Dimples' Divine Domain
My journey to financial empowerment.

This mom is kicking budget booty left and right. The private school that my daughter attends is coordinating a summer camp for the grade school kids. The were offering summer camp for grades K thru 12 for $88/week. Definitely better than the $110 I was looking at paying to just keep her in plain old daycare. So if my daughter is starting kindergarten in August she should qualify for the camp right? Wrong. Well that is what the one of the pre-K teachers told me anyways. So being who I am I decided to speak to someone who actually had authority to say yes or no, the summer camp director. After some chit-chatting that lasted 15 minutes I was able to get my daughter enrolled into their summer camp program for the summer. I had to pay a $140 registration fee that covered all the summer field trips and activities and others things like gas, lunch, and snacks. I will then pay $88 a week for summer camp. I don't have to pay for weeks that she will not be there (which is perfect sin...

Remember in my " My Money is acting Funny! " post I talked about how some of my budget categories would be increasing in June? And how I was going to work on finding a way to combat some of those? Well I was able to get my monthly internet bill lowered back to the original $19.99 I have been paying for the last year. I called Brighthouse earlier this week and requested that I be put on another promotion with a lower rate than I currently had ($29.99) or I would cancel my service and go with someone else. Within 5 minutes I was put on a current promotion that was running for new customers, $19.99/month for Roadrunner Lite. I was also able to keep my current internet plan and speed (which is a bit faster than Roadrunner Lite). Now to work on the other stuff.......

OMG!!!! Beautiful Tear Jerking Heart Wrenching Explosive Awesome Just plain........DAMN!!! I am so late on this because I don't have cable and I usually catch up on my fav shows on Friday and the weekend. So I saw the part 1, House's Head, earlier this evening and it left be mystified and wanting more. But I could not, for the life of me, find part 2, Wilson's Heart. So I put my detective cap on and did some spy work on google. AND I FOUND IT !!!!! I am all cried out........................

I just received the following comment from Anonymous on my " Crockpot Recipe of the Week: BBQ Riblets " post: "ok, seriously, WHERE are you shopping for this meat for so cheap? Do you hunt it down yourself? You dating a butcher? I'm impressed and thoroughly intrigued by your cooking. See, now i'm hungry...lol " LMBAO!!!! No I do not hunt my food nor am I dating a butcher. I am just blessed to be located near some very inexpensive stores. I bought the package of riblets on sale at a Dollar General supermarket (there are only 3 in Florida). I also shop at a farmer's market and they are also super inexpensive.

BBQ RIBLETS (whole) Ingredients: 1 package of pork riblets = $1.96 Dimples' Special marinade = $1.00 - 2 tsp of red pepper flakes (adjustable to the level of heat you want in the dish) - 2 tsp of garlic powder - 2 tsp of onion powder - 2 tsp of salt free seasoning - 1 tsp of black pepper -2 tsp of chopped parsley -1/2 cup of italian dressing Dimples' Special Low Sodium BBQ Sauce = $1.00 (or just use your own fav BBQ sauce) - 2 cups of low sodium ketchup - 2 capfuls of white vinegar - 1 tsp of chili powder - 2 tsp of garlic powder - 2 tsp of onion powder - 1/3 cup of brown sugar TOTAL COST = $3.96 (approximate) Prep Time = 5 minutes (marinading riblets overnight is optional) Cook Time = 4 hours on high or 7 hours on low Directions: Make marinade. It should turn into a nice paste. Clean riblets and then put them into a gallon size ziplock bag. Pour in marinade. Close bag and massage riblets until they are thoroughly covered in the seasoning paste. You can either marinate...

The past two weeks have been real hectic. I was working on a important project that took a lot of my time and drained a lot out of me. I was hitting the sack no later than 9:30 on most days. But it is complete and I am done with it for good. Now let us get into this funny money business. Remember my budget for this month and the highlighted fields? If you don't then here it is again: My expenses have increased by $75 since last month (technically it increased by $510 if you count the car note but I am focusing on the categories that were pretty much stagnant for the past several months) . My rent went up from $650 to $700. The promo that I was on for my internet ended and I am now paying regular price. Food prices have increased and I had to increase my grocery budget in order to keep up. I am outside of my home more than usual and I have to resort to using my cell phone more than usual. I had to upgrade my plan after two months of excessive overages. On top of all that m...

I had to realign some of the due dates. Changes will be in green. I may hold off on school this year. With everything going on my job I am not sure if I want to add school on to my list of ish to deal with. CAREER DEVELOPMENT PLAN FOR 2008 GOALS: * Become a Lead Engineer on one or more projects. – 11/1/08 * Increase knowledge and skill level in following programs: + AutoCAD – 7 /1/08 + Pro E Drafting – 11/1/08 + Access – 6/1/08 + Oracle – 8/1/08 * Pass the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) exam. --> I took the test on 4/12 but I won't get the results until July. – 7/08 * Initiate steps to obtaining a graduate certificate in the following program: + Applied Operations Research – 7/15/08 * Complete online certificate program at AMBAI for following programs: + Management and Business Administration Certificate – 8/1/08 + Finance and Investing Certificate – 9/1/08 TASKS: - FE EXAM: > Register for the April FE exam - 1/11/08 > Study with co-workers - 1/08 à 4/08 ...