Haven't blogged in awhile - Family activities took over all moments of spare time.

This past weekend DD8 made her First Communion - Sacrament on Saturday, Celebration on Sunday. Because we had DD9's Communion last year, I had a good idea on how much to budget. Here were my totals:

Dinner/Lunch out: $120 2006, $50 2007
(DD8 loves a local pulled pork place, and we did lunch rather than dinner at an Itaian restuarant)

Cake: $34 2006, $56 2007
(DD8 HAD to have the cake shaped like a Cross with lavendar and pink roses/sprinkles)

Grociers for Celebration: $120 2007
(This included White Wine from Aldi's as well as beautiful fowers. All I couldn't find there was Ricotta cheese for my lasagna)

My clothing: This is a category that was nonexistent for awhile, but I did manage to pull myself together: Spend on clothing $75 (one dress was $74 but had $50 gift card - $24 of my own dollars, and the other was $48 plus tax). Also went to Payless and gt 4 pair of shoes for my DD9 and myself (3 pairs! all sandals) at Buy One get 1/2 Off. And my hair - $10 hair cut at Great Clips ($7.99 coupon for cut an $2.01 plus tax) and $7.99 plus tax for Box of Hair Color

I'm pretty pleased with myself and my money management - plus DD8 got generous monetary gifts from her grandparents - she did ask if she could buy herself a pair of Crocs with some of her money - I said Yes.