I followed the link from the main site to the 'complaint free' bracelet. and found a site for a church that is dedicated to not complaining.....

Not complaining! but that is what I do! Most of my entrys are in the complaint category!

Not that I like to complain, well you know maybe a little. Just that 'life is ducky' is well boring..and doesn't result in very much helpful advice.

How am I supposed to learn how to save if I never get around to complaining that I don't have enough money? Or learn to cook better if I just go along 'ducky' with my lousy cooking (I bake not cook, though some foods I am good at)

How am I supposed to change if I don't complain?

I can't think of a single change I have made that didn't start with me complaining...I reduced sugar due to too many headahes....I increased whole grains due to too many drops in sugar after 'healthy meals' that had all white stuff.

Complaining may be worthless when no change can occur, but:

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change those things that I can....and the wisdom to know the difference.

I can see the need to not complain or worry about things you cannot change like......ummm......oh I know: the time between lunar eclipses. (boy was that hard to come up with!)

But as to things I can change, I just need some patience figuring out how and waiting for it to work (not to mention persistance to try try again)

now I shall check 'complaint department' for my category..and move on.....

I am geeked, little things excite me. We went to the roof of the science center parking lot after a day of science, and managed to see Venus..which looks just like a big white spot....

And we saw Saturn, which really looks like saturn! rings and all! It was very cool!

Unfortunatly the roof is a bad place to see the lunar eclipse, we didn't see any of it till we had left the roof and were driving home and that was the tail end of it as the moon came out of the shadow.

Now about that money....we went to the science center first, around 3pm, and we figured we could pack dinner or eat out at the cafeteria. Before expoloring we asked "when does the cafeteria close today" the response was 4, no wait 5 it is saturday. Well we figured 4:30 for dinner was fine, and headed back to food at that time...only to find it had closed.....boy were we boiling mad. How on earth can you expect to remain open if you refuse to serve customers, and wont even tell anyone the right times!!!

We walked down the street looking for a restaurant that was wiling to take short kids, found one but the wait was 45 minutes! we signed up anyway seeing as all the restaurants we passed were pubs or had long lines. We headed to the bar and found several empty tables...but were told we had to wait to be seated by a hostess to get menues and food.....
Then we went outside and watched them clear several tables outside and NO one was seated...rows of empty patio tables and they wouldn't seat us! I have no idea what their trouble was.

But while waiting I found some balloons just on a string and let my daughter play, she loved it. And I happend to see over in the corner the unlocking of doors at a little bohemian looking restaurant.... opens at 5, completly empty, and had food....we dropped the 'blinker pager' from the first restaurant and headed for the cafe....bit odd of the food choice (every plate came with a cookie hidden under the chips...) but it was food and it was served relativly quickly.

We were talking with a firend about whole wheat bread and they said they liked the gneneric bread from BJs, and that it was cheaper than the brand she saw us eat from that day.

Well we thought we were eating the cheapest 100% whole wheat bread...

Next trip to the store we looked around, and found we were spending almost 50 cents more for two loaves than the cheapest (which wasn't the generic she recomended but was even healthier than both our brand and hers....)

Anyway...in case I am not the only one who does the research once then assumes it is still good...never get lazy! keep looking for a new brand, or repricing, or something.

No not entertaining us, entertaining guests...I don't have a seperate category for it, but I do buy food for company...not alot, not the best or top of the line, and I simply cannot afford to cater dinner, nor do you want to be stuck with what I cook

But there is some, I was talking with someone about budgets and it occured to me...not for the first time, but in a different way. A budget is to help figure out what you want to spend money on, if you go about it willy nilly spending when the occassion arrises, at the end of the month you may be able to stay under income, but you may realize you spent a ton on XYZ but that you keep wanting to have money for ABC......

For me company is one of the things we want to have some money for, as is paying off the car. sorry but % wise the car is winning! (especially last month!)