The trouble with money

I have to admit I have an issue with money. Not with spending it unnecessarily (really!) but more with thinking I have been 'cheated' out of my money. This tends to only happen when I have cash on hand, which thankfully, is not often.

The first time I became aware of this problem was our first trip to Seaside. At dinner the last night, or second to the last night I can't remember, I counted my money remaining and had less then I thought. I went back in my mind over all of the meals I had eaten, lattes I had enjoyed, and all the taffy I had bought.  I kept coming up with the wrong number. I felt in my gut I should have more money in my wallet then I did. This was very upsetting to me because the only thing I could think of was that my sisters had some how 'taken' my money. Now, I know they didn't do it intentionally but I was quite convinced at one of the meals I must have put in more money to pay for my share of the dinner then I should have. It was only $6 so it wasn't a huge amount but it was very upsetting to me.  Well, I won't go on but I will say that, no, my sisters did not take my money. I had forgotten about the $6 admission fee to the aquarium we had gone to. It was a little embarrassing, and to this day my sister's still tease me about how I felt I had been gip'd by them.

Well, I realized this is a serious problem I have when I went to take my boys out for ice cream the other night. Their dad had a dinner meeting and we were on our own for the night. For a special treat we headed out to Baskin Robbins before going to a park to play. I was so excited to go and eat ice cream with my beautiful boys.  I ordered Jack's strawberry ice cream cone, my rocky road ice cream cone, and a spoon for Micah. When I went to pay my heart stopped! I only had $2, where was my money? Each week my husband and I get $10 for  our 'coffee' money. This can be spent anyway you want but that is our cash to use for treats, mainly coffee. I was going to use the rest of mine to pay for our ice cream cones. I knew I had only gone for coffee once that week and it had cost $3. Where was the rest of my money! 

I sat down to eat my ice cream but could not enjoy it. I spent the entire time re-tracing my steps of the week to find out where my money went. I knew on Tuesday I had stopped at McDonald's after VBS for chicken nuggets for the boys. I did not have my $10 with me and ended up paying with my debit card. That night I went to Bible Study but did not spend any money there. Then, Wednesday, I stopped for a latte because I knew that from 2:30 on it would be a VERY long day. I got a triple latte and handed over my $10 to pay.

That was it! My barista must have taken my $10 and given me change for a 5 dollar bill! I go to the same drive-thru espresso stand and the barista is always the same. On Wednesday he was telling me a long story about President Bush and he must have looked at my money wrong. I was very upset. I was considering if it was possible to bring this up with him. I know $5 is not a lot of money but it was my coffee money for the week and it was gone.  

By the time I came out of my musings over my missing money, I realized Micah was on the table licking the window and Jack had ice cream all over his face and hands. Quickly, we cleaned up and left. I was still very upset about my stolen money and was once again re-tracing my week when I remembered. Oh, yeah. The boys and I went on a walk Tuesday afternoon to Cafe Javasti and shared a butter horn and I had an iced coffee. Oh, right, that is where I handed over my $10 and was given a $5 bill as change. I guess my money was not stolen and I did not have to confront my friendly barista to demand my money back.

I think I need help.