Those sure feel good! I really look forward to going straight home after work, without stopping anywhere. Those little stops always seem to cost me something!

I stayed home with little DD yesterday, she was feeling under the weather. I got in some good workouts- a 15 minute kettle bell routine and 5 miles of running. DD and I also bagged like a million box tops for our PTA, while sipping hot tea. It was nice to baby her!

I received a $104 escrow refund check for paying too much escrow last year. The mortgage on my condo will go down $15 starting next month to offset the changes in taxes due, sweet! It is going in the short term savings account that is linked to my checking account. This can be acccessed for unexpected expenses that I don't have every month, like a nonroutine vet visit.

SO and I will go to DC for one night this weekend, she is signing the lease at her new place and we will attend a dinner party for a friend's birthday. SO covers all of these expenses, as she has much more disposable income than me at this point. We have a shared account for joint expenses such as utilities and groceries, and then we have our own accounts for our own bills and savings. It's been working for us.

I sure hope the weather doesn't impact anyone's weekend plans, and please everyone keep safe!

I received a $20 refund check in the mail Saturday, which brings my total up to $64.

I've done some good workouts this weekend, a total of 2 weight/interval training dvd workouts and 5 miles of running on the treadmill.

Back to school tomorrow but I'm well rested and ready to keep moving forward.

My spending has been more than usual, as I'm doing a bit of decorating upstairs. Luckily I don't want to acquire more things to clean, so decorating consists of a few pieces of art for the wall and a couple table decorations (this room was completely empty). The room looks beautiful, and even the kids love it!

For some reason last week we had something to do every night after work. Between special afterschool activities, special cooking for work and family for Valentine's day, and shopping I was exhausted. I literally felt like I had no time to relax except when I was in bed sleeping.

I usually try to go Nowhere after work during the week, besides lessons for the kids. If I forget something from the grocery store, I try to just make do. I think that those little stops add up to some serious time (and money) wasters. I do most of my errands on the weekends when possible. I save after work errands for banks and things that aren't open on weekends.

So this weekend I have slept in and recuperated from the busy week. The girls went with their dad for the weekend, they were looking forward to that. Friday night we had take-out pizza and then went to Barnes and Nobles, where I had a gift card. I picked up a gift for one of my students who is leaving to another program, I'm going to miss him so much, even though he is by far my toughest kid

Saturday we shopped for groceries, the bill only came up to $62, woohoo! It's important to note that we eat out for dinner usually on Friday and/or Saturday, so we don't buy as much food as someone who never eats out. We do shop for breakfast and lunches, though, for 7 days a week, and 5 or 6 dinners.

After groceries we shopped around for items to finish out my sitting room. Everytime I look in the room I smile! I worked on my website for about an hour and a half, and then we went out to dinner at a new restaurant recommended to us. After dinner we relaxed together with the fireplace on, which was timed perfectly because it began to sleet outside. A good time to be warm and dry inside!

Today I will work out, update my finances and work on my website for about an hour or so. It can get addicting once I get involved with the work, so I better do all of my other stuff first! I also have some BoxTops to clip and count for my school, I volunteered to manage that program for the PTA. At least it is something I can do from the comfort of my new sitting room!

Since SO is moving to DC, some of our furniture will go with her to furnish her basement apartment. We got on Craigslist this weekend to look for the rest of the furniture she will need. She got some great deals, I think she's addicted to Craigslist now!

I picked up a beautiful sectional for my sitting room since SO is taking the furniture that is in the room now. The room isn't done yet, but it's going to be fabulous! I love to read and "lounge", so this room is going to be my refuge from the world. I'll post pictures when it is complete, along with the makeover budget. The only thing that will not be done is painting. I want to hire a company to paint the upstairs and I'm not ready to spend that money just yet.

Besides furniture hunting, we did our usual cleaning and cooking for the week. I also ran 30 minutes yesterday, on the treadmill since it is too cold outside for me.

I have almost completed my taxes, just waiting on one more statement. So far I'm getting a refund, so that will go straight to savings account.

I received a $4 rebate check in the mail, my rebate account is now up to $44 for the year.

I met my exercise goals for January, now I'm starting again for February. 25 miles and 8 additional workouts. Yesterday after work I exercised with a coworker, it does make it more fun and keeps me more accountable. It is so much easier to pass up a workout when it's just me.

I am restricting eating out to just the weekends, and just one meal. Mostly for my health, because lately I've slacked off a bit and slipped in some junk meals here and there and I feel the effects. If I just stick with a planned meal out on the weekends, I can plan my menu for the rest of the meals, I've gotten good at that. I should save some money that way, too.

I'm going to get into work early today and finish some mandatory training that is due soon. Nice start to the day, to get something off of the "must do" list.