I mentioned a few weeks ago that I went to IHOP and ate 11 pancakes. I went a week after that and then again yesterday and each time ate 11 pancakes. Needless to say, on each occasion I was full for the day, but $3.99 for 11 pancakes is a deal I can't pass up.

I also want to mention that when I cashed my check on the 20th (it seems so much longer ago) I did the stupid thing of not putting my money in my wallet right away. This is a very me thing to do and happens all the time. There have been occasions when I drop a bill when digging into my pocket for loose bills. I always look down at myself while I do it to prevent dropping money.

I didn't do it last time.

I had cashed my check, never put the bills in my wallet and then, after coming home from an afternoon of buying cd's, concert tickets gasoline and film, added up my receipts and realized I was short $100.

At first I figured it was in another pocket. But I didn't find it and then added up my receipts, subtracted them from my total spent and confirmed I was indeed short $100.

Needless to say I was pretty frantic. Especially since I had already spent $16.99 on a Shelby Lynne CD that I ended up receiving for free later that night. I had opened the purchased one and couldn't return it.

From the 20th to the beginning of this month, I was careful with my money. Finally, I had to charge a tank of gas and borrow $20 from my mom because even after conserving, it didn't last me the remaining 15 days.

I cashed my latest check, went to IHOP and saw the cute waitress Chantay (who I called 'Chambray' in the other entry) who happened to be my waitress again. As soon as she saw me she mentioned that the last time I came in, I had dropped $100.

Bingo! That's where my money was.

She said that they asked who the last person at the table was, she said it was me and that they went out to the parking lot to see if they could find me. I had left, so they checked the video tape and had me on tape dropping the $100 out of my pocket. She told me that the manager had been saving it and that she'd be right over.

It was like a spectacle. Chantay told two workers on her way to the manager and by the time she walked back over with the manager, at least four people were at my table. The manager pulled the $100 out of a large white envelope and I spent the next thirty seconds thanking them repeatedly for their honesty.

I wonder if she would have kept it if I had left a smaller tip.

The rest of the meal went off without a hitch, except for the somewhat absentmindedness of my waitress. I felt I had to give her an extra tip though for her honesty.

My sister asked me what I would have done had I found it. The answer was simple: give it back. I found a wallet with $256 in it on a bus in ninth grade and rather than turning it in to the driver, I took it home and we tracked her down. She gave me $20 for doing it. In seventh grade I found $5 out on the massive grassy field during P.E. and turned it in. I really could have kept that without any guilt because of the circumstances. I mean, it's like a half mile by quarter mile field! What was I going to do, ask people if they had dropped $5? After thirty days, my teachers called me into a confrence and thanked me for my honesty. They gave me the $5 back and showered me with praise.

I've had a wallet returned to me also. Years ago, a friend found my wallet down the street and returned it with the $11 still intact.

I think at my house we're all really honest about money. The $20 I borrowed from my mom I actually took from her room but I paid her back when I got my check. My sister's returned big money she's found in my clothes when she's done laundry, and I borrowed $1 in quarters from her last Sunday and left an IOU in the jar I borrowed it from.

On a subject change, we got a 27" (largest we've ever had) TV for free to use while our old one is in the shop. And the best part is even after the old one is fixed we still get to keep this one for three to five years. Something about "being taken care of by the company." I just hope we don't have to break fingers or start making offers that people, "can't refuse."

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