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Archive for January, 2009

"No Spend Week" and how it went

January 31st, 2009 at 12:51 am

WOW ...

First off, let me say, setting a goal like that is HARD. I'm all for trying to strive to be better at things, but I do believe you can possibly set to high of a goal. However, I am very happy with how this week went.


I did spend money, however, and well, that means I didn't quite acheive this goal, but I am very happy by how it went.

I bought two newspapers this week, for a total of $1.50. It used to make sense to buy the Thursday newspaper in our town to get the grocery ads, and the job listings. However, I don't know if it was just this week or the paper I got, but NONE of the ads were in it, and well, neither were the jobs.

I spent $0.60 on a can of soda for Juliette as a "reward" for her being so good waiting for an appointment. I am not the type of parent to reward with high fructose corn syrup, but she was asking for a trip to Chick-fil-a, and well, that would have ruined our no spend week. I got her a fruit punch, which really has no fruit in it at all, but kept her quite until we could get home. I also realized that I scheduled my appointment during a bad time for her schedule, and now know to counter that by bringing crackers and juice with me. I'm learning how to be a better parent all the time, hopefully one day it will stick.

Technically the no spend week should have ended tomorrow for us, but Juliette came down with a 102 degree fever last night. I have not been able to get her to eat or drink anything all day, so I asked her if she would eat chicken nuggets, thinking I had some in the fridge. I didn't. So I took her to her favorite place in the world, Chick-fil-a. She ate the ice cream and two chicken nuggets ... and then I got my behind chewed by my dad about dairy products and fevers. DUH! We then had a family emergency, which had me driving out to my parents house this evening ... which means I had to fill up the tank a day before scheduled.

However, I think I did great for a no spend week, and I know we could have pulled it off if things had gone differently. I think life in general tries to prevent us from being able to accomplish these things, and we just have to find a way to work through them. I could have told my sick kid "Sorry, no chicken nuggets for you" but I'm not that kind of momma, and Juliette knows that. I could have coasted in on fumes to my parent's house ... and I would have been fine, but I would have had to pay higher fuel prices on this side of town (plus, Walmart who is typically the cheapest place in town was $.12 higher tonight, so I would have had to pay more money to fill up tomorrow. Which, I think we can all agree, doesn't make financial sense)

Next week won't be a no spend week at all, but my goal is 5 out of the seven days. Possibly 6, but with everything that is going on with the family, and since I really don't know how everything is going to end up ... I don't know how to plan for it.

I also had TWO job possibilities in my inbox this evening! Today started off pretty nice, and then went downhill ... but signing on to my email tonight gave me some hope for the future.

Wanting to spend money

January 25th, 2009 at 05:12 pm

I am torn. I have some money that I have been using to pay my bills and such since I am currently unemployed ... and all I want to do is go out and buy things.

Luckily, it's not just "junk" I want to buy, but paint and the like.

However, I am not letting myself do it ... just yet. I have a part time interview on 2/9 (FINGERS CROSSED!) so I might celebrate and buy a gallon of paint.

Goals for the week:
1. No spend week
2. Eating all leftovers.
3. Finish goals for 2009 (and longer)
4. Rake front yard
5. Rake back yard (BLAH! This hasn't been done in YEARS!)
6. Clean out and clean car
7. Make meal plan for Feb.
8. Make list of home improvemnet projects.

Frustrated with the job hunt

January 24th, 2009 at 12:11 am

Like way to many other people, I am currently looking for a job. Oh boy, and I am just about OVER IT. LOL.

The SuperBowl is coming to town in like a week (I think?!) so I applied at a reputable hotel (think National chain, NICE hotel) about a temporary banquet server. They're looking for people to work the Super Bowl and by golly, I'm looking to work.

Here's the email I got back from them:
"We would like to interview you to work Superbowl. Please come to Human Resources this Tues between 10 and Noon if you are interested"

Seriously, that's the email. They didn't leave a contact name/number ... nothing. Just two lines that apparently I'm supposed to figure out. Talk about frustrating!

You know, if I was Mr. CEO of this hotel chain, I would be incredibly upset. I worked for awhile doing loan consolidations, and was in daily email contact with our lenders and borrowers. I admit, I don't have the greatest grammar, and I need to work on my spelling, but ummm ... that's why they invented spell check. I mean, seriously. And what about a proper greeting, and a closing? And how hard is it to go into outlook and I don't know, put it in your signature so that your contact info is in every email? I mean, seriously, you can assume that every person you email on a daily basis about your JOB is probably going to need to get in touch with you SOMEHOW and I don't know they might want your name.

SIGH.

Sometimes I realize I am enjoying this stay at home all the time with Juliette thing way too much, but I only have about 3.5 conservative months left in my EF. I want a job so I can have the excuse to get my internet back ... lol. Of all the things I've cut back on, I can honestly say I miss that the most. I want to get back into my rapid debt repayment plan. I WANT to go back to school in the Fall, and I really want to knock out my old student loans first. They're only at $3500, but when I'm not bringing home any income, there just isn't any money to send to them to get rid of them quicker. And I do NOT want to have to move back in with my parents, I mean, seriously!

So listen, if you work in HR and you're sending out emails to potential new employees, can you please just put your contact info so other unemployed hooligans aren't stressing out like this. Thanks!

House sitting

January 23rd, 2009 at 04:16 pm

Like I said in my last post, my parents took off for a Caribbean cruise for my sister's birthday .. lucky girl.

Except I am LOVIN house sitting. Besides the fact that I'm not actually on vacation, and I'm really only 20 miles away from my house, AND I have to walk their dogs (one who's gas actually woke me up from a deep sleep TWICE last night, YUCK!) in the cold. I am rather enjoying myself.

At home, my entertainment setup is bare minimum and I'm rather enjoying it. We have a decent size tv (I think it's 27 inches ... at most). We don't have cable, but we're enjoying our new digital cable box with kid shows. Thank the lord (the one thing I missed was being able to turn on Sprout and have something decent for her to watch ... Thank you PBS!) We have a HUGE collection of VHS tapes of (mostly) Disney movies thanks to Goodwill.

At my parents, they have a bigger than needed flat screen, with a sweet surrond sound system. My daughter asked me why the sound was coming out of the box behind her head ... "Well honey, it's this crazy thing called a speaker" They also have more movies than Netflix, internet (oh how I miss you!), and the "deluxe" cable channels. Man, this is great.

But what I'm really having fun with ... their new appliances. See, my parents have only lived here about two months. And before that, they lived in my house. I am in the process of buying it from them. My house was built sometime in the late 60's .. and needs a lot of work done to it. Don't get me wrong, it's a nice house ... and it's a hell of a lot better than not having one.

We had a dishwasher growing up that my parents told us that it broke, but in reality, it was putting to much water in our septic, and they weren't happy about it. I didn't know that for TEN YEARS. I really thought it had broken. Needless to say, I don't mind doing the dishes when I can load them up in the dishwasher.

I heard a beeping noise that I couldn't figure out ... I walked around the house for a good couple of minutes, putting my ears to different appliances, checking the doors and windows to make sure they were closed, checking the alarm ... oh I thought I had lost it. It was the fridge. It has an alarm in case say, your four year old gets into the fridge and doesn't close the door. It beeps at you until you close the door. AWESOME!

And let's not forget to mention their washer and dryer. They have a front loading, energy efficent brand spanking new washer and dryer set. I'm sure it would get old, but it's nice that my clothes take less time to wash and dry.

Of course, the detox of Juliette from being able to watch tv and play the computer probably isn't actually worth it, but she's having a good time, so I guess that's all I can ask for.

I'm FREEZING

January 22nd, 2009 at 10:51 pm

I woke up to the temp being 23 degrees here in sunny Central Florida. Holy crap, that's really cold! I fell asleep watching the news last night, so I awoke to the 6:30am news, where people not to far above us (about 45 minutes) woke up to frozen pipes. I kinda freaked out, because I didn't even know that could happen, so I called my mom to ask her what I should do if it gets cold like this again. What a stressful time to be a new homeowner ... lol, I'm gonna burn the house down and flood it out as well. Luckily, it should be warming up in the next day or so. We're about 20 degrees below average, and well, it's just too gosh darn cold for me.

The part that scares me is my electric bill. I feel like our central heat has been working all day and all night, and though I'm sure it kicks off sometimes ... I just am not looking forward to the next bill. It's probably going to be as high as my July bill when the air has to run 24/7. Brrr!!!!

My little sister turned 11 today! My sister really wanted to go to Disney for her birthday (thanks to the multiple Disney commericals we see nightly about getting into the parks free on your birthday) So my parents looked into it, and decided to go on a three day Disney cruise for her birthday instead. The girl is on cloud nine. Way to go Disney with your creative marketing, you got my parents hook line and sinker. However, cruising is something they all really like, and they are in the financial standpoint to be able to do it, so have fun!

When my dad gets home I am having him check out my heating system. During the night, it resets down to 60 degrees. I know someone of you keep your thermostats that low, but ... uh uh, not for me. I woke up frozen this morning.

Fingers crossed that this is the last of the really cold weather. Strawberry season is just about on us, and it's something our local economy completely depends on. However, for all of you strawberry lovers out there, the frosts that have been covering our strawberries will make them incredibly sweet and juicy. Can't wait! Right now they're selling half flats for $6.99, but in a week or so I should be able to get a full flat for $5.99. A full flat last us most of the year, but anything more than that and I wouldn't be able to use them all in time. I freeze the strawberries and use them in smoothies throughout the year. And honestly, there's nothing like a frozen strawberry as a snack on a hot as heck summer day. I'd love to learn how to make my own strawberry jelly as well.

Another thing I am incredibly grateful for is a friend of my mom's. She gave Juliette an insane amount of clothes that her daughter had outgrown. In it, and about a size to big, was a really warm winter jacket they had had when they lived in Ohio. I've never bought Juliette a coat like this, since we don't normally need it. Let's just say, it's gotten a good deal of use so far this season. And, it's big enough to be worn next year ... something I am very happy about. Juliette's happy because it's pink and has a hood that's attached to it.

For all of you who deal with weather like this on a daily winter basis, I have no idea how you handle it. I hope you all get warm soon! I'm a flip flop wearing, never seen snow Florida girl, I don't know how to handle this cold.

52 weeks to a new me

January 4th, 2009 at 01:20 am

I haven't quite finished all of my goals for the New Year, but there are a lot of things I want to accomplish this year.

I am currently in the process of looking for a full time job. Right now, I am unemployed, so even a part time job is ok with me. LOL, I'm not picky.

But, in all honesty. I am planning on changing a lot of things in my life this year. I want to do the "normal" things and loose weight and all that jazz, but I really want to work at simplifying our life. I wouldn't mind becoming greener in our life, and just working to become a little more frugal.

I gave up internet at the house, so I am hoping to post at least once a week from my parents house. I'll try to find the time to do it sooner than that, but we live about 20 minutes away from my parents right now, so it would be silly to drive over here more than necessary.

Hope everyone had a good New Year! Juliette turned four yesterday, so our New Year always seems to be a rush for me. I've got to get going to get the little one in bed.