Yay! I just logged into my Adsense and it says that a cheque is being cut for me for $115.98. So that means I can now afford toget my GPS device. And it couldn't come at a better time, because I've been having to jet around the Lower Mainland quite a bit over the last week, and kept having to call J to make sure I wouldn't get lost. Very stressful.

Especially today. I was stuck in traffic for 2.5 hours running an errand (there was a big accident on the highway), and that could have been avoided if I had a GPS to show me an alternate route. But because all I had was some Google map print-outs, I had to keep going the only way I knew how.

$250.87 (cost of GPS after tax via Amazon.ca)
- $157.65 in Amazon GCs (from Swagbucks)
- $93.22 from my Google Adsense cheque
TOTAL = FREE

I'm going to wait to order it for a few weeks - probably until I can see that the Adsense cheque has been mailed off to me, but knowing that I can now get the GPS for free is really awesome. It's something that I've been wanting to get ever since I moved to Vancouver almost 2 years ago.

I've decided to make personalized calendars for some people for Christmas. It's not very expensive (maybe around $10 each) and I know that they will use it for the entire year. I'm going to make at least 3-4 of them (1 of them will be for me) and will be using an online company.

Has anyone ever gotten calendars made online? Any recommended companies, or ones to avoid?

Well thankfully I found my winter coats. But they've been stored away for too long, so I'm going to need to get them dry cleaned. Which is good, because J says that we should get our sleeping bags cleaned as well. So I'll try to do that this weekend, although I'll have to research and find a dry cleaners near here.

I also really should get my hair cut. I've been trying to wait until December, but J's company Christmas party is at the end of this month, and I need to get it done before then. I haven't even been wearing my hair down over the past few weeks because it's just too ratty and gross. I want something more modern. I want to get bangs, but I think I'll just get annoyed with hair always being on my forehead. Especially when I'm working out or skiing/climbing, etc. And it's so easy to say "I'll just clip it back," but it doesn't always work that way. So we'll see. Maybe I'll just do the side-swept bangs thing that I've had going on for the past few years.

Weekend tasks:

• 2 x work out
• Return library books
• Get hair cut
• Drop off dry cleaning
• Update budget
• Organize receipts & bills
• Shop for black belt & tights
• Look for bedding

Anonymous wrote:

I came across your website and blog on your Nando's experience. Anyway 2 years after your bad experience have you been again to Nando's? I am from Australia and their chicken is pretty good down here. My children and I love Nando's.

After over 2 years, I still hate Nando's with an undying passion. Whenever we pass a Nando's restaurant, or anyone mentions Nando's, I always bring up how disgusting I think their food was. Every friend I have knows how I feel about Nando's. I can never bring myself to eat there again, after being served moldy food. Yes, you read right. I was served moldy food. With no apology either.

And you know what? Maybe it was just a one-time thing. Maybe their customer service is good, and their food doesn't have mold in it anymore. But that doesn't matter. The damage has been done.

Please visit BOYCOTT NANDOS, a website dedicated to showing people just how disgusting Nando's really is.

Have you been to Nando's?

Or at least I'm trying to bring out my winter coats. I cannot find any of them (I have 3). They have to be somewhere in the house. But I seem to have misplaced them when I moved in with J. It's getting awfully chilly in the mornings just leaving the house in a sweater or a blazer. Hopefully I'll be able to find them, although space is so tight at our house that I'm not even sure where I would hang them.

As for winter clothing, I don't really need anything. But that being said, I'd really like some new scarves (I currently have 2, and both of them have huge snags in them). I'd also LOVE a couple of new sweaters or cardigans, but I can hold off on those. Maybe I can pick them up in Vegas at the outlet mall.

Right now the only things I NEED are a black belt (currently do not own 1 single belt), and tights (currently do not own tights as I put a run through my one and only pair last week).

Yesterday I bought my dad's Christmas present: running shoes. Since his stroke, he doesn't actually run anymore, but he walks a lot. I wanted to get him something a bit more personable, but it's always so hard to shop for him. The shoes were cheap enough that if I find something else that I want to get him, it's in the budget that I set out (my sister and I always buy presents for our parents together and split the cost 50/50).

As for my sister's gift, I'm stumped. I've been perusing Etsy and Overstocked for ideas, and might just wait until we go to Vegas to pick her up something there. But that's cutting it close. I usually buy her something fun and kooky (like the Hello Kitty toaster), and I don't want to buy anything practical either.

I still haven't called in and purchased my mom's present, but I will very soon.

Whatever Bob Dylan is on these days, I want some of it. Seriously. Christmas songs? Dancing!? Unbelievably awesome.

Embedding has been disabled for the video, so check it out here. If you can handle it.

Yesterday I had the worst headache and wasn't feeling very good all day. I even considered leaving work early in case I was starting to come down with something (still feel pretty crummy, but better than yesterday). Anyway I came home from work and J had made me my favourite dinner - breakfast! :) Eggs, bacon, hash browns (with onions, mushrooms & broccoli), and toast. So good.

Then we decided to go to the Marble Slab Creamery for dessert. I know, so bad for you. J had never been, and I had only gone once before, a long time ago. I got pumpkin pie ice cream (could only finish half of it, then he had to eat the rest), and he got raspberry cheesecake. The total came to $12.23 for the both of us - so expensive! But a nice treat. It was good, but J wasn't sure if it was even better than Dairy Queen (which is quite a bit cheaper), so I'm sure we'll give it another try one of these days ... but probably not for a while.

Tonight after dinner, J has to go to a work thing, so I'm going to do a hard workout on my Wii. Doesn't make up for how terrible I've been eating the past couple of days, but at least it's better than doing nothing.

So far I have saved $157 worth of Amazon gift certificates through Swagbucks. After taxes, the GPS that I want is $250.87 (plus free shipping) ... so that means I'd pay around $93 if I buy it now. I'd like to try and get it down to paying under $50 for the GPS, and I think I can accomplish that before Christmas. And who knows, maybe the price will lower again come January and by some miracle (and with a lot of patience with Swagbucks), I'll be able to get the GPS for free. :)

Although this entire problem could be solved if I ever get my $100 Adsense cheque from Google!

Well-Heeled posted about how much she spends on make-up per year (not including skin care). So I thought I'd do a little post on how much I spend as well.

• 2 pressed powder compacts: 2x$20 = $40. Although now that I know Target sells them for $12 each, I'll make sure to buy some there the next time I go across the border. So much cheaper there!
  

• 1 blush: 1x$20 = $20. Target has them for $10, so I'll be shopping there from now on.

• 2-3 chap sticks: 3x$3 = $9. I don't wear anything but chap stick.

• 5 tubes of mascara: 5x$10 = $50. I don't wear eyeliner (except for the experimental eyeliner I bought the other day, and that did not go over well), and I also don't wear eyeshadow. But I love mascara.
  

Total = $119

I went to Sephora for the first time yesterday and was blown away by the selection they had. Incredible. I didn't know what half of the stuff was, and all of the girls working there were wearing cake loads of make-up. It was kind of intimidating and expensive looking. But I'll probably go back there because they have a lot of skin care lines that I'd like to take a look at. I'll need to compare the prices to what I'm paying at the drug stores and department stores to see if it's cheaper.

How much do you spend on make-up each year?