No eating out:
Sept. 8: success.
Sept. 9: success (I think I can trust myself to go the next 20 minutes without ordering pizza! EDIT: done; it's after midnight! )

That makes 7 successful days out of 9.

I did really well this weekend, resisting several temptations to spend my fun money. I survived and didn't spend a dime of it!

Saturday we went to the party where I'd found out there was a cash bar. Well, true to my suspicions, the food wasn't free either; they had a trendy food truck out back where you could buy food. I was pretty thirsty and peckish by the end but managed not to buy anything.

Challenge #2 was that we were having so much fun with our friends they wanted to go to a bar afterward. I got a glass of water and didn't order food. My friend insisted on sharing one of his appetizers with me, but I definitely didn't push for that, so I still consider it a success. Didn't pay for it anyway!

Challenge #3: When we got home, AS said she was going to order from our favorite pizza place. I had a small snack from the freezer that did push me over my calorie limit but at least didn't cost me anything, then went to bed before she ordered so I wouldn't be tempted.

Today we went to a block party with those same friends. I found it pretty easy to resist the food and drinks available, but I was tempted by a cute T-shirt that was only $5. However, T-shirts are not an area of my wardrobe that I need to focus on to get ready for winter, so I resisted that too.

We went to our friends' studio for a quick photo shoot and then to their house for dinner. I'd brought vegan sloppy joe fixin's and salad, thinking it would be a light meal. But then my friend bought vegetarian baked beans and BBQ potato chips, two of my biggest weaknesses! So I ended up going overboard, and I think that's one of the reasons I gained 2 lbs. at my weigh-in tonight. Back up to 135, 6 lbs. away from my goal. But I think it was a bit of an aberration because of my eating being skewed toward the weekend. I'm hoping this will be easy to get past.

We need to dip a bit more into the grocery budget than I thought; I had to get milk and wipes for the girls while at the block party ($4.50) because of poor planning, and we'll need more pull-ups for AA, when I originally thought we'd be able to last until next Monday. It's also looking more likely that we'll need formula before Friday. So we'll start the next semimonthly period a bit short, but if we buckle down again for a couple weeks we should pull out of it. We are the LEAST behind on groceries that we've been for a while, so I'm still encouraged.

AA has successfully used the potty three times in the past week. Funnily enough, we used to be able to get her to use it about once a day before we were "officially" in potty training mode, so it's a bit trying. I am attempting not to see dollar signs for every pull-up she soils. I'll just focus on how beneficial to our household budget her eventual success will be!

Speaking of good budget news, I believe the healthcare switch for SL will show up on my and NT's Sept. 15 paycheck. I'd love to have our paycheck amounts stabilize for the rest of the year!