CAUTION: Woman In Progress

First of all, I know I probably say this each month, but...Where the fluff did July go? Seriously. Just yesterday it was still May and school had just gotten out and now it's fluffin' August? Well, tomorrow is fluffin' August, anyway. School--both K-12 and college--is about to start back up. K-12 starts next week and college a couple of weeks later. So yeah. Where the fluff did summer go? Anyway, you'll be happy to know that July has been kinder to me than June. Goals-wise, anyway. June was fun but it kicked my goals' butts. July, however, while slightly stressful, was mildly easier on my goals. Here's the breakdown: Health and Wellness : While I did not, in fact, get back to walking or exercising regularly (and how big of a bitch is it to spell "exercising"? A huge one with a capital B!) it was a step forward from June's utter abandonment. For one, I began dancing at home. I can't claim that my dancing is anything that would get me on an...

...I don't talk about my weight loss/dietary and activity goals with some people. You lucky ducks and sometimes Sis2 are it, as far as my blabbing about that goes. The reason? Mama has said several times lately (about her co-workers, not me), "I'm so sick of hearing about everyone's diet." You see, everyone in her office is on some sort of diet. Three are doing Weight Watchers, one is doing a fad diet I can't recall, and the other is just always on some diet or another. So me? I just don't talk about it. If I eat an extra cookie (or a Coke and a Mr. Goodbar like yesterday *facepalm*) I just pull up my (thankfully) baggy britches and get on with it. Maybe confess it here on my blog where anyone who doesn't want to know about it doesn't have to read it. As far as Mama knows I'm just being me.  I've mentioned that I'm walking with DVD's and I figure she can guess why but I just don't talk about it. For one, I don't want to ...

I can't hardly fathom that today is the first of March. I'm still humming Christmas songs, for Pete's sake. And it's March ?? And yet, it seems as though February lasted three years. Weird how time drags its butt as it's flying by. So, February was the first full month of working on my 2012 goals. I know I've probably waxed rhapsodic about it enough that ya'll are tired of hearing about it already. But I need to get the numbers together and do a full check-up on the actual goals set forth. Fret not, young people. You've only got ten more months of this junk to look forward to. :-D Financial goals: *I made my very first $300 payment toward my credit cards and already the balance looks good to me. I can almost visualize the years of misspent borrowed funds disappearing before my very eyes. It's a good feeling. One thing that helps keep that $300 payment in perspective is to mentally recite all the things I can do with that money once it's all...

Well maybe not BIG but plans nonetheless. I've got the itch to do some more projects around the house. I've taken some time off on doing anything major mostly because funds are seriously low. And I need to be, you know, responsible and start saving some dough. I'm pretty sure that within the next few years (four? five?) I'm gonna need a new roof. And roofs (rooves?) ain't cheep! I'm not sure how much one will run me since my house is on the smallish side (around 1200 sq ft) (smallish because most homes these days are 2000 sq ft and up) but I'm figuring somewhere within the neighborhood of $5 to $6k. Maybe more if I get a metal roof like I really want. And Jana? Jana ain't got no $5k laying around. Much less $6k or more. Blech. I'm also wanting to replace the carpet in the bedrooms before I'm forty. Which, let's face it--forty is gettin' closer and closer! (As of next month I'm edging ever closer to mid-thirties) And carpet ain...

Because I'm bored and I've got 20 minutes before I get off work, I looked at my expenditures for a couple of months and did some calculations and comparisons. In October 2009 I spent $74.05 on fast food, bagels and lattes. This month? $18.49 cents. I've come along way, baby. :-D

Ya'll, these flowers did not bloom in my yard last summer. I think I'd have recalled them if they had. And I certainly didn't plant them. Me? Plant in the yard? Um, no. So, I guess nature likes to surprise me. Anyone know what they're called? They're certainly pretty. I wouldn't mind having a few more of them scattered around the yard. Anyway, ya'll would be proud to know that last night when I got home I did 30 minutes with Denise Austin. I did the interval walk first (a 15 minute "walk" with bursts of fast movement) and then followed it up with the "easy walk" that I've been doing off and on for the past couple of months. Man, that interval walk nearly whipped my butt. It was good, though. Still easy enough on the ol' knees without feeling wimpy. Fingers crossed I don't wimp out on doing it again tonight. Also, this morning my friend A offered to get me a bagel (I haven't had one in over a month!) and I declined. Ya...

One bright spot to this dismal Monday? My Mr. Mastercard balance is finally below $8,000!! (Yes, you read that right. *sigh*) By a couple hundred dollars, actually. And it only took a year of no charges and paying $10-$20 over the minimum payment! So, by 2035 the dang thing should be paid off, right? Right?!! Ugh. (On a [fun] side note, I just did the math and in 2035 I'll be 56. Joy.)

Is old hat to me. In perusing MSN (I'm not so fond of their makeover, actually) I came across this article about a woman with a blog on how she's vowed to only spend $1 a day on food. The writer of the article found this to be a novel concept mostly because the woman was doing it for budgetary reasons and not a social experiment. Well, I got news for ya, honey. This ain't a new concept. Poor folks have been doing this for centuries. Maybe not exactly as low as $1 a day on food, but close to it. I, myself, have been living off of a $30 a week grocery budget for nearly two years. When I decided to stop using credit cards and start paying with cash, I limited myself to $30 a week. It briefly went up to $40 before I moved into an apartment in 2008 and rent went up. And boy, you'da thought that $10 extra a week was like Christmas! lol My $30 a week includes staple items like toilet paper, toothpaste, shampoo, paper towels (which I limit on how much of those I use), d...

So I'm going to try and stay positive but I'm a little grumpy this morning due to lack of sleep and irritation. Positive~I've lost another pound without even really trying. And by not really trying, I mean, I ate leftover cheesecake a couple days last week, snacked a bit after supper and didn't work out at all. So that was a Monday morning happy. Negative~Neighbor tied her dog up out on our front porch and LEFT HIM THERE ALL DAMN DAY Saturday--with no water, mind you--while she was gone. This annoys me for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the issue of potential animal abuse. Supposedly, her "friend" (read: dude who sleeps over sometimes but generally isn't worth crap) was supposed to bring him in after an hour but the "friend" apparently forgot. Because it's easy to forget a dog who's standing outside BARKING HIS HEAD OFF ALL DAMN DAY. I felt sorry for the poor beast and gave him water and untangled him when his lead got tan...

Lyssa is insistent upon calling Nana, Nina. Me, she calls Nana. Libby scared the crap out of the neighbor yesterday morning. We were coming in from her morning constitutional, I was balancing the umbrella, the morning paper and Libby's leash when the neighbor yanked her door open. Before I could put the breaks on her leash, Libby lunged at the neighbor's door barking madly, neighbor screamed and jumped back and I nearly fell off the porch laughing. A country field mouse hitched a ride to town with my mom this morning. When I went to get in the car, it was running circles by my mother's front tire. When we left, he was huddled against the sidewalk waving. hehehe (I really hope he doesn't decide to move in with me. I'm not looking for roommates, thankyouverymuch.) I finished reading Elizabeth Flock's Sleepwalking in Daylight last night. It was so good, but I swear, I was depressed for a good half hour after reading it. Wrote a very angsty entry in my journal. lol...

I sat down yesterday and figured up my budget/bills for the next three months and guess what...if nothing major happens (meaning, no catastrophic events and I don't lose my mind) I should have two of my three credit cards paid off by April. That means in May I can start hitting Mr. Mastercard hard and heavy and if I can stick to my guns (and the cost of living doesn't explode) I can have him paid off in three years! Color me excited. Of course, that whole Mr. Mastercard thing is entirely dependant on my not charging anything on him anymore. Which means I'll either hafta cut him up or put him in the freezer. I know that's going to be the hardest part--not charging. Cause I love ordering books and music online and books and music are my downfall. I can live without buying new clothes and I can stop charging fast food but books and music are...well, my life's happiness often times depends on them. They keep me sane. But, I do have a plan for that, as well. Once I get t...