Today was a annual leave day (for me), which makes it a good day. I mean, getting paid and not driving 50 min. each way and not having to sit in a cubicle, how can that not be a good day?

I stayed in all day (no sense going out in the rain here on the east coast) and got lots done (including a number of financial goodies).

Non Financial:
Made 2 apple pies from apples from backyard tree, made lunches for next week, survived a hard weghtlifting DVD routine at lunch, plus did the weekly kitchen cleaning. (Now I have nothing to do this weekend!)

Financial:
* Bought $750 more of my local utility DRIP stock. Currently it is giving over 4% in dividends and given the gov't wants to keep interest rates at zero for the foreseeable future, saving the money in a bank seems a major waste.
* Setup my monthly mortgage payment, setup my monthly credit card payment (only $310!!), paid my semi-annual car insurance payment, and setup a transfer of money to a higher paying online account (all done online of course).
* Called my local phone company due to their letter asking me to consider switching to their service. For a few minutes we discussed rates, and there was nothing they had that was nearly as inexpensive as the local cable company's service. For my time, I am supposed to have activated a $5 Subway gift card that came with the letter. We'll see if that happens, though they are usually good about following through.

Financial / hobby:
* I see a rechargable tool battery pack (still new) I bought at a yard sale last weekend and put on ebay is bid up over $18. Not bad for a $1 purchase. Hey, this will pay for my two slot car sets I got this past month ($10 & $4)!
* Also used for the first time today some weights I bought last weekend (yard sales of course). Got them at about 10% of their in store prices. Fancy brand name stuff - gotta love it

Random thought: I found something good coming from washing dishes by hand (other than the savings and cleaner dishes part). My muscles were tired / sore after today's workout, but doing the dishes seemed to help the shoulders and biceps by having them do easy work and helped loosen them up. I feel much better now.