual--there's always been a keen interest in gardening--but this is a woman who used to get a weekly manicure, but now is really concerned about the banking system, her pension, and the costs of everything. I got that widespread vibe from lots of folks.

The area where DH grew up needed to replant some hedge rows due to construction, and the local government made a decision to make all the new hedge rows fruit-bearing plants, as the paper said, "suitable for foraging." That cultural shift to a sort of wartime austerity seems common.

But like here, lots of bankers in limos seemingly untouched by the cutbacks in funding to ordinary people, medicine, schools, etc.

Despite the cool rainy weather, we had a wonderful time in the UK--even enjoying a two-hour Harry Potter walk in the rain. DH's family is all doing well, but man, Britain just gets more and more expensive. I read several stories on the cost of living rising almost 30% in the past four years. We economized where we could, cooking lots of meals in the cottage, but London, despite my brilliant new Oyster card for transportation, was a budget buster. I'm in a fight with hotels.com about the extra bed charge in the hotel, and despite eating a fair amount of supermarket food and using the hotel fridge, I hate to think how much we spent on food.

There was good news with my Study Abroad folks. I enjoyed meeting them, and they've sent me a list of faculty accommodation alternatives. I get a health club membership and a transportation card too.

Transportation now that we're home has run into a major issues: DH's car died yesterday on the way to work. It's old, but I thought we'd get another year out of it. But the mechanic says it's a blown head gasket and that's all she wrote. We're trying hard to figure out how much to spend on a used car that he mainly drives to the bus stop. For a brief moment, I wondered if we could do with one car, but my evening classes make that almost impossible. So--do we drain the emergency fund, or buy a less-expensive car that may only have a couple years in it?

My new freelance gig starts tonight--teaching three classes on citation, research writing, and documentation to graduating college seniors who probably should've learned this in middle school.

It's an hour drive, so my usual salary for these folks has been adjusted to compensate. I can't say I'm thrilled about discussing documentation and citation for a couple hours on Friday night, but hey, I can do it for a few weeks.

I'm giving myself the weekend to enjoy dinner out with DH and Mother's Day, then summer frugality sets in.

I got back from NYC on Monday afternoon. And man, despite my best efforts to save, I spent a lot of money. But we had a dandy time including seeing Philip Seymour Hoffman in Death of a Salesman, Wayne Shorter at Lincoln Center, and another great show at an uptown jazz club. We walked the Brooklyn Bridge, saw the Renoirs at the Frick, enjoyed a Yankees game, and spent a glorious day in the Cloisters and the Heather Garden.

Immediate spending adjustments will have to be implemented, but I can't say I regret a moment. Now there's just over a week left at the university, and I have lots to do.

More soon!

All the oil price rumbling sent me to book our summer flights to the UK. I tried a dozen ways to make it cheaper--through the Chase Rewards, using my American miles--all in different permutations. But I ended up booking on Virgin--which is cheaper with a child--and just got it done. It wasn't pretty, but I'm worried it will just get worse.


The rest of the day was devoted to grading, laundry, and all the other scintillating fun parts of my life.
Four days until February-itis lifts?

but more expensively than GS cookies. Minnesota girlfriends have successfully lobbied for a long weekend in Napa. I spent two hours comparing airfares and can manage it and the shared hotel room down to under $500. It's so darn cold here, I think I needed a mental boost.

Now back to doubling coupons, realigning the draft stoppers, and cleaning out the fridge.

We booked our UK cottage for this summer last August, choosing the same one as last year. It's a National Trust cottage, and there was only one week available, plus we wanted to avoid the chaos surrounding the Olympics in August. We've paid for most of it already, so today I thought I'd take a look at airfares. Man, they are ugly. When DH and I were dating ( okay, it was 12 years ago) we regularly flew in the off season from Chicago to London for around $500. The best number I could find today for the week we need is (gasp) almost $1400. Each. DH went three times in 2011, mostly because his mom was ill, so we used lots of airmiles then. I'm going to have to find a way to earn and stretch more miles, though we have enough for one ticket still. Hmm--what to do?

I had a great weekend in Chicago with my best friend. While it wasn't super-cheap, we made it affordable. We have similar budgets so that always helps. I got the AAA discount on my train ticket, shaving $4 off, got a great rate on the hotel which was withing walking distance of the train station and had a great free wine hour in the afternoon and coffee/ hot chocolate in the morning. We saw "The Santaland Diaries" (for mature audiences from a David Sedaris story) on Friday night and figured out how to take the el to the theatre. Transportation was a bargain all around. The free wine hour saved us $ on cocktails with dinner, and we had great meals. Saturday night we went to the new casual and cheaper Rick Bayless place, Xoco, which was great. I bought nice, interesting, affordable Christmas gifts for DD and DH (including a tie with an understated map of London for DH) and today was the Art Institute which had a fabulous free Beethoven string quartet concert. I'm in an art/food/culture swoon. Very worth it! And CB--that Marilyn statue is huge! She looks very cold there over the river!

Before we heard about DH's impending job issues, I'd booked a Chicago weekend with my Minnesota girlfriends. For a while I'd thought about canceling, but we got a great hotel rate, and the train is pretty cheap.
I've also got a house that looks like it's been hit by a terrorist strike, but I'm caught up on my grading for the next 10 seconds. Additional grading will accompany me on the train, and frankly, I need the break.

So, tomorrow morning I'm off until Sunday night.
I can't wait!

DD and I have just come back from a marathon drive, at least for us.
In less than 36 hours we drove to Minneapolis for the funeral of a dear friend's mom, stayed overnight at a decent-ish motel with a pool, swam, slept,ate their free breakfast, bopped into say hello to MN family, went to the funeral,had lunch with MN friends, and drove home. A couple more outside errands for today, then grading, homework for DD, and finally late late tonight, we pick up DH home from the UK, I hope.

The driving, motel and meals together with lunch and flowers probably cost us $300, yet it had to be done.

No decluttering done for me either, but I pledge to find three days in the upcoming week where 27 things will go.

Ah--for a restful week.

It seems like a quiet peaceful morning here today, and I'm as close to caught up on class prep and grading as I've been in a while. Maybe there's some time to spend thinking about money a bit?

One of DH's friends has offered to loan him a car while he's in the UK for his mom's funeral. We're still not sure whether he'll take him up on the offer, but it would be handy for him to get around without relying on his siblings for transportation. Yet there are drawbacks. We'd have to figure out insurance coverage, and he'd have to take it from the mainland of the UK to the island where his family lives. That means an expensive car ferry trip, so we need to talk it through.

Other things I need to think through include perhaps doing some early Christmas shopping this weekend, and sending over Christmas gifts with him. We also need to get more yard work and winterizing done before he goes. Our usual crop of autumn basement mice have appeared, so DH has been patrolling for entry spots.

We'll have increased child care expenses with him gone. We hardly pay anything now--only for late start mornings for DD at the YMCA-- but I need a sitter to watch DD for the two evening classes while DH is gone and for a baby shower I've committed to attending.

My expenditures, like Mamasita's, have been light this week because we've been so busy. I've spent cash on coffee, but little else. I had leftover chicken,spinach, and feta penne yesterday for lunch yesterday, and as I was about to hit the vending machine during last night's class break, someone offered me (wow) a slice of chocolate macadamia tart.

Rainy days make me think deep thoughts, so I expect I'll probably post again later today.

Man, I was a disaster at school today. Students were tired and distracted and so was I. But it's been better since I got home, ate lunch, and had a quick nap.

DH's family finally confirmed the UK funeral date as October 21, and remarkably, I found we had enough FF miles to get him there and back for free. Well--free and $275 in taxes and fees. But still much better than the $800-1000 we were looking at. And seats available!

Our only other expenditure today was a check for school lunches for DD.

DH is not sleeping well, thus neither am I. But I'm now calling it a night and hoping for all the benefits of a good night's sleep.

Has anyone out there asked for a bereavement fare?
My mother-in-law died last night in the UK, and we're trying to figure out how to get my husband there without spending a small fortune.

I'm a very good cheap flight finder, but once we know the funeral date tomorrow, I'll call to find if those bereavement options are worthwhile.

Needless to say, we're all tired and flagging here.

The best news I've had all week was the free Ziploc bags and dishes I "won" in a Johnson Right @ Home promotion. We started laughing at each other because all three of us thought it was so fun!

My poor DH. It's hard to be so far away from family at times like this.

I do so love a three-day weekend with my DD and DH home.
On Saturday we headed out to the American Players Theatre in Spring Green, Wisconsin. The Tempest was DD's inaugural Shakespeare experience, and she quite liked it. It rained through the first act, but it was lovely there anyway. We stayed at a local motel, DD swam in the pool, and we went out to eat. On the way home we stopped at Cave of the Blue Mounds, which was very interesting, then the William Tell Festival in this small Swiss town with a fabulous lunch there. We had a great time.

Today I got caught up on some school work and slept late. What bliss! Tomorrow the full blast of the semester begins, but today, while the blossom still clings to the vine.....

We had a lovely six days in Minnesota. DH had to stay home and work, so DD and I drove straight through (ugh), but really enjoyed the beautiful weather at my mom's home. My brother and I still haven't decided what we're going to do with the lake house, but I'm determined to enjoy it as much as we can while we still own it.

Three of my girlfriends joined us on Friday, and we cooked, laughed, drank wine, and just plain relaxed.
Yesterday on the way home I spent a bit too much at the outlet mall, but got DD some needed back-to-school clothes, and a few new things for me.

I'm working on my fall classes today while DD is at the Humane Society day camp. Tonight we're joining some friends for dinner. It's been a very nice week!

We had a very happy time on our 16 days in England--four days in London, a week near DH's family in a National Trust cottage with friends and more time in places we'd never been--the Norfolk seafront towns and the old Suffolk wool towns. It was very fun--and very expensive. We did some budget smart things--packing snacks, utilizing the grocery stores, and only eating out once a day at most. But England is increasingly expensive, and the effects of the recession and inflation have also hit there. Tonight I'm going to do the math or maths( as DH would say) and figure out what we spent and the damage to the waistline!

Glad to be back on the budget program!
Not so glad it's as steamy as it is!

Yeah, I was intending to pack a lunch on my weekend trip to Minneapolis, but I didn't. At least I was good for my health and got a salad about halfway there. I split the dinner tab for my friend's birthday with another two friends, so it wasn't too bad--and we had a splendid weekend together.
I've been friends with this woman since we were in second grade, and let's just say that's a very long time ago. We had a grand weekend, walking talking, visiting the U of M landscape arboretum, and just catching up. She's a great friend, and it was well worth the twelve hours in the car. I got to see my mom too, which was good.
On the way home I stopped at the outlet malls in the Wisconsin Dells which did some damage to my budget, but I think I've got a solid summer work wardrobe now. I bought some pants at Banana Republic, tops at Eddie Bauer and found a great sale for DD at Gymboree. Not cheap, but satisfying and likely worth it.
Good intentions resume tomorrow as my ebay sales ends.

I'm off to Minneapolis in a couple minutes and think perhaps I should pack some food. I usually stop halfway for lunch and (gasp) outlet shopping, but
I could and should forgo both. DH is always very sure that a packed lunch is the way to go, but then coos about how terrific Culvers is after we're there.

I may make a bargain with myself that if I pack a boringly low-carb veggie lunch, I can spend the $6 at the outlet mall. Temptation, you're everywhere!

After a fun weekend that had a few too many dollars spent and a few too many calories ingested, it's time to reboot the diet and budget. I started both out this morning by enrolling in a program offered by my health insurance plan. They will send those who enroll a $50 gift card if 15 points are completed. I got eight points for doing the health assessment and will get a walking and exercise program set up to earn enough points for the card. Two birds, I hope.

There's plenty to do around here today, and DD only has eight more days of school left, so I'm going to try to get as much fall class planning and research done while it's quiet here.

I sold another book, so I'm adding $14 to my ebay fund.
Friday I gave some friends a couple of books to help with my decluttering.

We're at the place again where we're booking our UK holiday for the summer and are aghast, to say the least, at the airfares. There's nothing on our dates for under $1200 each. DH's mum isn't well, and those summer dates are the only times that work for all our work and school schedules. I really am angry at all those teaser airfare ads. They are so deceiving.

I am officially Grumpy--

We relented and took DD to Orlando for a fast four-day break. I'll freely admit it was as much for me as her since I spent my break ill and tackling single parenthood since DH was in England.

The airfares were cheap, the condo was super cheap, the car rental inexpensive, now if I could've just ducked those theme park tickets. Since we've "done" Disney a couple times, and because DD has become a Harry Potter maniac, we went to Universal for a day. I'm not much of a ride fan, but I thought the Harry Potter and the Forbidden whatever was terrific. I really enjoyed the stroll through Hogwarts too. But the rest of Universal was not as good.

The SeaWorld tickets allowed two days for the price of one, and I thought it was the best bargain there. The shows were terrific. We bought groceries and ate every breakfast and two of the three dinners in. Not as much damage as might have been done.

So now we're home and I'll need a few days to dig out and recalibrate the May budget. The "eat from the pantry/freezer" challenge will begin!

I'm back from four days in Chicago at a professional conference. I spent two days at the conference, and another fun two days with girlfriends who flew down to play with me.

My happy news is that the university is reimbursing all my conference expenses. I'm very glad! Last year I footed all my professional conference bills myself; although they include those points in promotion packages, they often won't pay for even the most frugal travel expenses.

While I was frugal with their money, eating every meal at publishers' events, and using hotwire for my hotel, I did spend a nice amount on my play days, but it was very fun and well worth it. I've got a friend who is a huge Chagall fan, and the Art Institute had their Chagall window reinstalled. It's beautiful! The weather was also great, and it was pure pleasure to walk around.

On the heat front, my DH just asked if we were EVER going to switch the heat on. Usually it's me that is so cold, but I expect we'll relent one day this week.

We're just back from an expensive but delightful two weeks in the UK. We've eaten a lot and spent a lot, but it was just wonderful.

We did have some small unexpected savings: at the most expensive guesthouse/hotel they had a problem with their hot water tank and were without hot water for 12 hours. Because of the inconvenience, they gave everyone there a free night's lodging. This was a bit undeserved for us since after I awoke to see the notice of the problem on the note under the door, I checked the hot water--and we all got up and had quickie showers before they ran out.

We did take a foldable cooler with us and had some snacks in it, but no one could really say we economized much. The London hotel had an "executive lounge" where we had drinks and snack, but the costs probably outweighed the savings. We spent a week near the in-laws, saw tons of friends, and just enjoyed ourselves--especially on the seaside and at the historical sites.

But all good things end, and I've taken on an extra class to help rebuild savings. I sold a book today and managed to get some things listed on ebay.
More of the same is scheduled for this week.

I love to travel; it's so wonderful. We're already planning the next trips,

Today was the first day since DD's end of school we've had a normal week. After a bit too much spending on our Massachusetts trip, we've re-learned lessons about traveling with friends. We need to do our own thing and have our own priorities in line. I was happy we got a room with a kitchenette in Cape Cod as we ate dinner in one night and several breakfasts in. Besides the cost, it meant the Brit DH got to watch the World Cup!

After returning home, our friends stayed with us for another week, including a night away in a nearby city. They didn't blink at spending $175 for dinner for two. They're lovely generous people for us, bringing us back bottles of wine and a case of beer. But man--they're spending habits make both me and DH nervous.

I've done a textbook review for some extra cash and sold a few things on Craigslist which were cluttering the basement. It's going to be an expensive summer and I need to think of lots of ways every day to save and make some small cash. No university paycheck until October!

We're heading out later in June to Boston and Cape Cod. I haven't been to Boston since I was a teenager, and although I've scoured the guidebooks and planned a few things, I'd be thrilled to hear anyone's Boston "must-sees." We'll do the Freedom Trail for DD--although the Brit husband complains all the time about being called a British tyrant!

Ideas or recommendations, anyone?