What Would You Do?

I had one of those "That will never happen twice" strokes of luck last night. At least I think I did, because I'm not sure whether or not I should have handled it differently.

I asked The Boy last night if he wanted to do anything, and he said a friend of his wanted to do a casino night at one of the big casinos in town. I'm not one for gambling, and I told The Boy that, but I said I'd tag along and hang out anyway.

We got there, and one of the friends sat down at the roulette table to play. He had a "fool proof strategy" for winning money in roulette. While the method he used does work, albeit slowly, you have to have a LOT of money to back you up. He didn't have enough. It was painful to watch, because he was betting on red, and it came up consistently black again and again.

After leaving the table, The Boy and I decided to go back and see how long it took before the roulette table hit red again. We got there, and the wheel kept turning up black. I looked down and noticed a bunch of money laying on the floor behind the chair where our friend had been sitting, so I picked it up. It was really busy, but I looked around to see if anyone was fiddling with their wallets and could have possibly dropped it. Everyone was facing tables concentrating on their games. It wasn't near any of the dealers, so I didn't think it was house money. I looked at The Boy, and he told me I better put it in my pocket.

We walked over and told the people we were with what happened. They were stunned, but nobody actually claimed the money as theirs.

The Boy and I wandered around while the friends played $5 black jack and nickel slots, then headed out for the night.

Neither The Boy or I placed a single bet at the casino, but I walked out with almost $200 cash in my pocket.

He says he's bringing me to the casino more often.

Some of the money is going towards a girls night out tonight, but the majority of it is currently sitting snugly in my emergency savings account. It was the little kick start that account needed.

However, I have that needling little bit of guilt in the back of my head. I know that holding it up and saying "did anyone drop this?" would get me swamped, but does anyone know if there is a proper protocol for found money in a casino? Just curious.

In Defence of Valentines Day

I like Valentine's Day.

There, I said it. Let the hate mail commence.

I like the cards, flowers, and all of the little gestures that come along with it. I'm not going to pretend I don't, because I do. I know we're supposed to love each other every single day, 365 days a year, but here's the thing: life gets in the way. When you're tired, you have a deadline at work, the dog just spilled the garbage can, your spouse left the toilet seat up (again...), and you're changing junior's 3rd diaper before 8am, how many people are thinking "I love ____. I'm going to do _____ to show them how I feel."? Very few. If you do, kudos. My hat's off to you, but you are a statistical anomaly.

If your entire focus on this day is the price of (admittedly overpriced) roses, or how much Hallmark is wringing out of your wallet, you're missing the point. If she loves you, a piece of paper folded in half with some heartfelt words on it is going to mean just as much to her, if not more, than a purchased card. Does she NEED a card? Well, no, but it is a nice sentiment. Same with flowers. Do you NEED to buy flowers from a florist who is making a killing off you for a very brief couple weeks in February? No. (Though if you do want to get flowers, check out Costco. Really good selection, way cheaper) If the shelf life of roses irks you, why not do something about it?

Why not make the flowers?

Out of duct tape?

Silvery duct tape flowers.

I think I'd propose on the spot to the guy who ever made me those....

Why are these things important to me anyway? Am I a materialistic prima donna? (Wait, don't answer that, my consumer debt isn't really helping my argument here) I'm going to go with no. Valentines Day was something that did get a bit of focus in my family though. My parents celebrated it, as did my grandparents. When I was a kid, my dad worked 2 day jobs, while going to school in the evening so he could get a better job. My mom looked after the farm, baked bread to sell at one of the stores in town, and looked after my sister and I. They were obviously very busy, and very tired. Valentine's Day was one day that come hell or high water the rat race took the back seat to the fact that they were in love and wanted to celebrate that. No one lamented over the price of a card, or snorted in derision at the shelf life of flowers. They are simply appreciated, and they are a beautiful display of the affection my parents share for each other.

Now, I've started seeing someone over the last couple weeks. Do I expect the same grand sweeping gestures my dad tries to show my mom? Of course not. But, we are going out tonight. We're going skating. It doesn't cost us anything, but it's special to me because we're making a point of seeing each other today. Like most people, I see him mostly on the weekend when there is more free time. Seeing him today is a little gesture that makes me incredibly happy, because if it wasn't for the fact that it is Valentine's Day today, I'd probably just see him again next weekend.

That little bow and quiver of arrows may have had some questionable aim over the last couple years, but I'm not going to hold it against the chubby little cherub. In fact, I support him. The little bugger has his heart in the right place, which is exactly what I hope for everyone else today. Happy Valentines Day everyone. Go show someone you care.

First Date Finances

As I mentioned yesterday, I went on a date on Saturday, and despite both of us being quite nervous it seemed to go pretty well. In fact we're going on another one this week.

I know the generally accepted first dates are typically coffee or drinks, but ours turned into a full day adventure. We watched the Oiler's skills competition (playful hockey competition for those of you not familiar with the NHL), played several games of pool, and went for dinner.

I know it's traditional/customary for guys to pay for the first date, but I realized something this morning that has me thinking. While we were at the skills competition, he was paying for everything with cash. After we played pool, I believe he paid cash again. When we went out for dinner, he paid with a credit card. I'm well aware that it wasn't a cheap date, and I'm feeling like I should have chipped in somewhere. I don't like to think that a guy is putting himself into debt just to take me on a date!

I have a couple movie passes, so I'm covering the cost of the (much smaller) date this time. We're going during the work week, so I know this one won't turn into another 12 hour adventure. But I'm still wondering if I should have chipped in on the first one. How do you feel about first date payments? Do you go traditional, or do you believe the "he pays" is obsolete? Do you think when you switch activities that you should start chipping in? (So the first date was essentially 3 dates) I'd like to hear from you on this one.

Weekend Update

Sometimes I just feel like appreciating the little things going on in my life. This a quick blurb about some of the things that made me happy this weekend:

• I went on a first date. It went well. We'll be going on another this week :)
• I hung out with one girls from work. We've been trying to do something since September, but the timing has never worked out! We finally got a chance to hang out :)
• My credit card minimum payment is down below $100 for the first time in months.
• While I'm still a tad under the weather (turns out the cold/flu was actually a sinus infection. Boo that), I can actually breathe through my nose again :)
• We've had gorgeous weather! It's been +3 degrees here for the last couple days :)
• Breakfast cinnamon bun. Om nom nom :)
• I spent over an hour talking to my grandfather on Skype, and gave him a virtual house tour with my laptop. I love how he stays reasonably up to date with technology :)

You'll notice I'm quite enjoying using my smily face for punctuation :)

Anyway, I hope you all had great weekends as well. See you all in the blogosphere early Monday morning!

New Year... New Beginnings?

Remember that post I wrote a while back about cheap dates?

http://diggingoutandup.blogspot.com/2010/12/cheap-dates.html

It was definitely mistimed. My boyfriend and I broke up 4 days later. Merry Christmas to me.

I've done a reasonably good job of not letting my blahs go to my wallet (my waistline may be another story), though to be honest having it happen during the Christmas season I'm not sure whether I should file certain expenditures under "Holiday" or "Bah Humbug".

So, this brings me back to "First Date" territory rather than just "Date" territory. I was looking over the list, and some of the things on there I can't really do right away. Sit at home and watch a movie with someone I just met? Maybe not the smartest idea. Going to have to rethink that one. Also, I've been on very few formal dates in the past few years, I'm not entirely sure I have anything to wear.

So, this is more of a question to all of the financially savvy women in the blogosphere: What would you suggest for a frugal cold weather first date, and what would you wear? I'm giving my wardrobe a critical eye right now, trying to figure out what to do with it. I could really use the help right now!

Cheap Dates

My boyfriend came home Saturday :)

He's been gone the better part of a year and a half doing training for the military.

It got me thinking a little while back about what we could do in terms of cheap dates. I don't have a lot of money to spend, and I seriously doubt he's okay with paying for everything we do together. That being said, he did take me out to eat this weekend. It was enjoyed and very much appreciated.

What else did we do? We went for a long walk in West Edmonton Mall (not to shop, it was -18 plus windchill outside so we needed somewhere we could walk without freezing), we watched movies at home, we went to the gym together (using passes I get free from work), and just relaxed. All free.

I have a pair of free movie passes at home, and a $100 gift card to one of the nicer steak houses in town. I'll probably save the movie passes for later in the month, and possibly organize a double date with friends of ours at the steak house. I think there might be a couple winter festivals coming up that we could check out reasonably cheap, if not free, and I believe they have free outdoor skating and hot chocolate at the legislative grounds right now. I'm going to ask about borrowing my dad's snowshoes; my boyfriend can borrow snowshoes from the military, and there is a park across the street from my house we could trample around in. Lululemon offers free yoga on Sunday mornings, but I'm not entirely convinced we could get out of bed early enough for it. Other than that, I'm not sure what we could do right now.

What are your favourite things to do for free/cheap with a significant other? Any ideas for cold weather dates?