Footprints on the Moon

Self Portrait Sunday 9/7/08

Happy Sunday! Apparently, if I don’t start finding something to say, my blog is going to become one long string of Self Portrait Sundays! It’s not that I haven’t had anything to talk about, just no motivation to actually do so when I have had the opportunity to do so.

It was a nice and short work week… I had Monday off for Labor Day (have I mentioned I love working the shift I do?), and I decided to finally start using the vacation days I’ve been accruing all year and took Friday off as well. Why have a 4 day week when you can make it 3? Friday was the first day I’ve had off, besides company holidays, since I went to Vegas last November. Four more days to use between now and the end of the year.

Yesterday I made a run to Lafayette with Sarah because her mother-in-law-to-be is in the hospital down there. She wanted to go down and visit her, so I volunteered to ride along so she didn’t have to go by herself. Today has included grocery shopping, washing my work pants, and a whole lot of laziness. Now I’m watching House, tying to get motivated to clean some of the produce I bought and pack my lunch for tomorrow… then it’s bed. Exciting, huh?

Oh, and apparently someone is trying to tell me something. For the last couple of months, between the junk mail for Publisher’s Clearing House and Electrolux vacuums ads, I keep receiving this:

Nope, don’t have one, not going to have one for a long, long time yet. But for some reason they just. keep. sending. them.

Self Portrait Monday 9/1/08

I took this picture yesterday, and never got motivated enough to get it off the camera, uploaded and blogged about. So you get a Self Portrait Monday instead! I was definitely struggling to accomplish anything yesterday after working third shift. Check out the black circles under my eyes, and that’s after my second nap! I did eventually drag myself out to the grocery store but that is the ONLY productive thing I managed yesterday. I found myself VERY grateful that I get holidays off at work!

I took the picture in front of my debt charts so you can see the changes that I’ve made. (See last picture by the charts here.) Somebody mentioned wanting to see what they look like now, so there you go. As you can see, some of the lines have significant changes, some have very subtle changes, and the emergency fund bar is missing entirely.

Since I didn’t get my picture up last night like originally planned, here’s a bonus from today:

If you can’t see the sticker, it says “Place sticker on forehead. Smile.” Done.

Working Third

This post comes to you straight from work, where I foolishly decided to pick up an extra shift. Which would have been a wonderful decision (come on, 8 hours overtime when I’m financially stressed?) except for the fact that it was third shift. Which I haven’t worked for about a year and a half now. Ouch. I’m soooo tired, and there are still about 4 hours to go. I’ve been out in the guardhouse bored to tears all night, so I decided to come inside for a walk about half an hour ago… it helped wake me up a lot, and I decided to stop by my own desk and write up a quick post. About the fact that I’m at work. At 2:30 on a Sunday morning. Reminding myself that this is very good for my paycheck, and the credit card that I want to pay off as soon as possible because they pissed me off.

I definitely don’t miss third shift. I like sleeping at night, thankyouverymuch. Additionally, when I’m working the reception desk Monday through Friday, I’ve never had somebody ask me to touch their boob. Apparently, third shift Saturday night is where the boob action is. And no, I didn’t. LOL

A Little of Both

I’m still kind of torn about the whole birthday money situation, so what I decided to do was a little of both. I got a total of $95 for my birthday. I already appropriated $20 of it to pay for lunch at work this week, which leaves $75. Of that, I’m going to take $25 and go buy the Nightmare Before Christmas which FINALLY came out on DVD today… the other $50 will make a credit card payment. That way, I’ll feel like I got to buy something for myself and make a little more progress. I think that will make me feel better about the whole situation!

I did call and close a credit card yesterday though. Woohoo! I have another one I could call and close, but I’m worried about really dinging my credit by making my credit used/credit available ratio even smaller than it already is.

Also on a completely unrelated note, apparently, acne is a hot button topic for the spammers! Usually it’s nothing but performance drugs and anatomy enhancements, but ever since I talked about my puberty chin, I’ve seen a ton of treatments for acne in the mix.

Birthday Money

I have a question for you guys… when you get birthday money (or gifted money of any kind, like Christmas, for that matter) is it fun money, or do you add it to your debt relief efforts? I’ve generally subscribed to the notion that you should spend birthday money on something you really want rather than something you really need. This year I was already thinking about using the birthday money to buy sexy swimwear (*snort* okay, okay, just a much needed new swimsuit)… or the other option was to finally buy the books that have been languishing in my shopping cart on Amazon.com. I had almost decided to go for the latter option, but then I spent the weekend taking a good look at my finances and now I find myself leaning towards depositing that money in the bank and sending it straight on to one of my credit cards. So I’m interested in your opinions… does using birthday money to make a credit card payment go against the spirit in which the gift was given (ostensibly to choose a gift for myself) or is it a sound financial decision?

Computer Frustrations

I’m really starting to get frustrated with my computer. Sometimes it runs just fine, and other times it runs so slowly that I can hardly get anything done. Virus and adware scans turn up nothing, so I really don’t know what the problem is. Maybe it’s a product of the fact that the computer is getting older… maybe it’s a computer memory issue related to the fact that I’m a pack rat in ALL areas of my life lol (Until recently, I had files from my freshman year of college on my computer… nevermind the fact that this computer was purchased after I graduated. Oops?) In any case, I don’t know what the problem is, or how to fix it, but it’s seriously getting frustrating!

Puberty. Again.

It’s Sunday, and that would normally mean a Self Portrait Sunday post, but you’re not getting one of those today. Partially because I just don’t feel like messing with it, and partially because I feel like I’m going through puberty again. Seriously, I’d be concerned that I’d be taking a picture for the “before” side of an acne scars cream ad. (Too bad I’m pretty convinced they don’t actually work, especially if you don’t use them– oops lol)

I tend to break out every month with hormone changes anyways, but this month has just been crazy. I break out from my scalp to my feet and everywhere in between. My skin is so fair that everything leaves a scar, at least for awhile, so you can imagine how excited I am!

Financial Update

I’ve spent a bit of time this weekend reviewing my financial situation, so I thought I’d stop in and update all of you as well. I’ve been a little upset about the way things are going lately, so I thought a check was necessary. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not upset that I can’t afford things like cruises or expensive vacations, but I don’t like that it’s difficult to afford a day off because my budget is so tight. I’ve been really feeling like I haven’t gotten anywhere, so it was definitely time to step back and look at the big picture.

When I started this journey in February, I had a total debt of $33,470.07. That includes my credit cards, car loan, and student loans. As of today, it stands at $30,589.55, which is a difference of $2,889.52. I am making progress, but it’s not as far as I’d hoped I would be in 6 months. Part of that is my own fault, as one of my credit cards went the wrong direction this month. But part of it is just a function of having such a tight budget when my obligation to, oh, clothe myself hasn’t changed.

The panic that I’ve been dealing with related to my finances comes from looking forward to the next 6 months. I need to pay for glasses in September, Christmas is coming quicker than I want to think about, and my car insurance is due on December 1st (somewhere in the neighborhood of $600, and I have only $70 set aside so far). On top of all of that, I want to continue making forward progress on my credit cards rather than just treading water. Looking at everything, I just don’t see where it’s going to come from, and that’s got me a little freaked out.

A few months ago, I was looking at getting a second, part-time job, and even had a one day stint as a paper delivery girl, but I never made it any farther than that. Now I’m thinking that as much as I don’t want to go from one job to another, maybe it’s time to seriously think about finding something to bring in some extra money. I don’t need to pay everything off in a couple of months, but I would really love to have a little extra breathing room, especially as we approach Christmas.

The Birthday Weekend

I gotta tell you, I’m a big fan of this birthday weekend thing. Granted, yesterday had nothing to do with my birthday, and Saturday was only marginally birthday related… but the birthday festivities started with margaritas on Friday night and extend through dinner with my grandmother tomorrow.

I was happily surprised to come in to work this morning and find a big balloon bouquet sitting on my desk, courtesy of Janette! I gotta tell you, I like having my birthday acknowledged. I’m not the type of person who would rather no one knew or noticed my birthday. Maybe it’s because growing up, school always started after my birthday (all the way through college) so I never got to have the small birthday acknowledgments that other kids did, and I don’t mind telling you, I’ve always been slightly bitter about that fact. Though I suppose I can’t complain too much since I did enjoy the fact that I never had to go to school on my birthday.

I have a twin brother, so I’ve always had to share my birthday. This year I am loving the fact that I have had a few individual birthday celebrations. For the first time, I haven’t asked for my birthday off of work, and I have to admit, I love that people are passing through and telling me happy birthday. Big thanks to Janette for the Happy Birthday balloons so I don’t have to casually slip in birthday mentions first.

Margarita Time!

Okay, it’s not quite margarita time, yet but it will be. In approximately 5 hours. My favorite local fake Mexican restaurant has their liters of margaritas on special for $10 on Fridays. Since my birthday happens to fall on a Monday this year, we decided that Friday would be a GREAT day to go out and have fun. We made these plans two months ago, so I’m excited that it’s finally here! I keep joking that I’m going to order a liter and a straw, and maybe I’ll order dinner. First though, I need to make it through the rest of the afternoon.