I finally finish putting up the christmas tree, it only took me 3 days (and it is not a big tree), I keep getting distracted. Actually it is more like I can't really be bother with it. I been too busy doing work, I'm really motivated with it at the moment. Anyway, I went for silver and purple colour scheme christmas tree this year.

Financially, I haven't spend much for christmas at all this year. We decided to just give cash to our nephews and nieces, they are in another state so it is easier that way and actually prefer it because they get so much toys and clothes already. ANd the rest would just get gift cards. And I already got my mum something last month. So I will get the gift cards this weekend and send them next week.

I got plans to finally venture out to go shopping this Saturday. I plan to go to Costco, I think our membership expire this month (but I'm not 100% sure) and I don't think we will renew it anytime soon. We haven't been there for few months now and I don't think it is worth renewing it right now. So this weekend in my shopping list is gift cards and another gift for my brother's birthday this weekend.

We will be having lunch at my mum's place for my brother's birthday this Sunday. Also christmas will be held at my mum's because our little convection oven will not be big enough to cook everything we want. Everything is plan and the beauty is I don't have to do much but I will give my mum some money to go towards buying for the food. My mum loves to cook and she is an amazing cook so she loves this plan.

I already have a frozen turkey, I will either give it to mum to cook or I will cook it here, I think it will just fit in the little oven, so maybe I will still do that.

ANd ohh we've had 4 NSD in the row here and today could be the fifth if I can just hold off my pizza craving at the moment. This and with low spending in the last couple of weekend has been really good. Although I'm pretty sure this coming weekend is going to be costly.

We made it to 5 NSD in a row, the best thing about it is we weren't even trying, it just happened.

Tonight we are getting pizza for dinner while watching our football team play in the semi-final. I hope they can make it to the final again this year. They are the defending champion, so 2 in a row would be nice.

Tomorrow (Saturday) we have been invited to have dinner at my friend's place, it should be a fun night.

I'm hoping for the 5th one today - half way there

Tomorrow the water bill is due for the quarter so the streak will have to end.

Not spending money means nothing much to blog about. I know boring...

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Update about DH's injuries: his leg is a lot better, he didn't need to see the physio. Thank goodness.
His arm still bothering him especially at the end of the day, after using the mouse all day at work.

We managed to have a NSD yesterday. DH probably was meant to get a hair cut but didn't have time. He will try to go next week.

Didn't do much today but some light cleaning. DH did spend some money for light grocery shopping - he got some milk, bread and snacks. We just been spending the whole afternoon watching our Australian football team's game and now we are just waiting for another game tonight. Tomorrow will also be stuck on the couch watching Australia v Italy in the rugby union world cup. But we will need to go and do a proper grocery shopping tomorrow morning, we really need some fruits and vegs.

Just received another check from one of our stock, we normally have a DRP with this stock but they have postponed it at the moment. Cash is good too, we could used some more for christmas.

Today should hopefully be another NSD, this would make this 3 in the row this week.

Nothing really much happened here in the last few days. The weekend was a bit spendy with christmas lunch with dear friends and a lot of christmas shopping. I have not been as prepared for christmas this year, but luckily we have decided to keep it low key this year. So it has not been stressfull at all. Well, not yet anyway.

We had two NSD in a row, athough we almost got tempted to get fish and chips for dinner yesterday but somehow we ended up having pasta. The weather hasn't been that great lately, it has been raining cats and dogs and that was why we didn't want to go out. So NSD was saved by the rain.

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My birthday is not for another 4 months or so but I already know what I want. I want to see the King Tut exhibit that will be coming down under (in Melbourne only), the last stop before it goes back to Cairo. This is the perfect present for me, it is all I really want. DH will be getting the tickets soon, pre-booking is a must especially during peek time. We went to the Titanic exhibit here recently and we were lucky to get in, probably only because we went during a weekday. Even then there were a lot of people. So to avoid disappointment we buy the ticket 4 months in advance.

I woke up this morning and I didn't feel like going out to get a haircut or to the bank. It's such a nice day, I didn't feel like lining up at the bank. Anyway now that I've decided not to go anywhere it might turn to be a NSD. I might just get it on Friday after my dentist appointment.

I've just been tinkering in the garage and garden today. The weather is really lovely today. While I was outside I've been thinking a lot about our budget for next year. On Friday DH got his full pay for the first time with this new job. On average, it will be an extra $1000 more per month plus an extra pay per year. In this new job he will get paid every 4 weeks, so 13 times in one year. So I thought, that's is not bad increase, especially since his retirement payments has also increase by $200+ per pay. But when I did our budget for next year it is still doesn't seemed enough. I'm still feeling deprive. There are always a lot more to spend it on. But I think if we can follow our budget next year it will mean a lot for our future.

We've had 3 NSD so far this month and I'm hoping today would be another NSD. As long as DH don't stop to fill up the car. I guess I will update this later.

Sunday (which was yesterday here) was spent working around the house. DH and I got up late and had a very late breakfast. DH decided then to clean the gutter and resealed a couple of the joints where it has been leaking a bit. I on the other hand did some weeding in the herb garden and tidying up the front garden, raking leaves and pulling some more weeds. DH was also planning to do some spraying at the back but it's very windy around here at the moment so hoping he will get that done next weekend. I'm hoping we can get rid of the weeds in the next month coz I want to aerate the lawn soil and then spread more grass seeds before it gets too hot again.

The herbs are doing really well at the moment, I got some coriander (cilantro), flat parsley and rosemary. I just planted some basil last week, I don't know if they will survive, probably a bit early for them. The capsicums (bell peppers) are also doing well considering I haven't really been looking after it. There are about a dozen of them in just 2 small plants. I was going to pick 2 of them yesterday but the bee buzzing around kept me out.

All up we spent almost 3 hours outside working, it was nice weather except for the wind. Afterwards we had our afternoon tea in front of the tv watching Australian football. It was just a very nice Sunday at home and it was a NSD.

Yesterday was NSD. I was very lazy yesterday, I didn't do much except make chicken stock and butter chicken for dinner. I will make soup today. I haven't done much this month at all, it's this cold weather all I want to do is keep warm. DH has been busy though, he spent most of yesterday doing work. He also went outside to do some composting and he also picked the last pumpkin from the garden. We didn't get to plant much winter crop this season, got too busy with house repairs early this year. DH did managed to plant some coriander (cilantro), which I used some for butter chicken last night.

I thought I'll make a to do list here to get me motivated to do some work around the house. These are boring stuff.

To do List (15-30 June):
[]Clothes Washing (Mon & Thurs)
[]Mopping (Mon & Thurs)
[]Ironing (Tues & Fri)
[]Dusting (Tues & Fri)
[]Vaccuming (Wed & Sat)
[]Bathroom (Sun)
[]Gardening (Sun)
[]Painting Spare Room
[]Wiping Kitchen Cupboard Doors.

Hope this will help me get my act together. I've got a load of washing on at the moment, now I just need to mop the floors.

May was expensive month but thanks to tax refund we managed to fully fund the EF for the year (so Goal #3 is Done - few months ahead of schedule!). We now have have 6 months EF worth of living expenses (not including mortgage payment). I think this is enough EF for us for now, we will re-evaluate it again next year.

We have also started funding the Car Fund (Goal #4), I am really really really hoping to fully fund it in June. I think if we do well this month, that is be very good with our spending, we should be able to do it. Plus I should be getting the $900 stimulus payment, which should be enough to achieve goal #4. Things that we could cut down are: groceries, entertainment, allowances, no buying clothes and other useless stuff. Oh well, here's to hoping.

Eventhough we spend a lot in May we still had 10 NSDs. $19K challenge is still doing well, the only thing that I'm trying to pull back is the grocery spending. But I guess that's what the miscellanous buffer is for


BTW, I kind of noticed that not many people are blogging these days (esp some of the regulars). Is it because it's now summer in the US and people are out and about more and don't have much time for blogging? Or is it because we are in the middle of the year and people have kind of lost focus on their goals (I hope not)?

I for one got too busy in April to blog (was away and had people over) and I only really average about 2/3 blog entries a week, I live a pretty boring life.

Well I do hope that everyone are still working towards their goals for this year. Good luck to you all.