my (non) weekend update

Wow...what a crazy past few days!  The boys had 4 basketball games this weekend, we went to the Duke vs. Georgia Tech basketball game (a Christmas gift for the boys), my youngest had Scouts, we all had church, throw some homework projects in there too and that was our weekend!  

Then yesterday I left the house at 8am and got home at 5pm.  It was the first day of my Master Gardener class.  Wow!  Tons of material covered that left my head spinning.  It's been many, many years since I had to think about the Periodic Table and Logarithms.  I spent the day taking notes of what I'll need to know for our tests and taking notes on Action Items that I need to do in our own garden.   Anyway - it has been a whirlwind of the past 3 days!

Which takes us to my "weekend update".  My goal is to check in each weekend to see how I'm doing in reaching my goals and challenges.  It's a few days late, but I want to keep myself accountable and see what I need to do!

I'm participating in Carla's No Spend (or spend less...) Challenge.  That's going very well so far!  In fact this morning it was really nice and easy updating my spending log because there wasn't too much I needed to write down!  I'm a little high on the Food that I've spent so far.  My budget for the month is $1000 (groceries, eating out, household items included) and I've spent $485 so far.  This includes a $60 lunch at the Duke basketball game which is a bit out of the ordinary.  That leaves me with $515 for the next 20 days.    With carefully planning I expect to be inside this amount.   Besides food and normal utilities we really haven't spent too much and I plan to meet my original goal of spending 10% less in January 2012 than we did in January 2011.  

I'm also still adding change to my Sealed Pot.  I've been using cash only for food/groceries and so every few days I'll empty the coins that I have in my wallet into the sealed pot.  I added about $2.50 to the pot last week.

As for my non-financial goals.  You can read my update on weight loss and exercise here.

and other goals...

Build and strengthen relationships. 

Mr. Steady and I sat down and made a list of friends we knew we wanted to entertain in 2012.  The next step is planning our first get together!

52 Letters in 52 Weeks. - My first letter is going in the mail today.  I'm writing a letter to my friend Amy Jo.

Volunteering - No volunteer hours this week but I expect to have several next month for a Scout banquet that our Den is hosting.

Photography - Haven't yet completed any of  the 12 Weeks to Better Photos homework.

Reading - I finished reading Catching Fire and have started reading the book Half-Broke Horses.

Craftiness - I finished one unfinished project! I painted the lamp and have it sitting on my desk in the office!

Gardening - First class was this week!  I need to re-read what we went over yesterday and read ahead the chapters that we'll discuss in the next class.

Rosetta Stone  - I completed one lesson this week!