Penny Saver

We are having some awesome weather! Sunny skies with a cool breeze in the low 70's today. Yesterday during my lunch break I went and sat in a park near work. It is a quite little park tucked back in a little neighborhood. A good friend shared her secret getting away spot with me. So yesterday I'm sitting there enjoying my lunch and observing the various people walking, jogging, and out for a stroll with their dogs. It's nice to see folks out enjoying the gorgeous weather. One gentleman showed up with his little dog, not sure what kind. But as they got closer, I said hello. I learned that the dog was 11 years old and loved his walks in the park. The dog didn't move fast, but his nose was busy! After talking with his owner, I said hi to the little guy. He acknowledge me quickly and then just as quickly went back to his sniffing. So cute! Then as I was leaving I passed a gal with her dog. We started to chat about our dogs. She just adopted her dog 4 weeks ago! The puppy was a rescue. I love these happy ending rescue stories. I have a dear friend that has a passion to save animals one at a time! You can read more about her quest at My quest to save the animals. It was one of the best lunch breaks I've had in a long time. It was perfect to help me find my balance, because I really needed it on Friday.

Early this morning my husband and I got up and headed downtown to the VA hospital. He had his initial appointment to get his health insurance started. Plus he hasn't been feeling very well for quite a while now, so it was good he saw the doctor. I'm proud of him for seeing this through and starting to try to take care of his health. As he doesn't always take very good care of himself. Anyhow, we were in and out of there pretty quickly, which was nice. Hopefully the medicine they gave him will help make him feel better.

When we got home I did some gardening outside. I love being outside. I also always look forward to getting my hands dirty!

I'm really blessed that my husband loves to cook, and is very good at it! In the past year, he has taken over the grocery shopping. He is really good at staying in our budget and coming home with so much food! I did the grocery shopping for years and I never minded it. But I will give him credit, he is much better at staying with the list we write and in budget. I get distracted and usually get more than what is on the list and have a tendency to sometimes go over the budget. Well, today because he is sick, I did the shopping. I thought I would be clever and shop the ads in conjunction with a few coupons we had already. I was so proud of myself for price matching, using the coupons and staying under our budget!! I have several girlfriends that shop the extreme "coupon" shopping religiously. It's a lot of work and they are VERY good at it. In fact, one girlfriend was PAID one of the times she went grocery shopping! I think there is a show on TV that has the extreme shoppers, but I'm not sure, I've never watched it. Anyhow, I felt like an extreme kick butt shopper today. Ha! Well I get home, first thing my husband says, is that all that you got? After explaining to him what I did, where I went, and that I felt I did a really good job, he quickly changed his tune and keep telling me I did a good job! It was sort of funny the little exchange we had. All is well, the grocery shopping is done.

The theme of having nice conversations with strangers continued today. Each time I was waiting in line to check out, folks sparked up a conversation with me. It's always interesting to me when I'm in a good place and feeling balanced, I must be very approachable. It probably helps that when I'm balance, I smile more. I must also send out an energy that draws people in, because today I encountered and attracted a lot of nice people. Let me just say, I'm not complaining it was a very pleasant day because of a lot of these interactions.

"We can choose to behave with personal integrity, not because it will make someone else feel better, but because it reflects a way of living that enriches and heals us." ... In All Our Affairs