How I Spent The Eleventh Week Of The Rest Of My Life

Back in the day of this blog (it really is starting to feel like I've been unemployed for far more than two months), I mentioned that I wanted to take a vacation somewhere warm.  Well that never materialized because I started worrying about spending too much money.  Instead, on a whim yesterday, since I had never been, I planned a trip to the Wisconsin Dells for a couple of weeks from now.

I figure after all of the cleaning and packing that I'll be doing in the time leading up to them the remainder of this week and then next week, I'll deserve a bit of rest and relaxation.  Though my plans to pack up the clothes I need and giving away the ones I don't want today failed.  Brunch at Victory's Banner was just too satisfying.  But I did throw out three garbage bags worth of "junk" that I might have at one time called "memories" yesterday.

CLEAN...Um, ER.

Anyhow, back to my exciting adventure.  I decided to take the train there with gas prices being what they are (and still not owning a car of my own renting a car for a few days would be a pretty penny).  The train station in Wisconsin Dells is right downtown.  I may still need to rent a car for a couple of days but $45 for two days so I can get to the more outer parts of town and actually into nature beats $250 to rent and drive from Chicago.  The train ticket is $80 round trip.  The hotel is $195 after taxes for four nights and three full days (the only downside to taking the train is that it gets to the Dells at 5:30 p.m. and leaves the Dells at noon, not an optimal schedule).

All in all, with tours and water parks and mini-golf and meals and the like, I figure this trip will cost a little below $500.00.  Far less than going some place warm would have.  Not as exciting, but I don't want to leave this part of the midwest without having been to the Wisconsin Dells at least once.  Once on the east coast, I am not going to take over 11 years to get to the Maryland Shore, that's for sure.

I'm going from the afternoon of the 5th until the morning of the 9th of April.

Last week, I managed to not spend a lot of money *most* of the week.  But another holiday meant a bit of loose pockets.  Now that I'm saving for a trip, however, I have more reason not to spend.

Here's how I "spent" last week:

TUESDAY, MARCH 15 ($6.15)

• 2:24 p.m. Bubbleland - $3.90.  I think my landlady has just given up on fixing the washing machine with how many of the tenants are moving out.  I had to buy fabric softener this time which was the difference in price.
• 7:58 p.m. McCormick Tribune YMCA - Free.  My desire to watch the kickoff of the MLS season for as little a price as possible led me to watch it at the gym.
• 9:34 p.m. Dorothy's Liquors - $2.25.  I don't know why I didn't start having a post-gym PBR here long ago.  I think I was probably a little scared of the clientele before I actually went in.  It's actually kind of nice and welcoming here.  And, yeah, $1.25 PBR.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16 (Free)

THURSDAY, MARCH 17 ($53.68)

• 12:11 p.m. McCormick Tribune YMCA - Free.  This was the first time since college I had actually gotten to view the start of the NCAA tournament live.  I watched the opening tip at home and then went to the gym.  When I first got there my pick in the first game, Clemson, was winning.  By the time I left, they had lost.  It set a bad precedent.
• 2:17 p.m. Revolution Brewing Company - $22.00.  I know one of the bakers here.  She created a Bailey's ice cream and they just premiered a new stout called Paddy Wagon Irish.  It tasted so good and so did my peeps' creation - an Irish Car Bomb Float.  I left a little bit full of Irish happiness.
• 3:21 p.m. Logan Theater - $4.00.  Seeing Black Swan tipsy was probably the best and worst idea that I had in the month of March.  The movie was every bit as messed up as I was, but it was really incredible.
• 5:26 p.m. McDonald's - $2.68.  I couldn't let the entire St. Patrick's Day season go by without getting a Shamrock Shake.  Thankfully, the person I was supposed to meet at the bar for the NCAA games was running late so I had time to enjoy it in all of its deliciousness.  I wish I had gotten more than one.
• 6:08 p.m. Logan Bar and Grill - $25.00.  Not worth any of this money.  They had the sound off and they wouldn't even turn the Michigan State game on when it started.  I was there with some people who defended the staff, but I will never set foot in this place again.

FRIDAY, MARCH 18 ($36.05)

• 11:59 a.m. Supercuts - $16.00.  This might be my last time at this location.  I know I previously said that I was going to go to the barber by my apartment, but I'm pretty much committed to this place until I leave I think.
• 12:51 p.m. Zad Middle Eastern Cuisine - $5.00.  I had a Groupon from this place that I first tried at an iWish lesson about a year ago.  I love everything her so much that I just blew through the $20.00 getting a couple of sides and a main.  It might be my favorite Mediterranean place outside of Albany Park though, so I was glad to give it beyond just what it would get from the Groupon.
• 2:02 p.m. Borders - Free.  Even though I got the urge to buy a deeply discounted eReader, I resisted due to my St. Patrick's spending already.  The travel section I had loved in my favorite Borders in Chicago on Clark had already been packed up and sent back.  It was really a sad state to see the Borders almost closed.
• 5:00 p.m. Aldi - Milwaukee - $15.05.  Knowing that I would be needing to do all of these housecleaning tasks this week, I figured I would buy a lot of groceries.  But they were out of red shopping baskets so I didn't buy as many as planned.  They were not, however, out of popsicles!
• 7:42 p.m. McCormick Tribune YMCA - Free.  In order to not repeat my NCAA basketball expenses from the bar the day before, I watched the Friday evening games at the gym.

SATURDAY, MARCH 19 (Free)

• 5:30 p.m. McCormick Tribune YMCA - Free.  Even though I was tempted to watch the first Fire match at the bar, the fact that I had managed to be free the day before led me to be free again.  That and my NCAA picks had already began to be crap so I saw no point in going to the bar to watch basketball.

SUNDAY, MARCH 20 ($34.76)

• 11:26 a.m. Big Jones - $15.00.  I had been wanting to try this brunch place in Andersonville for a long time.  And it lived up to everything that I had heard about it.  I was surprised at how inexpensively I got away with the Migas, however, since there were some very pricey things on the menu.
• 1:41 p.m. Target - $19.76.  The reason I had been going to the laundromat so much recently was that I was out of short of socks without holes in.  So I bought a pack of them.  Hopefully this will mean less laundry so I consider it an investment.

MONDAY, MARCH 21 ($4.00)

• 2:21 p.m. North Community Bank - Free.  Cleaning my apartment, I found a couple of checks worth about $70.00.  So this was really a positive.  Still, I'll count it as a free.
• 2:54 p.m. McCormick Tribune YMCA - Free.  It was almost weird to come here on a day without basketball after all of the recent times.  But it was also nice to have it not be as crowded as it is in the evenings.
• 4:36 p.m. Tastee Freez - $4.00.  The first day of spring fell on a day where I didn't go to the gym and, therefore, did not think about the Tastee Freez as I passed by it.  I made up for it by getting a cake batter shake to kick off the season on this nice day.  Online I discovered that there are no Tastee Freezes in metro D.C.  I am going to have to go back at least once or twice more before I leave.

So that's $134.64.  There's no more holidays before I leave Chicago that I know of.  I hope.  Looking at that, this vacation to the Dells might not be the best idea, but I'm doing it anyway.  It might be a once in a lifetime thing.  My total money spent while I've been unemployed is $1752.87.