When I first lived in the DFW area I had both my auto and renter's policies with Geico. Then in 2005, Traveler's (which was affiliated with Geico) pulled out of Texas.

I ended up having to get a renter's policy with a company a friend of mine worked for (always with the understanding that I go for whatever is least expensive.)

Well, the other day I heard a commercial on the radio saying that Geico was offering homeowner's policies again in TX for as little as $13/mo! Woo Hoo!

Tonight I decided to give them a call and find out if that was true. It was! Unfortunately I also found out that it wasn't back in 2002 that my car was broken into on Valentine's Day - it was in 2004. So, I wasn't able to get the $13 rate.

However, I was able to get a $16.50 rate, which is $6.50/mo less than what I was paying.

Guess where that extra $6.50/mo will be going? To my financial goals of course!

Also, while taking a look at Geico's site tonight, I realized that they are finally accepting other credit cards than their own for payment! So, that will be something else to add to my Mypoints card and another 38 or 39 points a month for something I have to pay anyway. Yahoo!

I made a decision this weekend. I'm not going to take the SAT tutoring job. The training session I went to Wednesday night felt very rushed. I left there feeling like I hadn't really had a chance to retain much of anything. Also, the pay is a lot less than what I had thought it was going to be - especially if I don't manage to make the 700 mark before starting.

So, I've written the person who was working with me and let her know this.

I am going to look into other ways of making an extra couple hundered dollars a month. My mom suggested another tutoring type place that I could check out.

In other news . . I have decided to add a bit of running to my workout schedule - on a treadmill for now. I am going to be using a program called "Couch to 5k" which can be found on the coolrunning.com website. Before really getting into it though, I needed to get some real running shoes.

So, I did that this afternoon. $100. Ouch! But my back and knees will thank me for it later.

I haven't really decided if I'm going to go for doing a 5k or not. If I do, it wouldn't be until the fall when it's not too hot or too cold.

So, this morning I walk outside to my car. Much to my surprise and unhappiness I find that the window on the front driver’s side has been smashed to smithereens. Flashback to almost six years ago (this coming Feb 14) when my back driver’s side window was broken into. Thankfully this time they didn’t steal anything. Of course, there really isn’t much of anything to steal in it anyway.

Ugh! ARRGHH! Curses and bad words! (That is what I was doing this morning upon finding my smashed window.)

I called my coworker who carpools with me and told her I’d be a little late, seeing as though there was glass all over the front seats. The apartment complex’s cleaning lady was nearby and saw my distress. She helped me get the glass all cleaned out, which I thought was really sweet.

The ride to the office building was – COLD!

I walked into the gym and asked the manager, “Do you have a punching bag? I really need the use of a punching bag right now.” He was like, “Yeah, E.” (His son and my personal trainer.) Ha ha. So, instead of punching at something, I hit the elliptical hard for 15 minutes – a whole lot less time than normal, thanks to getting to the gym so late.

Once I got to my desk I called my dad and told him what happened. He offered to call this guy our family’s used for various auto repairs for the past 12 years to see what he could do. Later he called me back and told me W had found a used window for $85 and could replace it this afternoon!

Dad came by my office (a 70+minute drive!) and we traded vehicles. I do not like driving his car, but under the circumstances. . . Later this afternoon he called me and let me know the window was in – W had only charged $10 labor! My dad had stopped at a junkyard (where he got the window.) He was told that he’d have to get it himself – he didn’t have any tools with him. Luckily there was another guy there who HAD the necessary tools and was willing to do the job. My dad gave him $20.

My dad and I will be exchanging cars again probably Saturday afternoon.

Yay! for great dads! Boo! to idiots who think breaking a car window is a good idea!

I've got to run to my first training session now for my new job!

I got a call from A around 7 p.m. tonight telling me that they would like to have me join their team! Since I didn't quite make the 700 mark on the SAT tests, I will start training, then half-way through take another diagnostic test. Then at the end of training will take another one. If I make the 700 mark, then I'm good to go. If not, then I'll be on a probationary status, but still able to start tutoring.

Wednesday night after my regular job I'll have my first training session. I'm not too excited about the late night that promises to be, but I AM excited to get started!

The two areas I really need to work on are recognizing the grammar errors (and being able to see the most correct fix) and making a list of easy to remember studies which can support the various possible essay topics. My essay was not given full points because I hadn't used any "studies" to support my answer.

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After the scare I had on Wednesday regarding maybe losing my home due to developers buying the land, I've been giving some serious thought to what I'd need to do in order to be able to purchase a home in the next two - three years.

Right now I have about 5 months salary saved in my EF/Car fund. I have no money earmarked towards a down payment. Before being comfortable starting a downpayment fund, I feel I need at least 6 months income + $4,000 Car repair/replacement in place.

I think I *might* be able to find an older home in the 85K to 90k range. So, 20% downpayment would be $17 - 18K.

Let me put it this way. There is NO way I can save that much money in 3 years - not on what I make now.

So, in a more optimistic view, I have two choices available to me. One, cut down on optional expenses to increase savings. Or two, find ways to increase income.

I am going to do both.

Money Cuts:
First, I have decided to stop taking my Callanetic's class. I love it. It's very relaxing and rejuvenating, but really, it is something that I could do just as well at home for a WHOLE lot less money.

Second, I am going to renew my personal training ONE time. That will put me through May with about 6 extra sessions. I spoke to my trainer today, and he said I could space those last six sessions at one a month - as kind of a check in session. However I would have to pay the gym fee of $20/month. He also is going to help me figure out a good routine rotation which I'll start practicing on Wednesday mornings.

Third, I am going to drop Netflix (not a lot of money saving here - but really, I CAN get movies from the library, and just HOW long have I had this last movie out??)

Fourth, I am going to look into whether or not I can sell my Tivo w/the remainder of my prepaid service contract. If I'm able to do that, then I'm going to drop Cable. (If my Tivo worked without Cable, I'd keep Tivo in a heartbeat and just drop Cable.)

Fifth, I am finished with fast food, soda and frozen dinners. If I go out to eat somewhere, it will b only because I'm going with someone else (i.e. part of a group) and will order as cheaply as possible. i.e. At a Mexican resturaunt only order one single enchilada, no sides. I also am going to continue to try and cut my food budget as much as possible, however, I will be keeping good nutrition in mind.

Increasing Income:

First, I am going to go through my apartment and find everything I can find that may have any cash value (that is not necessary) and try to sell it. (Books, extra t.v. ??)

Second, I am going to redouble my efforts to lose as much weight as possible by March 20 to increase my odds of winning the cash prize.

Third, I will be starting the tutoring job. Training is paid. I will do everything in my power to increase my scores in order to make and surpass the 700 mark.

Fourth, I will seek out other opportunities to earn extra income. I need to see if maybe there's people who need a babysitter, etc.

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So ... My top four financial goals --

All money left in grocery, other, gas and phone at the end of each month, as well as any other money earned by any other means will be sent to --

1. Vacation Fund - $500 (Will be essentially a free vacation, but I want to be sure to have money available to pay my own way for anything I do while in CA. After the vacation, any leftover money will be sent to #2.)

Then to:
2. Emergency Fund - 6 months income

Then to:
3. Car Repair/Replacement Fund - $4,000

Then to:
4. Downpayment - $18,000.00 -- GULP

This afternoon I went to one of the Health Seminars that I get 50 pts for - a part of the 20 week fitness challenge. (Ends March 20). I hadn't realized that they were going to have the scales there so that you could weigh in today, rather than coming back tomorrow - otherwise I would've waited to eat my late lunch. Oh well - I still showed a 4lb loss on their scale. 10 weeks to go!

I'm trying to elliminate soy from my diet. This is somewhat difficult for me, because I am a vegetarian and while I do get protein from veggies and beans, I get a whole lot more from soy protein sources. I drink a fruit smoothie each morning which uses soy milk, soy protein, banana, various frozen fruit, and spinach.

I've been doing some research, and found that Hemp protein is about as close as I can get to the soy protein. So, tonight after the seminar I found the Whole Foods store which was listed as having Hemp products. I found the Hemp Protein powder, but did not find the Hemp milk. For right now, I still have two containers of soy milk I need to use up, so that'll wait. Little steps.

While I was there I realized that I was out of spinach. So I went to WF's HUGE veggie section and looked for bagged baby spinach (the easy way, I know, not the cheapest.) There was none to be found!

So after I was done at WF's, I headed home, stopping at Tom Thumb. I went to the bagged salad section where there usually is a ton of bagged spinach. Again, there was none! I found the produce worker and asked where the Spinach was. He told me something about it being a "hot seller" and that all the bags were off the shelf. Huh??

He led me to where the unbagged spinach was and I picked up a bunch. Not my favorite way to do spinach, but I guess it will work.

I've got to say, it was really strange to look at two different stores bagged salad areas and see no spinach. The last time I saw that was when there was a recall.

So ... Whole Foods - 1 16oz cannister of Hemp Protein Powder - $14.99

Tom Thumb -- 1 bunch of Spinach, 1 candy -- $2.77

Brings my grocery spending so far to $90.33 and leaves me with $17.91 left for the month. Hmmm . . . somehow I think I'm going to have to use some of my "other" money for groceries. There are two "grocery days" left in January - maybe I can stretch it.

About 2:30 this afternoon I received a phone call from the person I was to have an interview with asking if I could come in earlier than I was scheduled for. I agreed - even though I hadn't done some things I'd wanted to do before the interview, but felt I wanted to show flexibility from the start if possible.

So, I got there just a few minutes before 4 p.m. I think it went pretty well. After the interview questions were over, we went over my test (I took the Reading and Writing portions of the SAT). She told me on my essay that one of the problems was the lack of a variety of examples - I needed an example from some study or such not.

I bit my tongue, but very badly wanted to ask her how many high-school students read Newsweek or whatever enough where they'd even KNOW supporting studies, let alone be able to remember it accurately to include in a 25 minute essay from start to finish??

Anyway, from going over my test results, I saw that I essentially needed to have omitted more questions than I did on the Reading part, and on the Writing part I needed to have answered more correctly.

She told me there were two possibilities going forward - 1) Go ahead and start my training while I continue to study to retake the test and make the 700 mark, or 2) Study to retake the test until making the 700 mark, then begin training.

So . . . neither of these two options made it sound like I won't get the job - just have to make the 700 mark. I wasn't far off in the Reading (missed by 30) but in the Writing I was 80 pts off.

Any English teachers out there know of a good resource to really get down pronoun agreement?? That was one of my weak areas - recognizing when pronouns didn't agree. i.e. "It is one's duty to read diligently, because you will learn more that way."

---

My Grandma has been searching for the past few years for a divided skillet. Each time she came here to TX to visit, we would also check around to see if we could find what she was looking for. This time however, I got the bright idea to do a google search -- and found just what she was looking for on Ebay!

The starting bid was $10 + $9 shipping. I put in a max bid of $20, thinking there was no way it would go higher than that, because, really, how many people even know such a thing exists? To my dissapointment and amazement, I was outbid! I started raising my bid bit by bit until I hit $27. Then I called my dad to double check just how much she was willing to go. He told me she had been thinking $29 max (cost +sh) so I said I'd be willing to throw in $5, and my dad said he'd be willing to throw in $5 or $6. So, I put my max bid at $35.

I finally found the other person's max! I bought the pan for $31 + $9 sh = $40.

I was a bit annoyed though, because it just seemed a little too convenient that someone came along and bid up to $30 on something that is pretty obscure. It made me wonder if it wasn't a family member's account or something who saw that there was a bid on their item, so went to bid it up to the retail price.

Maybe not. It could have really been someone else wanting it.

Oh well, I'm just glad that my grandma now will have her pan. I asked her what she'd use it for and she told me she'd use it to be able to cook her meals all in one pan at the same time. Guess that makes sense.

Ok, not really.

This morning I was getting ready to go to church when I got a phone call from a friend of mine. She asked me if I had any plans for dinner, and I told her that I didn't. So she then tells me that her youngest son (5 y.o.) had informed her that she needed to invite me for dinner! So Cute!

So tonight, my friend, her oldest son, her youngest son, another friend of hers named Nora (who youngest son had also told his mom needed to be invited) and I all ate at the Blue Mesa. I hadn't met Nora before, so it was nice to meet one of my friend's coworkers.

Do you get why youngest son was so adamant about the two of us coming to dinner? Laura ... Nora He thinks it's so funny that his mom has two friends whose names sound so alike.

I really was NOT planning on doing any eating out this month - but how can a person resist a request from a 5 year old cutie patootie?

So, anyway, the kid made my day.

I got a spinach and cheese enchilada plate - was $9.69, plus $2 tip = $11.69

I only ate half of it, then took the rest home in to go box -- so lunch tomorrow!

When I got home I put my lb of pinto beans in my new crockpot to soak overnight.

Why am I up so late tonight? I've been working on updating my resume. Tomorrow afternoon I have my interview for the part time tutoring job. A little nervous - but it really wouldn't be a big deal if I didn't get the job. It would just be so nice to have a couple extra hundred each month - give me some breathing room.

Today I made two grocery stops - one at Walmart, and one at Walgreen's.

At Walmart I bought enough frozen fruit to use in my breakfast smoothies for the remainder of January. I also bought a 24 pk of string cheese which is my afternoon office snack - so, again, a month's supply. I bought a bag of split green peas -- my dad loves split green pea soup, and I want to see if I can find a recipe and make him some. I bought a bag of black beans - which I'll probably mix with my pinto beans to make soup or burritos or maybe patties -- again, for my lunches. I also bought a 4pk of toilet paper - more than a month's supply.

I bought four items which will be for this week only - a container of 8th Continent Chocolate Soymilk, a bag of green onions, a bag of Veggie Lover salad, and a butternut squash. I am going to have to google to find out how to cook the squash - I really want to learn how to use more veggies in my diet.

At Walgreens I bought 4 6pks of raisins and a small bag of unsalted almonds - both intended for morning work snacks.

At Walmart, my total came to $27.62, and at Walgreen's my total came to $5.74.

Next week I should only have to purchase soymilk, bananas, salad, and various veggies. Hopefully, my bill will be $10 or less.

This weekend I will be making my work lunches for the month. In December I had burritos (have 3 left actually) but haven't decided for sure what I'm going to do for the remainder of January.

I was a beehive of activity this morning. Put my laundry away, did a trash run and actually took it to the dumpster, picked up things that were out of place around the apartment, and cleaned out my car! Wooh! I'm exhausted. -- Just kidding.

I also decided to go check my mail - hadn't checked it since Friday.

I had two interesting pieces of mail. One was from my friend Karin who lives with her husband and two little ones in NM. Her hubby got a job here in Texas, near Houston and they'll be moving in the next few months!! Yahoo! I haven't seen her since her son was about 7 months old, and he's now 4 1/2!

The other piece of mail was from my lovely brother and his even lovlier wife. It was a belated birthday card -- and not just a card, but it also had a $25 Barnes and Nobles gift card! Woo Hoo! Does my bro know me or what?

Within 15 minutes of opening it, I got on mypoints.com and clicked on the Barnes and Nobles link - then preceded to go through all of the bargain priced books. In the end, I bought one regular priced book, and four heavily discounted books. My total purchase was over $25, so I had free shipping, but I did get charged tax.

So, for $4.79 by Saturday I should have 5 brand new books, courtesy of my brother and sil -- plus, I earned myself ~275 points! Woo Hoo!

#1 - Keep track of my money on a daily basis
using You Need a Budget.

#2 - Save an additional $4500 in Emergency Fund/Car Fund

#3 - Fully Fund Exercise Fund $1700 (Callanetic's and Personal Training expenses)

#4 - Fund Vacation/Fun Money $500
--- California Memorial Wknd trip, etc.

#5 - Find second source of additional income

---After #5 is accomplished ...
#6 - Increase Roth Contributions by $50/month.

#7 - Increase 401K Contributions by 1%.

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I have a possibility of a Sunday tutoring job - 6hrs/wk possible pay of $14+/hr (more than my regular job!). I have an interview this Sunday afternoon.

If this doesn't work out, I'm going to keep trying to find something else.

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One other thing I'm going to do this year (ok, going to attempt again) is to totally cut out soda and fast food consumption. That will save tons of money and be helpful in my health goals. I've really been sabotaging my health and financial goals by my soda and fast food/junk food habits.

My goal is to keep food spending to $20 - 25 per week -- with a total monthly budget of $115 - 130. That'll give me room to stock up if I find a good deal, but also money to put towards my other goals when I make my goal amounts.

Saturday marked the end of my 31st year of life, as well as the beginning of my 32nd year of life.

It also was the end of my relationship with so called elevator guy and the beginning of a new period of being single yet again.

My birthday had many good elements to it - spent time with good friends, saw several of my former students be baptized, was able to listen to beautiful music, and saw "August Rush". I also got to speak with my brother for an unhurried conversation, as well as with my dad. My mom and stepdad both left messages for me.

As far as the ending of my relationship ... that was my decision. We'd had several discussion with regards to our ideas as to what our relationship was/how it should be with no real resolution other than around Thanksgiving we agreed to the idea of still dating each other, but not being exclusive. Well Saturday morning I received a phone call from him that was the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back.

It's a feeling of both relief and a bit of sadness. I'd much rather be single than be in a relationship that is causing me more frustration and disappointment than happiness.

On the financial side - I received a reimbursement check from my health insurance company for $92.00 from when I went to the endontologist. It was perfect timing - because it will pay for my two tickets to see Jim Brickman! on March 8.

I had quite the frustrating time getting my laundry done today. The first two places I went to didn't have any working change machines nor anyone visible who was working there. Luckily, the third time was the charm - plenty of open machines, a basket with a hanging bar, and a change machine.

Arghh!!! I check my financial accounts everyday - sometimes more than once a day. Yeah, I admidt it, I'm a bit anal about wanting to know exactly how much I have at any given moment.

So, yesterday I noticed on my credit card account that although my rent and a number of other things had gone through, they weren't showing up in the actual balance. I thought that was strange, but figured I'd give it a day to see what happened.

Tonight I attempt to log in - I get the message that Nope, You can't log in. Call *********** customer service.

So, I call. I get run through the id verification process. Then I'm asked if I had made the following charges: $2,349 at Home Depot; $1,569 at Williams Sonoma; $689.57 with Time Warner, plus some others I don't remember-- I reply with a Holy Sh**! Um, NO! those aren't my charges!

So, my current number is closed now, and they are sending me yet another new card with a new number. So now I get the fun job of remembering all the various things which I have coming off my card on a regular basis. Fun. NOT!

I have a dentist appointment tomorrow with a co-pay of at least $100. I was planning on using my card for it. Guess I'll have to use my debit card - thankfully ING is still running its 1% back promotion, so it won't be a total loss.

I should have my new card here by Friday when I get home.

It's amazing how something like this can sneak up and bite you even when you keep a tight eye on the accounts.

I'm very glad that Providian realized that these were WAY out of the ordinary charges for me -- I feel bad for the retailers who are now out whatever products the idjiuts bought with my card number.

Hopefully this will be the last time I have to change card numbers for a LONG LONG LONG time! PITB!

Well I went to the endontologist (sp?) on Tuesday for my root canal. It ended up though that she didn't think I actually needed one! She did say that my tooth has a crack in it and so it will need a crown. If it is still causing me pain after getting a crown, then we'll look into getting the root canal.

So, I'll be getting the temporary crown put on this coming Thursday (December 6.)

Our company's receptionist had her last day with us on Friday. If you may recall back in August how I was taken off the phones completely by our head honcho -- well she was experiencing the same treatment from our head honcho and got totally fed up with it. Can't say that I blame her at all, but I will really miss her. I put together a good-bye lunch for her because supposedly she hadn't worked here "long enough" to get a company sponsored farewell party (she'd been here since August 06). Someone else in our company took up a money collection for her - I'd thought about doing that, but wasn't sure how far to push the envelope with having put together the farewell lunch. So she left knowing that she was loved and cared for and would be missed greatly - even if the head honcho was still a pitb to her on her last day!

Our Christmas party is going to be this coming Saturday night. My bf will be going with me - it will be his first time meeting many of my co-workers. He'll know some of the brokers (other side of our company) from the old office building.

I stopped at Ross last night on the whim of maybe finding something appropriate for the semi-formal dress code in my size -- Wow! I found seven different dresses that actually fit me! The one I liked the most was purple, but I didn't get that one since it probably wouldn't have been the most appropriate for a Christmas party.

I also decided I wanted to get some clip on earrings and a necklace to go with my dress. I've never been one to really buy jewelery, nor really wear it much -- but I didn't think it would be so difficult to find a non-ugly pair of clip ons! I did actually find one pair that were nice - but they were nearly $30, which is more than I paid for my dress! So, that was a no go.

I'm going to go to Sam Moon's after work on Tuesday, and maybe Claire's as well to see if I can find something.

My mom is leaving today to go to NJ for two weeks for a training class for her new job. She won't be getting back until Dec 16, the day after my birthday. She's going to get to go see the Rockette's though - when we lived in NJ, we got to see them at the Radio City Music Hall a couple times, so it will bring back good memories.

Her new job is being the Director of one of those tutoring learning centers. She's told me that the lady in charge of working with SAT prep tutors needs people to tutor the Reading/Writing portion very badly - especially on Sundays. Hmmm . . . All you have to have is a teacher's certificate (check) and to have scored at least a 700 on the Reading portion of the SAT's. I took the SAT back in 92 I think, and do not remember what my reading score was - except I know it was a LOT higher than my math score (snicker.) The place I graduated from has closed its doors (two years ago) so I am working on figuring out how to get a copy of my score. I'm really hoping I don't have to take it again, because well, it's been at least 12 years since I've been in any kind of an English/writing class. I love writing, but mostly its for my own pleasure, so I don't worry too much about "correctness" or being too polished. I'm afraid I may have lost much of my "refined" writing skills from way back when. But maybe my score was high enough so I needn't worry.

It sure would help me out a lot to have a second job like that -- one which I could possibly turn into a full time job later on once I have my "Goodbye Head Honcho" Fund fully funded.

--
Oh - the 20 week fitness challenge -- We are now three weeks in, and I have lost 4.5 lbs! Which translates into 1.85% loss. Next Sunday they are having the first seminar - a Holiday Cooking class. I'm going to see if my bf would like to go to it with me. Might be kind of fun to do together.

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I have my Christmas shopping all finished. Most of it was accomplished using my Mypoints credits for various gift cards. Other than gift cards, I bought my dad S2 of Home Improvement from Overstock, I bought my mom a handheld football game from Walgreen's (yes, this was something she said she actually wanted) and I'm getting my bf a gift cert for a massage. So, all in all Christmas is going to come in well under $100.

A couple weeks ago I got a disconnect notice from AT&T due to the past due payment of $175. That $175 charge was due to two 10-10 phone calls made to Cuba in May - minus a $15 credit from the 10-10 company.

A phone technician came out shortly after I received the original bill and confirmed that there was a problem with my phone wires - they had somehow become crossed with another persons phone line. I was credited for all the extra local distance phone calls made (97 over my alloted 25/month) - the next month I had to call again, and was credited for another 15 local calls over my alloted 25/month. (I use my landline ONLY for DSL and Tivo.)

At&T customer service is and was wonderful and has attempted to help me get this resolved however they can.

The 10-10 company on the other hand has been completely unhelpful and completely obtuse and obstinate and HORRIBLE! AT&T has of now taken the charge off my account so I won't see it anymore on my bills from them, and won't receive anymore disconnect notices. The charges are being reversed to the 3rd party 10-10 company.

If my dealing with this particular company today are any indication of what will happen once I get a direct bill from them . . I'm in for more headaches and hassles. BUT I AM NOT going to pay those charges!!

I spoke with a rep first today of the 10-10 company who kept repeating that their company had given me a $15 credit back in July and that is all they can do. So, I asked to speak to a supervisor. The supervisor said the same thing. I asked her if it mattered at all to her that the phone calls were NOT made by me nor anyone else that has ever been in my household. She just kept repeating that the phone calls were made from my number and all they could do was issue me a $15 credit.

I got so fed up because it was going nowhere, that I finally just hung up.

The lady I spoke with at At&t told me that once I'm direct billed by the 10-10 company I'll have to contact them directly once again and see if they'll budge any at that point. Most likely they won't, so then my next step will be to contact the Public Utility Commission or the FCC. Either of those agencies will be able to contact At&T for my account records and will easily see the validity of my story - and hopefully put an end to this saga once and for all.

So, that's how I spent the better part of an hour of one of my few vacation days this year.

Some of you may recall near the beginning of this year my bout with some terrible jaw pain, which was diagnosed finally as nueraliga. I was told that I may only have the one episode, and never have one again. But if it did come back, then I'd probably have problems with it the rest of my life.

Well, the last few weeks I've been getting pain in my upper left jaw/teeth area which I've summarily written off and ignored. Till this past weekend - it let me know that there was something wrong and it wasn't going to let me sleep till I got it figured out.

So when I got to work today I called and made an appt with a new dentist who was able to get me in on my lunch break. Long story short - she took an xray of my teeth , then did what she called a "cold test" on one of my teeth, and determined that it was dead (due to no reaction.)

So ... Root Canal $$$$$$$ here I come. It may sound crazy, but I was actually relieved that there was an actual reason for the pain - no worries of the nueralgia coming back.

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My church has kicked off a 20 week Fitness Challenge. It started on Sunday with an Initial Weigh In and will end in March. The participants are divided into teams of 5.

The team at the end of the 20 weeks with the most points gets $250, and the individual with the most points gets $200.

You earn points by:
Eating 5 servings of fruits/veggies per day.
Drinking 6 glasses of plain water per day.
Exercising 30 minutes per day (or more).
Attending the free seminars.
Bonus points for attending all 5 seminars.
3x your percentage of weight loss up to 20%.

Let's put it this way - I'll have no problem earning max points in all but the last area. I want that $200 so I'm going to work extra hard to lose weight in the next 20 weeks. If I actually lost 20% of my body weight, I'd be within 10 pounds of my ultimate goal.

My bf is being very supportive of me. We played basketball at his gym on Friday for 90 minutes. Later I told him how many calories that had burned. He told me we should play again this coming Thursday night so I could lose more calories for the challenge. (At first I thought he was going to say - so you can lose to me again - oops!)

I haven't been doing too well in the spending arena. Some of it has been going to the grocery store way too often to pick up "just one thing" and ending up spending upwards of $15+. Some of it has been bigger ticket items - like I guess what you could call a mini-vacation, next weekend I'm going on a Women's Ministry Retreat with one of my best friends and her mom - cost $190 (room, board, activities). I also bit the bullet and took $450 out of short term savings and paid for 4 months of 2x a week personal training sessions. I had my third session today.

The big ticket items I honestly feel are worthwhile items. I had been looking into personal training as an option since late last year, but never could find any inexpensive options until I checked into the gym at my new office building. Still . . . that is a lot of money out all at once (It was actually $600 for 3 months of training 3x a week - But I only wanted 2x a week - so he extended it a month -- then he gave me $150 discount for paying upfront in cash.)

The Retreat - Well if not anything else, it will be good to have a whole weekend to spend with my friend sans kids and hubby. It may have some spiritual benefit for me as well, which would be appreciated, and I may reconnect with some people I haven't seen in a long time.

In a short while I will be spending $160 on 10 weeks of 1x a week Calentic's classes. This coming week will be my 10th class and I have found it very helpful - although I haven't lost any weight nor inches. But I don't fault the class for that -- I fault all my ahem . . "extra" purchases at the grocery store.

One thing I've been realizing the past few months is that I've been getting a LOT more slack on my credit card spending. Don't get me wrong - the balance is still being paid off in full each month -- I'm just having to dip into next month's "salary" to do so. So, technically I'm NOT living one month ahead anymore.

I'm really not liking where I see myself headed.

So, here's my plan.

1. I'm going to go ahead and take the $160 out of short term savings -- but at the same time, I am going to start putting $64/mo into a sinking fund slated for that particular class. That way when the next renewal time comes up, I will not have to take money from anywhere except the account specific to it.

2. My credit card , starting Nov 1. will be used ONLY to pay rent, gas, toll tag, and car repair - or for the occasional reimbursable work expense. (It is a points credit card - my rent is an easy way of earning a lot of points each month.)

3. I am going to pay off all charges on my credit card as of Oct. 31 - so that it'll start with a fresh slate on Nov. 1. (I think I'll try and see if they'll change my end of billing cycle to the 30th of each month - it would make for a much cleaner budget.)

4. Groceries, entertainment, clothing, etc., will be paid for via cash or debit card. My budgeted amount for groceries, entertainment, clothing, etc is $50/week.
I am hoping that this will help cut down my buying the "extra" foods as well as help encourage me to use up the "good for me" foods instead of them sitting in the fridge for two weeks and growing mold. Ugh!

5. November is a 5 Friday/5 paycheck month for me. I am going to put the first paycheck into my Emergency Fund/Car Fund. The next paycheck will partially have to be used to fund November's spending, but by December I should be back on a one-month surplus in checking.

6. I am going to allocate the remainder of my short term savings towards Christmas gifts. I acutally have already taken care of a few people already, but I know that it'll cost me a minimum of $50 at work (my contribution to the head honcho's presents, plus we're doing a "grab bag" gift exchange - one gift up to a value of $25).

Then of course I have my bf and his family to consider -- Of course, I still haven't met his mom or his brother/family, so I'm not really sure if I need to worry about getting any of them something.

So, anyway, I'm going back and trying again - both financial fitness and health/fitness wise. I am also seriously considering going back to school and getting my Master's online - either in Library Sciences W/a School Librarian certification or something else related to Reading. If I do it, it will take probably three years because I plan on paying for it with cash all the way through - which means probably only one class per semester (about $1,100 for 3 credits at one place I checked out.) It also means that I'm going to have to take the GRE. Ugh. It also means that I will have to get really, really tight with my finances. So, I guess you could say I'm going to give it a practice run starting in November.

So, that's my book for October.

Hi all,

It's been awhile since I last posted an update on my spending/budget. I've actually been doing okay with it. I ended up deciding to NOT get the fluidity bar, but instead I found a local Calanetic's class which I have been taking once a week for the past few weeks. It's really been quite enjoyable.

I'm finding my commute back and forth to work to not be too terrible. I guess it's all what you get used to, right? Work is going okay - although I am still actively working on a plan to be able to leave it by next August (possibly earlier).

Somewhat exciting news -- A few of you may remember the guy at my old office building who asked me if I wanted to get lunch with him about a year or so ago, and I put my foot in my mouth? Then a short while before my office moved, he asked me for my number. Well, I'm not quite sure just what to call our relationship yet . . . but we have been seeing quite a bit of each other the last few weeks. So . . I've broken my two-year non-dating streak. Yay!

So . . just wanted to drop by and let y'all know that I'm still alive and kicking. I'm really going to try to get back to writing here more regularly.

After work today I managed to find one of the toll tag stores and got myself one. It will be nice on Monday to not dig for enough change for the the tolls.

I got a bit lost coming back from the toll tag place, but finally managed to make it to Preston - where I thought I found my usual Tom Thumb. After going inside though I realized quickly that it wasn't the same one - much older/much narrower aisles.

I've calmed down quite a bit on my upset from Wednesday - although I am still seriously considering my options.

I hadn't even mentioned to my mom about what happened, but I did tell her about head honcho guy saying that if he knew who had been the one smoking in the bathroom (which started the trash smoldering) that he would fire him. (men's bathroom). Luckily it wasn't the woman's bathroom, because there are only two women smokers between the two companies (there are maybe 5 male smokers - none on our side though.)
Mom called him an egomaniac. (He wasn't going to fire the person for the act of nearly starting a fire - but more because he'd made a HUGE deal about not wanting to walk through smoke to get to his car at the new building -- then one of HIS employees is smoking in the bathroom!)

I got a call from a friend of mine today telling me that a mutual friend of ours will be in town tomorrow with her new baby! So, we're all going to get together in the morning. Normally, I would be in church - but I feel this is a worthy reason to not go - I don't get to see this mutual friend very often, and haven't gotten to meet her new little family member yet.

My dad is coming up Sunday. He's going to change my license plates for me and also bring me some things my grandma and aunt sent for me. I'm really curious to see what they sent.

I haven't been keeping up with my spending log very well --- but here's what I spent today:

Sent $670 to HSBC (5th paycheck + regular savings amount)

Toll Tag: $40 prepaid

Groceries: ~$22

--- Oh, I also want to mention that I think it won't take much more than half a tank of gas each week for my commute - so maybe 2 1/2 tanks a month or about ~$65 - 70 in gas money. Not so bad - especially when split in half with my carpooler.

Definitely NOT worth moving.

I am seriously considering how long I could live without a monthly assured income. I am thinking that I could possibly survive on as low as 1250 per month -- so if I get my savings total over 10k that would give me 8 months to either something new (aka normal job) or find enough ways to make enough money to survive on.

This is day three of commuting. I actually don't mind the commute too much - other than the tolls ($1.75 each way!).

The new office space is ... nice I guess. There were some strange designs that went into outfitting it though.

If it wasn't for move related work details, I'd have very very very little to keep myself occupied.

The one thing that made the day bearable - giving the receptionist her 3 required breaks -- as of this morning -- I am no longer doing it. Not by my choice at all.

Apparently the head honcho of the company doesn't like the way I answer the phone (um . . I answer the phone like I've always done - like how I was told to answer the phone??) He also feels that I'm not accurate enough with names - both in telling him who's calling, and in writing them down. Ok, I'll give him that I'm not 100% on the ball there -- BUT some of these people who call 1)mumble horribly so you have to ask them to repeat themselves a number of times and/or 2) assume that you'll recognize who they are by their voice alone - when you've got 3+ other lines lit up - or 3) Have a very sketchy connection where you can barely hear them in the first place . . . and then of course, there is NORMAL human error - i.e. slips of the tongue - where for example I was asking D if so and so had called and accidentally said the wrong first name (coincidentally, the name of the main character in the book I'd been reading!) etc., etc. Yes, I had been spoken to a couple times about making sure I get the names spelled right, etc. -- which I did do at least 99.9% of the time - just those few times where one of the above happened or for some reason I totally blanked on getting the person to spell their last name for me.

So, I now have another hour+ in my day to have to figure out how to look busy and productive and not pull my hair out in total frustration.

I really like my coworkers - and for the most part the environment is really good. The benefits are really really good. It's also nice to have a steady paycheck. But between the total boredom factor and this latest development not to mention not seeing any possibility of this going anywhere anytime soon - I really am seriously contemplating what else I can do.

One option I'm thinking about is seeing if I can get approved for one of those at home call center places and start to put my hours of training/paying my dues in while continuing with my day job -- all the while working to save the last $3500 - $4000. Then once I'm at that point, going to 25 - 30 hrs a week with the phone center thing, then trying to get some tutoring jobs. Whatever the difference between my minimal monthly outgo and ingo is I would make up via my savings - only until I reach the point where they are equal. I also would cut my hours on the phone as I got enough tutoring clients -- and maybe eventually be just a full time tutor.

To reach that level (where I can quit) will take at least another six months - maybe up to a year or more - which would mean I'd reach two+ years at the company. That is if they don't fire me first because they figure out that there is so little for me to actually do.

I really tried to not let it show just how much this upset me this morning. But when one of my coworkers who has been a really good friend asked me this morning how I was doing, and I replied "ok" she asked me what was wrong. As I told her about it, I started tearing up like crazy, and eventually excused myself to the bathroom.

Later when people asked why my eyes were red I told them my allergies were acting up really bad.

The OM who was the one who told me I was being taken off the front desk completely had the gall to tell me that I shouldn't be upset. (Her office is directly across from my desk with these huge open windows) I didn't say anything back to her because I was afraid of what might come out of my mouth. Its not her I'm upset at though - she was just the messenger.

Part of me wishes I could turn in my two week notice tomorrow morning -- the more realistic part of me knows I'm going to have to put up with this for a longer time period - just need to figure out a really good plan to leave.

I decided to check out my local Craigslist to see if anyone was selling a Fluidity Barre on Friday. There were two listings. One had the Barre + about 10 different workout dvds to go with it for $130! The second had just the Barre +3 Dvds for $150.

I sent an email to the first person saying I wanted to purchase it. Unfortunately, late Friday night I got an email from them telling me they had sold it that morning, but just hadn't taken the ad off yet. Whoever got it, got a great deal -- the Dvd's by themselves were probably worth more than $100.

I've also checked out Ebay - but all those listings are pretty close to the like new price plus they are all local pick up only - none in my area. So, I'm going to keep an eye on Craigslist and see if another great deal like this comes up so I can grab it!

Spending 7/25:

$20 - Copay doctor's visit (deducted from FSA account)

$4.16 - Walgreens - rasins (snacks for work), 2 candybars, a bag of almonds

-------------
Goal Plan --
I'm really wanting the Fluidity bar. The two main things that make me reluctant to get it are (1) Cost of $250 and (2) Whether or not I'll really keep up with my exercsie enough to justify it.

So, I've decided that I'm going to "earn" it by proving to myself that I will keep up my exercise consistentally.

Each 30 minute cardio session will be worth $5. Every time I complete at least 5 30 minute cardio sessions in one week (7 days) I will earn a $5 bonus.

Each 20 minute Strength Training session will earn $5. Every time I complete 3 sessions in an 8 day period, I will earn a $5 bonus.

If I earn about $50 per week, I will reach my goal in about 5 weeks.

In addition to my money goal, I need to also lose 12 pounds and keep them off for at least 2 weeks.

So, I figure that within 7 - 8 weeks I will be ready to order the bar and will feel like it has been well earned.

*There is a 30 day return policy on this, so if for some reason it turns out that its not what I think it is, or I'm not really using it, I *will* return it.

*This plan also gives me a lot of time to figure out if this is something I *really* want to spend my money on or not. I have a coworker who has one all ready, and I plan on asking her if I can try hers out sometime soon.

Credit Card:

There were some charges that hadn't come through yet when I made my previous accounting.

Several Target, Walmart and Tom Thumb charges +
Netflix - $8.65
Singles Website: $9.15

= $121.92

Then today I called about my phone bill to dispute the new charges (for the telephone line) and find out where my previous month's dispute was at. I had to wait for the CS rep to get the latest info from the repair dept - then was told that I didn't need to worry about the past due amount shown on my bill - that it would be going off in the next 2 billing cycles.

I sure hope so, because it really irks me to see "Past Due Amount" on my bill!

I paid the amount I was told to pay -- $61.41

So, my new CC balance will be $183.33

Otherwise, today was a non-spending day.

Ever since late April I have been doing terribly on saving. I've been managing to spend pretty much everything I earn - and other than in May when my cat died - the majority of what I've spent has been on a lump sum of junk. My savings haven't taken a hit (other than in May with Monkey) because I was a month ahead in my checking account, and so every month I've kind of "dipped" into the next months monies + just avoided sending off any money to savings.

This has got to stop! Since I am single and have no one to answer to but myself - and have no one to help me out financially (at least no one that I'd willingly ask for help) than myself - I'm the one that has to get a handle on it.

So ... I have decided to post my budget here in full - including the total amounts I have in savings/other non-retirement accounts. Then I will post here at least 3 - 4 x a week and give a detailed accounting for where I spent every single penny. I won't list balances of my retirement accounts because I don't feel that that is really part of what is needed.

My hope is that by giving myself a public accountability partner that I will be able to cut down my spending on the unneccesary items and the junk. This will help both my bottomline and my waistline.

So . . .
I get paid once a week.
From my weekly paycheck I have money withheld pretax:
4% to my 401k plan
$9.32 to my medical account (I have a debit card to pay co-pays/prescriptions, etc)
Post tax:
~$16 -- life insurance, disability, ?

Net pay: $428/week.
Monthly Net: $1712
Fixed:
*Rent: $650
Car Ins: ~$38 (Liability Only)
Renters Ins: $25
Netflix: $10
Cable: $18 (went up from $13!)
Phone (Landline/DSL/Cell): ~$80
Charity: $122
Roth IRA: $75
*Car Fund: $100 (Replacement/Repair)
Emerg. Fund: $170
*Utilities are included in Rent
*I have a 97 Honda Civic ~94k miles -Paid for
Balance: ~$424
Not fixed - Clothing, Gas, Groceries, etc.

I have 3 checking accounts -
One I use for almost everything (ING)
The second one I pay my car insurance and fund my Roth from (At a Credit Union I've had an account with for over 10 years).
The third one I pay my Renter's Insurance from - it is a local account where I can cash checks if need be.

The total amount in my 3 checking accounts as of today: 1369.81

I have two savings accounts -
HSBC (Emergency Fund/Car Fund) and
ING (Slush/Short term savings)
I also have my Charity account at ING

The total amount as of today: 7410.17

I have two credit cards which I pay off in full each month. One I don't ever use, and the other one is a MyPoints Visa which I use for pretty much everything (including paying my rent.)

The balance between my two cards as of today: $81.25

Looking forward I know my gas expenses are going to be increasing quite a bit, and I am going to have to start paying tolls as well. Right now I walk to work everyday and can generally make it on one tank of gas per month. As of Aug. 6 my company will be moving to a new location -- meaning at least a 20 - 30 minute one way commute, plus tolls. I will be having a coworker carpooling with me who doesn't drive - we'll be sitting down soon to work out how we'll split expenses.

There are also a number of things that I am really wanting. One is a digital camera. Another is a Fluidity bar (fluidity.com). I also know that if I actually get back into losing weight instead of being on a rollercoaster of 10 lbs up and down, that I'll be needing to replace most of my clothing. Also, I probably will be wanting to take a trip out to CA soon to visit my brother and his wife, as well as a possibility of making a trip to SC to visit a possible "friend".

---
So, instead of waiting for a new month to roll around and start holding myself accountable, I am starting today.

If anyone has actually read this far and is willing to do so, I would appreciate getting an "Ahem" note/comment whatever if you notice I haven't updated in more than a few days.

Ok, I know for some of you that doesn't seem like an outrageous amount for a phone bill. But for someone who's bill runs roughly $80 - 90 a month, it was a huge shocker.

For the past month or so I've been having problems with my home phone line. The only reason I have it is for my internet and Tivo. I only have the bare minimum - measured service (25 outbound calls a month). (Included in my monthly bill is my cell phone and internet.)

Over the past month I've had quite a few instances where my phone would ring. I of course wouldn't pick it up, since previously the only people who called my number were telemarketers or people looking for someone who previously had my number. Well, in the past month, every time the phone would ring, my internet would cut off. Most of the calls did not leave a message -but some of them did. Most of them were in Spanish.

About a week ago or so this culminated in my getting 4 calls throughout the night. 3 of them were ones where there was noone on the line. The next to last one, I could hear someone on the line. That was about 3:30 a.m. and I kind of lost it with the person - they were talking back to me - only in Spanish and I had no idea what they were saying.

After this incident I unplugged my phone before going to bed. A couple nights later my phone was plugged in and I was working on the computer when my phone rang once again. I decided to answer it just for the heck of it. I asked if this was the person who'd been constantly calling me for the past couple weeks and if it was I insisted that they STOP calling! At this point the man on the phone said he was getting his wife who spoke some English. She and I were able to figure out that yes, there was a problem - that they hadn't been calling me.

So, at any rate, I figured it was some kind of crossed wires. I went to report a problem on my phone companies website but they had this huge list of things that they wanted me to check for first - yeah right - the list was essentially in another language for me (phone tech speak). So I decided that I didn't want to deal with it right then, and would just keep my phone unplugged.

Then comes the bill today.

119 outbound calls (above the 25 allowed.)
- $9.97

2 long distance phone calls via Ameritech to CUBA = $181.77

I called the repair tech phone line and they are sending someone out on Sunday (sometime between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m.). Then they transfered me to the billing dispute department -- the person I worked with was very helpful although she kept questioning whether or not there was any possibility of my having had someone in my home who would've called Cuba. Next I had to call Ameritech - very bad connection + a very hard to understand service person - finally got her to understand my problem, and she started a ticket for me. I'm supposed to call back on Monday to find out the status.

Depending on what the tech finds on Sunday, the service call will either be free or will cost me $30 (since I don't have wire insurance). The tech person will obviously find a problem - so the disputed amounts will dissapear after 3-4 months. BUT I can expect to go through this hassle again next month when I get my next bill due to charges stemming since the end of the last bill till now.

UGH!

I wrote this for a blog I keep on Sparkpeople and am reposting it here. For here I am adding in the facts that between my vet visit on Friday for updated shots, a bunch of geriatric bloodwork & exam, and today's surgery - I came close to spending a month's takehome. Monkey was worth every penny - but I am so thankful for my Emergency Fund.
-----
Today has been a very bad day, but I also have felt so much love and compassion expressed towards me that it makes it so I can't say this was the worst day of my life.

I took my sweet, sweet, wonderful, loving friend and companion of nearly 10 years to the vet this morning. My cat was going to have some dental work done and a bump removed from his leg to biopsy.

I arrived early with him, so spent about 25 minutes out in the car with him on my lap just loving him to pieces. I thank God that I had that time with him.

Around 9:30 a.m. I get a page telling me to call our Office Manager. She tells me my cellphone had just gone off. I run back to my desk and listen to the voicemail. It's the vet. He says something bad has happened and I need to call.

I call. My cat died during surgery.

I tell the people around me what had happened. They knew something was very wrong because I shouted WHAT a couple times on the phone and was barely controlling my crying. They were so sweet. I told my Office Manager that I was going to take the rest of the day off - she had no problem with that.

I went back to talk to a coworker and friend to tell her what had happened. She was very sweet and supportive as well.

I somehow made it home. I called my parents - both of them dropped what they were doing today and started to make their way to my place. I had so much nervous energy that I didn't know what to do with myself, so I started cleaning my place. I managed to get it pretty nicely picked up in just over an hour.

Then I started looking for ideas on what to do with my kitty. My mom got here first and she was crying just as hard as I was. She had called my brother, and while we were talking, he called. He was so sweet. He also got me to laugh out loud telling me about his misadventures with seeding his front lawn and ending up with a lawnful of mushrooms!

Shortly before my dad came, a friend of mine who I get together with most weeks called and said that she was bringing lunch for me and my parents. (I had sent out an email to a group of friends about what had happened.)

When my dad came we all sat around talking about Monkey (my cat) and also remembering some of our other pets we've had through the years. It was good talking about them. My friend came with the food, which was just so very thoughtful and sweet of her. She stayed for a little while, then had to get back to work.

After that my mom, dad and I went to the vets so we could see Monkey one last time and say goodbye. The vet and his assistant were pretty shook up about the whole thing themselves. Monkey was laying on his heating pad in one of the little kennel cages with a towel partially covering him.

His ears were in an alert position, and the tip of his sweet pink tongue was just barely sticking out of his mouth. We moved the towel and I squatted next to him and petted him for a long time while the vet and the assistant and my parents talked intermittently I

didn't really want to hold him because I knew he wouldn't feel right, but my mom really wanted to hold him. So after she did, I went ahead and did too. He was so heavy, not like he used to feel when I would hold him. -During my conversation with my brother, he'd suggested taxidermy. After holding my sweet little kiden I knew for sure that my answer to that would be a solid NO.

I told the assistant that I had decided to have him cremated since I live in an apartment and have nowhere to bury him. So I had to fill out a form saying what I wanted to have engraved on his little plaque. I should be able to pick him up on Friday..

After we left the vets we came back to my place and stayed in my mom's car just talking about everything and anything for a couple hours. Then my mom left and my dad and I went up to my place. It was so hard walking through that front door knowing that I wasn't going to be greeted by an annoyed meow telling me it was WAY past lunchtime.

Dad stayed for a little while checking his email and sending an email to my grandma about what happened. She and my uncle and aunt are in Euorpe right now visiting a sick relative. I actually got Monkey from a close friend of my Grandmas Labor Day weekend 1997.

It wasn't too long after my dad left that I started thinking about the fact that I felt pretty hungry. I was thinking that I wanted to go to Walmart and get all my favorite comfort foods (chocolate and more chocolate). That I would stop at Boston Market and get my mac & cheese and mashed potatoes. But then I started thinking that if I did that, if I went that far off my healthy eating of the past week - the eating where I've lost 4 lbs - that that would be dishonoring Monkey's memory.

I'm doubly glad that I didn't go to the store, because a few minutes after 5:30 I had a knock on my door. One of my coworkers was standing there. She'd come by to check and see how I was doing and to generally commiserate. She'd not been there even 5 minutes when another sort of coworker came by to do the same. I was so incredibly touched by both of them.

They hadn't been gone even 3 minutes when another coworker of mine called me to make sure I was doing okay. When I checked my email, I had well over a dozen responses to my mass email from that morning, plus I had a good number of responses from my posting here on Spark.

My heart is heavy tonight as I try to absorb the shock of my Monkey's death, but my burden is lighter due to the outpouring of love and friendship from so many different sources.

And, in honor of my sweet kitties memory, I DID not go out and indulge in my comfort foods of pastimes. However, I DID allow myself SOME comfort food in a controlled portion - I made a protein powder/banana/peanut butter/chocolate syrup/soymilk shake. It wasn't even all the good.

RIP Monkey 1997 - May 9, 2007

Today started out really good. I wasn't in much pain at all - felt the best I have in several weeks. Kept pretty busy the whole day.

Then about 20 minutes before the end of the day I get a call from our VP asking me to see him before I leave.

When I go into his office he asks me to sit down and then calls in our Landman. By this time I've figured out that I'm about to find out about the assistant position I had shown interest in several months ago.

Well, our Landman had figured out what he needed - as far as the job description. I think it actually changed from what he'd at first been thinking because of our CPA/accountant leaving a few weeks ago. The position now entails a lot of math knowledge and analytic ability. Not my forte'.

My coworker who has been the assistant accountant for a little over two years also expressed interest in the position. She has the math background/ability, program knowledge with the particular program, and seniority.

Although I understand their decision, I can't help but feel totally disappointed and sad. I'm really wishing now that i hadn't even said anything about being interested in it.

It's so depressing to look at the next 20 years of my life and see a never ending sea of me standing at a copier making copies or being told to "roll those maps tighter".

I really wish right now I had the financial backing and the gumption to just be able to quit and do something that would actually make me feel like I was doing something worthwhile - something that actually did something to make other people's lives better.

I've always thought that I'd like to be a reading/English tutor - but I'd want to get my Reading Specialist degree and take a number of different tutoring methods coursework before I'd feel comfortable doing that. Even with all that though, it would take a lot of time before I could build up enough clientele to make a living on my own. So, even if I had the money to go back to school and get my Masters, I sure don't have the money to wait out however long it would take to get a good enough client base.

I'm just feeling so disappointed right now. The VP did say something about them looking into getting financing to expand the drilling base and that would make us busier and possibly open up more room for growth/moving up/around. Man, I hope this doesn't mean I won't be typing the Landman's documents/letters anymore - that's one of the highlights of my day.
ARGHHH!!!!

Tuesday morning I went to see my regular doctor. I mentioned to her that a number of people had suggested that the problem might be a sinus infection, or possibly TMJ related. After me explaining to her about the location of the pain, as well as the frequency, and then her doing a number of tests, she came up with something that really threw me.

She said that she thinks I have SHINGLES presented without a rash! She told me there are three nerves in the face and the one that is causing me problems is my Cranial Nerve V 2. I had a really bad case of chickenpox when I was 3 - Shingles is a reoccurence of chickenpox - although it usually happens to much older people. lucky me.

She told me that because of the location of it, there could possibly be hearing loss, vision loss or even encephalitis! She gave me a list of ENT (Ear Nose and Throat) docs to make an appt with. I called one and explained what was going on and they told me that what I really needed was an Otolarynogoloist (sp?) or someone who deals with facial nerves.

So, I have an appointment with one on Monday. Until then I am taking these awesome pain meds that make me very loopy, but I much prefer being loopy to being in pain!

I have been trying to find info on Shingles without a rash on the net, but haven't had much luck. I'm also being very paranoid every time I have an itch or a pain anywhere - fearing that a rash might suddenly appear!

All I can say right now is Thank God for my health insurance plan! My coworkers too - they're all being so sweet and worried about me.

Like my mom said, my company may not pay much, but they treat a person right in the other ways that count.

I'm still trying to believe that this is really happening and not a story about someone else. I've always been fairly healthy with few issues (other than weight).

I now can definitely never afford to lose health coverage.

I received my second check from Treasure Trooper's today for $42.00. I guess they're not on my bad list anymore, but I don't think I'll be trying to earn anymore with them. It's way too annoying to have to clear my cookies after doing each offer, as well as keep up on all the offers I have done. Between that check and the last one it will pay for my renter's insurance through April.

Had a dentist appointment today for a cleaning. Ugh. Cleanings are almost as bad as a filling. The sound of the scraping of the teeth - worse than nails on a chalkboard.

A coworker of mine has been asking me about the best ways to go about getting a used car. Her daughter recently turned 16 and has her license. So, the plan is to give her daughter the mom's paid for car, and get a different car for the mom. Then in a few years when the son is 16, mom's car passes to daughter, daughter's car passes to son - mom gets a new car. I've made several suggestions (ebay, Rental Car companies, newspaper, putting word out amoung friends/family members, yahoo groups, etc.) Her husband doesn't like the idea of a rental car because he thinks they'd be too abused. She looked at a yahoo group I mentioned, but gave up because it felt like too much work to get signed on to it.

So, they're talking about buying a new car - mainly because they can't seem to find anything in their $5 $8k range used. They also just recently put a $6,000 instrument for their daughter on their credit card. (She is very talented on this instrument, is a sophmore, but very likely could get a good college scholarship.)

She's worried about the money and is willing to listen to my ideas, but is very good at finding reasons why it won't work for her family.

What can I say? All I can do is try to offer what I have learned through experience and through much reading. If it's taken, it's taken, if not, then it's not.

This pet food recall is a very scary thing. It's scary to think that a company that makes pet food would be willing to scrimp on ingredients irregardless of the effect it would have on its customers - people's pets. I actually have 3 cans of Special Kitty in my cupboard that I bought 3 or 4 months ago - one of the items on the recall list. Thankfully I only fed my cat a couple tablespoonfuls from one can.

I just can't imagine the grief and heartache that the owner's of affected pets are going through right now. If something were to happen to my Monkey, I just don't know what I would do.

I was reading a story today about a woman who has lost TWO of her cats this past week to renal kidney failure - both tested positive for the rat poison. She has a 6 year old daughter and a 3 year old son. Now, just HOW do you explain that? Two perfectly healthy cats, dead.

This morning I had to be out the door of my apartment by 5:30 a.m. so I could make it downtown by 6:00 a.m. Why? Because if you remember, on Valentine's Day I was pulled over by a cop for making an illegal left turn (warning) and got a ticket for not having proof of current insurance with me.

I thought I had sent the correct paperwork in a few weeks ago, and had it all taken care of. But Thursday night when I checked my mail I had a letter from the County Clerk telling me I had NOT sent in the correct paperwork. So Friday morning I call and manage to get in touch with a human being who essentially tells me that the only way for me to take care of this now is by coming in to the courthouse and seeing the judge.

Gulp.

They only take the first 90 people who are there at 7 a.m. Which is why I decided to get there by 6 a.m. - hoping to be amoungst the first 10. I ended up arriving there about 10 after due to a few wrong turns, and found about 20 people ahead of me.

Courthouse doors finally open at 7:10. As we are going in I realize that I had not taken the pocketknife off of my keychain. I asked the officer if there was a basket or something I could leave it in to retrieve later. He essentially said throw it away or take it back to your car. With at least 50 people behind in line, I threw it away.

Once inside I followed the crowd and managed to find the place where we were all put into a corded off area. Well, at least the first 50 of us were. The others all had to come back at 12:45. The line moved slower than grass growing, but finally at 9:30 I was called to one of the clerks spots. She quickly looked over my proof of insurance, and then handed me my papers and directed me towards the correct courtroom.

A few minutes later I arrived in the courtroom and stood in yet another line to give the bailiff my papers. He was dealing with someone with a lot of questions, so a kindly lady called me over and did my paperwork. I was so grateful to just be able to sit down. I was even more grateful when she told me that my case would be dismissed and I would not have to pay the $410 fine.

My relief was short lived however, because as I walked to my car I realized that the 2 hour time limit was long gone. Thankfully though, there was no parking ticket on my windshield. So yet another sigh of relief.

It was almost 10:30 by the time I arrived back home. I was exhausted due to not having slept hardly at all last night, plus getting up at a much earlier hour than normal. So I decided to take care of a few phone calls that needed to be made, and then take an hour nap before heading to work.

I made four phone calls. Three of them were to cancel trial offers (Mypoints and Treasure Trooper stuff). The 4th was to Trowe price. I am finally moving forward on figuring out what to do with my two rogue retirement accounts that are losing money for me rather than earning. Yay!

After my nap I wasn't feeling that much better, so decided to just take the entire day off. Not the most fun filled way to use up a vacation day, but I did get quite a few things taken care of that needed to be accomplished.

All in all, I have truly learned my lesson, because I do not ever want to have to stand for 3 + hours in a courthouse again. I will be super vigilant about making sure I have my current insurance card IN my glove box!!!

Tonight when I retrieved my mail, I had two items of interest.

One was a check from Treasure Trooper for $38.00. I'm still annoyed with them for a number of reasons, but I am happy to get at least this amount. We'll see if I get the other $40 next month.

The second item was an envelope from poetry.com. I had entered a poem into the contest as part of one of Treasure Trooper deals. I hadn't kept my own copy of it, so I was glad to get another copy. It supposedly is in the semi-finals.

Of course, they offer to let you purchase a copy of the book it will be published in, as well as offer to publish an "author's bio" for the low low price of $25. Um, yeah sure. I'll buy a book if I win the $1,000 prize.

Well, that's all for now folks.