Weekend Recap

Going to my parents' house for the weekend is usually either a bad idea or a bad idea. I don't have a choice, and it isn't often as bad as I think it is, but it's still something that if I could avoid, I definitely should. However, driving after 10hrs of work for an hour at 1am just isn't my idea of a safe commute.

Something I *can* control is how long I stay at their house. Now that my mother's back from her out-of-the-country trip, I'm more than happy to ditch Sunday morning. When she was away, I'd just stay in and spend some time with my dad and leave Monday morning for work. This Sunday, she decided to go on an all-day shopping trip (groceries and more hoarding items), so it was pretty much like she wasn't there. She left at about 10am and didn't return until 9pm.

But anyway, where this becomes relevant is that I stayed in instead of leaving. I was supposed to go to the mall and get the toys, boots, necklaces and clothes for my Adopt-A-Bear girls. I hate shopping at malls (or in general, really), but I stayed in and helped dad with some computer issues and some designing troubleshooting. We were just hanging out for most of the day, while I kept saying I had to get going. Yeah, we saw how well *that* went!

Now onto the expenses... it came to 3pm and we were both hungry. There was no food (my mother apparently put grocery shopping off for too long... hmm, I guess that's where I inherited that!), so we went to the store with intentions of buying something to eat. It was just for me and my dad. And my younger sister. And her friend. And other brother. But in our minds, it was just for us two. We bought some sodas and juices, total of $10. Then some takeout (KFC) for $28. I paid for all of it, since I'm... well, me. That, and that my dad didn't have any money either (though he was happy to pay for it with their debit card without any knowledge of what was left on it!).

I was already $12 into the hole, so now I'm a full $40 behind. Normally, this wouldn't be much of a big deal; but I had to go ahead and push it. I bought $90 worth of paper products (TP, napkins, tissues) for their house, since guess what... they were all out. For weeks. And had little intention of replenishing it. I have to wonder how that household works out, but it's not worth the headache. Good news is, I only spent $54 for all of it, thanks to some sales they had at Staples and a coupon. I did well, but it is still money I shouldn't have spent.

I know it's not an emergency, but I'm borrowing $50 from myself to cover at least the latter purchase. It'll just make this week be a bit easier mentally. I'll pay it back, promise!

Other than that, I've spent $45 on my brother's family blanket (which came today and it looks fantastic), as well as $27 on gifts for the Adopt-A-Bear kids (DVDs and coloring books). That leaves me with about $73 to cover for everything else. A co-worker semi jokingly offered to go with me to the mall on Friday after Thanksgiving, if we get off work early. I may just take her up on that offer... But this weekend's quality time is something I'm definitely thankful for. The expenses... not so much!