Fit and Frugal

Veggie Tales

2011-07-19T22:23:00.009-05:00

So, here I am, out of the blue, blogging for the first time in five months.

I'm not going to explain where I've been or what I've been doing. It's boring. I lead a boring life.

Nope. Tonight it's all about veggies. I'm a member of a CSA. Each Tuesday I briefly leave work to go pick up my weeks worth of veggies. After work, I take my veggies home, put them in the fridge and do nothing with them until I have to throw them away because they've gone bad, spoiled, wilted, whatever. I really do like vegetables. However, I work until 7:30pm and by the time I get home, I don't feel like cooking.

At least that's what I tell myself.

Throwing away beautiful, locally grown veggies is neither fit nor frugal.

So, for the past two weeks, I've been trying to be a good girl and eat all my veggies. Actually, I've been trying to at least clean the vegetable to eliminate one excuse for not using them. I'm doing better, but it's a lot of food for just one person.

Today's haul was huge! Turnips, green beans, wax beans, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, broccoli and a small bunch of basil.

There was also a bunch of onions but I despise onions so those went to a coworker.

Oh and there's also blueberries and raspberries but those are never, ever, around long enough to go bad. Ever.

I got a little carried away with my food prep plans tonight. My dinner ended up being an odd assortment of very good veggies.

First up...tomatoes....basil....this screams caprese salad! Yum!

Next came three bean salad. It needs to chill a bit but it was still very good.

Finally, roasted turnip fries with Parmesan cheese. I've never cooked with turnips before so I checked out some recipes. I decided to start with the recipe that included cheese for my first attempt at turnips because it had cheese. These were good. They didn't get crisp, except for the cheese, but they were tasty. They have a little bite. Nothing too strong, but definitely there.

Overall it was a very tasty dinner.

Weird but tasty.

Hopefully my body won't reject the overload of veggies. It's already craving something familiar, something comforting. I believe it's time for some peanut butter. I'll call it dessert.

Slacker

2011-02-09T22:48:00.004-06:00

Wow, I haven't posted since December?! How did that happen? I'm a slacker. A few interesting things have occurred since we last met.

I paid off my credit card debt on January 11! After I saw the $0 balance, I changed my automatic payment option to "Pay Off Balance". Even though it pains me to even think about using it, I will likely try to use my card once every month or so just to keep it active. However I want to make sure I never carry a balance.

On January 18, my credit card company deducted $1717.08 from my checking account. That was my balance at the beginning of my last statement. I went to use my debit card and was denied. When I checked my online account, I saw that I was -$500. I called my dearest credit card company and was told that the "Pay Balance" option used the balance at the beginning of the statement and didn't take into account any payments made during the statement period. I was also told that my refund would take 2-3 business days to clear. January 18 was a Friday.

On January 20 I got a $35 insufficient funds fee from my bank. I called the credit card company and they said they would credit it back to my credit balance...? Um, no. I would like it credited back to my bank account.

On January 25 I finally get my $1717.08 back. I also check my credit card account and notice I've been charged $4.82 interest. I paid this off immediately.

On February 3 I get my $35 fee refunded to my bank account. I also went out and purchased a new laptop.

February 4 was my birthday. I had a lovely day.

There's a whole lot more going on with home improvements, refinancing, trying to move on emotionally from the man and travel plans for the upcoming year - but that can wait for another post.

Holiday Party Gluttony Detox

2010-12-10T23:32:00.002-06:00

First, an update on my dairy free week...I made it 6 days. Bad planning tripped me up. I didn't really notice any major changes in how I felt. I definitely think I need to try it for more than 6 days to really notice a difference. It went pretty well overall. Thoughts of cheese did cross through my brain but it was yogurt that tripped me up.

Next, the work holiday party. I haven't been that out of control with food in a very long time. It's kind of unnerving. I don't like that I basically just went hog wild. Events at work always have the potential to trip me up but I've previously shown more self control. I have some theories about what is going on. My four faithful readers can probably fill in the blanks (guilt). Whatever the reason, I need to get this under control. I have a plan, at least for tomorrow. I'm jokingly calling it my detox menu but really, it's just planning ahead to make good food choices. There's nothing kooky, just food. I've allowed certain aspects of my life to get out of control, this is an area that I can get back on track.

Saturday's menu

Breakfast

Quinoa with blueberries

Eggs with salsa and maybe a whole wheat tortilla

Some kind of mid morning snack, maybe apples with almonds or yogurt

Lunch

Turkey soup

Spinach salad

Some kind of mid afternoon snack

Dinner

Salmon

Butternut squash soup

(This seems like a weird combination, maybe it's too much orange. Anyway I just made the soup and have the salmon thawed so it's more a matter of not wasting really yummy food.)

Dairy Free Day 1

2010-12-01T21:36:00.002-06:00

My first day without dairy was uneventful. I didn't add milk to my oatmeal, I had iced tea instead of a mocha or hot chocolate when I met the man for coffee this morning and I avoided the string cheese in the fridge. There's really nothing else to tell. It wasn't hard. I don't typically eat tons of dairy to begin with so it really wasn't an issue.

Hey, Ho, The Dairy, O

2010-11-30T23:05:00.003-06:00

I've been congested for the past week or so. I'm not coughing or sneezing, I don't have a runny nose, I'm not running a fever or feel run down, I'm just congested.

I've read and continue to read a lot about food and the more I read, the more I realize how fucked up the American diet is. We've taken basic ingredients and fiddled with them, turning them into additives, preservatives, fillers, the list goes on. The result, a diet that our bodies cannot handle. Food allergies and food intolerance seem to be increasing. Is it because they simply went undiagnosed until recently or is it because the more we invent, mutate, create, construct "food" the more problems we encounter?

Back to my congestion, I've been wondering if my congestion is due to a reaction to the foods I'm eating. I've been researching (Googling) which foods can cause sinus congestion. It's been interesting. First thing to note, the search results typically lead me to "alternative healing" or the like, websites. For instance, I wasn't directed to WebMD. That could simply be the search criteria I used but it's worth noting. The consensus among the sites I visited was the main culprits in food allergies are typically dairy, gluten, sugar, meat. The fact that none of this was surprising to me makes me think that although this isn't mainstream news, it's not just kooky fringe elements saying this. I've also consistently read that the best way to determine if you have an allergy (or at least an intolerance) to a certain food group is to avoid it for a length of time and see how you feel.

With that in mind, I've decided to give it a try. I'm going to attempt to give up dairy for a week. I really don't think a week is enough to determine if dairy is a factor in my congestion. I decided on a week because I want to see if I can go a week without certain food group. I think the hardest part will be to remember I'm doing this in the first place...and cheese, it will be hard to give up cheese. After a week I'll decide if I want to continue with dairy or move onto something else such as gluten. At very least, I will be refocusing my attention on what I'm putting in my body and how it might affect me. I need that. There's been way too much mindless eating on my part lately and maybe, just maybe, I'll learn more about what foods work with, rather than against my body.

Calculate That

2010-11-27T22:25:00.005-06:00

So I put two calculators on ebay last week. Both are HP scientific calculators, one also graphs. It's crazy, the calculator I had in the mid to late 80's sold for $157! The graphing calculator from the 90's only sold for $24. Who knew a calculator could be so valuable?

I've also sold a wetsuit on ebay and a few books on Craigslist. I'm not getting rich, but it is bringing in a little extra cash.

Here's my ebay/craiglist picture taking setup. Pictured is the calculator that sold for $157. As you can tell it's very high tech setup.

With my extra cash and with closing my "Scuba Fund" savings account, I was able to send in $1300 to Citibank. Yay! That brings my remaining balance to $2200! This is so exciting. Hopefully Christmas won't get out of hand and I can still make a decent payment in December. I definitely want to get my balance below $2000.

Side note - the "Scuba Fund" saving account will be reopened but with a different bank. It was only $230 so it's not like I completely ruined my vacation fund, and honestly, the yearly Blackbeard's trip is up in the air for now so the fund isn't a priority right now. Since his wife isn't speaking to me (why should she?) it's gonna make it hard for us all to go on vacation together. The man keeps telling me to be patient, that she'll come around, but it's been over 3 months.

100th Post

2010-11-27T22:19:00.003-06:00

Oops, my last post was my 100th. I should have celebrated or commented on something more profound than my piggy bank.

I'd like to thank my loyal 3 readers. It's nice to know someone out there is paying attention. :)

-$2.79

2010-11-13T12:03:00.006-06:00

I hate money.

Last night I balanced my checking account and came up with -$2.79. This was after I had just purchased an iced mocha for $4.27. It's frustrating that the majority of my money issues are self inflicted. I know what I need to do, but I don't do it.

Today I emptied my piggy bank and took it to the bank so I would have some cash until I get paid on Monday. I got back $46.71. Not bad. I deposited $25 and kept the remaining $21.71 for the weekend.

Debt Is Slavery

2010-10-24T02:16:00.002-05:00

I didn't come up with it, it's the title of a book, but when I read the title it resonated with me.

House Pictures!

2010-10-18T22:34:00.001-05:00

Ta da!

Politics

2010-10-18T21:00:00.007-05:00

For some strange reason I decided to find out how to volunteer at a polling station for the upcoming election. I'm about the least political person you will ever meet. I didn't even know Senator Grassley was a Republican until I read an article about him in the Sunday paper in an attempt to learn more about the candidates. I admit that part of my new found curiosity comes from the Man. Last week he mentioned that he already mailed in his absentee ballot. He already knows who he's voting for and I don't even know who's running. He definitely keeps up on politics and so does his wife. I have no doubt that another part of my new found curiosity stems from my desire to keep up with her regarding politics. However there is also the simple need to learn more about the process. Each election I go to vote and have no knowledge about most of the items I'm voting for. Each time I think "I really need to educate myself" but then I never do. I am 41 and have yet to make a truly educated vote during an election.

Anyway, back to volunteering, I walked over to my neighbors house to ask them about what I need to do to volunteer. They've been working elections for years. It turns out that there aren't any volunteers at polling stations, everyone is a paid worker. Huh. I guess the idea is that elections officials can have more say over paid workers versus volunteers. Cool, now I'm going to get paid to do something I was going to do for free.

I called the county auditor office and talked with Donna, the lady responsible for lining up workers for the polling stations. Since I'm a registered Independent (there has to be a balance of Republicans and Democrats at each location) and I'm willing to work at any polling station in Ames, I will likely get my preference of working in the morning. Luckily there are 1/2 day shifts (if you call 6am - 2:30pm a half day) so I'll only have to take a couple of hours off from my actual job. Hopefully I'll find out more about what I'm doing when I call Donna back tomorrow.

I haven't told the Man about this yet. In fact I'm not sure if I will until it's closer to the election. For some reason I want to keep this one to myself. Weird.

Yippee!

2010-09-30T23:22:00.000-05:00

My house is painted.
Pictures soon.
That is all.

Little Things

2010-09-25T22:37:00.003-05:00

I didn't do much today but I still feel good about what I did get done. Sometimes taking care of the little things can feel like a huge accomplishment.

Today I finished up the hallway with a second coat of paint, took a box of glass containers and a bunch of plastic bags to be recycled. I then purchased a big box of baking soda, sprinkled it all over the carpet, let it sit and then vacuumed. I also changed the bag in the vacuum cleaner. (It's amazing how much better the vacuum works when the bag's not full.)

Just six little things done and I feel like I moved mountains. What can I say? I'm easy. :)

A Little More

2010-09-23T22:08:00.004-05:00

I finished priming the kitchen, it looks fabulous.

Last night I painted the hallway. It needs a second coat but it also looks fabulous.

Today I weeded and mulched another flower bed.

1943 Guide to Hiring Women

2010-09-13T22:55:00.002-05:00

I found an article from Savvy & Sage magazine (September/October 2007) in a file folder during a post "Hoaders" viewing cleanup. Savvy & Sage reprinted an earlier article from another magazine about tips for hiring women. It's hilarious. I thought I'd post it here so I can throw away the article. :)

The following is an excerpt from the July 1943 issue of Transportation Magazine. This was written for male supervisors of women in the work force during World War II.

Eleven Tips on Getting More Efficiency Out of Women Employees: There's no longer any question whether transit companies should hire women for jobs formerly held by men. The draft and manpower shortage has settled that point. The important things now are to select the most efficient women available and how to use them to the best advantage.

Here are eleven helpful tips on the subject from Western Properties:

1. Pick young married women. They usually have more of a sense of responsibility than their unmarried sisters, they're less likely to be flirtatious, they need the work or they wouldn't be doing it, they still have the pep and interest to work hard and to deal with the public efficiently.

2. When you have to use older women, try to get ones who have worked outside the home at some time in their lives. Older women who have never contacted the public have a hard time adapting themselves and are inclined to be cantankerous and fussy. It's always well to impress upon older women the importance of friendliness and courtesy.

3. General experience indicates that "husky" girls - those who are just a little on the heavy side - are more even tempered and efficient then their underweight sisters.

4. Retain a physician to give each woman you hire a special physical examination - one covering female conditions. This step not only protects the property against the possibilities of lawsuit, but reveals whether the employee-to-be has any female weaknesses which would make her mentally or physically unfit for the job.

5. Stress at the outset the importance of time the fact that a minute or two lost here and there makes serious inroads on schedules. Until this point is gotten across, service is likely to be slowed up.

6. Give the female employee a definite day-long schedule of duties so that they'll keep busy without bothering the management for instructions every few minutes. Numerous properties say that women make excellent workers when they have their jobs cut out for them, but that they lack initiative in finding work themselves.

7. Whenever possible, let the inside employee change from one job to another at some time during the day. Women are inclined to be less nervous and happier with change.

8. Give every girl an adequate number of rest periods during the day. You have to make some allowances for feminine psychology. A girl has more confidence and is more efficient if she can keep her hair tidied, apply fresh lipstick and wash her hands several times a day.

9. Be tactful when issuing instructions or in making criticisms. Women are often sensitive; they can't shrug off harsh words the way men do. Never ridicule a woman - it breaks her spirit and cuts off her efficiency.

10. Be reasonably considerate about using strong language around women. Even though a girl's husband or father may swear vociferously, she'll grow to dislike a place of business where she hears too much of this.

11. Get enough size variety in operator's uniforms so that each girl can have a proper fit. This point can't be stressed to much in keeping women happy.

I agree with number eleven.

It's a start

2010-09-12T17:56:00.002-05:00

I finished weeding the flower bed that I started on Saturday. With the help of my roomie, it's also completely mulched!

I also started priming my kitchen. I pulled down the wallpaper in 2007. It's looked dingy and icky for over 3 years. It feels good to see bright white.

Outside In

2010-09-11T22:36:00.008-05:00

I believe that the condition of a person's home, inside or out, is a reflection of what is going on in their mind and heart. If this is true, than it must be clear to my neighbors that this year has been a turbulent for me. All of my flower gardens are overgrown with weeds and my house in general looks neglected.

Actually, the exterior of my house has been in a state of half paintedness (yes, it's a word) for 3 years now so I really can't use recent events as an excuse for that. Perhaps the paint is symbolic of a journey that's not complete. I've made many changes in my life the past few years, but maybe there's more to come. Maybe I'm just trying to come up with excuses and I'm really just lazy. Whatever the reason, I've decided I need to spruce up my house, and by doing so, hopefully I will find some direction for my mind and heart. And whatever the reason, my neighbors will be thrilled that I'm finally taking care of my property so that it's not such an eyesore.

So begins operation "No More White Trash". :) It's a light hearted way to describe my serious attempt to heal myself from the outside in and find some direction. Just typing that sentence brings me to tears, so obviously I'm on to something here. I'm hoping that showing some pride in my house will help me make some better decisions in my life or at least be at peace with the ones I've already made. So in order to do this, I need some kind of a plan. I don't have hard facts and figures yet, but I do have a basic idea of what needs to happen.

First of all, I've already contacted a painter to finish painting the exterior of my house. I'm going to pull money from savings to pay for it. I know that once it's completed, a huge load will be lifted. I hate that my house has looked like this for 3 years.

Next, I need to tackle my yard. Today I weeded a flower garden that was completely overgrown with weeds. It was so embarrassing. I had weeds taller than my 5' fence. I had enough weeds to fill the back of my roommates truck. Tomorrow I think I will go to the free mulch sight and mulch the area I just weeded.

Since I've proven that I get over zealous and end up injuring myself, my goal is to work on one flower bed at a time, without overdoing it. Hopefully that will also prevent me from getting burned out.

I also would like to finish up some interior painting projects. My kitchen has been in a half finished state for even longer than the exterior of my house. I need to use crappy weather days to work on patching the termite damage and then finishing priming the walls so I can then finally paint the kitchen. I've been talking with my friend who helped me paint my living room; I told her I would trust whatever color scheme she comes up with. I LOVE my living room so I see no reason why I shouldn't trust her with my kitchen. I have a feeling she's going to suggest something completely different, which is good. I need to be pushed out of my comfort zone.

So for now, that's my "plan". Get the exterior painting done, get as much cleaned up in the yard as I can while it's still nice out and then finish the kitchen. It doesn't sound like much, but they're all big projects that will feel amazing to complete.

Here are a couple of before and after pictures of the flower bed I tackled today.

Motorcycle Chick

2010-08-29T22:23:00.004-05:00

Yep, that's me. :) I'm learning to ride at age 41. I must be insane.

An actual FINANCIAL update!

2010-08-24T23:31:00.003-05:00

Oh yeah, the original intent of this blog was to write about my debt elimination, at least that was suppose to be a major part of it. Lately it's been like a bad Lifetime movie. So here is an actual financial update!

Current credit card debt: $3800!

Hee hee! I'm getting so close.

Yesterday evening...

2010-08-19T23:06:00.002-05:00

She asked.
I dodged.
It's bad.

Forgiveness

2010-08-09T20:38:00.003-05:00

A thought occurred to me at work today and it made me so sad. One day I will ask her forgiveness, I know I will. I will do it to give her the opportunity to say "go to hell". Perhaps she will forgive me. Either way it will signal the end of what I currently have with him. Who knows how it will play out. Hopefully it will allow all of us to be in a better place, whatever that may be.

Until then I will continue on this roller coaster ride of joy, guilt, happiness, grief, passion, desperation, love.

Frugal or sad?

2010-08-09T20:30:00.003-05:00

Actually, neither...or maybe both?

I'm not so frugal (some would say cheap) that I cut off the end of every tube of toothpaste just to get the last few blobs of toothpaste out. No, I simply forgot to buy more toothpaste and had to resort to desperate measures. Perhaps "lazy or unorganized" would be a better description for this. Really, it's probably "all of the above".

I hope you enjoyed another little glimpse into my brain. Think it's scary? Try living here.

Best txt msg ever!

2010-08-01T18:16:00.002-05:00

"Ride? Be there in 3 minutes."

My reply "Fuck ya!"

Three minutes later I was on a Harley with the love of my life, enjoying sunny, blue skies and green, Iowa corn fields. It was an hour and a half of pure bliss.

Note to self...

2010-07-30T22:02:00.001-05:00

Don't watch movies that have weddings as the happy ending. They suck.

Inked

2010-07-27T23:11:00.004-05:00

I've wanted a tattoo for several years but never knew what I wanted to get or where to put it. I decided a while back that I would finally get a tattoo after my 100th dive. For me, getting to my 100th dive was a major milestone. I'm not comfortable in the water but I've been able to overcome my fears to become a fairly decent scuba diver. My 100th dive was on June 15. I got my tattoo on July 12. I searched the internet to try and find ideas of what I wanted. I kind of knew I wanted something tribal looking. I also wanted something that only divers get to see. I finally decided that I wanted the outline of a ray with a shark inside. We saw a spotted ray in the Bahamas and it was beautiful. The average person can see a ray in an aquarium, but it's really amazing to see them in the wild. For me, the ray represents the beauty of the ocean that only a very few get to see. The shark represents how I was able to overcome my fears to do something I've wanted to do my whole life. Learning to dive was not easy for me. It took a long time before I felt good in the water. The trip to the Bahamas in June was amazing. I finally felt like a diver. My tattoo is simply an acknowledgement of all that I've accomplished the past few years both in the water and on dry land.

It Sucks

2010-05-10T20:45:00.002-05:00

I've found someone. He's wonderful. He's funny, good looking, smart, creative. He tells me I'm amazing. He tells me I'm beautiful and that he loves me. We've been coworkers for 18 years. We've been good friends for 4 years. We've been intimate for 4 weeks.

He's married.

It's surprising how I can be so happy and so miserable at the same time. I ended the physical part of the relationship today but I can't cut off the emotional. Not now, not ever.

It sucks. I finally find a really great guy and I don't get to be with him.

Plan B

2010-05-08T00:04:00.000-05:00

Fuck.

Recipe: Orange Herb Dressing

2010-04-04T21:44:00.003-05:00

I just tried this recipe from Clean Eating magazine. It's really good. I had it with leaf lettuce, mandarin oranges and sliced almonds but I think it would be good with almost any fruit and nut combo.

Orange Herb Dressing

2 tbsp fresh orange juice
2 tbsp white balsamic vinegar or apple cider vinegar
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 tbsp fresh tarragon, minced, or 1/2 tsp dried tarragon
1/2 tbsp fresh oregano, minced, or 1/4 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp orange zest
Sea salt and fresh ground black pepper, to taste

Wisk ingredients together. Serve immediately or refrigerate until serving. Store in a sealed container and refrigerate for up to 2 weeks.

Enjoy!

Home Sweet Home

2010-03-26T23:10:00.004-05:00

Do you love where you live? I have a friend that commented about how much she loved her house. That statement caught my attention. I've always been rather indifferent about my house. It's simply been a place to live. I like it well enough, but I've never thought "wow, I love my house, what a great place to live." I asked my friend what was it about her house that made it so wonderful? She replied with a answer that basically boiled down to "there's just something about it that I like."

About five weeks ago, this same friend was at my house, sitting in my living room. She was looking around and said I really needed to paint the living room. I agreed but I'm so indecisive about color that I've never done anything about it. She instantly said recommended two colors that would look wonderful. I said "great, you pick the colors and I'll paint it." Two weeks ago, she came over, we went to Lowe's, I bought the paint and we spent the day painting my living room. By the end of the day, I had a beautiful new living room. The colors are perfect. The living room is now warm and inviting. I didn't realize how stark it was until it was painted. I can honestly say I love my living room. Because of the amazing transformation in the living room I've been inspired to finish up some half started projects such as painting the kitchen.

Of course, shortly after painting my living room, I found out that at least at one point, I've had termites. I might (probably) still have them, however I haven't been able to find any live termites, just the signs that they've been here before. It's so frustrating. It's great that I haven't found an active colony, but like the bug guy said "they don't just pack up and move." So, I'm in limbo. Treatment will probably cost around $1300. Although I'm certainly not thrilled about how expensive it is, I would get the treatment in a heartbeat if I found live termites. However, since everything we've found it old, I'm uncertain how to proceed. Part of me thinks I should just get the treatment and be done with it. The other part thinks I should hold off a bit and just really watch for any new signs of termites. I've learned a lot in the past two weeks. I know what to look for. Clearly I don't have a huge, active colony at work in my house so it's not like the house is going to fall down around me in the next month or two. I think I'm leaning towards waiting a bit, keeping a close eye on things this summer, continuing to pay off debt and working on my small home improvement projects. In all likelihood, I will end up getting the treatment, if only for peace of mind. But in the meantime, I can proceed with my short term goals of paying of my last credit card, painting the kitchen and loving my house...termites and all.

How to make applesauce

2010-03-16T21:46:00.003-05:00

Peel, core and cut up apples into chunks.

Put chunks into a slow cooker.

Add cinammon if you want.

Set slow cooker to low.

Cook for several hours to desired doneness (chunky to mushy.)

Eat.

Enjoy.

Really...that's it.

Too Sweet?

2010-02-17T22:50:00.002-06:00

Is it possible for something to be too sweet? It's not often that I string these two words together. Tonight I tried Stevia for the first time in my iced tea. I used the tiny little scoop that came in the bottle and OMG it's SWEET, it's (gasp) too sweet. I had to keep adding more tea to dilute it. I've been trying to control my sweet tooth and get used to food and drinks without being so sweet. I tried Stevia simply to add a hint of sweetness not an overwhelming amount. Obviously I'm going to need to work on this.

On a side note, I just had a piece of toasted Ezekial bread with organic peanut butter, neither of which has sugar (in any form) in the ingredients and I loved it. There's hope for me.

Zero!

2010-02-16T22:59:00.002-06:00

Here's a beautiful site, my first zero!

Ta Da!

2010-02-01T23:07:00.002-06:00

I passed my exam! I'm an ACE certified personal trainer AND I've been hired to work at the gym where it all happened. The place where I worked with my trainer and lost 100 lbs. I can't wait to get started.

My Splenda free.....ooh look, shiny!

2010-01-24T00:06:00.002-06:00

When I first came here today, I was going to comment on my first Splenda free day. It was probably going to be something short and sweet and then done. However, I got sidetracked, which of course is one of the hazards of being online. Before posting, I wandered over to MyFoodDiary's forum and read a recent post on the "Giving Up White Sugar" thread. In one of the posts was a link to the blog My Years Without Sugar. This blog follows the journey of one person who chose to give up white sugar as a New Year's resolution for 2008. The posts are very interesting and reinforced what I've been learning about white sugar - it's toxic. From there I followed a links to other blogs such as A Life Less Sweet, Farty Girl and Food Politics. These are all interesting blogs and I read several posts in each. The blog that really ate up my time was Small Footprint Family. I think I spent a couple of hours reading the various posts. It was fascinating and sobering. First, I must reassure you that I DO realize that most blogs are comprised of a whole lot of opinions and just a little bit facts. With that in mind, I was still intrigued by the message of this blog. First, it demonizes, or at least taints, my precious agave nectar. It's not necessarily the healthy natural sweetener it's made out to be. Although it's low on the glycemic index scale, it's high in fructose which, in concentrated forms such as agave nectar, comes with a host of health concerns.

Other "facts" I learned from wandering around the Small Footprint Family blog:

-Polyunsaturated fats are bad
-Soy is bad except when it's fermented, such as tofu
-Canola oil is bad (polyunsaturated fat)

From Small Footprint, I followed a link to Food Renegade where I learned that saturated fats are good for you?! Huh! Talk about renegade! Although this is a little more out there than I'm willing to go, (for now) the truth is, I've heard similar ideas before. The concept isn't as fringe as it used to be and frankly, it makes some sense. Humans evolved on a diet of mostly foraged vegetables, nuts, fruits and of course, hunted animals. Our bodies know what to do with saturated fats. Our bodies do not know what to do with trans fat or polyunsaturated fat since these are man made, processed fats. I'm not ready to run out and purchase lard or beef tallow but perhaps I'll allow myself some bacon tomorrow morning.

My journey today has given my a lot to think about and possibly more to look into. One the tree level, it reinforces my belief that food should be simple and the less processing, the better. On the forest level, it reminds me that the internet is a strange maze of opinions mixed with facts and ideas.

Oh and I went an entire day without Splenda in my iced tea.

House Hunters

2010-01-21T23:40:00.003-06:00

I've been watching "House Hunters" on HGTV lately. For those who don't watch it, the home buyers look at 3 homes, usually one is within their price range, one is usually well above their price range and the third is either slightly above or below the price range. First of all, "price range" is basically how much financing the buyer can get. It doesn't neccessarily mean what the buyer can afford. The viewer gets to watch the buyer look at each property and then in the end find out which home the buyer chooses.

What I've learned from watching this show is that people have an amazing ability to talk themselves into more than they need. I'm always silently telling the buyers to go for the lower priced property. In most cases, the cheaper property is fine but there might be a few areas that will need some attention such as new carpet or new cabinets. Inevitably the more expensive property is chosen. The buyers have committed themselves to a mortgage payment that they will barely be able to afford because they didn't like the carpet and wanted a place that was "move-in ready". I wonder how many of them really purchased a "bankruptcy ready" property?

I am a home owner and if I could magically go back in time and counsel my younger self, I would tell myself to not buy this house and instead focus on eliminating credit card debt. I bought too much house for just me but thankfully I have two roommates that help out with the mortgage. I CAN afford all of my bills without their help but my debt elimination would come to a slow crawl. I'm fortunate that I have two roommates that trust. They help me with my mortgage and they get to live pretty cheap. However, despite my current good fortune, I still think purchasing a home when I did was a poor decision. The thing is, purchasing this house is part of the process that got me to a point where I FINALLY realized that I needed to make a change in my spending habits. If I hadn't bought this house, I would be in a completely different place in my life. Perhaps I would still be renting, perhaps I would still be racking up credit card debt. Hindsight is 20/20 but only for the exact set of circumstances that occur. Hindsight should be about preparing for the future, not wallowing in regret. So although I feel that purchasing this house was a bad financial decision, I'm better off financially now, because of that decision.

For those people on "House Hunters"...I really do wish them the best. I hope they are happy in their new homes and are able to really enjoy their life without the constant worry of how they are going to afford their lifestyle.

$828.86

2010-01-19T23:08:00.003-06:00

So I was sitting at my desk at work (clearly not working very hard) when I decided to look at my Choice balance online since I knew my payment just went through. I've known since last month that this was the month that my balance would finally go below $1000 but somehow actually seeing it had a big impact. It was loveliest number I've ever seen, $828.86. I sat there and just stared at the screen. I actually got a little teary-eyed realizing how far I've come and how close I am to paying off my first credit card. It was a wonderful realization.

Here was my view. I'm hoping Citibank will forgive me for taking a screen shot of their website. :)

Typical Sunday Evening

2010-01-17T23:10:00.003-06:00

Up until about 6pm this evening my major accomplishments for the day were: waking up...twice...I took a nap at 4:30pm, eating and working out. In my own defense, I kicked my own ass during my workout, hence the nap, but considering how much I still needed to get done, I wasn't off to a great start. Luckily I found some motivation and since 6pm I've showered, done 3 loads of laundry (folded and put away,) made a loaf of bread, made granola bars, washed dishes, taken out the trash and put the trash can on the curb. My glaring omission, for the whole weekend in fact, is, I haven't studied. It's stupid, I should be studying. My excuse, I'm too distracted to study at home. Of course that's BS, there's no reason I shouldn't be able to focus myself for 45 minutes at a time, several times during the day. That's all it would take but I'm not doing it. I'm really bad about putting things off until the last minute, today is a great example of that. The bad thing is, I can usually pull it off and be successful, today is a great example of that. One of these days, I won't be able to be successful with last minute activity and it's going to bite me in the ass. Hopefully that won't be the case with my upcoming personal training exam.

Goal: $0 by 28 Feb 2010

2010-01-17T01:07:00.003-06:00

Hmmm, apparently I found a way to battle my frustration with inactivity (see previous post.) I've given myself the goal of paying off my first credit card ($1129) by February 28, which will be my 2 year anniversary with the Women In Red. I believe it's doable and it's given me a plan of action so I don't feel so...inactive.

BTW, it's also a SMART goal. According to the ACE Personal Trainer Manual, a goal should be:

Specific - Pay off Citi credit card
Measurable - This will require $1129 plus finance charges, probably around $40.
Attainable - Yes, with my regular payment plus money from roomies and a little extra from paycheck.
Relevant - Hell yes! This is an important step to eliminating credit card debt and it's very relevant to my piece of mind.
Timebound - Yep, February 28, 2010

(Sweet, I just did that off the top of head. Hopefully it will be on the exam.)

Wow, that feels great. I have a plan of action AND I was able to throw in some of my personal training knowledge. :)

Inactivity

2010-01-16T23:07:00.003-06:00

I know I've commented on this before, but I'm finding the inactivity of debt reduction to be frustrating. Unlike weight loss, debt loss seems to be more about what you don't do than what you do. When I was losing weight, if I splurged, I could help negate the splurge by being active; go on a walk, run, lift weights, whatever. With debt loss, my success comes from not being active; not going out for breakfast Sunday morning, not splurging on a Starbuck's iced tea, not going out with friends. There's also so much waiting; waiting for my next paycheck, waiting for the next statement. I'm sick of the inactivity and I'm sick of waiting.

Part of my frustration comes from the fact that it's been a couple of months since I've been able to really focus on debt loss. I had car issues in November and then with Christmas, I held back on extra payments so I could purchase gifts. Now I'm saving money for my trip to Florida. Although I'm looking forward to going on vacation, I'm also looking forward to getting back to being more aggressive with my debt loss. I'm hoping that I've over-saved for Florida and once I get back I can put that extra money directly to paying off my first credit card. Hopefully I will also have a second job as a personal trainer! The extra income will go directly to debt. This is the year I will become free of my credit cards, I just want it to happen sooner than later.

99 Butternut Squash in Debt

2010-01-08T23:35:00.003-06:00

99 Things to Do

I feel like blogging but I don't really have anything that interesting to share or comment on so I've decided to get things going by giving an update on my to-do list. Here are my completed items so far:

8. Go through files and shred old stuff - completed 1/2/10
48. Clean shower curtain - completed 1/1/10

49. Clean shower liner - completed 1/1/10

59. Update address book - completed 1/2/10

86. Get salt from shed - completed 1/3/10

I also got a good start on, 42. Use the 3 butternut squash that are living in pantry

I made some yummy butternut squash soup earlier this week that used up one of the squash. In fact, I think I'll share the recipe.

*******
Baja Butternut Squash Soup (From the January/February 2009 issue of Eating Well magazine.)
1.5 lbs (1 small to medium) butternut or other winter squash

1 tsp canola oil

2 stalks celery, chopped

1 small onion, diced (I omitted this, onions are evil)

1 carrot, chopped

1 tsp ground cumin

1/4 - 1/2 tsp ground chipotle chile (I cut up a chipotle chili into small pieces and then put it in a coffee grinder.)

1/8 tsp ground cloves

6 cups vegetable broth (I used chicken broth.)

1 tsp sea salt

1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper

1/2 cup nonfat plain yogurt

2 tbsp snipped fresh chives or chopped parsley

1. Preheat oven to 350F.

2. Cut squash in half and seed. Place the halves on a baking sheet, cut-side down. Bake until tender when pierced with a knife, 45 minutes to 1 hour. Scoop out flesh when cool to handle.

3. Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add celery, onion and carrot and stir to coat. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low and cook, stirring frequently, until soft, 8 to 10 minutes. Stir in the squash flesh, cumin, chipotle to taste and cloves. Add broth and simmer, covered until the vegetables are very tender, 20 to 25 minutes.

4. Puree the soup with an immersion blender or a regular blender (in batches) until smooth. (Use caution when pureeing hot liquids.) Season with salt and pepper. Garnish with a drizzle of yogurt and sprinkle of chives or parsley.

Makes 10 servings, about 3/4 cup each.

Per serving: 60 calories; 1 g fat (0 g sat, 0 g mono); 0 mg cholesterol; 12 g carbs; 2 g protein; 3 g fiber; 532 mg sodium; 249 mg potassium.

******

Debt
Once again I'm back to obsessing about debt. I'm frustrated because I'm SO close to paying off my Choice card; it's just $1129. However, since I'm saving for my trip to Florida in February, all my spare cash is going to the scuba fund. Even after I'm done saving for Florida, I still owe my $200 deposit on my annual June scuba trip. My credit card debt would probably be gone by now if it weren't for my scuba trips. Anyway, I'm really looking forward to being able to throw everything I can at my credit cards again. I so want that first $0; it's been such a long time coming. It's like in the movies - I can see the door at the end of the hallway, but the hallway keeps stretching so the door keeps moving away, just out of reach.

Current Credit Card Debt - $8767

GULP!

2010-01-02T00:38:00.002-06:00

I just signed up for the ACE Personal Trainer certification exam! I'll be sitting for the exam on Friday, January 29 at 9 a.m..

Looking Back, Looking Forward

2010-01-01T02:47:00.002-06:00

I'm pretty please with 2009, it was a good year for me.

2009 Highlights

* I paid off $11,919 of credit card debt. That's 44.5% in one year.

* I started my second year of maintaining my weight loss.

* I started studying to get certified as a personal trainer.

* I earned second place and two honorable mentions in a photo contest.

* I've drastically reduced that amount of white sugar I ingest. I've avoided all candy and desserts since October.

* I had sex. That alone makes 2009 noteworthy.

* I've read a lot and learned more about the impact the food industry has on our economy and our health, both of which are toxic. I believe I'm making better choices for my health.

2010 Goals
*Pay off all credit card debt!!!!!! This is a huge one and it's gonna happen.

*Stay away from physical therapy. No more injuries!

*Run Dam to Dam.

*Celebrate debt payoff by purchasing a Kitchenaid Mixer complete with food grinder and pasta maker attachments. I want one in Surf Green but I'm not sure it will be available by the time I'm ready to buy it.
*Get certified and get a job as a personal trainer!!! This one is really important to me.

*Continue to maintain my weight loss.

*Continue to move towards a healthier diet.

I need to revist some of my goals to make them more specific but for now I just wanted to get them posted.

99 Things in 99 Days Part 2

2010-01-01T01:39:00.004-06:00

Ta da! Here is my next list of 99 things to do in 99 days. It starts January 1 and goes through April 9. This list was tough to come up with since I really didn't want to commit to many outdoor, gardening items since the weather is so unpredictable. I categorized items this time hoping that will keep me organized.

Debt/Financial

1. Pay off Choice
2. Balance transfer to Choice from Chase
3. Close Chase
4. Get taxes done by end of February
5. Create will
6. Create a living trust
7. Create an advance directive and durable power of attorney for health care
8. Go through files and shred old stuff
9. Use more coupons, watch for sales

Health/Fitness
10. Start training for Dam to Dam
11. Lose 2" from waist while maintaining muscle tone
12. Contact Flex account regarding online access
13. Call insurance about new primary doc
14. Get mammogram
15. Talk to doc about getting Cortisone shot for elbow

Gifts/Cards
16. Birthday card to grandpa ONTIME
17. Thank you card to Uncle Rich
18. Birthday card for Lisa
19. Birthday card for mom
20. Birthday gift for mom
21. Write grandparents
22. Christmas thank you cards

Career
23. Pass ACE exam
24. Get job as a personal trainer

Kitchen
25. Finish trim on kitchen cabinet
26. Add hooks to kitchen cabinet
27. Paint kitchen cabinet
28. Price primer for kitchen
29. Price paint for kitchen
30. Clean ceiling fan in kitchen
31. Clean oven
32. Get new drip pans for stove burners
33. New rugs for kitchen
34. New dish towels for kitchen
35. New dish rags for kitchen
36. Fix wall in kitchen
37. Clean shelves in kitchen cupboards
38. Clean drawers in kitchen
39. Clean pantry
40. Try two recipes from Eating Clean magazine
41. Fix paint mistakes in kitchen
42. Use the 3 butternut squash that are living in pantry

Bedroom
43. Spackle bedroom closet
44. Dust bedroom blinds
45. Clean bedroom ceiling fan
46. Hang headboard
47. Clean wall behind headboard

Bathroom
48. Clean shower curtain
49. Clean shower liner
50. Get new shelves for shower
51. Re caulk tub

Office
52. Dust shelves in office
53. Clean ceiling fan in office
54. Do something with iPAQ
55. Do something with 1880 census CD's
56. Do something with HP calculator
57. Backup files from portable HD to DVD
58. Dust office blinds
59. Update address book

Living Room
60. Sand video cabinet
61. Paint video cabinet
62. Dust and clean front window
63. Clean coat closet

Garage
64. Empty and dispose of small propane tanks
65. Purchase ladder
66. Wash car
67. Vacuum car
68. Get oil change
69. Use punching bag

Basement
70. Vacuum intake on dehumidifier

House
71. Get carpets cleaned
72. Furnace filter - January
73. Furnace filter - March
74. Plot house for feng shui
75. Move title to safety deposit box

ebay
76. HP calculator
77. 3 mil wetsuit
78. Bridesmaid dress

Indoor Garden
79. Re pot hibiscus
80. Re pot philodendron
81. Re pot croton
82. Grow basil
83. Plant rooted plant cutting
84. Start seeds

Outdoor Garden
85. Take garden pots to Kay for plant sale
86. Get salt from shed
87. Clean out shed (if weather allows)

Miscellaneous
88. Get rid of 14 magazines
89. Finish mom's photo album
90. Finish study abroad scrapbook
91. Get estimate for jewelry repair
92. Check on new cell phone
93. Use gift certificate from Lisa
94. Take clothes to consignment shop
95. Check to see if laptop is still covered
96. Finish "Duma Key"
97. Get a pedicure
98. Buy new bras
99. Hang photo from contest

99 Things in 99 Days Deadline!

2009-12-17T22:38:00.004-06:00

99 Things in 99 Days

I didn't complete my list. However I did accomplish a lot. So instead of focusing on what I didn't do, I'm going to list everything I did get done.

1. Get snowblower fixed - my roommate worked on it and had it running. Of course for the first snow, it didn't work. I'm still counting it.

2. Put bridesmaid dress on ebay - didn't sell.

3. Put jeans on ebay - sold!

4. Put black leather jacket on ebay - sold!

5. Put brown leather jacket on ebay - didn't sell, donated it.

6. Enter Silos and Smokestacks photo contest - received a second place and two honorable mentions.

7. Enter APTA photo contest - entered but haven't heard anything yet.

8. Plant buck rose - hope it survives the winter.

9. Take in yard waste.

10. Finish egg shaped flower garden.

11. Finish floor by front door.

12. Fill holes on kitchen wall.

13. Weed flower garden along south side of yard.

14. Weed flower garden along back of house.

15. Read about dishwasher maintenance.

16. Clean coils on refrigerator.

17. Weed garden by garage.

18. Mulch garden by garage.

19. Donate glasses.

20. Recycle ink jet cartridge.

21. Fill holes in living room.

22. Clean bathroom window.

23. Weather strip bathroom window.

24. Clean bedroom window.

25. Weather strip bedroom window.

26. Put light weight coat on ebay - didn't sell, donated it.

27. Divide geranium one.

28. Divide geranium two.

29. Move garden pots to shed.

30. Move hose to shed.

31. Buy place tickets to Phoenix.

32. Recycle cell phone battery.

33. Purchase cable hangers.

34. Install cable hangers.

35. Price new baseboards for kitchen.

36. Clean refrigerator.

37. Clean office window.

38. Weather strip office window.

39. Use up frozen veggies in freezer.

40. Hang window frame.

41. Replant geranium.

42. Clean sliding doors.

43. Put 3 mil wetsuit on ebay - didn't sell.

44. Exchange hood.

45. Borrow ladder from Eric and Lisa.

46. Remove front screen and install glass door.

47. Make path in back garden.

48. Change furnace filter - September.

49. Change furnace filter - November.

50. Empty gas from lawn mower.

51. Take cutting from house plants.

52. Buy birthday gift for dad.

53. Use Jax gift card.

54. Clean dishwasher.

55. Call Allstate about roadside coverage.

56. Call Mediacom about lowering cable/Internet bill - monthly bill reduced $50!!!!

57. Check on books at Firehouse books.

58. Get oil change.

59. Get car door fixed.

60. Clean intake vent in hallway and living room.

61. Clean rags at laundromat.

62. Clean out dehumidifier.

63. Clean off garage work bench.

64. Dust bathroom blinds.

65. Fix baseboard by tub.

66. Purchase Christmas gifts.

67. Go through 14 magazines and get rid of them.

68. Vacuum car.

69. Write AND send Christmas cards.

70. Scrape paint from laundry room window.

71. Clean laundry room windows.

72. Dispose of fire extinguisher.

73. Clean under refrigerator.

74. Clean under stove.

75. Get rid of matches.
76. Check with NWA about miles to Phoenix.

Some lessons learned regarding a list such as this. First, I typically do well with short term goals such as this. I find that the challenge keeps me motivated and focused. So even though I didn't complete my list in the designated 99 days, I will definitely be doing this again.

Second, I really need to put more thought into what goes on the list. Rather than hurrying to create the list in 30 minutes because I thought it would be cool to come up 99 things to do in 99 days on 9/9/09 and I started the list at about 11:20pm, I really need to think about what's important AND realistic.

Third, I should really try and group items together. Again, if I put more thought into the list to begin with, I should be able to group like items together so they're easier to find.

All in all, this was a good experience and I'm proud of what I've accomplished. Some of the items I completed have been bugging me for months (years) and it feels great to finally be done with them.

I think I will work on a list to start on January 1.

4 Digits

2009-12-12T17:09:00.001-06:00

I just made it below the $10,000 on my credit card debt!

Current credit card debt - $9055!

Snow Day!

2009-12-09T20:10:00.003-06:00

I work for a transit system in the midwest and for the second time in the 18 years (omg that's depressing) that I've worked there, we didn't run service due to weather. So how did I spend my day off? Obviously I did a little shoveling, just enough to get cars in/out of the driveway. There's still a lot of snow to move but we're not snowed in. Most of the day, however, was spent cleaning. For some reason, my unexpected day off motivated me to tackle a couple of projects that I've been meaning to do. In fact, I can check off a few items from the To Do list.

Cleaned the refrigerator - pulled out shelves and washed them.

Cleaned refrigerator coils.

Cleaned under the refrigerator.

Cleaned the microwave.

Cleaned under the stove.

Cleaned the kitchen trash can lid.

Cleaned the intake vent covers in the hallway and living room (as in removed them and washed them.)

Swept the kitchen and bathroom.

Mopped the kitchen and bathroom.

Vacuumed.

Did laundry.

I probably got more done at home than I would have at work.

Turkey Trot

2009-12-01T21:17:00.003-06:00

At about 11:30pm the night before Thanksgiving, I decide to see if there is a Turkey Trot close by. Sure enough, there's one at 8:30am the next morning. So I set my alarm for 6:00am so I have enough time to drive there (it's about a 35 minute drive) and get registered. My alarm went off at 6am and despite the fact that I slept like crap, I manage to get up, get ready and go. Now you need to keep in mind that I'm, a) not a morning person, b) really dislike being cold, c) not a morning person, yet somehow I still got my butt out of bed to go pay someone else so I can go run, in the cold, at 8:30am.

I arrive at registration with plenty of time. I fill out the form, check off the 5K, pay my money, get my number and timing chip and start to head out to claim my t-shirt. As I'm walking over to the t-shirt table, I notice the bottom of my number reads "5 Mile". WTF! It's a 5 mile run not a 5K. I head back to the registration to let them know I registered for the wrong race. They were very nice and explained that both the 5 mile and 2 mile races have the same start time and follow the same route for the first mile. All I need to do is simply follow the 2 mile route when the two races split. I also didn't need to worry about getting a new number, I can just use the one I already had for the 5 mile. The registration cost was the same for both so I wasn't out any money.

I left the registration desk again, feeling a little relieved that it was so easy but also a little disappointed because 2 miles wasn't really that long. I really wanted a nice 3.2 mile run. The 2 miler simply wouldn't burn enough calories to properly prepare for the upcoming food of the day.

So the race is about to start and I'm dutifully way in the back with the rest of the 2 milers. When the race starts, we all slowly make our way up to the start line and officially begin the race. After just under a mile, I can see up ahead that the two routes are about to split. The whole time I've been running I've been going back and forth in my mind about which race to follow. Finally when I get to the point where I have to chose, I look at the people who are running the 5 mile race and realize I can keep up with them. They weren't all hardcore runners. In fact, quite a few were walking.

My official time was 54:38. I just barely made it into the 10 minute mile range (10:56).

99 Update

2009-11-22T00:56:00.004-06:00

O.k., so I injured my freakin elbow a couple of months ago. I officially have "tennis elbow" in my right elbow and of course I'm right hand dominant. I'm not sure what caused the initial injury but I know I aggravated it more by doing a bunch of yard work and exterior painting in late September when I was all gung ho about completely the items on my to do list that required nice weather. With the injury, all activity came to a halt and I got to enjoy physical therapy again.

My elbow is finally starting to feel better and I'm slowly adding in more activity. However there are some items on my to do list that simply aren't going to get done by December 16 so I need to make some substitutions so I can still complete 99 items in 99 days. Even with modifying the list to accommodate my elbow, it will be a challenge to complete the list since I'm behind.

Here's what I have to remove from the current list do to injury and cold weather.

Paint trim around garage
Sand paint by front door
Finish painting around patio
Mulch flower bed along south fence (backyard)
Clean out shed
Add rock to flower bed along garage

Train for Run for the Roses 10K - This has come and gone and I didn't run. It had nothing to do with my injury.

Indoor items that likely won't get done because of injury.

Finish molding on kitchen cabinet
Install hooks in kitchen cabinet
Sand DVD cabinet
Paint DVD cabinet
Prep kitchen walls to be primed
Prime kitchen walls

These are items that aren't going to get done simply because it's not going to happen by Dec. 16.

Take sale items to Linda G.
Take plastic garden pots to Kay
Get carpets cleaned - I need to put this money elsewhere in December
Take and pass ACE certification exam - I'm not going to be ready by December

That leaves 17 new to do items that I need to have to maintain the 99 items in 99 days.

Some of the items on the list below are already completed however I'm going to go ahead and include them since they were things that I thought of after my original list was created. They became my "extra credit" items that I'm now going to use to maintain my grade. :)

1. Clean dishwasher and remove hard water buildup around door - done
2. Take garage and paint rags to laundry mat - done

3. Do a balance transfer from Chase to Citibank
4. Close Chase account
5. Clean out humidifier
6. Clean off garage work bench
7. Dust bathroom blinds
8. Call Allstate about roadside coverage
9. Call Mediacom about lowering bill or cancel
10. Hang photos from contest
11. Check with NWA to see if miles from PHX trip were credited to my account
12. Check with Firehouse Books about selling books
13. Get an oil change - done
14. Get car door fixed - done
15. Clean intake vent cover from hallway and living room
16.
17.

18. ebay - bridesmaid dress
19. ebay - jeans
20. ebay - black leather jacket
21. ebay - brown leather jacket
22. ebay - winter jacket
23. ebay - fall/spring jacket
24. ebay - 3 mil wetsuit
25. ebay - 7 mil wetsuit
26. Get an estimate to repair jewelry
27. Contact CSA about taking pictures
28. Contact Northern Prairie Chevre about pics
29. Contact Picket Fence Creamery about pics
30. Fix baseboard paint by tub
31. Get estimate for tree trimming/removal
32. Change furnace filter - November
33. Repot hibiscus
34. Repot croton
35. Repot philodendron
36. Purchase Christmas gifts
37. Go through 14 magazines and then get rid of them
38. Vacuum car
39. Do album of pics from mom
40. Finish study abroad scrapbook
41. Use gift certificate
42. Dust shelves in office
43. Write AND send Christmas cards
44. Scrape paint from laundry room windows
45. Clean laundry room windows
46. Spackle holes in bedroom closet
47. Dispose of fire extinguisher
48. Clean refrigerator coils
49. Clean refrigerator
50. Plot house for feng shui
51. Price primer and paint
52. Pay off Choice card

I've completed 47 items and I still need to come up with 2 more new items.

Hot Chocolate

2009-11-22T00:45:00.004-06:00

I made this tonight and won't ever go back to instant hot chocolate. It's easy, tasty and satisfies my sweet tooth without being over the top rich.

In a glass measuring cup, heat up 1 cup of milk (I used skim) in the microwave until it gets to your preferred temperature.

In the cup you will be enjoying your hot chocolate from, mix 2 tbsp of hot water and 1 tbsp cocoa powder.

Add warm milk to cup and immediately add 1 tbsp of agave nectar. Mix and enjoy!

...update...

2009-10-20T20:27:00.001-05:00

I am lonely.

Music Review - The Black Keys

2009-10-06T00:42:00.002-05:00

My new favorite band. A friend sent me a link to a video and as soon as it started playing, I noticed this amazing music playing in the background and although the video itself was, ahem, "stimulating," it was the music that I was obsessed with. As with all videos on the internet, there was a place for comments. I took a chance that someone would mention the name of the band playing in the background. There among the critiques of the video and it's content, was the name of the band and the title of the two songs that played for the duration of the video. Yee Haw! After a quick google, I was at the band's website and listening to some of their music on MySpace. The song I really like is "Girl Is On My Mind." It's the first song on the video and is also on their MySpace page. I don't remember the name of the other song on the video but I do know it's not on MySpace. I could go back and look at the comments but I would get...distracted...and forget why I was there. :)

They are a two man band. Their music is largely self produced and has a wonderful, low tech, basic sound. When I first heard them, I immediately thought of delta blues being played in some backwater place. It's not flashy, it's just really good. Go have a listen and let me know what you think.

Carefree Beauty

2009-10-04T23:00:00.003-05:00

Any Buck rose fans out there? If you're from Iowa and enjoy roses you've at least heard of them. They're the best roses for this zone. You can treat them like perennials, no fussing, no tipping, no protecting, just plant them and you're good to go. Apparently, the hard part for me is the planting part. I've had a Carefree Beauty sitting in it's original pot for 1.5 years. I bought it in May 2008. It managed to survive last winter sitting unprotected in my garage. Once it warmed up, it once again, sat patiently in it's container, on my patio for another summer. Today, it finally hit the dirt. After 1.5 years I finally got around to planting the damn thing. It's probably a death sentence. I have no idea how it will do since it won't have a whole lot of time to establish itself before winter and of course, I keep hearing "hard winter," as if the past two winters weren't cold enough. Ugh. I'll probably try to add some more leaf mulch later this month to give it a little more protection for the winter. I hope it does well.

Today was a productive day, in addition to planting the rose, I mowed the lawn, did poop patrol, took a couple bags of the mulched up leaves and grass clippings and put them around the plants I divided and replanted last weekend. I cleaned the outside of my office, my bedroom and the bathroom windows and cleaned the outside of the sliding glass doors. There is also new weather stripping on my office and bathroom windows. Tomorrow morning I will do my bedroom window.

Yesterday, I hauled out the ladder I borrowed and cleaned out the gutters. Yuck. I had my dad nearby to hold the ladder until I was comfortable with it. I really like this ladder and will definitely be buying one for myself. It's a Little Giant knockoff (Werner) so it's less expensive, although still pricey. It's also heavy! I don't need as tall of a ladder as the one I borrowed so hopefully the one I end up getting isn't as heavy. I was surprised at how well I did on it. I'm not a fan of heights, but it was nice and stable and I didn't freak out.

Also made applesauce yesterday. I had a bag of apples that I bought at the farmer's market last week. The first few were ok, but then I just wasn't really enjoying eating them. I'm not sure if it was the texture or what. I decided to try them as applesauce instead. I remember my mom mentioning how easy it was to make applesauce. I googled recipes and found that most of them called for very few ingredients. I ended up using peeled, cored and quartered apples (maybe 10?) the juice of 1/2 a lemon and 2 tbsp of cinnamon. I added the apples and lemon juice to a crock pot and cooked them on low for a few hours. I then added the cinnamon and stirred. By this point the apples were already well on their way to becoming sauce. A few hours later along with some stirring and mushing, I had chunky, yummy applesauce. It's really good. Tonight I even used some in a banana-blueberry bread I'm making. It's still baking. I'm eagerly awaiting my chance to sample some. I found the recipe online by googling "banana whole wheat flour agave." There were several recipes that came up. I chose to try the recipe with blueberries because 1) I have some and 2) I love blueberries! It's a vegan recipe so there's no eggs. Hmm, now I'm wondering what role eggs play in baking? I might have to reference my food geek book "On Food and Cooking" later to find out more. If you're interested in the recipe it's from the Fatfree Vegan Kitchen blog.

Still no word on the Silos and Smokestacks photo contest. I did get frames for two of the prints though. Actually, the frames are basic black frames so I can put any of the prints in them. I currently have "The Scenic Route" and "Butterfly" in the frames. Now I just have to figure out a place for them and get them hung up.

Oops, I almost forgot to mention, in case you weren't keeping track, I finished 8 items on my list today.

Plant rose
Mulch garden by garage
Clean office window
Seal office window
Clean sliding doors
Clean bathroom window
Seal bathroom window
Clean bedroom window

I'm also going to count "paint trim around bedroom window" as completed. It really needs a second coat but I don't think it's going to be warm enough to paint again. It's been primed and has one coat of paint so it should be fine for the winter. The rest of the painting goals probably aren't going to happen either. I really should have thought through my list a little longer when I came up with it. There's simply not enough time left to complete everything. I'm ok with that though, just making the list motivated me to get so much more done than I would have without it. If it weren't for the list, the Carefree Beauty most likely would have spent another winter in my garage.

Another Photo Contest

2009-09-29T23:27:00.002-05:00

The annual "bitching about the weather" has come early this year. I have a friend that lives in Florida (one of my 3 readers) and each winter I whine to him about the weather here. It's 11:30pm (Iowa) on SEPTEMBER 29 and it's 46 freakin degrees out! I refuse to turn on the heat in September.

All of the entries to the Smokestacks and Silos photo contest are online. I assume this means the judging will commence soon. After looking at the other entries, I feel a lot better about the photos I submitted. There are some gorgeous photos, but there's also a lot of snapshots or photos that were entered into the completely wrong category. Snapshots are fine, but for a photo contest I was expecting high quality photos from everyone, thus making me nervous about my own, novice attempts. However, I now realize I entered decent photos and didn't embarrass myself.

Speaking of photo contests, I sent in my entries to the APTA (American Public Transportation Association, a.k.a. "bus geeks") photo contest. This was one of the items on my to-do list.

Sucky Weekend Update

2009-09-28T23:29:00.003-05:00

I was told, by one of my three readers, that my last post was "a downer." I guess it probably was. The thing is, I really didn't go into all of the reasons the weekend sucked; I just focused on the two ER visits. But, I'm not going to go into all of that now. It's over with. Instead I'm back with another update to my to-do list.

This morning I got my butt out of bed, loaded my roommate's truck with yard waste and hauled it off to the yard waste place. I still have probably two more loads but this was the one I really needed to since I was able to clear out all of the dead stuff that was piled along side the garage for all to see. The remaining piles are in the back yard and aren't nearly the eye sore as the front one was.

After I was done with the yard waste, I went to Lowe's and purchased some furnace filters, then went home and got ready for work. On my way to work I stopped by the optical shop to donate two pairs of old glasses. After work I stopped by a friend's house and borrowed their ladder.

So just to recap, in case you were so riveted by my exciting life that you weren't really paying attention to the details, I completed 4, count'em FOUR items on my list!

*Take in yard waste

*Change furnace filter (September)

*Donate glasses - Finally! I've been meaning to donate the damn things for over a year. It feels great to have them gone.

*Borrow ladder from Eric

I have four more items that need to be done while it's still "warm." This could be a challenge. Although it was in the upper 70's yesterday (while I sat in the freakin ER again, but I digress) it's only going to get into the low 60's this week. This it going to make it tough to get exterior painting done, not impossible, but tough. I'm hoping to get it done by this weekend.

I'm glad this weekend is over.

2009-09-27T20:41:00.002-05:00

Ooooh, I think this is my 50th post. Too bad I don't have something really profound to share. I just thought I would stop by to give an update on my 99 Things To Do list. This weekend was almost really productive. I ended up sitting in the ER both days. Yesterday was for my roommate (he's fine) and then today was work related (she's fine). Both visits occured in the middle of me trying to take advantage of the nice weather to get some of my gardening items done. Grrrr.

Here's what I DID get done

Weed flower bed along back of house
Weed flower bed along south side of house (front)
Divide geranium 1

Divide geranium 2

I was also hoping to also plant my Buck rose, take in yard waste, borrow a ladder and get some more painting done.

I just counted, I have 17 items done and I'm on day 19. Hmm, I think I'll go change the furnace filter....and.....take a cutting from an out of control, vining house plant. Those two will put me back on track.

FAIL, no furnace filters! ARGH! This weekend sucks! Time to curl up into a ball and rock back and forth.

Sunday Night Rambling

2009-09-20T23:06:00.003-05:00

I actually did some painting today. Yippie! I scraped and sanded around my bedroom window, primed it and did the first coat of paint. I also painted the trim around the garage door and above the garage door. Everything needs one more coat so I'm holding off on marking those items completed on my to do list. I even managed to NOT paint my window shut.

It's clear to me after todays activities, mainly attempting to clean out the eaves with a ladder that's about 2' too short, that I really need to purchase a ladder. Ugh. I measured the highest point on my house and minimum I need a 12' ladder, 15' might be better though.

I also need to get my car door fixed. I can't open the driver side door from the inside. I have to roll down my window and open it using the outside handle.

With the above two items, along with the various items on my to do list that require money, such as "fix snowblower" or "clean carpets", I can feel my goal of paying off my Choice card by the end of the year slipping away. Ironically, paying off my Choice card is on my to do list. Perhaps if I sell some items on ebay (also on my to do list) I will be able to pay for some of the other stuff on my list.

Silos and Smokestacks

2009-09-17T01:25:00.011-05:00

Gulp! I did it. I entered the Silos and Smokestacks photo contest. I can check that one off of my list. I'm kind of nervous but I'm not sure why. I'm curious to know if I'll receive any feedback from the judges. I guess that makes me nervous. Anyway, I did it. It's done and now I can stop obsessing about it. Here are the photos I submitted.

The Scenic Route, Events - Iowa State Fair

Grasses, Scenic

Veins, Heritage Site - Reiman Gardens

Beta Carotene, Events - Des Moines Farmers Market

Spinning Lights, Events - Iowa State Fair

Playing With Mud, Heritage Site - Iowa State Fair

Butterfly, Heritage Site - Reiman Gardens

Cattails, Scenic

99 Things in 99 Days

2009-09-16T00:38:00.009-05:00

After reading about the adventures of one of the ladies on WIR to finish a list of 99 things to do in 99 days, I decided to give myself the same challenge. So on 09/09/09 I created a list of random things to do over the next 99 days. Some items are easy (read instructions,) some are more ambitious (finish painting around patio,) some are simply things I've been meaning to do for a long time but just never get around to it (recycle inkjet cartridge.) After completing the list, I realized I should have put a little more thought into it. I came up with the list in about 30 minutes and in my haste, listed quite a few items that need to be done before it gets cold. Weeding, painting, planting, etc. all need to be done by the end of October which means I really need to get moving. Especially since a lot of the items are weekend projects. There really aren't that many warm weekends left.

So my complete list is below. I tried to group similar items together, but really it's just a hodge podge of items that are all over the place. My 99 days will be up on December 16. Wish me luck!

Get snow blower fixed - done
ebay - Bridesmaid dress
ebay - Jeans
ebay - Black leather jacket
ebay - Brown leather jacket
ebay - Winter jacket
ebay - Fall/spring jacket
ebay - 3 mil wetsuit
ebay - 7 mil wetsuit
Exchange wetsuit hood - completed
Borrow ladder from Eric - done
Remove front screen and replace with glass door - done
Get and estimate to repair jewelry
Enter Silos and Smokestacks photo contest - Done!
Enter APTA photo contest - Done!
Contact CSA about taking pictures
Contact Northern Prairie Chevre about taking pictures
Contact Picket Fence Creamery about taking pictures
Take and pass ACE Personal Training Certification test
Paint trim around garage
Sand paint by front door
Paint trim around bedroom window - done
Finish painting around patio
Fix baseboard paint by tub
Purchase cable line hangers - completed
Install cable line hangers - completed
Get estimate for tree trimming/removal
Plant Buck rose - done
Take in yard waste - done
Finish weeding center flower bed - completed
Weed flower bed along south fence (backyard) - Done!
Weed flower bed along back of house - Done
Weed flower bed along south side of house (front) - Done
Mulch flower bed along south side of house (front)
Divide (perennial) geranium 1 - Done
Divide (perennial) geraniam 2 - Done
Move garden pots to shed - done
Take plastic garden pots to Kay
Clean out shed
Move hose to shed - done
Make a path in rear flower bed - done
Add rock to flower bed along garage
Change furnace filter - September - done
Change furnace filter - November
Empty gas from lawn mower - done
Prep kitchen walls to be primed
Prime kitchen walls
Use up frozen veggies in freezer - done
Hang window frame - done
Repot (annual) geranium to indoor pot - done
Repot hibiscus
Repot croton
Repot philodendron
Take cuttings from other house plants - done
Purchase a bday gift for dad - done
Purchase Christmas gifts
Go through 14 magazines and then get rid of them
Train for Run for the Roses 10K
Vacuum car
Do album of pictures from mom
Finish study abroad scrapbook
Price new baseboards for kitchen - done
Sand DVD cabinet
Paint DVD cabinet
Get facial (use bday gift certificate)
Use Jax gift card - done
Donate old eye glasses - done
Recycle inkjet cartridge - done
Spackle holes living room walls - done
Clean bathroom window -done
Weather strip bathroom window - done
Clean bedroom window - done
Weather strip bedroom window - done
Clean office window - done
Weather strip office window - done
Clean front window - done
Clean sliding door - done
Weather strip sliding door - done
Remove all books and completely dust shelves in office
Write AND send Christmas cards
Take sale items to Linda G.
Scrape paint from laundry room window
Clean laundry room window
Purchase plane tickets to PHX - completed
Spackle holes in bedroom closet walls
Dispose of old fire extinguisher
Dispose of old cell phone battery - done
Dispose of bag 'o matches - done
Read about the proper way to clean the dishwasher - Done
Clean refrigerator coils
Clean refrigerator
Plot house for feng shui
Get carpets cleaned
Finish floor by front door - done
Finish molding on kitchen cabinet
Install hooks in kitchen cabinet
Spackle holes in kitchen walls - completed
Price primer and paint
Pay off Choice credit card!

Chicken Shit Bingo

2009-09-14T22:56:00.008-05:00

So, as promised, here's my tale of Chicken Shit Bingo. We played this at a family reunion earlier this summer.

You start with a large board that's been divided into several squares that are numbered.

Each square was sold for $2. Once all of the squares were sold, it was time for the chicken. The entire point of the game is to wait for the chicken to shit on a square. Whoever owns that square wins half the money collected. This sounds simple enough except that the chicken wouldn't shit. Imagine a large group of adults, standing around the perimeter of the box, literally trying to scare the shit out of the chicken.

The chicken, although terrified, was not shitting. Instead it flew out of the box...three separate times...and was chased by dogs and grown men...three separate times.

In the end, the stunt chicken was brought in. She was well prepared for her role; she promptly shit on square 8 and then went back to doing whatever chickens do in their leisure time.

$10,499

2009-08-19T23:41:00.003-05:00

It's been too long since I've posted anything. I've had blog worthy events occur in my life but I'm too tired to write about them now. I just stopped by for a quickie post to share some amazing/miserable news. Last night I added up how much money I've put towards my credit card debt so far in 2009; the grand total is $10,499! I'm both amazed that I've been able to pay that much in just 9 months :) and miserable that I put myself in a position that requires me to do so in the first place. :( OMG, think of the things I can do be doing with that money! OMG, I'm so proud that I finally grew up and took control of my finances!

Losing debt is so similar to losing weight. When I was overweight, it's like I had a filter that distorted the picture I had of myself. I didn't see fat, I just saw me. I got so used to seeing myself overweight that I able to ignore the fat. The same thing with debt. I got so used to seeing the large numbers, that after awhile it just didn't register how bad it was. The thing is, these filters were only about 95% effective because there was always a little nagging voice that reminded me something wasn't quite right. "Hmmm, I'm not sure my stomach is supposed to be resting on my thighs." "Umm, five figure credit card debt seems just a little out of line..." Thank god for that 5% or I'd still be a fat chick blindly racking up credit card debt.

The problem with losing debt is, it isn't as obvious as losing weight. One of the things that kept me motivated to keep losing weight was the incredible support I received from family, friends and coworkers. Unless someone is living in poverty, debt and especially the elimination of debt isn't obvious to anyone. Also, for whatever reason, it seems like some people are more uncomfortable talking about finances even if it's not about their own. Why is it that it's socially acceptable to lose weight but not debt? In most cases the person created their own problem (overweight/debt) but losing one is embraced but losing the other is more taboo. Perhaps because being overweight is more obvious than being in debt, people are forced to confront it. There's no way to hide the fat, whereas debt can be hidden. Perhaps the secretive aspect of gaining debt carries over into it's elimination. Hmmm, that went off in a direction I hadn't planned. Anywho, the truth is, I DO have support for my debt elimination. It's from a great group of women on the WIR message boards. They are all going through what I'm going through in some form or another. We come together in our virtual worlds to discuss what we can't discuss in our real lives. It would just be nice if the $10,499 I've paid would show up as baggy pants so I could walk down the hall at work and have a coworker exclaim "Damn girl, have you lost some debt? You look great!" :)

Weekend in Review

2009-07-19T23:38:00.003-05:00

I was up until 4am Friday morning going through letters, cards, pictures, papers of a deceased cousin whose stuff I inherited. I didn't get everything, just the papers. Her executor found out I was into genealogy and asked if I wanted all of the memorabilia, family history type stuff. I of course said yes. He sent 6 boxes filled with mostly letters, pictures, cards, papers, yearbooks, etc. It was overwhelming but kinda cool. Mixed in with every freakin letter and card she ever received are gems of family history. The letters are also full of information but I haven't had the ambition to tackle that project. There are literally HUNDREDS of letters, all handwritten so they're a nightmare to read. Anyway, I was able to throw out a bunch of stuff, organize and consolidate the rest of it so it's taking up less room in my closet. I even found $21 cash and some stuff to sell at my upcoming garage sale.

Saturday I finished up going through my cousins stuff, met up with friends for dinner ("Chinese" buffet - American gluttony at it's best) and then we went to see "Bruno" (don't waste your money or at least wait until it's cheap.) After the movie we sat out on a patio, drank pina coladas and started a fire (in a fire pit type thing.)

Today I went out to breakfast with my roommates, mowed the lawn, cleaned out the garage for the sale, cleaned up a few items that I'm selling, weeded, loaded roomies truck with mulch from the freebie mulch pile, then put said mulch in flower beds. I then rode my bike to Target, finally took a much needed shower, did three loads of laundry, cleaned the kitchen, swept and vacuumed.

I think I'll call this a fairly productive weekend.

"And that's the way it is."

2009-07-17T22:01:00.001-05:00

Walter Cronkite 1916 - 2009

Family Fun

2009-07-12T22:21:00.004-05:00

I'm home for a family reunion this weekend. The reunion was yesterday and was o.k.. I'll probably write more about it at a later date. However, I realized that my family fun meter has just pegged, like about 15 minutes ago. I've had enough quality family time. Perhaps a good night sleep will reset my meter or perhaps the fact that I'm heading home tomorrow morning will reset it (hee). Either way, I've happily shut myself in my (guest) room and am blissfully alone. I love my parents, they are the most important people in my life but holy crap, they can drive me crazy. Anywho, I just needed to vent. I'll be back later with the tale of "chicken shit bingo" from the reunion!

The Things I Could Do With $1100 A Month

2009-07-04T02:30:00.002-05:00

I'm back to obsessing about my debt (I took a break to countdown to vacay.) Anyway, in addition to trying to figure out how much money I can send to my higher interest card this month, I also tried to plan for the upcoming increase minimum payment for my Chase card. I'm really trying to keep my entire budget so that I can pay for everything just from my paycheck. The money I get from my roommates, ideally, all goes to additional payments to my higher interest card or other random crap that comes up. In order to make my budget work with the increased Chase payment I have to reduce the payment to my higher interest card by $225. This works, because it's still more than the minimum payment but it still sucks.

So I got the whole Chase thing worked out but that got me thinking about how it was going to affect my higher interest card payments. I've also been wanting to figure out the "master payback plan." Basically, when in the hell am I going to dump this credit card debt? Using a snowball payment calculator and some (hopefully) reasonable guesses, it looks like I can pay off my higher interest card by Mar 2010 and the other card by Sep 2010. I did a different version of the calculations and had the first card paid off by the end of the year but the final date of Sep. 2010 was the same. So basically it looks like I will be done with first card somewhere between Dec 2009 and Mar 2010. That's good news. The bad news is, the Sep 2010 date assumes I can manage to consistently come up with $1100 each month to put towards credit card payments. That could be hard since it doesn't take into account gifts, repairs, vacations (gasp) or anything that life is notorious at throwing at us. I have an emergency fund for the big stuff but I'm concerned about the little, random stuff.

I printed off the repayment schedule to use as motivation. It's going to be hard to not slack off on occasion and send it less than $1100 but damn, I'd REALLY like to get the first card paid off by the end of the year. That would be a real victory and a great way to start the new year.

So, back to the title of this post. Crap! $1100 a month and I'm sending it away to friggin credit card companies. It's frustrating to think of all the things I could be doing with $1100 a month.

September 2010...that would be nice...that would be very nice. Maybe October 2010 I'll take my $1100 and go diving.

Dive Log - Thor's Wall

2009-07-03T02:05:00.003-05:00

Location: Thor's Wall
Date: 15 Jun 2009
Dive No.: 1st of the day, 7th of the trip, 75 lifetime
Depth: 101 feet
Bottom Time: 39 minutes
Bottom Temp: 81 degrees Fahrenheit
Starting psi: 3000

Ending psi: 900
Visibility: ~100 ft

Ok, I just have to comment on this dive. It was amazing! First of all, it's my deepest dive to date, so that alone makes it significant. I finally broke 3 digits! I basically inched my way down until I hit 100' and then ascended a bit. I didn't realize until later when I was reviewing my dive computer that I actually hit 101'.

Then there was the visibility. OMG. It was THE best vis I've ever experienced diving. It was so clear...in a crisp, focused way. Everything looked very sharp. It was breathtaking.

And finally...the life! There were fish everywhere. The site was basically a gradual slope that lead to a wall. Along the slope there were deeper ridges that you could follow down to the wall. Most of the life was at the top of the ridges, although we saw life at all depths. The variety of colors and sizes and shapes was phenomenal.

June Financial Update

2009-07-03T00:53:00.008-05:00

Debt Reduction

As of my June update I have paid off $10,719 of my credit card debt which puts me at 40% paid. I anticipate hitting the 50% mark with my August update which will be one month sooner than I had originally estimated! I'm trying to be aggressive with paying off my higher interest credit card. Starting August I will have less money to send to it (see below) so I'd like to send as much as I can now. I had money left over from my vacation that ideally should have been returned to the "Scuba Fund". However I decided it was better to apply it to a card with 11% interest rather than sitting in a savings account earning 2%. So, I sent in $400 last week. Tonight I was able to send in another $400 and after 2 more deposits clear, I'll be able to send in another $480! My July update is gonna rock.

Chase is Evil

Like many out there, I received notice that my minimum payment for my Chase card is increasing from 2% to 5% beginning with the August payment. UGH. I can afford the increased payment but it means I have less money to send to my other, higher interest credit card. I called today to find out if they had an opt out option where I could close the account and freeze the minimum payment at the current 2%. Nope. Hmm, how surprising that Chase is unwilling to work with it's customers. I've only had this same experience...let's see...every single time I've called them. The "representative" actually had the nerve to say that "they (she kept saying 'they' instead of 'we') were just trying to get these accounts paid off sooner." Umm, what? Are you kidding me? They really want me to pay off my debt so they can no longer collect on interest? Right.

Anywho, the kicker is, I really hate Chase and I really want to pay off my debt so I can close the damn account and tell Chase to screw themselves. Paying 2.5 times more each month than I am now will certainly help, but the fact is, I have another credit card out there that is earning twice as much interest as my Chase card. I need to be sending my money to the other card. I guess I should be happy that they haven't increased my interest rate as well (yet.)

Oh, and apparently in the spirit of "just trying to get these accounts paid off sooner" Chase just increased my credit limit by $4000. Nice.

Goals for July

Keep track of all spending for the month. I start off well the first week or so and then stop. This month I'm going to track it all.

Stick to my budget. Again, I start off ok and then slack off.

20 $0 Spend Days. 2/20 so far!

Garage sale. This one is a done deal. It's planned for the 24th and 25th. Now I need to make sure I get going and prepare for it.

Sell on eBay. I still have items to sell that I'm not going to bother trying to sell at the garage sale.

Current credit card debt: $15,798

First Time Buyer

2009-07-01T23:07:00.003-05:00

I won my bid on eBay today! I bid on a personal training home study course. I've been thinking about getting certified as a personal trainer for a few months. My plan was to wait until after vacation before I really went full steam ahead. I've been watching eBay for since before my vacation and knew that there's usually a study program up for auction. I lost my first auction earlier this week. If I had lost today's as well, I would have simply purchased the materials from the certifying agency's website just to be done with it. Instead I was able to save about $75 by purchasing from eBay. Now I just have to wait for the seller to ship it all out. This is the first time I've purchased anything off of eBay so I hope it all goes well and I don't have to hassle with anything. I just want to get going. I'm looking forward to starting this next chapter of my life.

My Weight Loss Journey

2009-07-01T00:01:00.005-05:00

I've been wanting to share this for awhile. I already posted a version of this on MyFoodDiary.com but never got it posted here. So for what it's worth, here's my story.

On February 26, 2006 I was reading Oxygen magazine’s “Fat Loss” special edition. In it was an article about how to lose 49 pounds by July 1. The basic premise was in order to lose weight you need to burn calories through exercise and eat fewer calories. The plan that was laid out was to lose 2 lbs per week by eliminating 500 calories and burning 500 calories each day. For whatever reason, the article made sense to me. Something clicked. I knew then and there that I was finally going to follow through on losing weight. I wasn’t ever a real dieter. I didn’t drift from one fad diet to another, losing and gaining weight; I simply kept on gaining until I topped out at 260 pounds. That night was truly the beginning of my journey. A few days later, I even had the presence of mind to mark the day in my calendar because I knew it was a significant day in my life.

It took me two years to lose 105 pounds. I’ve been hovering around 155 for a little over a year. I’ve been as low as 149 (for about 6 hours) and have sneaked up to 159 but for the most part I’m steady at 155. It’s nice because I haven’t been religiously logging all of my food this past year. I’ve been able to eat about right and exercise enough to stay right around the same weight. This is reassuring because I was very nervous about keeping the weight off. I don’t want to screw up everything I’ve accomplished.

Surprisingly, I’m still trying to get a handle on my eating. I still don’t eat when I’m hungry; I eat when I think I should eat or when I simply want to eat. I still crave food simply for the satisfaction of eating. It’s not hunger, it’s emotional or habit or …. something. This really bothers me and I’m really trying to figure out what is going on. I have a few theories but I’m just not sure. When I get home at night, I eat dinner but then keep on snacking until bed. Granted I’m snacking on almonds and carrots (not too bad) or peanut butter and jelly (not horrible, but not great) but it’s calories I don’t need. The food isn’t serving any purpose other than to allow me to eat. I’m not binging or stuffing myself to discomfort, but I’m not eating to fuel my body. I’m concerned that this need to eat simply to eat will derail me achievements. I even had a dream a few nights ago that I was looking in the mirror and my face was fuller and I knew I was gaining back the weight I had lost. It's another bump on the weight loss road and there have been many. I've made it this far. I need to have faith that I will continue with my success and figure this out as well.

What’s next? Tackling my debt. This may not seem to be related to weight loss but I really believe it is. Right about the time a reached my goal weight, I decided to change the way I approached my finances. I realized I was living beyond my means and needed to stop using my credit cards and start actively paying them off. This decision didn’t happen one memorable night like my weight loss decision did. I don’t have a date marked in my calendar of when I sat and decided to finally become fiscally responsible but I do know that it occurred very close to when I finally reached 155 lbs. I believe my weight loss success gave me the courage to take an honest look at my debt and make a plan to actively start paying it off. I also think I needed something else to control. I had taken control of my health by logging every single bite of food and every single minute of exercise and had been successful. I think I needed another area to direct my efforts so I could continue to see results. If I wasn’t going to be losing weight anymore then I needed to be losing something so why not my debt? In the past year, I haven’t used my credit card once. I’ve been on two vacations and paid for everything in cash and I’ve paid off 40% of my debt. It’s such a great feeling to know I’m making financial progress while still keeping off the weight.

So there it is, my weight loss journey to date. I’ve heard that those who are able to maintain their weight loss for 2 years have a very good chance of keeping it off permanently. So my journey is not over by any means. I have another 6 months minimum to keep off the weight and hopefully come to terms with my eating. I’ve decided that reaching my goal weight was simply the beginning of a lifelong journey. The past 3 years have been very illuminating. It’s bizarre to realize I’m just now really starting to understand who I am and what I’m capable of accomplishing. How is it a person can go 40 years and not know who they are? I really think the fat literally and figuratively insulated me from not only the external world but from allowing myself to step out and just really be who I was meant to be.

I think it’s important to realize that if I can do this, anyone can. I want people to know that I still struggle, the work continues. Just because I’ve reached my goal doesn’t mean I’m skipping through meadows, singing with the birds. But guess what? IT’S WORTH IT! I wouldn’t change a thing! My struggle with food, the skin that hangs from my stomach, the aches and pains from exercising, the several hundred dollars I’ve spent on new clothes, IT’S ALL WORTH IT!

Dive Log - Shark Junction

2009-06-29T22:56:00.007-05:00

Location: Shark Junction, Grand Bahama
Date: 18 Jun 2009

Dive No.: 4 of the day, 21 of the trip, 89 lifetime

Depth: 43 feet

Bottom Time: 32 minutes

Bottom Temp: 84 degrees Fahrenheit

I wasn't going to go on this dive. I was cold and hadn't really enjoyed the other dives of the day. The first two were wrecks, Theo's Wreck and Seaster. I should have been ecstatic, I love wrecks and these were both decent sized and intact but instead I was apprehensive and couldn't relax. Maybe it was the depth, 99' and 85' respectively, or maybe I was just tired. Anyway I made one circuit of each of the wrecks and then went up.

After the second dive, it rained and it cooled down a lot. Too much for my taste. The third dive was cold and it was still drizzling a bit when we got in. It was a reef called Angel Camp. Even though I was cold I still managed a 43 minute dive. It wiped me out. I was cold, tired and I was done.

I changed into dry clothes and was prepared to sit out the last dive of the trip. I listened to the dive briefing and watched the other passengers get ready and giant stride into the ocean. There were only two more divers waiting to get in. I heard someone mention seeing sharks. It was horrible, I couldn't believe I was going to miss the last dive of the trip but I was so COLD.

I couldn't stand it, I ran downstairs, put on my cold, wet swimsuit, ran up, flung on my cold, wet gear and jumped in. DAMN, it's cold! But wait, I can see 4 sharks, this is very cool. I look around for my dive buddies and find them right away. There's no need to stray far from the mooring line because the sharks are swimming around within sight of the line. I join my dive buddies and we swim around a little bit but mostly we just stay put and watch. It's incredible. 4 sharks, wait, now there's 7 sharks! This is SO COOL! Now there's 10 sharks, maybe 12, it's hard to keep track. Finally, after about 25 minutes, I can't stand it, I'm so cold that I signal I'm heading up. Not even 12 sharks can keep me down. I hang at 15' for my safety stop watching the sharks circle. It's the fastest safety stop I've ever experienced.

I cringe when I think how I almost missed it all. It was the perfect end to a week of great diving.

What happens in the Bahamas...

2009-06-27T02:15:00.002-05:00

...stays in the Bahamas. It’s true, there’s no email, no phone number, no Facebook.

There was a stranger, a passenger from the other boat, who just happened to be next to me, dancing on the bar. There was no conversation, just dancing, bumping, short phrases, “let’s get out of here”, “casual sex”. It’s odd to learn something new about yourself after 40 years. I knew I was a sexual person, that wasn’t surprising, but finally, there was confidence. Years of self doubt and self loathing were gone. There was confidence. No hesitation, no “what if’s”, no embarrassment, just two adults enjoying each other. Was this confidence a fluke? Would it melt away with hindsight? There was a second night. Again, not much conversation, just touching and teasing, “let’s have some fun.” The confidence remained and two adults had some fun.

In the end there was a hug and a smile, but no email, no phone number, no Facebook. It didn’t all stay in the Bahamas though; I have the memories, the humor, the teasing from my friends…and the confidence.

Great Workout

2009-04-26T22:16:00.002-05:00

Lately my workouts have felt like a chore. I get through them but my ass is usually dragging. Tonight was a great workout. I did lower body and then because I was feeling so good, I went for a quick, short run in the rain. I wish I could feel this good for all of my workouts. It makes it very easy to stay motivated to keep up the pace. Even running in the rain felt better than my previous several runs. Hmmm, how do I harness this amazing feeling? I feel strong and sexy and amazing.

Financial Update

2009-04-05T22:07:00.003-05:00

It's been a while since I've done a financial update, so here goes. Last month was great for No Spend Days (NSD). I had 23 days where I didn't spend money on frivolous purchases. This month has not started off as well. It's April 5 and I've only had 1 NSD. My goal is 23 so I really need to hunker down.

February was noteworthy because as I wrote in an early blog, not only was it my one year anniversary without using my credit card, it was also my one year anniversay on the Women In Red Racers message board. Since it was a significant date in my financial life I wanted to signify it by reaching a financial goal. So with some aggressive payments, I reached my goal of paying off 25% of my credit card debt in one year! I also got my "winky face" for my WIRR update which indicates I've paid off $5000 of my debt. My next milestone should happen with my May update when I get my "party hat" (a smilie face wearing a party hat) which shows I've paid off $10,000 in debt.

My next big goal will be to pay off my first credit card. At a monthly payment of $500, that won't happen until October 2010. That is unacceptable. After I've saved enough for my vacation in June, I'm going to start trying to pay more on that card. It will drive me nuts to be paying on that damn thing for another 18 months. Especially since after that, I will still have my other card and then after that I still have my fucking student loan. ARGH! It's so frustrating that I let it get so bad. I know I could pay everything off sooner if I stopped going on scuba vacations, but I think I would really go nuts not having something to look forward to.

Current credit card debt: $17,888

Goals for April

- 23/30 NSD - Eek, I'm not off to a good start.
- Post stuff on ebay - this was a goal for March but it didn't happen.
- Cash only, leave debit card at home - I'm not off to a good start on this one either.
- Garden - I started a few seeds last night. I need to make sure to follow through on this one.

Hmm, I have more to share, like the 6 inches worth of paperwork that I shredded last night. But I'm tired and must go to bed. It will have to wait for another day.

Polly Want A Cracker?

2009-03-15T23:28:00.003-05:00

I made Wheat Thins! Or at least a version of them. I found a recipe for "Wheat Thin Crackers" in the King Arthur Flour Whole Grain cookbook that I checked out from the library (fit AND frugal.) I read through the recipe and it seemed easy enough so I decided to give it a try. I told my friend Lisa about it and she was wanted to come over and help. So last night, after gorging ourselves at dinner (not so fit,) we came here to my house and made wheat thin crackers. They look like Wheat Thins but I don't think they really taste like them. They ARE good though and 100% whole grain wheat! I would definitely make these again, they were super easy. The only bad part is, like Wheat Thins, I want to sit and eat them all.

Chicken Massacre

2009-02-20T22:39:00.008-06:00

I've been slowly trying to transition to all organic foods. It's been a slow process since in most cases, organic = expensive, or at least it does where I live. For example, I recently paid over $6 for a pound of organic ground turkey. Ouch! So in an attempt to still eat organic but not completely blow my budget, I decided I need to start buying whole, organic turkey or chicken, which is way cheaper than the cut up version. Of course I've never worked with a whole bird before and had no idea how to cut it up into pieces I'm familiar with. Today I decided to go for it and try my hand at cutting up a whole chicken. First things first, I got my knives sharpened! They were really dull. When I took them in to be sharpened, the lady felt the blade, looked at me and said "these are really dull." "Umm, ya, I know." Anywho, 20 minutes later, I had nice sharp knives. (Side note: it's very odd to walk down Main St. carrying a canvas shopping bag containing two large knives.)

I went to the store and found the cheapest, whole chicken I could find. I wasn't going to bother with organic for this adventure.

I got home, sat down and watched a couple of "how to" videos that I found on the Internet. I set my laptop on the kitchen counter and covered it with plastic wrap so I could play the video without getting chicken goo all over my keyboard. The video I ended up using was one from gourmet.com. It was nice and detailed and the person giving the instructions wasn't annoying. It was also professionally done so it looked and sounded good unlike some of the home grown vids I viewed.

Overall I think it went pretty well. It wasn't the prettiest scene I've ever gazed upon but in the end, the pieces looked somewhat familiar. Now I'm considering how I can grind my own turkey. I've decided that I NEED a Kitchenaid stand mixer with the food grinder attachment and while I'm at it, I might as well throw in the pasta attachment as well. Hah! It's amazing how quickly the urgency to pay off debt diminishes when I can justify a new purchase. "This will save me $ in the end." "Think of all the foods I could make if I just had the professional version in the very cool COPPER color."

Update in 2205 Words or Less

2009-02-19T23:55:00.007-06:00

Wow, it’s been awhile since I’ve posted anything here. Let’s see…since I posted last I went to Wisconsin for Christmas, went on vacation to Florida, survived -22 degree temperatures here, turned 40 and as of today, went one year without using my credit card! Yay me!

Christmas in Wisconsin

On the way there, my normal 7.5 hour drive took 12 hours due to crappy road conditions. That was a lot of fun. Once I finally arrived in WI my visit was fine. Christmas was good, I got to see relatives, frost Christmas cookies, get into (or perhaps instigated) a political argument (everyone’s REALLY opinionated about this election) and even managed to exercise. Of course I ended up returning a day early to avoid another 12 hour drive due to more crappy weather.

Vacay in Fort Lauderdale

I think this might rank up there as one of my best vacations ever. I stayed with my friend Charlie who lives in Fort Lauderdale and conveniently works at a dive shop. It didn’t start out great since my other friend, Clipper, who was also going to FL went and got herself a concussion and was unable to go That sucked. I was bummed that she wouldn’t be able to go and I was a little worried that since it was just me staying Charlie for a week that we would get on each other’s nerves. I worried for nothing because Charlie and I got along great. The whole week was perfect. The weather was beautiful, I got in 8 dives (see my dive log below,) I got to hang out with a great friend and I ate cheese and bacon pretty much everyday I was there. AND I paid for the whole damn vacation in cash!

6 Jan 2009, Scuba-Do, Key Largo

So we get up at the butt crack of dawn to drive to Key Largo for a morning dive. The drive there wasn’t too bad. Charlie was faking perkiness pretty well while chugging down Diet Cokes. We arrived at Key Largo about and hour early so we stopped for breakfast and then made our way to the Scuba-Do store. We were a little early so we tried to sleep in the car until they opened. After we got registered and signed the liability forms we were off to the boat. It was fantastic because we got the entire boat to ourselves.

Dive 1 – The Spiegel Grove

Holy crap, we’re diving the Spiegel Grove! I’ve been itching to dive and intact wreck and the Speigel Grove was high on my list. It’s considered more of an advanced dive but I figured since I had a dive instructor as my buddy, I should be good to go. On the boat as we were preparing to get in, I had my usual pre-dive anxiety. Since this was the first time I had ever really dived with Charlie, I don’t think he wasn’t used to my nervousness. I did my nervous little ritual of talking myself into taking the giant stride. Once I was in the water I could feel that this wasn’t going well since my mask and regulator were making me feel claustrophobic. I think I really freaked out the crew and Charlie when I kicked over to Charlie, handed him my reg. and asked him to turn it all of the way up. Not usually a good sign. On the way down the mooring line I was doing my “slow deep breaths” and “don’t freak out” mental chants. Even though I was not doing well I was still excited to see the wreck come into view. It was so cool. Once we were on the wreck, I continued with my internal monologue. I kept telling myself not to bolt, to remain calm. I actually looked up at a mooring line that was not in use and considered simply heading up and making the boat come and get me. In the meantime, Charlie is giving me the “are you o.k.?” signal about every 30 seconds. At some point in the dive, and I have no idea when or why, I was o.k. I started to really enjoy myself and relax. Of course I had sucked through so much damn air that we really didn’t have a lot of time on the wreck. I am glad that I pulled it together and was able to enjoy my first real wreck. It was amazing. I’m ready to go back!

Dive 2 – The Benwood

Wow, this wreck was filled with life! The wreck itself is spread out quite a bit. It’s kinda cool because we just kept moving from piece to piece. Charlie got some great video and even handed over the camera to me briefly to get some video of him. It was in about 55 feet of water so we were able to stay down a long time. In fact we finally ended the dive simply because we were so cold. I actually came up with 1000 psi in my tank - much better than our first dive.

Wednesday, January 7, 2009, Jupiter Dive Center, Jupiter

Dive 1 - I finally got to use my Nitrox, forgive me, my Enriched Air Diver card. I rented 100 cu ft. steel tanks. The weight of the tanks meant I had to do some adjusting with my added weight. Up to this point I had been using 22 lbs. Probably a little too high, but not bad considering I was using a 7mil wetsuit, 7 mil boots and neoprene socks. The divemaster recommended reducing my added weights by about 6 lbs. So I loaded up my 16 lbs of lead. Charlie and I were at the back of the boat so we were one of the first ones in. I could tell right away that I was well weighted because I dropped like a stone. First thing we saw when we reached the bottom was a ginormous grouper out in the sand. The ledge we were drifting along had a lot of life. We saw a huge school of Atlantic Spadefish that Charlie got some great video of. We also saw a few sharks including a nurse shark that was probably about 6 ft away from me. Earlier in the dive I saw a shark at the top of the ledge. Charlie had mentioned earlier that if you yell loud enough into your regulator, others can hear and understand what you’re saying. I decided to try this out by yelling to Charlie and pointing to the shark. He actually heard me and was able to get it on video.

There was really a lot to see on the first dive. Unfortunately, I was so freaking overweighted that I spent most of the time screwing around with my buoyancy. I was also getting really tired from hauling around the extra weight. It didn’t help that the divemaster who was leading the group and holding the dive flag was kicking down the ledge rather that simply drifting. That meant the rest of us had to kick to keep up. I sucked through my air very fast. When I saw my air pressure at 1000 psi, I indicated to Charlie that I wanted to go to the line. Of course that meant I had to kick harder to catch up to the damn line. By the time I was at the line I was at about 600 psi and getting more than a little concerned. I immediately started to head up assuming Charlie saw me head up and was right behind me. When I looked back, he was still at the bottom. I was getting really nervous now because I still had to do my safety stop. I met up with another solo diver on the line, showed him my pressure gauge. He kindly buddied up with me for the safety stop and ascent. During the safety stop I had a hard time maintaining my depth and kept sinking a little. When I sunk too low, my computer would stop the countdown until I was back up in the acceptable range. In the meantime, I’m watching my freaking air pressure plummet. I REALLY did not want to have to share air with my new buddy because I didn’t want to be the dumbass who couldn’t keep track of their air pressure. I finally gave up on my computer and went ahead and ascended the rest of the way. At the surface I got to enjoy the lovely feeling of being a very small diver in the middle of a very large ocean. Thankfully I had enough air remaining to inflate my bc and breath off of my reg. while I bobbed around in the waves. My buddy inflated his safety sausage and we waited for the boat. Actually, it was pretty easy. The boat came right up to us, and the captain got close enough so the ladder was maybe 5 feet away. Getting up the ladder was very easy because they use the Christmas tree ladder so I didn’t have to mess with removing my damn fins.

The first thing I did once I was on the boat was to shed some lead. Unfortunately, there were no more weights but another diver was willing to give me his weights and he used a couple of mine. The bad thing was he only had 3, 4 lb weights. He lost one of his weight pouches on the first dive. That meant I was I little off balance with 4 lbs in one pouch and 8 lbs in the other, but it was still better than the balanced 16 lbs.

After a little post dive review with Charlie where he reminded me what the ascend hand signal was and I pointed out to him that I would like to start our ascent on the next dive at 1000 lbs we were good to go for the next dive.

Dive 2 - The goal for the beginning of this dive was for everyone (all 12 of us) to descend right away before we drifted past the first point of interest. The descent went well. I had enough weight to descend easily but not so much that I beat everyone to the bottom. I think because the divemaster stressed the various points of interest so much, we tended to bunch up on this dive quite at bit. It was like freaking bumper divers down there and there was so much silt being stirred up. The current also seemed stronger on this dive so it made it very hard to stop and look under ledges not that anything could be seen under the ledges with all of the freaking silt everywhere. There were a few highlights on this dive though. We saw a really big loggerhead turtle. He looked like a big grandpa to me and he came so close, it was very cool. We also saw a few more sharks in the distance. Apparently there was a big nurse shark under a ledge but by that time I was so sick of bumping into other divers and having sand kicked up, I just kept out of the way so Charlie could get it on video. When I reached 1000 psi (of course gill-boy still had plenty of air left) we both gave the ascend signal and went up the line for our safety stop. Again, at the surface, we signaled that we were fine and the captain came right up to us (in fact it looked like he was going to run us down) and we climbed aboard. We were one of the last divers on this time so I felt like I kind of redeemed myself from the previous dive since we were one of the first divers in. I surfaced with a respectable and safe, 500 psi. Gill-boy still had 1500 and he was using smaller tanks. Grrrr.

One of the highlights of the day occurred on the ride back. We were talking with some of the other divers and found out that there was a family from Ames and, better yet, they were all certified by Jerry. Once again Charlie finds himself on a boat with a bunch of Iowans, all of which are Jerry’s kids. It was perfect!

I would definitely do this dive again, I would just be better prepared. It would be nice if there were less divers in the water. I think we got spoiled by our private boat in Key Largo. I definitely need to use the bigger tanks if I dive with Charlie again or his dive gets cut short. I will definitely start with less weight. I was so tired from the first dive that I think it affected the second dive a bit. If I’m better weighted to start with, I won’t wear myself out so much.

Egad

Need I say more?

Lordy She’s 40!

I had a great birthday. I took the day off and all I did was eat and sleep. Lisa and Clipper made sure I was well fed. Lisa even made me a yellow cake with chocolate frosting. She decorated it in the car, outside of the bar. That’s true friendship (or she's a little nuts.)

One Whole Year!

Exactly 1 year ago today, I made my final credit card purchase, I paid for my Rescue Diver class. Since then it's been all cash!

Check Out My Buns!

2008-12-11T22:33:00.002-06:00

Another success! I tried making hamburger buns this past weekend and they came out great.

A Pod-Person Thanksgiving

2008-12-11T22:30:00.001-06:00

So for the first time in my life I acted like an adult on Thanksgiving. For as long as I can remember, I’ve always had a love/hate relationship with any holiday that requires holiday food. I’ve never liked cooking and I’ve always hated how my mom would get all worked up about every little detail. I’m usually sullen, do the bare minimum to keep my mom happy and dislike the whole process.

This year, enter the new and improved pod-person.

We had a free-range turkey that was never frozen. I made pumpkin pie from actual pumpkins, not canned. I made sweet potato casserole from actual sweet potatoes, not canned. The bread cubes in the stuffing were made from my home baked bread. Best of all was the cranberry sauce. As shown in my previous post, my attempt to make my own jellied cranberry sauce was a success! The only part of the meal that wasn’t from scratch was the broccoli-corn casserole. The chopped broccoli was frozen and I used a can of creamed corn. I’ve already been looking at creamed corn recipes for next year.

Thanksgiving was actually a lot of fun this year. I really enjoyed preparing everything. I enjoyed the “challenge” of trying to figure out how to get the sweet potatoes to the same state as they are when they come from a can because from that point, I know what to do. (I ended up micro waving them although boiling and roasting were the other options.) I learned while trying to prepare the pumpkin that I probably needed to cook it longer in the oven. I’m also not sure if I need a bigger, more powerful food processor or what but when I put the pumpkin in, nothing happened. Essentially the blade simply spun around and the pumpkin stayed where it was. I finally added a little bit of water and that seemed to help move things along. I still ended up picking pumpkin chunks out of the puree.

Anywho, it went very well and we had a very nice day.

Ta Da!

2008-11-28T23:19:00.003-06:00

My Masterpiece! Check out the ridges. It's a thing of beauty. :)

Strange Food of the Week - Kale, part 2

2008-11-16T16:13:00.006-06:00

Kale Update

So I tried kale for the first time. It was pretty good. I prepared it by sauteing it with olive oil and garlic. I think I like swiss chard better but I would definitely eat kale again. A definite plus is it's ability to hold up. It was forgotten in the refrigerator for a week. Most leafy veggies, especially those purchased in October, would be slimy and limp. However the kale looked great, in fact it was very pretty. It has dark green, slightly glossy leaves with a really nice, course texture that remains even after cooking.

Roll Update

Attempt number two at rolls turned out better than attempt number one but still not satisfactory. They taste good but they are short as if they didn't really rise. They were also a little too crusty around the edges. The recipe calls for greasing the muffin tins. I think this contributed to the crispy edges. Since my muffin tins are non-stick, I won't grease them next time (and yes, there WILL be a next time!) I also think I should have let them rise a little longer. I used instant yeast when the recipe calls for active yeast so it's possible that contributed to the less than stellar rising although it really shouldn't have made that much difference.

Hamburger Buns

Today I decided to make hamburger buns, just to see if I could. Again, less than stellar rising. They taste good but are flat. I could use two of them to make up the two halves of a bun. This recipe even calls for instant yest. I just put in the second batch and they're looking a little flat as well. On the way home from work earlier, I stopped at the store and bought more yeast. I'm hoping that the problem lies with the yeast (wouldn't that be nice) and not something else. This is so frustrating!

Success

I did have one success in the kitchen today. Attempt number 3 of jellied cranberry sauce worked! After chilling in the can for several hours, I took it out, ran a knife around the edge, coaxed it out and viola! it stands up on end! I can also slice it. The two most important features of jellied cranberry sauce are it's ability to stand on end when removed from the can and it's slice-ability. Mine has both! It also has an amazing pink color and tastes fantastic - bonus!

Strange Food of the Week - Kale

2008-11-15T01:32:00.004-06:00

Strange Foods

As part of my transition to a pod-person, I’ve been trying new foods or working with foods I’ve ate before but never worked with myself. The list of foods I’ve tried for the first time or worked with for the first time this year includes;

Avocado
Mango
Buckwheat Grouts
Swiss Chard
Spaghetti Squash
Butternut Squash
Quinoa

Tomorrow I will be trying kale, assuming it hasn’t gone bad. I keep forgetting it’s in the refrigerator. I’ve always thought it seemed weird to eat a decorative plant, but hey, the new and improved pod-person me is willing to broaden her horizons and try strange, new foods.

Some Other Recent Culinary Experiences

For whatever reason, I purchased “The Joy of Cooking” last weekend. Once I got home I actually sat down and started reading it like a book. It’s pretty cool to see how easy it is to make things that I would previously have purchased at the store. Ever since then I’ve been feeling the need to bake and cook from scratch.

Earlier this week I made butternut squash ravioli. The butternut squash was fresh and so was the pasta. I learned that pasta dough is a lot easier to work with than pie dough. It doesn’t stick or rip. It holds together easily and in general is very easy to work with. The only thing I need to work on is getting the pasta rolled out thin enough for the ravioli. I did pretty well but it could have been thinner. It was also a little tough because I couldn’t bring myself to remove the ravioli from the boiling water after just 1.5 minutes. It was just too weird. I’m so used to dry pasta. Next time I’ll know better.

I’ve also been trying to make jellied cranberry sauce just like from the can. My father and I love cranberry sauce that comes out of the can in a solid tube in the shape of the can. I thought it would be funny to make my own and then mold it using a jellied cranberry can. I purchased the can of jellied cranberries as well as a bag of fresh cranberries. I slid the cranberry jelly out of the can and cleaned it to use for my own. I’m on attempt number two to try and get the cranberries to actually gel up enough to hold the shape of the can once it’s been removed. I’m going to try again tomorrow. In the meantime I have an excess of cranberry sauce. I still have part of the original sauce from the can, plus I have my first attempt from two nights ago, which is a little tart but still very good. Finally I have the batch from tonight that is really good but just a little too runny. It did gel up a bit but not as much as I would like. Hopefully third will be the charm.

In the oven right now are clover leaf rolls that I made from scratch. I figure I can freeze them if they turn out alright and use them for Thanksgiving.

O.k. just checked on the rolls, they didn’t turn out like I expected. They tasted kind of yeasty. After reading through the recipe again I realized that I used 2 ¼ tbsp of yeast rather than 2 ¼ tsp. CRAP! Perhaps I shouldn’t bake when I’m tired since I seem to make mistakes. Duh! 2 ¼ tbsp doesn’t even make sense! 2 ¼ tsp is the equivalent of a packet of yeast. 2 ¼ tbsp is the equivalent of like…3 packets. At least I know what happened and can try it again with (hopefully) better success. Damn, I can’t believe I did that! Oh well, live and learn.

And so continues my adventures in the kitchen. Maybe I’ll be back tomorrow with an update of my third attempt at jellied cranberry sauce, my second attempt at clover leaf rolls and my first ever taste of kale!

Is There Anybody Out There?

2008-11-10T19:22:00.001-06:00

Forgive me Pink Floyd, but I was just wondering if anyone actually reads my random thoughts? I'll keep babbling no matter what, but I was just curious if anyone was actually listening? Yoo Hoo, is anybody out there?

Book Review: In Defense of Food

2008-11-07T23:01:00.001-06:00

In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan is a very interesting, albeit poorly written book. Pollan gives a different perspective on the whole nutrition and food industry. His premise is that by breaking down foods and focusing on their micronutrients, scientists/nutritionists/doctors have actually lost sight of the big picture. The way various nutrients act together and the way each, individual person reacts to the various nutrients is too complex of a system to treat as a sum of it’s individual parts.

Pollan makes the argument that the various nutrition and health related claims, suggestions, recommendations, etc. haven’t made us healthier, in fact in some cases has made things worse. He gives the example of margarine. It was touted as being healthier than butter because it contained less saturated fat. What people didn’t realize at the time was the trans fat in the margarine was actually worse than the saturated fat.

My brief little blurb here doesn’t do it justice. If you’re interested on a different viewpoint on the food industry and “nutritionism”, I would highly recommend it. You may not agree with what is offered but it should at least give you chance to look at nutrition and health claims from a new angle. My only criticism is that it’s poorly written from a grammar/punctuation standpoint. Pollan must write like he talks which doesn’t work out well especially since I don’t know him and therefore can’t imagine him saying what’s written. There are several run-on sentences and I frequently had to go back and reread a paragraph because I couldn’t follow what was written. If you are a stickler for proper grammar and punctuation, the interesting content won’t be worth the frustration of reading it. Heck, if you’re a stickler for grammar and punctuation, you’ve barely made it through this review!

I need some cheese with my WHINE!

2008-11-05T22:46:00.001-06:00

My god I’m in a foul mood! I’m tired, literally tired from staying up and watching the election last night. I’m also sick and tired, sick and tired of the bullshit at work, sick and tired of being in debt. I feel like I’m stuck until I can pay off my credit card debt. I can’t quit my job until my debt is paid off and that’s not going to happen for a couple of years. (Oh, and then there’s my student loan to the tune of $23,000. Except for making the minimum payments each month, I’m choosing to ignore it.)

I’ve lightly tossed around the idea of selling my house, paying off my credit card debt and moving someplace warm, but then reality (fear) sets in. In order to sell my house, I would really need to make some improvements which of course cost money! Then, the chances that I could actually sell my house right now aren’t very good. Then of course, even if I sold my house, I’m not sure I would have enough leftover to completely pay off my credit cards. I feel like I’m in a rut. I’m searching for something more in my life but I’m stuck by prior bad decisions.

I’m also tired from working two jobs. It really sucks getting up at 5:30 a.m. Monday through Friday. The funny thing is, I was thinking about how much faster I could pay off my debt if I got a weekend job as well. I’d REALLY be unbearable with a third job! I’d be a raging bitch most of the time rather than just some of the time.

I need a vacation! Oh wait I’ll be heading to Florida in a mere 57 days! Notice how I’m not quite so impatient to pay off my debt that I give up going on vacation? I have my priorities AND this will serve as a nice example of the new, moneywise Jenny. This will be my first vacation EVAR that has been paid for entirely with cash! It can be viewed (rationalized) that this is an important test case, a chance to prove that I can be fiscally responsible. (Using big words gives the rationalization more … umph!) Obviously, just writing about my vacation has improved my mood.

In fact, here’s a picture to remind me of what I’ll be enjoying in a mere 57 days! Ahhh, Mojitos!

Election Night Ramblings

2008-11-04T21:27:00.002-06:00

Hmmm, it's been awhile since I rambled on so I guess it's time for an update.

Debt

My current credit card debt is at $22,971. That's over $3200 paid off or 12%! It's really nice to realize I've paid off 12% in just 8 months. That's significant. I KNOW this but I'm still struggling with how long it's going to take me to pay off the rest of my credit card debt. I used a snowball method debt reduction calculator to get an estimate on how long it will take me to pay off my two credit cards. I will be free of credit card debt in March 2011. YAY/UGH! That's only/over 2 years! AND that's only assuming I can maintain my current payment amount. During the summer, I won't have my second job so I might not be able to make $900/month to my cards.

Perhaps you can tell I'm all over the place here. A year ago, I was using my credit card without a second thought. Now I've gone 8 months without using it at all. I'm doing great but I want it to go faster!

Fitness

My goal of running the Des Moines marathon came to a screeching halt when I injured my hip and was unable to train for almost a month. Instead, I walked the 5K. It's not nearly as glamorous but it was something. I'm back to running and will hopefully be in good enough shape to run Living History Farms Cross Country Race in three weeks. I'm currently dealing with a sore calf/ankle. I'm so sick of these pissy little injuries that keep cropping up. I thought being more active was supposed to make me healthy but I just seem to be moving from one injury to another. I just want to feel good and enjoy my improved fitness.

Actually I AM enjoying my improved fitness. Now that my hip is doing better, I've been able to resume my weight lifting to the degree I was before I starting putting in a lot of miles training for the marathon. I've really been trying to push myself and I love it. I like seeing how much I can lift. I like being exhausted at the end of the session. My shoulders and back are coming along nicely and my legs are really looking good! My next fitness goal is to be able to do an unassisted pull up. Whenever I do assisted pullups, I crank my music (frequently Lenny Kravitz version of "American Woman") and I picture the most amazing shoulders and back I can think of. I'm making progress. I know this will be a slow process. Being able to do push-ups took me a long time so I'm prepared for pull-ups to take awhile as well.

Granola Girl

I was talking with a coworker who also lost a lot of weight and during our discussion (which was wonderful) he recommended that I read the book "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" about a family who goes a year trying to feed themselves entirely from food that they raised/grew or that was locally grown. It was extremely interesting and really got me thinking. So much of what I eat is grown hundreds (sometimes thousands) of miles away. It's covered in pestisides and then has to be trucked across the country or even an ocean. Bananas, citrus fruit, cinnamon, olive oil, pretty much all fresh fruits and vegetables during the winter: they all come from somewhere else. We take our huge selection of food for granted, forgetting that much of it is not native to our region or at least shouldn't be readily available during the winter. Even during the summer, we'll purchase tomatoes at the grocery store, grown in California, rather than support local growers who produce a superior product for less money. We're so oblivious and brainwashed that we mindlessly throw inferior food into our carts and move on. Many people don't even realize that what they're eating is inferior. They've never been exposed to fresh, organic, locally grown foods and therefore are clueless that they're missing out. In all honesty, I really shouldn't write "they", I should write "we". My only saving grace is that we had a garden growing up. I understand how food is grown and how much better fresh vegetables taste. I simply ignored it for several years (and ballooned to 260 lbs in the meantime.)

Anywho, I'm now struggling with the concept of trying to eat more local foods. I think I've realized that I need to do this slowly. First, I need to learn more about what's produced locally an then I need to convince myself to give up some of the foods I take for granted. Bananas, fresh fruit and vegetables during the winter are going to be really hard. I lost 100+ lbs eating more vegetables and I'm not about to risk gaining back any weight by jumping onto the local food wagon before I've had a chance to figure out what works best for me. Even the family in the book had a few items that weren't local such as olive oil from California.

Politics

As I write this entry I'm watching Obama win the election. I've been pretty indifferent about this race. I really wasn't for either side and today I voted for the person I thought was the lesser of two evils. However, I must admit, Obama's acceptance speech was very good. He is an excellent public speaker. Whether that means he will be an excellent President remains to be seen but I did enjoy his speech.

Mental Feng Shui

2008-07-10T00:17:00.005-05:00

Did you know it's possible to get rid of books? Up until about 20 minutes ago, I didn't think it was possible. Books sit in nice rows on shelves and look pretty. The are reassuring and calming to look at. I have 9 shelves of books, my own mini library. I like my library. The books are arranged by subject (fiction or gardening) and the fiction section is arranged alphabetically by author. It's lovely, why would I want to get rid of any of them? They have their place. They're not in the way and I was content. Then, I started reading a WIR thread about decluttering (a subject recently near and dear to my heart) and feng shui. As I was reading through all of the comments that were posted, I kept looking up at my books. It's as if a part of my brain realized something that I wasn't quite ready to admit. One of the feng shui principles discussed in the posts was if you don't love an item and you haven't used it in the past year, get rid of it. As I looked at my lovely collection of books, it dawned on me, there are books up there that I know I will never read again, so why do I keep them? I realize now that's it's so obvious but honestly, up until about 20 minutes ago I NEVER thought of it that way. I kept the books because I like having a lot of books!? What the hell kind of reasoning is that? It took me all of about 30 seconds to clear out 10 books that I know I will never read again. I will go back through them tomorrow and do a more thorough cleaning. Holy crap, it's so liberating! I have a book up there that I hate. I refuse to read that author anymore because her last book (the one on my shelf) was so bad. It's gone! So long! It blows me away that I've never even considered doing this before.

I think my weight lose has rewired my brain. I've been searching...changing...experimenting more. I feel the need to simplify my life which seems odd to me because I wasn't aware it was complicated. Maybe I'm simply trying to finally become the person I should have been all along. But that doesn't feel right. All of the choices I've made and experiences I've had, made me the person I am today. More likely, I'm finally starting to feel confident in who I am and that confidence is now extending into other areas of my life. Anyway, it's very odd to be 39 years old and finally feel like maybe I'm starting to know myself a little better. It's also comforting to know that I'm really enjoying this time in my life. I'm enjoying learning new things about myself and finally having the self confidence to challenge myself. Hmmm, it's definitely not boring being in my brain lately.

Shock and Awe

2008-07-08T23:30:00.004-05:00

I've made several changes over the past few months in my attempt to reduce my debt. I've,

Upped my car insurance deductible
Canceled my landline
Canceled online music subscription
Canceled genealogy website subscription
Canceled unneeded services on my cell phone plan
Reduced the number of times I meet with my personal trainer
Signed up for budget billing for my utilities
Signed up for automatic payment for all bills to reduce late fees
Canceled an unused email account

I've also been making efforts to spend less by making my own meals, staying away from tempting places such as bookstores and riding my bike to work or on errands.

With all the changes I've made I was expecting to notice that I have a little more money each months. It turns out, I don't have extra money, I simply have enough to support myself without using my credit card. I'm not sure whether to be proud or depressed. How did I allow myself to live like this for so long? How did I allow myself to get so far into debt? On the other hand, yay me! It took awhile but I did figure it out and am now taking steps to fix my situation. I haven't used my credit in damned near 5 months! That's freakin amazing. It's so cool to get the statement and see that the activity has been my monthly payment (and of course the finance charges.)

So, I continue to move forward oh so slowly. I'm both in awe at what I've accomplished in four short months and shocked at how bad I allowed it to get in the first place.

The Story of Stuff

2008-06-23T22:14:00.002-05:00

Watch it and spread the word.

It was a good weekend.

2008-06-02T22:52:00.003-05:00

Dam to Dam

Saturday I finally ran Dam to Dam, a 20K race held in Des Moines Iowa. I've been training for this event for 11 weeks. Actually, for the last few weeks "obsessing" about this event would be a better way to describe it. I've been very nervous about it. The 10 mile training run I did two weeks prior did a lot to help alleviate my anxiety but I was still nervous.

Race day was BEAUTIFUL! It was warm but not hot, the skies were clear and blue and for the majority of the race there was just a light breeze. I ran with a friend who came down from MN. We had never run together before but we both agreed to take it slow and planned for a 12 minute mile pace. This is a little slower than what I had been running but I knew if I didn't force myself to remain slow at the beginning, I would burn myself out.

When the race started, it took us about 3 minutes just to get to the start line. There were 4000+ racers that finished the race so that should give you an idea of how many were at the start. We stuck with our plan and remained walking until the majority of the pack was ahead of us. At one point we were literally at the very end of the runners. However that didn't last long. Even though we were only running a 12 minute mile, we passed people the entire race, especially on the last hill where it was just a string of people walking. We actually did a great job of maintaining our pace. Towards the end it got harder to check because the math got harder (8x12 is how many?) and we were getting tired. As we crossed each mile marker we cheered. Sometimes we got others to join us in our cheering, sometimes not.

Around mile 10 my right leg was trying to cramp up. The cramping feeling came and went over the next 2 miles but then really kicked in the last 1/2 mile or so. This was really frustrating since I really felt like I had the "umph" to speed it up just a bit for the end. As it turns out, we stayed at our pace and I was able to run across the finish line rather than hobble.

After the race it took us awhile to find the other people we rode with but then there was food and drink. Not only was the beer free but they were handing out Smirnoff Ice. Yay. So there I was, I just finished my first 20K and I'm drinking a Smirnoff Ice at 10am!

Unofficial time from my HRM that I forgot to stop as I crossed the finish line - 2:29.

Official time (which includes the 3+ minutes it took to reach the start line - 2:33:39.

Rescue Diver

Sunday I drove to Cedar Rapids to finish up the Rescue Diver class I took in March. This was the open water section of the class. I was nervous about some of the underwater scenarios since I knew with all of the recent rain the visibility would be poor and I wasn't keen on pretending to search for a missing diver using a circular search pattern in a cold, silty lake with no visiblity. It turns out that although the water was cold, the wetsuit I had was fine and although it was poor visibility, it wasn't zero. After I went down and got used to looking at silt floating everywhere, I was fine. In fact I had a great time. The scenarios went well and I think did a good job. Again, the weather was amazing, picture perfect. I also managed to purchase more scuba gear, how shocking! The compass was a planned purchase, the new mask was a little more spontaneous but "oh well." I didn't use my credit card so I guess that's something.

It was a good weekend.

Beautiful Night

2008-05-26T22:31:00.005-05:00

I spent the day with good friends learning how to make bread and visiting, so the day started off great. Now I'm on my patio listening to Davis and Coltrane, enjoying the warm weather, the slight breeze and drinking a Smirnoff Ice Light. The "light" part makes me laugh. I even potted up a few plants while I was sitting here. It's so nice out and best of all, there's no mosquitoes to drive me inside.

Thor, the wonder dog, enjoyed chasing after some sort of small critter, probably a raccoon. Luckily he didn't catch it or I'm sure he'd be in a world of hurt right now.

Anyway, we're both completely enjoying this lovely evening. Nothing fit or frugal here, just enjoyment.

10 Miles And Counting

2008-05-18T23:12:00.004-05:00

I did my 10 mile training run on Sunday for the 20K I'm doing in two weeks. For whatever reason I was very nervous about this run. An earlier run didn't go well at all and I was concerned that I would struggle with this one as well. My trainer convinced me to meet up with her running group at 7 a.m. Saturday morning and run with them (even though she wasn't going to be there.) My alarm went off at 5:45 a.m. (ugh.) I got up, ate some breakfast, got dressed and went out to do a short run around the neighborhood. I've learned that running has a laxative effect and that for morning runs I either need to have a bathroom available about a mile into the run or simply do a quick warm up run. So off I went for a quick run around the neighborhood (now known as the "poop run".) It worked like a charm, and I was out the door to meet up with the group by 6:20 a.m.

I was also very nervous about running with this group. I'm not sure why but for whatever reason, they intimidated me. I didn't have anything to worry about because other than the pre run talk where we review the route, it's pretty much just like any other run. Everyone started spreading out, running their own pace. Except for the fact that we all started at the same time and were running the same route there really wasn't much of a group. I ended up running by myself which is what I would have done anyway so it wasn't a big deal.

The run itself went well. There were a few challenging hills but except for the two water stops where I also did an energy gel shot, I ran the whole time. The last mile was definitely hard but I did and finished in 1:54. My goal was to finish in 2 hours so I'm very pleased.

This was the last long training run until the race itself. It seems weird not to run more than 5 miles the next two weeks but I'm following the training schedule of experienced runners so I will trust them. I'm also trusting them when they say that the additional 2.4 miles will be "easy". I keep hearing that the adrenaline will keep me going. I freaking hope so!

Reducing Debt With "Style and Flair"

2008-05-01T23:19:00.004-05:00

It appears I never posted a March update. Hmmm, was that in my brain or did I post it to the WIRR message board? Anyway, March went well especially considering it was my first attempt at living within a budget. To help my success, I joined a group on the WIR boards who are committed to reducing spending by making "$0 Spend Day" goals. My goal was to go 15/31 days without making frivolous purchases such as magazines, Starbuck's iced tea, eating out, etc. I ended up increasing my goal to 18/31 days. I did a great job at cooking at home and taking my lunch to work. My bank statement for March was so short because usually half of it is for eating out.

I also opened a "Save Yourself" fund. Basically I deposit at least $50/month for a year and at the end of the year Ameritrade will deposit an additional $100. Seems easy enough, I'll gladly take their money.

My biggest accomplishment was going an entire billing period without using my credit card. This is huge! I can't remember the last statement I had that didn't have at least $200 worth of purchases.

April started off o.k. but then went downhill for a couple of reasons but essentially because I allowed it to happen. What really contributed was my tax refund. I kept making purchases outside of my budget because I had the extra money sitting there. I made another $0 Spend Days goal of 20/30 days for the month of April. I started off great but then completely fell off the wagon and went 10 days in a row with frivolous purchases. I injured my arm towards the end of April and I allowed that to be my excuse to start eating out since it hurt to cook. It actually DID hurt a lot but I could have made better choices. Instead I basically gave up for a week and a half. It's scary how quickly I let my goals fall to the wayside when I have something upset my routine. I'm really concerned that if an actual crisis came along, I would really let things go to hell and find myself 100 lbs heavier and even more in debt. I also experienced a similar feeling of losing control when I went to visit my parents earlier in April. There's always good (think unhealthy) things to eat there. My parents seem to have a self control that I don't possess. I really need to have a plan ready to implement the next time I go to visit. Something that will give me the willpower to avoid the damn cookie jar!

April wasn't a complete bust. I ended up going 15/20 $0 Spend Days. I didn't hit my goal but I did better than say...3 months ago.

I also accomplished a few other items on my debt reduction to do list,

My emergency fund has $1000.
Since my emergency fund was where I wanted it, I upped the deductible on my car insurance to $500. That will save me about $100 a year.
I cancelled my Ancestry.com census records subscription. I hadn't used it for several months but it was still hard to get rid of.
I got rid of my EasyEdge plan on U.S. Cellular. I didn't use it much, it was mostly a toy and a waste of money.
I opened an online savings account for my "Scuba Fund". Right now it's for my trip in June. After that it will be to save money for another trip in January 2009. Maybe to Bonaire, maybe to Hawaii? That is yet to be determined.
I've gone another billing period without using my credit card. Now that is really something to cheer about. Even though I let things slide the past few weeks, I didn't whip out my credit card. I'm not making huge payments towards my card yet but at least I'm not adding to the debt. Yay me!

So what's up for May? Figure out what I want to do with the rest of my federal tax refund (there's not much left) what to do with my federal rebate (go to Scuba Fund) and what to do with my state refund (holy crap, it was $400+!) Once I move my money where I want it, I will be forced to stick to my budget.

Cancel my Rhapsody music subscription. This will be hard. I really enjoy being able to pull up pretty much whatever music I want. I meant to cancel it last month but "forgot" until after I had already been billed for the month. This month I'm definitely taking care of it. I'll go to the libray with my laptop and acquire my favorites from the cd's there for free.

I've committed to 20/31 $0 Spend Days. Hopefully this month will go better than last month.

I also want to start riding my bike to work. I have a goal of riding it 10 days this month. Since May is National Bike Month and May 10-16 is Bike to Work Week, this seems like a great way to get started. I'll be getting a late start since my arm is still injured now and then I will be out of town through the 7th. Hopefully both my arm and the weather will be good to go next week.

Current credit card debt - $25789.

Single Digit

2008-04-12T03:06:00.001-05:00

Tried on a size 8 pair of pants today and they fit......oh yeah!

Damn

2008-03-29T00:39:00.002-05:00

I did it. I signed up to run Dam to Dam, a 20K race. The farthest I've run up to this point is 5 miles. I don't know what I was thinking. My new running shoes arrived today. I'm sure that will make all of the difference. Heh.

Still On Ice

2008-03-22T04:02:00.002-05:00

I did it. I went one whole billing period without using my credit card. I can't remember the last time this happened. This is huge for me. The only activity on it is my monthly payment and a $1500 balance transfer to a lower interest card.

"Skinny Redhead"

2008-03-20T22:21:00.003-05:00

I went in early to work today because I was scheduled to do a training session. I arrived about 10 minutes early to make sure I had everything I needed. My boss and I do this training together and although I had seen her when I first arrived, she wasn't around at the time the training was supposed to start. I went to find her in our new office building that's under construction. I asked one of the construction guys if she was in there and he replied that he saw her earlier but wasn't sure if she was still there. 10 later (and 10 minutes late) we're walking out to do the training session and I'm pissed because she was wandering around the construction site giving a tour and made us late. She mentions that one of the construction guys came up to her and told her that the "skinny redhead" was looking for her. I of course didn't believe her but the person who she was with backed her up. I of course was no longer pissed and in fact was smiling the rest of the day.

Later in the day, I talked to the construction guy again. I told him if it wouldn't be considered inappropriate I would give him a big hug and a kiss but instead I shook his hand and thanked him. I told him about recently losing 105 lbs and that he couldn't have given me a better compliment.

It was a good day!

Inactivity

2008-03-11T00:14:00.004-05:00

I'm finding the inactivity of debt reduction hard to get used to. When losing weight I had to do something, ie get off my butt and move, to make the process work. If I over ate, I could go exercise and burn off the calories. I could actually do something; I had control. However with debt reduction, it's the lack of activity, ie mindless spending, that will give me success. I want to be actively doing something to reduce my debt. I don't want to just sit around and wait for it to happen. Maybe I need another job. I'll have to think about this.

The Start of Frugal

2008-03-09T00:11:00.004-06:00

It's been two weeks since I literally froze my credit card in ice (really, it's in the freezer now) and decided to start reducing my debt. A few days previous to making this decision I read an article in Good Housekeeping about a message board on MSN Money called WIRR or Women In Red Racers which is a subgroup of the larger Women in Red board. Women and men post whatever debt they chose to "race" and then post updates on their progress. Each person is racing against their own debt, not against other members. After reading the article, I went to the board and started reading. At first it was a little intimidating. It seemed like a close knit group and initially there seemed to be a lot of rules regarding how to post. However after I kept reading, I noticed that the group seemed very welcoming of all of the newbies and were very helpful regarding how to post properly to keep the update process as easy as possible. After my first update, meaning after my payment to my credit cards go through, I will be included in the $25K - $35K group and my race will begin. I'm really looking forward to being included on the list. Isn't that odd? I want to be included on a list of people who have at least $25K in debt. I think it's because it will symbolize the start of my debt reduction even though I've really already started.

One of the first steps I took was to attempt to create a budget. I had read Dave Ramsey's "Financial Peace" so I decided to start with his budget example and go from there. Without going into too much boring detail, after playing around with a budget I realized I needed to do a few things to make my life easier and to increase my chances of success;

Change utility bills to budget billing.
Change another bill to an automatic payment to avoid late fees.
Cancel my landline.
Cancel an email account I've been meaning to get rid of for at least a year.

I also gave myself the goal of not using my credit card for one billing period. If I can make it until about March 22, it will be the first time in as long as I can remember that I haven't used my credit card. I looked back through my statements which go back until 2006 (I've had this card since the 90's) and the minimum amount I've charged in a month was $200.

The first thing I did was to freeze my credit card in ice. Next, I moved a couple of regular monthly charges from my credit card to my checking account and added them to my budget.

I've also been trying to reduce my spending. The past two weeks I've taken my lunch to work. This might be a first for me. I've also used the bus to get to my personal training session twice a week. I've joined another Women In Red board that has each member set a goal for a number of days they will try to go without spending or "$0 spending" days. Each member decides for themselves what they consider $0 spending. Some literally won't spend any money at all for a day, others, such as myself only include money spent outside of their budget. I'm really focusing on reducing the number of mindless, useless purchases I normally make such as M&M's at work or Starbuck's iced tea. I also really need to reduce my magazine purchases. I'm a complete addict. It's the glossy pages that are so colorful and enticing, I can't resist. Last year I tried to reduce the money spent on magazines by subscribing to them, since subscription prices are cheaper than newsstand prices, but it's still out of control. Anyway I found the $0 spend board on March 4, since then I have had 4 $0 spend days. My goal is 15 $0 spend days for March.

As far as sticking to my budget, I'm doing pretty well. I'm trying to use cash for stuff such as groceries and gas. I'm actually trying to come in under budget because I have some bills coming up in April that I'm worried about covering. One is to renew my domain name and the other is to renew my subscription to a genealogy website. Previously I would have whipped out the credit card and not given it a second thought. Instead, I think I will probably cancel the genealogy subscription and hopefully I can figure out something for the domain name.

All in all over the past two weeks, I've decided that living within my means sucks and I don't recommend it to anyone. With that said, I plan on sticking to it. $26K in credit card debt is outrageous and I need to make it go away. 100 lbs took 2 years, I know this will take a lot longer, but in the end it will be worth it (I really, really hope!)

Irony...

2008-03-05T00:17:00.003-06:00

is getting charged overdue fees at the library for books about reducing debt. $14 worth of fees in fact.

Welcome to my brain

2008-03-04T23:55:00.006-06:00

I've decided I need one place to put my thoughts, ideas, ramblings, whatever. I've never kept a journal. In fact I've never felt the need to write down my thoughts before. However, for whatever reason, lately, I've felt the need to share my experiences. Perhaps it's because I've become accustomed to using the message board at MyFoodDiary.com. It's so easy and rewarding to share the frustrations, accomplishments, humor, etc. that we all encounter while trying to lose weight. I have these small victories and I immediately want to record and share them.

Since I have been successful at losing weight (maintenance phase is just beginning) I've decided to tackle my debt. I'm focusing on my credit card debt. I have a mortgage and a pretty meaty student loan, but it's my credit card debt that really galls me. Between two cards I have $26517 of debt. It's sickening. I'm hoping I can be as successful at losing debt as I've been so far at losing weight.

Anyway, I will go into further detail about my weight loss and debt reduction plans in future posts. For now I just wanted to get this started.