Juno's Rebirthday

Last Sunday, January 25th marked the day that I brought Juno, my first dog,

home with me from an adoption event. Since then we have created such a bond and are so inseparable, even boyfriend thinks we share the same personality. (ok, we do)

We decided to celebrate by baking some yummy carob chip cookies in the shapes of bones.We call it her Rebirthday because it is the day she transformed from Bonnie, a dog living in a foster home, into Juno, our sweet lovable dog with a permanent, safe, loving home.

Happy Rebirthday Juno! We love you!

(Daddy folded her ears back. Nice, Daddy.)

This weekend...

Instead of sitting in front of the TV, get out and do something!

Take the dogs (or kids!) for a hike or just a simple walk around the neighborhood for some fresh air.

Pull out the board games and play a loved one in a vicious game of Scrabble or Monopoly.

Go through belongings one room at a time and then take the goods to Goodwill, not only will you be ridding your house of unwanted stuff, you'll be helping charity as well!
Life's too short, get out and play (or have a happenin' beach party with Skipper and Beaver!)

Ouch!

My gas bill is $114. Wowza. I'm used to it being around $25-40. Definitely didn't expect it, definitely don't want to pay it!

Preparing for the trip

Whew! I'm really getting in the mindset that our road trip across the States is definitely going to happen. BF and I are REALLY excited about taking a year to explore our great country (and even the Provinces of Canada) and are beginning our pre-trip plans.

I've been doing a lot of research on the Internet about Fulltiming so I went out and bought a three-subject composition book to get all of my research in order. I've also ordered my first book from Amazon and so I'm excited about learning what we need to do in order to prepare for a year on the road; there is also a list of books that I'm going to order as well, three mainly, that I feel (based on reviews) will be the best resources for us to prepare (not counting the Internet, of course).

Currently, I'm compiling lists of things we need to buy (a lap top, a generator, and a new mattress) with things we need to fix in the 5th wheel (shower, septic system, new flooring) so that we can focus on saving for the trip and for these expenses before we can even leave. It's quite excited knowing that in the very near future we're just going to GO. Leave Tucson and go wherever we decide to visit.

I think we're going to try to find some work along the way to earn a little income as well as maybe some free lodging in the process. I'm also working on the idea of pet sitting and dog grooming at different sites because so many fulltimers bring their furbabies along; there's also the idea of selling some advertising space on the back of the 5th wheel too. Hey, every little helps.

Anyway, any advice would be welcomed on any subject be it fulltiming or preparing for this exciting time in our lives!!

Attitude for Gratitude

I had a really good weekend last week. Yes, and that includes the time I spent at my defensive driving class. I didn't have to work Monday since I'm working on Saturday so it was so nice to have a 3-day weekend. Today's post I'm going to focus on the things that make me grateful.

*I'm grateful I got a speeding ticket and went to my defensive driving course; even though I had to spend $190.00 and spend a Saturday in class, it made me realize that I drive too fast and that I need to slow down. Since then, I now abide by the speed limit and always drive 9 miles an hour or less (gotta start somewhere!) and I cut back on my driving/talking time too.

*I'm grateful that I have a job. No, it's not my dream job, I do not like what I do, but I can do my job and I get a paycheck that gives me the ability to live my lifestyle and pay off my debt. I know in a few months I will have secured my dream job, right now, I'm learning patience.

*I'm grateful that those two months away really helped improve my relationship with boyfriend; had he not left we probably would not be together today and I'm glad that we worked through our problems. *Cliche alert* Absence does make the heart grow fonder.

*I'm grateful that my family gets along and that we can count on one another for anything.

*I'm grateful that boyfriend has work and is able to bring in money. Just a few weeks ago we didn't think he'd be working until the end of February.

*I am grateful that in a years time we will be able to hit the road and travel the United States--debt-free and taking a giant risk.

Anyway, this post just wanted me to reflect on a few things that I'm grateful for at the moment. I hope you do the same, once you start thinking of things you are grateful for, it's hard to stop.

We now return to our regular broadcast...

This weekend...

As I write this, boyfriend is picking up the 5th wheel from the work site where he lived for 2 months; he was sweet and took the girls with him for the 3 1/2 hour (one way) trip so that they could get out of the house. I figure they need some bonding time anyway, and some much needed car time. My coworker was laughing about how she can envision my boyfriend (who is quite large, as in, broad-shouldered) with my little dogs; it's a cute picture actually.

Anyway, I'm doing better this morning, thanks for asking. I was just in a mood yesterday and really discouraged, but I'm getting over the situation. Hey, with AZ's unemployment rate hitting 6.9%, I should not be complaining. At all.

Tomorrow is my driver's safety course from 7:30am-1pm. Ugh...err..I mean...Yay! See ya $190.00, I would have loved you.

My $190.00...*sniff*

I'm going to try and purge a little more this weekend and really evaluate what is necessary. I'm still getting extremely hyped up about our trip in a few years. I found some books at my fave used bookstore so I'm going to look them up on Amazon and see which ones are worth buying.

Other than that, I have a three day weekend since I work next Saturday. Hooray, time to sleep in; after my stupid drivers class, I'm going to be beat.

Hooray for miracles

Newsflash: My cellphone ringer now works. Now I don't have to spend $50.00. That is all.

Maybe it's the weather...

...that is getting to me. It's been raining since last night; but I don't think that is the problem. I walked into my house last night and it was stuffy so it was lovely to be able to open the doors and windows and let the fresh air in. When boyfriend arrived from his first class (yea, he's back in school!) last night it was raining. Smelling and feeling that fresh air mix with the rain was so wonderful; I could have stayed on the couch all night just cuddling with him and the girls.

I'm just so discouraged right now about my job. I'm not doing what I want to be doing. I hate the repetitive nature of my position and the fact that I have to babysit people all the time, taking them by the hand reassuring that the decision they make is the right one. I wish I could just quit and work part-time again, work retail with its crappy pay and sketchy hours. Why not work at a pet store so I can help educate pet parents about the right food or treats for their babies? Heck, start my own dog walking business so I could spend all day with my girls and other dogs at the dog park.

I'm desperate for a change. Right. Now. And it needs to happen sooner than later.

Tempted.

I hate my job so much and the hate grows every single day. I just want to walk in my boss's office and quit right now and then I'll be happy. A year I have wasted in this joint. I want out.

Needing a change

I need a change. I need to do something and get out of my current situation. I'm sick of working at my job but patiently waiting for my new one to call me and say, "We're ready. Let's do this."

I talked to boyfriend over the weekend and asked him if he would want to take a year off and just travel the United States. He said, yes. We have a 5th wheel trailer (in the above pic) and so I figure once we become debt-free this year (and it WILL be this year, damn it) we save roughly $20,000, pack up the girls and my cat, put our stuff in storage and hit the road. How freeing would that be? Drive wherever, stay wherever, see whatever we want, go wherever we want. I think traveling the States would be so much fun and would be one the best years of our lives. We don't have a house, we don't have kids (except furbabies), so why not? What do we have holding us here in Tucson? Absolutely nothing.

It's very ambitious for us to be debt free this year. I only have less than $3,000 worth of Credit card debt but he has the truck, cc debt, and the trailer. I think we can do it.

Right now I'm just getting focused and excited about the potential of it happening within the next year. I've started purging my things and really evaluate what is coming into my house and what I really need to keep since items would be in storage for a year. Making this decision just makes me feel so free, I can't wait for it to happen. Right now I'm being patient (something I've learned a lot about lately!) and just thinking about where we want to go and what we want to see.

Any ideas of places to go, things to see? Where would you go if you could travel the States?

Crap crap crap

So last Tuesday I get off work 45 minutes late. My eyes hurt. I'm starving. I'm tired. I just want to go home, eat, and watch some TV with the girls. I'm jamming to my music in my car and BAM. I see flashing lights. *CRAP*

I get busted for going 50 in a 35mph zone. Oops. I really didn't realize I was going that fast, honestly. And of course, I can't get off with a warning but at least he writes the ticket for 45mph in a 35. The nice officer (really, he was nice) handed me my citation and I was in a bad mood the rest of the night.

Boyfriend calls from his parents' house and is asking me how my night was going. Well, you TELL me. And I proceed to get scolded like a child. "I've told you how many times to slow down?" Blah blah blah. You're right. I'm wrong. Yes, the last thing I need to hear is how you're right. I'm already pissed off about this ticket and know this doesn't help my debt get paid off any faster.

Anyway, the bonus is that I get to go to Defensive Driving School so it won't count against my license. The bad news? It's $190.00 whereas my ticket is only $135.00. GRRRRR. AND I have to go on Saturday morning from 7:30AM to 1PM. UGH.

Since this payday is the paycheck that is ALWAYS tight due to rent, I'm essentially broke after this ticket and putting money in my EF. This means I can't even afford to pay ANYTHING towards debt for another month. :( Not happy. At all.

Financial Update: Sorry BFF!

Just checked my credit card #2 balance today and because I get cash back on purchases, I got a $92.81 rebate put on my total! This is built up throughout the year and then placed on the balance in January :) Hooray!

Ok, that's enough for now, just had to share the news...which made my day.

Super deal: Extra sugar-free gum at Walgreens.

Some people must have their coffee throughout the day, others it's cigarettes. My vice? Extra Winterfresh sugar-free gum. I've been chewing gum consistently for the past 10 years; when one piece goes out, a new one goes in. If I'm eating I may just cheek it and keep eating. If I don't have gum, I tend to freak out a little bit until I can find a piece and then it HAS to be Winterfresh Extra. Sound crazy? Maybe, but I just love gum; it keeps your mouth occupied and a nice minty flavor.

Anyway, next door to my work is a Walgreens, checking out their ad I found that they have a sale on Extra gum (which hardly ever happens). Normally for a 15-stick pack of gum at Walgreens, it's $1.19 per pack. Ouch. This week they have it advertised 3 packs for $1.98 plus $1.00 coupon in their coupon book! So that's 3 packs for just $0.99! I just picked up thirty packs (and cleaned them out of Winterfresh) for just $9.90 (even though it says limit 3 packs, they were nice enough to let me buy thirty!).

Just wanted to share this tip with you! For $0.33 per pack, this is a deal you can't miss if you love Extra gum.

Recommended product: Gentle Leader

In an effort to stay away from finances, per BFF's request (lol), I decided to highlight one of my new favorite products for my dog. No, I'm not getting paid for this (I wish) nor am I receiving any benefit from this review. I'm just a typical dog lover/owner and thought that maybe this advice would help someone else who is/was having the same problem with their dog.

My sweet Ruby is like a teddy bear. She is soft, fuzzy, cuddly, and loves attention. She'd rather be carried around like a baby at the dog park and enjoys lying on our laps at home. She's generally well behaved thanks to some diligent training on my part and just fun to have around. The problem begins when I take her on a walk and I've discussed this before, she's a royal pain. She turns into a different dog, pulling, acting psycho and trying to get to any other dog she can. (Like she would know what to do when she gets to the other dog? Probably run away!)

Anyway, I was at my wits end until I found this Gentle Leader at my local pet store. Once I figured out how it worked (thank goodness it came with a DVD because the instructions were confusing as heck) and put it on her, it was like she transformed into a completely different dog; she was walking right beside me instead of jerking and pulling and there was actually slack in the leash. In the past, I had tried just hooking the lead to the collar, a regular harness, an "anti-pulling" harness (yeah, right) trying to figure out what would make her stop.

Basically the Gentle Leader is a head collar that goes around the muzzle and around the back of the head and neck; it works because if the dog starts pulling, their head goes down. It took Ruby a little while to get adjusted to it but once we get going, she's fine. Every once in a while she'll try to get it off if she sees another dog or she's getting frustrated, but this by far is one of the BEST products out there on the market if one is having difficulty walking their dog.

Oh, by the way, it's NOT a muzzle. Your dog can still bark, drink, chew, eat, etc. when this is on, it doesn't limit them at all. Honestly, this is one of the best investments I've made on my dog, plus I didn't have to shell out $$$ for expensive training. :) Retail cost is about $19.99.

Updated Totals

After spending numerous, and I mean numerous, hours figuring out my portion of debt and boyfriend's portion of debt, I have my new totals for my credit cards posted in the left column. Or I'll just post it here too:

Credit Card #1

• $120.62

Credit Card #2

• $2468.98

Total Credit Card Debt: $2589.60

After getting those totals together and seeing the balance doesn't make me feel too bad at all! I thought I had owed more, so seeing this reality really makes me feel great! And the fact that if I used my emergency fund of $2300 to pay off my debt, I would only have $289 left in debt which means I would be debt free at the end of the month (and emergency fund broke!). It's completely tempting to do so, but I'm going to diligently keep it where it remains safe. Still, knowing that, makes me feel empowered! :)

Spent too much money this weekend.

Oops. I was doing really well because I had returned a pair of pants I had bought when I used my gift cards from my parents to my favorite clothing store, Kohls. It was a busy day there and I had gone over by $56.95 and with all the people behind me, I just had them put the remaining balance on my Kohls charge. Bad. Yes. I know. I went home and tried to figure out what I didn't absolutely love that I could return. Enter the pants. I figured I would just take them back and only have a small balance left on my card which I could promptly pay ASAP. Boyfriend and I returned the pants and I paid off my charge card. Nice. :)

We then ran to a shoe store to see if they had a certain purse there. Now, back in the day I was really big into hand bags. Like, really big. I had to buy them all the time. I justified them as a good purchase because they could last for a few years, unlike some other purchases. Anymore, unless I happen to find a really nice one I can't live without, I don't buy them. While shopping with my BFF in Oklahoma, I spotted this large clutch that I just immediately fell in love with. So did she. Being the total bitch that I am, I bought the bag for myself thinking I could find her one too. I tried to find it desperately online but to no avail, I couldn't find it. Well, guess what? I found her one yesterday. The last one. Whew. So I'm going to mail that off to her. So that should be a nice surprise.

I also needed new shoes for work. Desperately. The only 3 pairs of shoes I wear to work are getting worn out. My favorite Guess heels are falling apart. The bottom part of the heel came off because it was so worn down; when I walked, you could hear the nail going clack, clack, clack. The other two pairs of flats I had were just getting worn out (I had bought them 1 1/2 years ago!). So I found a really sexy pair of Guess heels for only $47.00 which is awesome because they're normally $115.00 and I found a really nice pair of black flats for $40.00. More money than I wanted to spend but I thought it was worth it to get new shoes.

Boyfriend was nice enough to take my car in today to get the oil changed; since I only use synthetic it's always more expensive. Damage? $55.00. Obviously there was no way of getting around this and boyfriend said he'd pay for it but too bad, I transferred the money to his account. Sucker.

I know what you're thinking, just have him do it to save money? Au contraire, he was going to, but because his forearm is too big there was no way he could get to the oil filter so he took it in. Jiffy Lube was nice enough to give us this discount card where you save $7 the first oil change, $8 the next, $9 the next, etc. They also let bf use the $7 off coupon on my oil change and $8 on his. $15 saved. I'm not going to complain.

Anyway, I had a good weekend; boyfriend is leaving to visit his parents about 6 hours away in Northern Arizona so I won't see him for a week. I'm used to it by now so no big deal, he needs to see his rents anyway as it has been almost a year.

Currently reading: Your Money or Your Life, Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin

UPDATE: Emergency fund vs. Credit card

I found this article online My Two Dollars with the reader asking advice on the same situation as mine; The only difference between our situations that she has 8 months left on her 0% interest and has enough in her EF to pay it all off, whereas I'm down to only 4 months, plus I don't have enough in my EF to cover my credit card debt.

The advice that she was given was to leave her EF alone and just pay on her credit card. I think his advice is solid; if I had 8 months left as well, I would do the same thing. I just have 4 months left to pay $3400. I think I will continue my payment schedule as laid out and then if worse comes to worse, I'll use my EF as a fall back.

I hope I don't have to use my EF at all, I don't want to, but I also don't want to have to pay $100s of dollars in interest to keep the cash on hand, you know?

Cost/Benefit: Using emergency fund for credit cards

Yeah, yeah. I know, anyone will tell you, DON'T use your emergency fund for credit cards because in the event you need that money, you have to rely back on to credit to get you out of the situation.

Here's what I determined would happen if I used the emergency fund that I have built up right now (while still contributing 10% to it at the same time) vs. not using it to pay off credit card #1 before June 1st.

Option 1: Use emergency fund to pay down credit card #1.

$3,400 balance - $2,300 emergency fund = $1,100 remaining balance

Jan contributions= $100 emergency/$100 payment
January balances= $100 emergency fund/$1000 credit card balance

Feb contributions= $200 emergency/$300 payment
February balances= $300 emergency fund/$700 credit card balance

March contributions= $200 emergency/$300 payment
March balances= $500 emergency fund/$400 credit card balance

April contributions= $200 emergency/$300 payment
April balances= $700 emergency fund/$100 credit card balance

May contributions= $300 emergency/$100 payment
May balances= $1000 emergency fund/NO BALANCE

SUMMARY: Credit card will be paid in full by the first part in May, remaining payments can be transferred to credit card #2.

Option 2: Continue to pay down credit card w/o using emergency fund.

Adding up all payments plus an extra $300 for May = $1,400 paid towards credit card with a remaining balance of $2,000. YIKES! While my emergency fund would be $3,300. NICE!

Now, obviously I'm not counting any contributions from boyfriend, so I'm just looking at what I can contribute at the moment. I really don't see why I shouldn't use my emergency fund because obviously if I leave the remaining balance of $2000, credit card 1 is going to charge interest for the past year. This could be anywhere from $200-600. OUCH. At the same time, I AM building my EF back up slowly but surely so when I'm done, I should have a solid $1,000 plus interest.

Any thoughts? Advice?

The Good and The Bad: Money edition.

I'm starting a new segment called the Good and the Bad; I'm going to focus on what's going on in my life, obviously the good parts and the bad, this will help me keep focus and keep a positive attitude despite any bad that is going on, I hope you enjoy. Leave some feedback and let me know what you think.

The Good:

I put $317 towards #1 credit card. It's a 0% interest credit card until June so we have to get that paid in full by the end of May; there is no way in H E double hockey sticks I'm going to pay back interest on that puppy. My emergency fund is slowly growing every month, thank goodness. It feels good to see that balance get larger every month!

The Bad:

I need new contacts. Bad. I'm wearing my glasses today, ugh, and I may just have to use the emergency fund money to buy 6 months worth of contacts. I don't think I could continue wearing my glasses; I'm already starting to get a headache. Damage? Around $200. :( Upside? At least the money is there and I don't have to rely on my credit card! :)

My #2 credit card sent me a letter stating they're raising my interest by 2% (!) due to the credit crunch, not due to my credit or anything else I may have done (which is nothing). Ugh. I have the best rate that they offer and when I first opened it, it was 2% higher, so I've done really well in lowering it, but back up she goes. This just means I have to focus harder to pay it off--not like I'm already not doing that!

With boyfriend out of work until at least next month or until he finds something, I'm responsible for taking care of the credit card payments. :( He was making AWESOME money and we put a huge dent in our card debt and now it comes to an almost stand still. That just sucks. Once he starts school though, the VA will send him another check and that extra money sure will help, but not that much, especially if he isn't working that much.

Conclusion: Although things aren't going exactly my way, I can handle the extra little pressure. At least I have a job! :)

The good and the bad...

The good: When I was in Dallas for Christmas, I stopped off at Borders in the mall because I found some super cute journals for 75% off. When I got up to the register they gave me a $5 off coupon on my next purchase of $5 or more. Today I went to Borders and found a book on the clearance rack and got two Lindor truffles. Cost? $0. :) A book and chocolate for nothing? Why yes, thank you very much.

The bad: My cat spilled water on my cell phone not too long ago. It's been working fine until today when my alarm went off only by vibrating. Ugh. Everything else is working except the ringer! I went to Alltel and they said my phone had water damage and so it wasn't covered by the warranty, good thing I have insurance! It will cost me $50 to replace it. $50! I guess it's better than buying it retail. I'm just going to have to suck it up and just leave it on vibrate and use one of my old phones for an alarm clock until I finally feel like spending the money.

Oh well, at least I have a new book! :)

And this is why you declutter...

Human mole dies of thirst ... lost in his own tunnels of trash (from the The Sun via FoxNews).

...But I have mentioned before that hoarder is serious disorder and a lot of the time the hoarder needs some sort of mental help to identify the problem.

Crazy and tragic...I wonder why the Council didn't step in and help? Did neighbors do anything or report it? Too little too late I suppose.

Love

Me, wearing my hot pink pashmina: Hey babe, you like my scarf?

Boyfriend: Not really.

Me: Hey, I got this on the streets of Spain.

BF: You should have left it there.

Yay!

I just made a payment of $317 to my 1st and lowest credit card balance, this means I only owe $120.62 on that card! I'm so excited! Even though it's not going to be paid off because boyfriend owes money on it, it will be so nice knowing I can focus on paying my other credit card off! :)

My 2nd card has the highest balance at this point, but I'm still working out my amount with boyfriend's amount. I will definitely be debt-free before the end of the year, I can feel it.

I got the book Debt-Proof Living by Mary Hunt from the library on Monday (she also has a website) and I'm almost done with it. I've been devouring it everyday and learning new information everyday. If you haven't read it, I HIGHLY recommend it. She has great insight on managing debt, as she was $100,000 in debt once. YIKES! If you've read her book or are familiar with her ideals, last night I discussed with boyfriend starting our Freedom Account. This is basically a separate checking account that is used only for larger, expected (and unexpected) instances that sometimes require large amounts of money.

One designates which categories are going to be covered by the Freedom Account. I chose Clothing, Car repairs/upkeep, and Vacation. Then one figures out the yearly amounts in which to cover those categories.

• Clothing

$600/year or $50/month

• Car repairs/upkeep

$1200/year or $100/month

• Vacation

$1200/year or $100/month

So basically boyfriend and I will be paying $225/month together or $112.50 individually into this account. The cool thing about this system is that there is money to cover those things, thereby eliminating the need for a credit card or a loan. The idea is that one builds up this account so in the event of an emergency or a need, the money is there and there is no stress about coming up with $250 to make a car repair or a $375 plane ticket; it's already taken care of.

I'm really excited about starting this! I've put my credit cards on ice in the freezer and once credit card #1 is paid off, it's going to be closed. I will continue to keep #2 just because I think one should have at least ONE credit card, just in case. I feel I'm pretty well-informed on financials but after ready Ms. Hunt's book, I feel even more empowered. Check it out if you can! :)

Money and families.

Fabulously Broke in the City had a post today about her brother and how he earns a large income with spending to match. If you haven't checked out her blog, please do, it's one of my favorite PF blogs that I read daily.

Just reading about her brother and his ideals really had me thinking about my relationship with my family. When I go home, it's such a stark realization that I'm such a black sheep. I don't have anyone in my family that thinks as I think; pretty much about everything. Here are a few of our differences...

Diet:

I believe what we put in our bodies is fuel. When I buy food, especially dairy products, I buy organic as much as I can. I think that organic and natural as possible is what keeps us healthy. I love fresh fruits and veggies; I became a vegetarian almost 3 years ago and have no desire to ever go back and eat meat. I don't eat a lot of fast food, if ever, because there really aren't good choices for us veggies, but at the same time, it keeps me away from french fries!! When I come home, my mom always makes this big production about how it's so difficult for her to come up with food ideas and what I can eat. Give me a break, it's never difficult for me to find food. Ever. Anyway, don't get me wrong, I'll eat junk food when the mood strikes, who doesn't love a good pizza or yummy cookies?

Careers:

I believe that I should do what I want to do. (What a concept, huh?) I'm going to work in the criminal justice field very soon doing a potentially dangerous job...and I couldn't be more excited. Boyfriend bought me a gun for my birthday so that I could use it for home protection and for my new job. Oh geez, you would have thought the world had ended. My uncle thinks I should work in sales or pharmaceuticals (Ha. That's not going to happen) because that's where one can make a lot of money. Why can't they be supportive and recognize what I'm going to do is a community service and only will boost my career further in the CJ field?

Living:

I believe we should live within our means (another new concept, huh?) and that we should save for what we want, not act on impulse, and really evaluate all future purchases. My parents feel that they need a big house (3000sqft/4 bedrooms/4 bathrooms/pool) for who knows what reason? It's not for when all of us kids come home because only 2 of the bedrooms are actually for sleeping! One room is for my dad's computer room and other stuff (which is packed to the hilt with stuff) the other is for decorations and various crap (some which haven't seen the light of day for 20+ years). Oh, and they have a two car garage that is so full of stuff you can barely walk in. Not kidding. Anyway, my mom stresses out so much about the house, and who wouldn't, but she's not willing to part with loads and loads of stuff, like she needs to.

So, I may be ranting a bit and all families have their differences, but when I'm home, it's so nice but at the same time it's stressful because I feel like I'm being judged and my "hippie" opinions don't matter. At the same time, I'm glad I'm not like that, I'm glad I think differently and outside of the typical American ideals; I guess that's why I started this blog...I like who I am and damn it, I'm happy. And that's all that matters, right?

Back to work!!

It's my first day back since December 19. Ahh, what a nice break it was for sure! :) Last week when I was home, I was so incredibly lazy, it is really quite nice to be back into my old groove. (Never thought I'd be saying THAT one!)

Everyone is in a really good mood, which of course is never a bad thing! I got boyfriend for two days, the 1st and the 2nd, so I can't complain. We don't do much when he comes in since he's driving 3 1/2 hours one way and he works 10 hour days 7 days a week; we generally just sleep, eat, lounge around, and watch movies and TV. I can't wait till things get back to normalcy and he's home for good so we can get out and do things! He could be back as early as tonight and as late as the end of this month. BUT..it is ending and he will be home soon. FINALLY.

The girls thoroughly enjoyed my being home and spending every waking minute with them, and I'll tell you what, I loved it too.

I feel like this year is MY year.

• My finances are getting in check and after reevaluating the bills, I don't owe as much as I thought, how lovely is that?
• I have been working out every single day (except for the 2 that bf was home) for over a week now; I found a great couple of fitness segments that I record on my DVR so it's like getting a new workout everyday for free! Sweet! (One is Yoga and the other is a high-intensity cardio workout with weights)
• I'm going to be starting my dream job very, very soon. I was supposed to get hired last month but because of the economy and the hiring freezes, I can't start yet. This has been in the works for over a year now.. I cannot wait to start my career!

With all of the changes at work, I'd better get back.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!