lent outta shape

the end of twenty dollar lent!  i made it!  this has been one of the more suckular secular lent challenges for me, but it was awesome at the same time. 

so the final tally for each week goes as follows:
$0.14
$000000
$7.80
$0.87
$000000
(-$6.83)
$0.81

... which would make the total overall a whopping $2.79.  however, fate stepped in yesterday!  we went out for steak with derek's parents, only to have to send back TWO sets of overcooked meat.  not only did we end up paying for nothing, but the manager was kind enough to give us forty bucks worth of gift certificates.  even after leaving cash on the table for the poor waitress that felt like crap for the fact that our food was such a debacle, we still ended up way ahead.  frankly, i was fine after eating salads and sides and bread, but hey, if they wanna reward us simply on the basis for not being a dick about it, then the bonus was worth the trouble by far.

i guess if you add in the bonus moolah courtesy of the guy in the kitchen who can't manage to cook a steak without charring the hell out of it, then i'm up a total of close to thirty bucks!  it's a good thing, too, because we went out for pizza (after midnight, so it was totally easter by then) and left another whopping tip just to celebrate.  going on to blow more money, i'm thinking the left over pad thai from earlier this evening is going to make a great lunch tomorrow.

in the end, i've done well, and derek has even helped me (mostly) stick to my weekly budget.  even the overage had nothing to do with him, as i insisted that he needed to try some dorito loco tacos and neglected to tell him that i was out of money for the week.  the real goal was to get me to eat at home more and spend less of my paycheck on forcing people to bring me food.  goal served as far as i'm concerned.  the grocery store is once again my happy place, i've managed to "cook" on a regular basis, and i'm sticking way more fresh produce in my face under the guise of emergency food.  thank goodness that making spinach salads is way quicker than ordering takeout, or else this would've been a massively failed attempt at new habits. 

oh, and the funny thing?  my pants are thanking me as well.  they've quit putting a sleeper hold on my belly button and started being nicer to me.  my bra still reserves the right to regularly torture my dorsal cleavage, but the rest of my clothes have come together in a united show of support.  i'm not the sort to do a regimented diet, and i think i look pretty good most of the time - i just hate having to buy new pants.  while i didn't anticipate the shift in body goo away from the waistline, anything to keep me out of a badly lit fitting room works for me. 

some people thought at the beginning of the challenge that i would rarely get to go out to eat.  i must say that it was surprising just how much fun i could have on twenty dollars a week. maximum number of times i went out in one week?  FIVE!  thanks to coupons, happy hours, splitskies on meals and a concerted effort, i found out one of the big parts of fun is all about ordering water instead of a beverage.  when the hell did they start charging so much for fucking iced tea?!?!  handy tip from me to you.  go forth and order out, all on less than probably already spend on cappucinos.

the next challenge looms:
script frenzy for april - eek!  i'm about 15 pages in to the 100 page goal so far.  more updates as things roll along.  whether i make it or not, i'm taking myself out to eat at the end of the month!