I ended up working through dinner tonight and grabbed a quick meal out. Dh and I are going back on the South Beach diet next week (after our big party this weekend), so I decided to head to the Golden Arches for one last hurrah. I told myself that I could get whatever I wanted - whatever the cost. So I pulled up to the drive-thru and was perusing the menu, when I noticed the three cars that immediately pulled up behind me. Being the notorious read-every-item-on-the-menu person that I am (which drives my two-cheeseburger-meal husband crazy as he ALWAYS gets the same thing), I wasn't quite ready to make the choice, but didn't want to be the cause of some horn-honking brawl in the McD's parking lot, so I moved forward and said the first thing that came to my mind - snack wrap with fries, no drink. $3. Whoa, big spender. What a way to whoop it up for my last fast food meal for a while. I should have gotten one of those yummy looking fried-chicken-with-bacon-heart-attack sandwiches. Or one of those fried-chicken-with-bacon-heart-attack salads. But I settled on a fried-chicken-with-mayo-mild-chest-pain wraps instead. Slightly better for you and slightly cheaper.
Tomorrow DH is off from school (he will be starting at a new student teaching site on Monday - about 15 minutes closer to home) and I am off from work. I have a lunch meeting with a mortgage provider (someone I might network with professionally - they invited me to lunch to explain their programs), then I will be cooking the rest of the day for my SILs Oktoberfest bash on Saturday. We are bringing chili, bierocks (aka "beer rocks" - rolls filled with hamburger, cabbage, and onion), pepper jelly/cream cheese dip, and pickled beets with eggs. It is an annual event for us and a ton of fun. They started holding the party about 5 years ago after they bought their house and we are on the VERY short list of people who have come to every party

More free stuff to track: two cans of cat food my aunt received as samples, but won't use. Retail value: $1, my value: 0
Total freebies: $287.45(retail value: $998.48)