Movies I want to see

2008

• April 4 - Nim's Island (sounded cute)
• April 18 - The Forbidden Kingdom (Jackie Chan love)
• May 2 - Iron Man (Black Sabbath better be in the soundtrack and the trailers don't count)
• May 9 - Speed Racer (trailer surprised the hell out of me)
• May 16 - Prince Caspian (agnostic Pagan that I am I could totally worship Aslan, he hangs out with Harry Potter and Bacchus (it's in the book))
• May 22 - INDIANA JONES!
• July 11 - Hellboy II (otherwise known as Hellboy vs. the Drow)
• July 18 - BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT (o hell yeah)
• Nov. 21 - Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

2009

• Watchman
• May 8 - Star Trek
• August 7 - G.I. Joe (I can be won over by Chris Eccleston and Ray Parks)

Read Free!
The BookWorm

There is a new renaissance festival in Louisiana! Check out the Acadiana Medieval Faire at: http://www.acadianafaire.org/

Damn, damn, and triple damn

Phone calls less than productive. Too late to process paperwork to skip the car payments for April, but we could do it for May. Thanks, I'll see. Call up mortgage company. Oh the late fee was from last year and never paid off (now I think they have adjusted my automatic payment amounts at least once since incurring the late fee, because of escrow overpayment and they didn't address it then? Or take the late fee amount from the escrow account that had too much money in January?) Oh and the only way to get your due date change is to refinance the whole mortgage.

*Headdesk* *Headdesk* *Headdesk*

But work gave all employees a free state highway map today. I guess they don't want anyone to get lost during hurricane season.

The number one goal in April is to avoid the $25 overdraft fees and $5 we-did-the-transfer-for-you fees in the savings accounts. How to do that? I'm going to have to do budget reviews everyday, this week especially. I'm hoping by next paycheck I can go back to the weekly, but until I get past these first few auto payments I really can't breath easy.

Putting all bills on a credit card then paying the credit card off every two weeks when I get paid is looking really attractive again. The only thing stopping me is knowing I'm stupid with credit cards. Second consideration is would I even qualify for enough credit to cover the monthly bills? But to not have this nail biting every month is awfully attractive. But I said I would do the same thing with the gas-only credit card and all it took was forgetting to pay for two pay periods to knock away the support.

Okay, getting out of the damn circle thinking loop. I have a plan to implement.

Read Free!
The BookWorm

There is a new renaissance festival in Louisiana! Check out the Acadiana Medieval Faire at: http://www.acadianafaire.org/

Number Crunching 117

March Budget Meeting

Quicken Cash Flow = 562.16

Reconciling Quicken with Bank Statement: Everything reconciled.

Reconciling last month’s budget: I ended up with money left over, thanks to unexpected income. However, I can’t honestly say I stuck to the budget in March. Problem areas:

• Bank charges – because automatic payments went through with funds lacking
• Acadiana Medieval Faire – something has to change with this expense because I’m tired of it coming out of my pocket when it’s unbudgeted.
• Eating Out – I knew I blew the budget on this one, but I didn’t think I had gotten to third place of overspending with it.
• New Insurance – technically I’m not sure what type of insurance to file it under. It pays for disability and funeral expenses. I hadn’t budgetted for it, but it was a good deal.
• Mom – borrowed gas money and paid her back for that the same month
• Medical – prescriptions pushed me over the budgeted amount. I’ll be so thrilled when I can refuel the FSA and start using it again.
• Computer: software – I hadn’t planned on buying a registry scrubbing program, but the computer is running better since I used it.
• Household – I don’t remember what I bought for the house but it must have been something I really needed.
• Grocery – went over the budget amount, no real surprise with price increases.
• Entertainment – I bought a book today, not budgeted but my fun for getting my tax refund.
• Citifinancial payment – I had to pay a late fee which wasn’t budgeted.
• Categories that went over but stayed under $5.00:
  • TurboTax fees
  • Auto fuel
  • Atmos Energy
  • Tangi Water
  • Auto service

Where did I stay under budget?

• Telephone/cellphone: first new cellphone bill is due in April
• Mortgage: overestimated the budget amount

Verdict: Better than February but still falling down too much.

Creating April’s budget: I think I need to start budgeting by the week. Most of the bank charges are from auto payments going through without money to cover them fully (because I overspent the money, but you have to buy gas).

#Headdesk# Breaking down by the week, I end up with money leftover at the end of the month. But I run out of money in the first week and then in the third week. There’s also five weeks in April. #Headdesk#

So much for being able to move money from my tax refund into a high-yield savings account. So much for being able to keep money in savings for gasoline purchases. The $205.10 that AMF owes me plus $125.06 that I can draw from savings gets rid of only one of the overspent weeks. Crap.

Mom and I talked about doing a garage sale, but I can’t earn $300 from that (not with what I have to sell). #Headdesk# I have aluminum cans to sell for recycling. #Sigh# I still have books and DVDs to set up for sell on Amazon. I have some ideas for the website that could hopefully earn money, but when can I get them implemented? #Pulling hair out# I’m going for more chocolate.

Okay, more chocolate and having to explain to Mom that next month is April not May and no I don’t believe the government is going to give me $600 and if they do it has to go in my gas tank. So now I’m doing a second job search. #Whimper# I really didn’t want to get another time suck before getting the writing established. Damnit. Or finishing school. Damnit.

I had done the math earlier this week (to price what I should sell stuff online for) and figured that an hour of my time needs to be worth $10.77. I can always get more, but less than that won’t give me any headway on my financial goals. Also the point to figuring that out was to see what I lose by not writing. So at least I have a salary range to plug into job applications.

I’m applying for a part-time job at North Oaks. Next online stop will be Hammond Job Search, or whatever they call it. But what do I do while waiting to hear from them? I’m going to have to get the writing for pay off the ground. #Headdesk#

Yes, I have been avoiding it, I have to let stuff go, and I can’t. #Headdesk# Here’s my weekend, figuring out my budget all day. Sunday, AMF meeting hopefully not all day long but probably will be. Yes, I do waste a lot of time but how much time is in the day? #Headdesk#

Okay, I want to wave a magic wand and have my money issues fixed. That’s not going to happen anytime soon.

Determining how much cash to withdraw for the pay periods in April: I’m not drawing out cash in April. I think I fall into the category of people that have-cash-spend-it-like-water. And I spend most of it at work in the vending machines—so not healthy. So April will be an experiment with that.

Ensuring all automatic payments went through for March: Yeah, that’s good.

Ensuring all automatic payments are set up for the next month: Yeah, they are, biggest part of the problem. Maybe I can get the mortgage moved. But I honestly, don’t see a better date on the calendar to move it to.

Review savings goals:

1. STEF = $2202.00 Current total = $135.06
2. Dishwasher fund = $500.00 Current total = $0.00
3. Reenacting Hobby Fund = $200.00 Current total = $0.00

Update NetWorth IQ statement:


Update No Credit Needed Network Savings Chart:


Overview and Plans
Crap! It should not take five hours to fill out a job application. I’m done with it now. I can’t find the other one I was talking about and too tired to think about it. This took all damn day!

Sunday – I’m getting the writing shit together. After I get back from the store buying some munchies for the meeting. I hope the meeting doesn’t take all day, but I just can’t have people at my house without anything for them to eat.

Call mortgage company and see if I can get the payment date moved.

I’d love to get to the point where I live on last month’s money. I understood the principle as the blogger explained it. What I don’t understand is how they reached the point to jump start it.

3/30/08: Had a bright idea after I got some sleep. If I can get my car note on hold for April and move the mortgage to after my first paycheck for April, I’d only need to pull $20 out of savings. #Crossing fingers# I’ll start calling Monday.

Read Free!
The BookWorm

There is a new renaissance festival in Louisiana! Check out the Acadiana Medieval Faire at: http://www.acadianafaire.org/

Where Did I Put My D20?

Since I think me and ole Murphy are in a RPG roll-off, I'd like to actually see the numbers I keep coming up with and he keeps beating. If that's not possible, I'll settle for dousing AMF in Murphy repellant.

This morning not good, but it actually started last night. Last night, I needed to send three emails out concerning AMF. Turned on computer, decided to remove a program first before emails. Put on the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe while waiting on the computer. Try to open Outlook twice, get end program twice, get end program on Add/Remove software three times--all while going back and forth with the movie to keep me in a happy place. By the time Peter, Susan, and Lucy reach Aslan, I shut off the computer because end program wasn't working. I finished the movie and went to bed late.

Add to that coming home late and starving because of anemic bank account and wellness visit.

This morning, I go straight to Outlook after turning on computer. It's cranky and slow, and wants me to find the installation CD to fix the new virus scanner plug-in. I ignore all this and eventually get to the Inbox. Massive purge on the Inbox and I send off two of the three emails.

The third email is sending files to another director on the board. We already tried burning a CD earlier this week, and that was a massive fail with negative hit points on my CD drive and ahead Nero program. Not sure if I need a new drive only or a new drive and a new burning program. *Sigh* Have to email them this morning before going to work.

First attempt with Outlook: attached the three files to the email. Outlook warns me a file is illegal and I shouldn't send it. Doesn't tell me which file. I send anyway and go brush my teeth. Outlook responds with a "undeliverable mail" message.

Second attempt with Outlook: zip the three files together and attach to email and go brush hair. Outlook responds with a "undeliverable mail" message. Shut down Outlook and open Firefox to go to GMail.

Third attempt with web application for GMail: attach zip file to email, completely dressed now, pack bag. 6am DJs are on the radio. GMail refuses to send email because one of the files is an executable one. I'm boggled: how the hell do virus scammers operate?

Fourth attempt on GMail: dropped the executable file (which is an innocent Flash installer), attach the other two files, and send. the browser remains in send for fifteen minutes. I go look for Mustard. Can't find Mustard. Can't send email. Start ranting at the computer. Stop the whole process, log out, and log back in. Nothing sent.

Fifth attempt on GMail: attach only one file to the email. Carefully don't mention Murphy in the email. Send the email. Still working ten minutes later. Start ranting at computer. Realize that I shut Outlook down and it was in the middle of its final send and receive. Cancel that in case it was interfering. Rant at the computer again. Still running send. Load bag into car. Mustard shows up and gets tossed into the house. Rant at computer again and realize the news at 6:30 is on. Rant at the computer for making me late. Leave it running as I go to work.

Make it to work right at 7:30am, my on-the-clock time. Check GMail and it says sent. Finally.

So seriously, Murphy repellant?

Personal note for weight loss: I'm a stress eater, I think. Not really an overeater. I have no money until paycheck is deposited. I still haven't gotten tax refund and really need it. I need to get the car serviced and me massaged. I want Mexican, Thai, a steak, and stuffed mushrooms. NOW! I'm not even hungry yet, and the tastebuds don't want all that at the same meal. But my whatever-side-of-me-that-has-latched-onto-this wants a trip to a Mexican restaurant, a Thai restaurant, and Chelsea's or Charlie's for the steak (I don't know why the best steak places I know are both named with C's). Saying no money in the budget is not budging the desire for this food. Bizarre.

3/28/08 Update: A quick aside to explain that I had more computer woes this morning. To the point that Mustard laid both front paws on my chest while I sat at the computer to stop me from yelling at it. He's never done a cute like that and I have to admit it worked.

Windows XP seems to run fine, I might be able to get a program started but the program soon freezes when I ask it to do something (Firefox and Outlook this morning). I tried opened an Excel file and it wanted to reinstall the Excel program. I tried removing Easy Tune (whatever the hell this program is that I have never used) and was told it was in use and I couldn't uninstall (further than I got before). I just set up Avast anti-virus and it's catching a whole lot of malware. Last time I looked at the vault, it had shut down 11.

Not to start any "Windows is stupid and evil" rants from anyone, but am I expecting too much to want my programs to keep running after I start them? What I don't know is if this is a performance issue with XP (though I don't remember it acting this way before) and I need to purge the computer of software I'm not currently using or if I need to dig deeper to find more malware?

Read Free!
The BookWorm

There is a new renaissance festival in Louisiana! Check out the Acadiana Medieval Faire at: http://www.acadianafaire.org/

Spring, Sprang, Sprung

I have a new incantation location, the gas pump. The incantation goes as follows: "Please take the debit card, payday is Thursday. Please take the card, I won't drive any extra. Please take the card, payday is Thursday. Please take the card, the car is empty." So far it has worked every time I've had to use it, which is far too often lately. just get through this month, just get through this month.

And so much for getting my sleep schedule back inline during a holiday. So I'm sure why I feel so blah is due to sleeping poorly. One mystery solved, and I go to bed early tonight (or technically, on time).

It must be spring because I'm getting that undeniable nesting urge. Spring cleaning, redecorating, build furniture for the house, garden. I think it's a side effect of the pollen.

One thing I learned last week as I tried to restart the planning habit that flopped miserably, I such at limits. Here's the starting theory: Plan your big rocks for the week, plan the day's MITs to accomplish the big rocks first, and cross off items as you accomplish them. Keep the limit to what you can accomplish in a day and in a week.

So what do I do? I get a late start to the week last week, but Tuesday's schedule not too bad. Then on Wednesday I list as a Big Rock "finish Tuesday's MITs." That sounded like a good idea, and I continued it for the rest of the week's scheduling. Result was by Saturday I had twenty-two MITs to do.

Not doing that this week. This week I planned the big rocks, then scheduled them on different days. Hopefully, this way I'll get to touch the stuff I didn't get to last week.

Now, I'm off to get editing finished so I can go find betas.

Read Free!
The BookWorm

There is a new renaissance festival in Louisiana! Check out the Acadiana Medieval Faire at: http://www.acadianafaire.org/

Iron Experiement Redux 06

Week 40 = 181.7
Week 39 = 181.6
Week 38 = 181.2
Week 37 = 180.7
Week 36 = 179.3
Week 35 = 178.6
Week 34 = 179.4
Week 33 = 179.4
Week 32 = 178.8
Week 31 = 179.2
Week 30 = 181.7
Week 29 = 181.9
Week 28 = 182.8
Week 27 = 182.7
Week 26 = 185.3
Week 25 = 188.2
Week 24 = 188
Week 23 = 186.7
Week 22 = 187.4
Week 21 = 186.9
Week 20 = 186.2
Week 19 = 186.4
Week 18 = 186.3
Week 17 = 186.5
Week 16 = 187.2
Week 15 = 188.6
Week 14 = 188.8
Week 13 = 189
Week 12 = 187.6
Week 11 = 187.8
Week 10 = 189.6
Week 9 = 188.9
Week 8 = 193.4
Week 7 = 194.5
Week 6 = 194.5
Week 5 = 195.5
Week 2 = 199
Week 1 = 205



I'll spare you the full gist of it and I know I'm not supposed to get hung up on numbers. But I have to admit, it's a lot easier to do that when the numbers go down. I also haven't been keeping up with the Yoga and Yogalites either, which I need to change this week.

I'm still worried about the left shoulder. I haven't noticed any weakness in daily activities, and the fatigue is only noticeable after the dumbbell rows set. There's no pain with the movement, no swelling, no need to ice down, so I'm probably just being overly concerned.

Read Free!
The BookWorm

There is a new renaissance festival in Louisiana! Check out the Acadiana Medieval Faire at: http://www.acadianafaire.org/

Number Crunching 116

Quicken Cash Flow = -230.91

*Sigh* At least there's a paycheck deposit next week. And I need a secondary stream of income, nothing new with that. :p Sent off my taxes on March 17th and I really need to stop waiting so late. I should be getting my refund between March 26th and 31st. Once armed with my tax return numbers, I used this 2008 Economic Stimulus Package Tax Rebate Calculator. It swears I'm going to get the full $600.00 by May 16th. I still don't believe I'm getting it, been screwed too much by money I expected. Yeah, I'm still trying to get Sallie Mae straightened out so school is paid off. Me paying off Sallie Mae is a longer term position.

I got more clarifying on the difference between short-term, med-term, and long-term saving goals. I was basing my definitions on when I want to accomplish the goals.

• Short-term = purchases costing less than $300.00
• Med-term = purchases costing over $300.00
• Long-term = retirement, child's education, etc.

Given what I have listed on my lists to save for, the $300 limit doesn't work with my budget. I think $500 is a better cut off for me. So after tweaking, here's what I have now on my lists.

Short-term Saving Goals

• Dishwasher fund = $500.00
• Reenacting hobby fund = $200.00

Med-term Saving Goals

• Paying off Minor Debt Fund = $965.52
• Laptop fund = $1000.00
• Cosmetic treatments fund = $1000.00
• STEF = $2202.00
• European vacation = $5000.00
• Bathroom remodel = $6000.00

Long-term Saving Goals

• House remodel = $200,000.00
• Retirement fund = $292,547.00
• Atticus's college fund = $20,000.00

Currently, I'm only working on saving for the STEF badly.

I adjusted my Dfrd. Compensation plan to the Help-Me-Do-It section. I managed to avoid the "you must increase your payments in" recommendation, but I followed the allocation suggestions. It did get rid of my Stable Value Fixed Income Fund, i.e. bonds. But I'm willing to give the advice time to work.

Financial Projects

• Measure weekly budget reviews with Joe's Goals
• Find a Baton Rouge consignment shop
• Finish setting up the Amazon sales
• Do online surveys every night before bed.
• Print out taxes.
• Submit taxes electronically.
• Fill out rebate calculator
• Buy cat food
• Research disability insurance.
• Call Sallie Mae

Read Free!
The BookWorm





There is a new renaissance festival in Louisiana! Check out the Acadiana Medieval Faire at: http://www.acadianafaire.org/

Iron Experiement Redux 05

I think I'm going to spend another week at these weights. I don't like how quickly my arms fatigue. My left shoulder is still weaker than the right. I hope this isn't a permanent feature of my body now.

I'm up to twenty-five crunches, even though the warm-up and work sets have remained the same. :p I'm not fully awake yet; they're supposed to stay the same and weight amounts change.

Read Free!
The BookWorm

There is a new renaissance festival in Louisiana! Check out the Acadiana Medieval Faire at: http://www.acadianafaire.org/

I'm wearing green, what more do you want!

And a happy St. Patrick's Day to you too.

Yeap, I'm a grumpy butt this morning, due to lack of sleep. It was a good visit and I'm glad I did stay, but I'm paying for it now. No really, I'm not being shy or cute or standoffish when I say I have to go to bed at 7:30pm. I get up at 3am. Yes, I know no one in the world does this but me, but it works for me. :p

I'm scared I'm caught between trying to make people happy, trying to get my money back, being ethical, trying not to piss people off, and trying to protect myself financially and emotionally. The meeting was a success in so far as everyone got out of it still speaking to each other and no one was thrown out, beaten up, or arrested. Where I have doubts is if the decisions made is just delaying the inevitable or can we pull off a phoenix move that has never happened in the industry? And how much of my energy can I safely invest without destroying other projects?

"Listen to my gut" has never worked for me, hence the second guessing. I have to go with my strength, which is trusting people and kicking their ass when they prove untrustworthy. I also console myself with knowing this paperwork would have to be done regardless of the options--i.e. it would have to be done no matter which option was chosen.

And yes, I packed my sword to the meeting, but didn't need to pull it out.

Cripes, I never did update my grandmother's situation. She was released back to the nursing home when I went back to work, February 25th though it may have been in the middle of that week. And we're waiting for the cycle to start again. She has congested heart failure, the dialysis center can pull off a liter of fluid before her blood pressure plummets, and they stop. She needs at least three liters pulled off her three times a week. So she gets back to the nursing home and has a hard time breathing. But she has such a wonderful quality of life, she would be committing suicide just to stop the machines. Thank you Dr. Asshole Powers.

The hard part is she has jumbled long-term and short-term memory, but she's in the now. She knows who she is and where she's at and most of why she's there, and if you're a medical professional asking "You're trying to prove I'm crazy" follows the answers. Brain dead is easier to deal with.

MITs for Today

1. Go home and sleep as soon as possible. Drug Take Tylenol PM, put on sleep mask, crawl into bed by 6:30pm (time subject to actual arrival home and finishing supper).

Read Free!
The BookWorm

There is a new renaissance festival in Louisiana! Check out the Acadiana Medieval Faire at: http://www.acadianafaire.org/

Exercise Catch Up

Walking 2: 03/03/2008

Thirty minutes equaled 4207 steps. I still need to switch the measurements over so I can see how many miles that is.

Iron Experiment Redux 4: 03/05/2008

The workout weight remains twenty pounds and fifteen pounds.
Squat
Shoulder press
Dumbbell rows
Bicep curls
Crunches

Walking 3: 03/07/2008

Thirty minutes equaled 4197 steps.

Iron Experiment Redux 5: 03/09/2008

I got my workout in, but not with my home gym set-up. Time changed kicked my ass and I had to go to Lafayette to collect assets for Acadiana Medieval Faire. So I ended up hauling lumber and tents and cast iron props into my car and back out again.

My stupid move: forgetting to eat breakfast. I didn’t eat anything until after the job was done, which was about 4:30pm. I don’t recommend that even if intermittent fasting is good for your body.

Week 38 = 181.2
Week 37 = 180.7
Week 36 = 179.3
Week 35 = 178.6
Week 34 = 179.4
Week 33 = 179.4
Week 32 = 178.8
Week 31 = 179.2
Week 30 = 181.7
Week 29 = 181.9
Week 28 = 182.8
Week 27 = 182.7
Week 26 = 185.3
Week 25 = 188.2
Week 24 = 188
Week 23 = 186.7
Week 22 = 187.4
Week 21 = 186.9
Week 20 = 186.2
Week 19 = 186.4
Week 18 = 186.3
Week 17 = 186.5
Week 16 = 187.2
Week 15 = 188.6
Week 14 = 188.8
Week 13 = 189
Week 12 = 187.6
Week 11 = 187.8
Week 10 = 189.6
Week 9 = 188.9
Week 8 = 193.4
Week 7 = 194.5
Week 6 = 194.5
Week 5 = 195.5
Week 2 = 199
Week 1 = 205

Iron Experiment Redux 6: 03/16/2008

Back to the home gym, yeah! And a good thing I took my allergy meds before going out because the black weight bench had turned yellow from pollen sticking to it.

I’m sticking with twenty and fifteen pounds I established last week. I don’t think I’ve lost anything with missing a workout last week, but the true test will be next week if I need to increase weight again.

Week 39 = 181.6
Week 38 = 181.2
Week 37 = 180.7
Week 36 = 179.3
Week 35 = 178.6
Week 34 = 179.4
Week 33 = 179.4
Week 32 = 178.8
Week 31 = 179.2
Week 30 = 181.7
Week 29 = 181.9
Week 28 = 182.8
Week 27 = 182.7
Week 26 = 185.3
Week 25 = 188.2
Week 24 = 188
Week 23 = 186.7
Week 22 = 187.4
Week 21 = 186.9
Week 20 = 186.2
Week 19 = 186.4
Week 18 = 186.3
Week 17 = 186.5
Week 16 = 187.2
Week 15 = 188.6
Week 14 = 188.8
Week 13 = 189
Week 12 = 187.6
Week 11 = 187.8
Week 10 = 189.6
Week 9 = 188.9
Week 8 = 193.4
Week 7 = 194.5
Week 6 = 194.5
Week 5 = 195.5
Week 2 = 199
Week 1 = 205

The weight is creeping up. Argh! I know it’s supposed to do that as I build muscle, but I was really hoping it would hover around 178 for a few more weeks.

Read Free!
The BookWorm

There is a new renaissance festival in Louisiana! Check out the Acadiana Medieval Faire at: http://www.acadianafaire.org/

Number Crunching 115

Quicken Cash Flow = $93.73

Well, I thought I liked doing weekly budget reviews better on payday weeks than the not-payday weeks, but I’m afraid I was wrong. Three bills have to wait until next pay check. Ugh, bank overdraft fees are still killing me. I seriously toy with the idea of sending all the bills to a credit card that I would pay off each time I get paid, other people make that work, I could get a credit card… WHACK! BAD KINDRA! You have never handled credit cards right!

And I have spent too much out of my pocket to save Acadiana Medieval Faire.

AMF Liabilities = 5386.32

• 2008 expense payments = 210.00
• 2008 fabric snafu = 129.55
• 2008 Educators’ Guide writing fee = 718.33
• 2007 Educators’ Guide writing fee = 1840.42
• 2006 Educators’ Guide writing fee = 1487.92
• 2006 loan = 1000.00

This is what the organization is supposed to pay me back or for, so the total doesn’t include loans or expenses other people paid me for and what I wrote off on taxes as a donation.

AMF Expenses paid back = 37.38
AMF Expenses wrote off on taxes (2 years) = 990.42

Last but not least, what I spent for me to own that I probably wouldn’t have without being in AMF. Note, I’m not upset with this category because I probably would have spent the money on something else. I doubt seriously it would have ended up in an investment. And I still own the items and can use them.

Hobby Reenacting Supplies (2 years) = 2275.47

AMF Grand Total = 8652.21

Actually, I was expecting a few categories to be higher than what they were. I was prepared to wait for as long as necessary to see a return on $5176.22 of the Liabilities. I filed taxes with my donations, I sucked up my personal spending but didn’t regret those purchases (only wish in hindsight that my timing had been different). So even though I’m being terribly calm and non-violent about the whole situation I’m dealing with now (my blood pressure and blood sugar are both happy that I’m not a Kindra-bomb on the verge of implosion), my feelings about the situation and my financial stake in it are as far from happy as my chances of starring in a major motion picture are. I’m still considering packing weapons to the meeting not to kill but pain. Pain infliction needs to happen even if the thought of having to do it feels me with no joy.

Trust me, a full account of this is actually being recorded and once I know where it going and have done the necessary paperwork, all five of my blog readers will be caught up too. And to whoever doesn’t like me blogging about this, tough. It’s a non-profit organization and the public has a right to ask for financial info. *Sigh

Good news: One bit of Dave Ramsey’s advice is to stick to house price ranges which allow a monthly payment that is no more than 25% of take-home pay. I finally calculated and my mortgage is 22%. Course, it is on a thirty-year instead of the better 15-year mortgage, but if I stick to the plan, I’ll pay it off early any way.

I have enough to cover gasoline for this two weeks and to pay for TurboTax to send off my taxes. Tax refund will come in handy, even though all I’m planning to do with it is stick half of it in gas savings and half in the STEF where I can’t touch it.

My first search for consignment shops was a bust. The online search gave me ten places to double-check on. Though I’m afraid the business is drying up at least for my area and I won’t be able to find one. I guess my next option will be Mom’s store because I don’t feel like Ebay-ing them.

I’m still carrying my debit cards but I took them out of the wallet I used to keep them in. I haven’t been anywhere lately where overspending would be an issue, but the few times at the gas station and I pulled out the wrong wallet automatically have made me stop and think. I’ve also been pretty good about packing my food to work this past week. Every little bit helps.

Financial Projects

• Measure weekly budget reviews with Joe’s Goals.
• Find a Baton Rouge consignment shop
• Finish setting up the Amazon sales.
• Pack food to work: breakfast, lunch, and snacks
• Do online surveys every night before going to bed.
• Print out taxes.
• Submit taxes electronically.
• Fill out the rebate calculator and see what that will be.
• Buy cat food

Read Free!
The BookWorm





There is a new renaissance festival in Louisiana! Check out the Acadiana Medieval Faire at: http://www.acadianafaire.org/

Some day soon a real post

All I want to say right now is I'm glad I'm editing and not in composing right now. Because I wouldn't be composing damnit, if it was reversed.

Read Free!
The BookWorm

There is a new renaissance festival in Louisiana! Check out the Acadiana Medieval Faire at: http://www.acadianafaire.org/

Current Events

A whole hell of a lot going on right now. Some of which I'd rather not talk about here until after Sunday's Acadiana Medieval Faire's meeting. Though I'm feeling oodles of kinship with the gal in the Verizon Christmas commerical who got a pony.



That added with a heaping bucketful of confusion. *SIGH* And making phone calls and emails tonight.

What is safe to talk about:

Outlook has been given me aggravation, but I think I found the info to fix it. I want to give it an honest trail run, but if this happens again where I can't use the reading pane or the program for more than 5 seconds, I'm switching to another email client.

I'm still working on the edits every morning, but I'm finding it's hard to get anything accomplished in thirty minutes. I have notes to type in DUF that I'm doing them, just no time to type them.

Homework: mondo typing that must be done with that. I just hope what I end up with actually works as an ethnography and doesn't come across as a deranged blog post. Reading and discussion board comments I need to catch up on too.

Need to figure out how to do my full-time job, my part-time writing job, my school work, a changed part-time job, website upkeep, housekeeping, budgeting, health without any of them suffering. I know, I know, this is a recipe for something giving way because that has happened every single time I have gotten overwhelmed.

I know, sometimes, you just have to jump on the opportunities that are thrust upon you. And what looks scary and overwhelming can actually turn into the best thing ever. And all I keep focusing on is Ed Harris' portrayal of Gene Kranz in Apollo 13: "Failure is NOT an OPTION!" Looked for the clip on YouTube, but nobody has it. :p

And part of me wonders why I even try. Because I'm having a hard time figuring out how I'm going to eat and go to the gym tonight, and if I can't figure out how to structure that, what good am I to anyone?

Read Free!
The BookWorm

There is a new renaissance festival in Louisiana! Check out the Acadiana Medieval Faire at: http://www.acadianafaire.org/

Number Crunching 114

Quicken Cash Flow = -361.29

Books other personal finances bloggers have talked about so I need to add to my reading list:

• Automatic Millionaire by David Bach
• Smart Women Finish Rich by David Bach
• Your Money or Your Life by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin
• Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey

The electric bill got switched to draft payments, which I wanted it to be, but that was before I screwed up in February. Looks like I have more bank fees this month. My water bill was higher too. Damn.

Two consignment shops to call I think: Lena’s Fashions 1295 N Sherwood Forest Dr 275-5519 and Plato’s Closet 6841 Siegan Lane 293-4168

Financial Projects

• Measure weekly budget reviews with Joe’s Goals.
• Sign up for MyGroceryDeals.com
• Find a Baton Rouge consignment shop
• Finish setting up the Amazon sales.
• Take debit cards out of wallet.
• Pack food to work: breakfast, lunch, and snacks
• Do online surveys every night before going to bed.
• Print out taxes.
• Submit taxes electronically.
• Fill out the rebate calculator and see what that will be.

Read Free!
The BookWorm

There is a new renaissance festival in Louisiana! Check out the Acadiana Medieval Faire at: http://www.acadianafaire.org/

Iron Experiment Redux 3

Week 37 = 180.7
Week 36 = 179.3
Week 35 = 178.6
Week 34 = 179.4
Week 33 = 179.4
Week 32 = 178.8
Week 31 = 179.2
Week 30 = 181.7
Week 29 = 181.9
Week 28 = 182.8
Week 27 = 182.7
Week 26 = 185.3
Week 25 = 188.2
Week 24 = 188
Week 23 = 186.7
Week 22 = 187.4
Week 21 = 186.9
Week 20 = 186.2
Week 19 = 186.4
Week 18 = 186.3
Week 17 = 186.5
Week 16 = 187.2
Week 15 = 188.6
Week 14 = 188.8
Week 13 = 189
Week 12 = 187.6
Week 11 = 187.8
Week 10 = 189.6
Week 9 = 188.9
Week 8 = 193.4
Week 7 = 194.5
Week 6 = 194.5
Week 5 = 195.5
Week 2 = 199
Week 1 = 205

I hope the weight blip upwards is PMS bloat and the week of not-watching intake with chocolate inhalation stress finally catching up with me. I think it’s a little early in weightlifting sessions to gain 1.4 pounds of muscle.

Added five pounds to my work set weight. So now my totals are:
Squat = 20 lbs.
Bench press = 20 lbs.
Dumbbell rows = 15 lbs.
Bicep curls = 20 lbs.
Breaststroke level 1 = bodyweight x 20 reps

Things I need to do but don’t when I can:

1. Buy 1.25 plates – two to start with
2. Buy a rubber, non-skid, outdoor rug
3. Tweak workout log to incluce date space

I am enjoying pumping iron once again, having missed it for two months (if not more, I’m going by my last Iron Experiment Day post).

Read Free!
The BookWorm

There is a new renaissance festival in Louisiana! Check out the Acadiana Medieval Faire at: http://www.acadianafaire.org/

Yogalates Workout 7

I like the second workout on the DVD so much better. No stupid crunches on the floor to make me hate my body. I like plowing through and keeping up with the DVD. I dislike, which will probably grow to hate, having to stop and change my set-up because my body doesn’t do what I tell it to do. “Roll down, engage the abs, don’t hurt the hip flexors.” Body plops the back on the floor with no roll in the abs.

To help the hip flexors, I followed the yogalates with a yoga sequence to open the hips meant to counteract sitting too much. I need to remember to take it to work and do it there, coworkers’ snide remarks to be ignored. As soon as I’m sure I won’t split work pants.

Speaking of clothes, I need to finish the twelve week clean-out closet chore. So far I have only tried on the saved jeans and none fit yet. Either it’s period bloat or squats have pushed out the gut, hip, and butt fat that hasn’t decreased yet. But I’m ready to throw stuff out of the current closet, even if I don’t have anything new to reintroduce.

Read Free!
The BookWorm

There is a new renaissance festival in Louisiana! Check out the Acadiana Medieval Faire at: http://www.acadianafaire.org/