I'm back

   So far I have not gone over my very limited budget. To be honest I have 71 cents left until the 20th which is fine since I have all I need until then (actually to last me at least a year if you don't count perishables). I have a confession. I used most of what I had left (not much to begin with) to buy one of those free food with purchase deal. I paid for the sandwich smoked ham and got a pound and a half loaf of bread, a can of tomato soup and a large bag of potato chips. Not bad. BUT I really bought it because of one thing only: the potato chips. I'm addicted to potato chips (tortilla chips last me for months) and I will eat a bag in two days. That's the number one reason I'm over weight.
   I ate half the bag the first day. Then yesterday I began to eat the second half. It then dawned on me that I was hurting my chances of ever meeting my goal to pay off the house and of staying out of credit card debt. How? If I can't beat my addiction to chips, how can I even hope to beat my spending addiction. Also, since I began the budget, which doesn't allow for buying chips, I have lost 10 lbs without even trying. Nothing short of a miracle when it come to me. I don't want to lose track of my goal and I don't want to gain that weight back. I did what I needed to do, I threw out the potato chips. I felt good.
   Maybe I'm exagerating the effect of eating a bag of chips but I'm not going to risk it. I'll just continue making fries once in a while. It's not as bad as it sounds as I only allow myself to use a very small potato (about 1oz) and I cut them very thin so they seems like a lot. I'm figuring out all sorts of tricks to fool myself into being "good".
   Today I planted my garlic for next year. I like garlic but not the price. I finished cleaning my herb garden and preparing new beds for peppers and eggplant for next year. I'm glad I enjoy gardening because that was very hard work. I had to remove a huge amount of oregano that I first planted 4 years ago. It's not supposed to be hardy in this area, not true. The roots were so deep and strong that it felt like I was digging trees. Good exercise. (Look at the positive side, Carmen.) Today was also the third day of over 80 degrees weather. Not exactly what you would expect in central Minnesota during October. At least the tomatoes are still ripening on the vines that are left. I'm still picking beans and raspberries.