I am SO ready for a new month and cannot wait to flip that calendar page to Oct.

Sept did have it's highlights: a weekend away with the family and a birthday party. We've added a second car to our mix, making transportation not so much of an issue - less orchestration of driving where in what succession and who will carpool with us.

But, the big BUT is the amount of money that went out this month:

$375 for brakes and oil change
$250 asthma medication for older daughter
$225 for shoes for older daughter (hard/soft for dance)
$94 for trumpet start up ($52 monthly lessons/$42 rent to own and deposit)
$500 my tooth troubles ($25 RX, $90 consult, $380 my portion - projected - of root canal)

Looking at that list I just want to say "Murphy, go away." But they're not all Murphies. I budget about $500 for extraneous which is everything outside of gas/groceries.

I've got $600 in a little savings account (my PNC Bank "Reserve" account) which I'll have to turn over to cover some of this.

Pay day is tomorrow, thankfully. I have $12 left in the checking account.

My menu for the next ten days is going to comprise of chicken and ground beef menu items. I'm thawing 6# of chicken breasts and 4# of ground beef. Tomorrow is cook-away-day and I'll be in the kitchen.

I am feeling somewhat better today. No vicodin required, though I feel bad - a very raw sore throat and like I am recovering from a broken jaw.