Category Archives: Finances

Carpe Diem!!

Good morning!!

The first thing I heard on the radio this morning was “Carpe Diem!” What a FABULOUS sentiment!! Seize the day!!!! It got me to thinking, what can I do today to seize the day???

I have a long day at work ahead of me, so at work I can seize the day by deciding to have a good day, or deciding to look for the fun in my job, or maybe I can hum a happy tune all day, just so I feel happy, in the moment!!

CARPE DIEM!!!! SEIZE THE DAY!!!

In my physical life, I can remember how fresh, and delicious dinner was last night, and look to eat like that all day. I can make my physical self more of a priority, and get those things done that I have been procrastinating on, such as exercising – swimming could be a lot of fun!?!?! Or maybe a nice walk through our neighborhood! or even just getting out of the house – what a novel concept!!!

CARPE DIEM!!!! SEIZE THE DAY!!!

I am going to seize the day for sure, by making sure that my finances get paid, including money going directly to my savings account!!! It is going to take me a little while to get out of debt, but I have done it once before and it is GOING TO FEEL GREAT when I have done it again!!!

CARPE DIEM!!!! SEIZE THE DAY!!!

I also am going to try and make a point to reach out to my friends and family today to make sure they know that I love them, and how much they mean to me. I don’t think I express that often enough, especially since I don’t live close to most any of my family.

CARPE DIEM!!!! SEIZE THE DAY!!!

But, I think MOST OF ALL, I am going to live my day in grattitude! Be thankful for all that the good Lord has provided for me and my loved ones. Thankful for all of the blessings, and the lessons and opportunities in the struggles!

YES! TODAY IS GOING TO BE A GREAT DAY!!!

Oh, and maybe my camera will get her today! 😉 Once it does I am going to flood this place with pics!! OH, I CAN NOT WAIT!!! ;- )

I would love to hear some of your ideas how you can go about seizing your day today!! Please let me know in the comments above!

CARPE DIEM!!!! SEIZE THE DAY!!!

Have a FABULOUS day!!! 😉

A Night of Vision Boarding!!

Good evening!!

I just got finished spending an EXTREMELY FUN evening vision boarding with my sis and niece!!! I am a firm believer in the power of vision boards. I think that is because a vision board forces you to think about what you want, make decisions about what is important enough to actually make the cut (hee! hee! hee!), and it causes you to spend time cutting, designing, and gluing a board that is completely and totally focused on your dreams! I don’t think that vision boards are magical in any way, but I do think that it helps your subconscious remember what you want, and in turn help you see signs that point you in the right direction to get those goals! Ok, maybe that does sound a little magical, but I know for me – they work!!

Here are some sample vision boards (note: these are not mine, I have found these from various sources on the web.) As soon as my new camera gets in, I will take pics of mine and give you a play-by-play!! 😉

Aren’t they just interesting?!?

I just LOVE looking at other peoples’ vision boards. They can tell you so much about people. What they value, want to experience, learn, do, be, have! I think vision boards are highly intriguing!! That might just be because I am highly curious and people really interest me. It is amazing how much time and effort people are willing to put into these things (including me)!!! BUT it is EVEN MORE AMAZING how helpful these AWESOME TOOLS are!!! They are so unique, and ABSOLUTELY PERFECT to the creator of the board. I would highly encourage you to get out some magazines, scissors, glue, a sheet of paper, and see what you can come up with for yourself!!

I can’t wait to be able to share mine with you! Soon, soon, soon!!!

Have a FABULOUS evening!! 😉

Day 19 of 60 Day Life Makeover!

Good morning!!

I hope what they say is true, that ‘slow and steady win the race’. Today is day 19 of my 60 Day Life Makeover – I bet you thought I forgot about that! 😉 Today is day 19 of my Life Makeover plan, with means the first third of that time has passed!! It has been a while since I posted anything on my progress for this, so I thought today would be a good day to do that!!!

Just a reminder, here are my 60 Day Life Makeover goals:

  1. Lose 20 pounds
  2. Sock away an extra $1000 into savings
  3. Find a church home
  4. Clean, organize, and purge our entire home of unloved and/or unused belongings from top to bottom
  5. Purchase and refinish one piece of furniture to sell to get the ball rolling on getting paid to do what I love

Progress Update:

  1. Lose 20 pounds. Well, so far I have lost 2.2 pounds. The problem in this area is that I have let myself have too many, ‘Oh, who cares?’ moments. So I have to keep picking myself up off of the floor and jump back on to my own bandwagon, so to speak!! I JUST CAN’T GIVE UP ON MYSELF!!! With Jason doing all of the food prep in the house, that is working out really well for me, as long as I am the one continuing to decide what is on the menu! 😉 Now I have just got to get myself re-committed to my swimming – being as heavy as I am, and with all of the over abundance of walking I did last year to train for the 60 -Mile Walk, my knees, ankles, and feet hurt almost constantly – so swimming it has to be for the time being, which is kind of nice because I like swimming!!!
  2. Sock away an extra $1000 into savings. The idea behind this goal was to find a way to make money, outside of my job, to create this extra money. So far, I have been able to create $166.73, so far, mainly by selling my belongings through eBay. Although I am not LOVING doing this – it is actually costing me A LOT of money, and time to manage this – I have to find another way. So, I am back to researching at this point.
  3. Find a church home. Having grown up in the church, it is important for me to feel like I belong to a church family. Church hopping has been not too productive yet, but we have been out there again, which feels pretty good!! I just have to stop letting being in a bad/sad/grumpy mood (or the mood du jour) keep me from getting my butt out there, and GET GOING!!!
  4. Clean, organize, and purge our entire home of unloved and/or unused belongings from top to bottom. Believe it or not, I am still working on my FIRST ROOM!!! Now, that may not be too surprising to those of you who have seen my craft room/office – it is a HEAP-A-MESS!!! AND I DID start with my ABSOLUTE SCARIEST ROOM, but I think for the most part, I have gotten all of the piles under control. Right now, I am just getting these piles either donated, recycled, trashed, or put away! I think the biggest success I can say about this room is that it is FINALLY being USED!!! It is no longer the MYSTERIOUS CLOSED DOOR!!! I have a long way to go, but I am optimistic that it will be a clean, organized, clutter free space – I just have to be diligent!!!
  5. and FINALLY, Purchase and refinish one piece of furniture to sell to get the ball rolling on getting paid to do what I love. This goal will not only make me happy, but it will REALLY help with goal #2. I haven’t done ANYTHING on this goal yet, but I was watching the Nate Berkus show last evening, and he had a guest that he called the Dumpster Diva, and I GOT TOTALLY INSPIRED!!! She basically goes out once a week, in a van, and picks up all sorts of free furniture and stuff that people have tossed, and she completely refinishes it, WHICH IS SOOOOO WHAT I WANT TO DO!!! Her home was BEAUTIFUL, and apparently she has a whole group of girlfriends who she does this with. She calls this junk night, they meet for dinner someplace and then they head out TREASURE HUNTING!!! Now, I don’t have any girlfriends that I can think of that will do this with me, at least not yet, but the idea of recycling other peoples’ trash into treasures, sounds DIVINE!!! After the show, all I could think was “I CAN DO THAT!!!!” I can, and I will!!!

So there you go!! I have a LOOOONG WAY TO GO, but I am proud of myself that I haven’t quit!!! With that, I am going to go finish getting ready for work, and I will post more later!

Have a FABULOUS day!!! 😉

Happy Tuesday!

Good evening!

I am in the middle of my nightly to-do list!

  • Prep eBay packages for mailing – Done!
  • Mail eBay packages – Done!
  • Blog – Almost done!
  • Floss – Done!
  • Drink 2 liters of water – Almost done!
  • Track food – Almost done!
  • Spend at least 1/2 an hour sitting in quiet (meditate) – Not started yet!
  • Plan tomorrow – Done!
  • Spend some time going through magazines for donation – Not started yet!
  • Plan weekly dinner menus – Almost done!
  • Set out tomorrow’s clothes – Not done yet!
  • Put laundry away – Not started yet!
  • Schedule Friday’s bills – Done!!
  • Re-post unsold eBay packages – Not started yet!
  • Read for at least 1/2 an hour – Done!
  • Change your PC’s password – Done!

Whew!! I have gotten quite a few of those done this evening already, so that is good!

Jason is downstairs cooking dinner, we are having chicken parmesan tonight! I LOVE when he makes that – HEALTHY + YUMMY = PERFECTION!!!

In work news: This week is the first week of about 4 weeks that I will be working late every night. I can see how that it is helpful, already, since Monday, I have been able to get some of the tedious tasks done without interruption which has been good!! Although, my job is mentally draining, so I find that I am really tired! I have actually had some difficulty getting out of bed on time, so I will have to adapt so that I don’t have to do my entire to-do list at night time.

My mind is racing tonight! I just have so much yet to get done this evening!! I am in GO-GO-GO-MODE!!

Have a FABULOUS evening!!! 😉

60 Day Life Makeover, Day 8!

Good morning!

Today is day 8 of my 60 Day Life Makeover, and I thought I would give you an update of how it is going! Before I tell you that, however, let me remind you (and myself) what my goals are!

My top 5 60-day goals are:

  1. Lose 20 pounds. This body will only carry me for so long, and being at the weight I am is truly starting to become a hindrance, and an anchor to where and what I want to be doing.
  2. Find a church home. I NEED a church home.
  3. Clean, organize, purge my house from top to bottom, so everything in it has a home.
  4. Purchase, refinish, and sell one piece of furniture to slowly but surely get my business off the ground.
  5. Put $1000 extra away to help build my wealth.

Ok, so now for the updates!!!

  1. Lose 20 pounds. As of this morning, I have lost a TOTAL of 1 POUND (they do say that ‘slow and steady wins the race’ – I REALLY HOPE THEY ARE RIGHT!)!!!
  2. Find a church home. We did go to church this last Sunday. Church was fine, but it wasn’t our “home”, it was just too large – we kinda felt like cattle!!! Anyway, we are going to go to a different church tomorrow morning. Our fingers are crossed!
  3. Clean, organize, purge my house from top to bottom, so everything in it has a home. It quickly became evident that this task may take a lot longer than 60 days. Right now I am focusing on our office/craft room. I am going through each item deciding what needs my attention, what needs to go into the e-bay pile, and what just needs to be gone!! Not easy, but I am already reaping the rewards of the hard work I have been doing. Yesterday I got to spend a good portion of the day creating! That was SOOOOO WORTH all of the time I have spent filing, and clearing out the clutter!!
  4. Purchase, refinish, and sell one piece of furniture to slowly but surely get my business off the ground. I haven’t started actively looking for this yet, this will happen as soon as I get my craft room done!
  5. Put $1000 extra away to help build my wealth. I have created quite a stack of belongings that are going to go up on e-bay tomorrow, so I am hoping that will start my efforts to create this $1,000.

So onward, and upward!!!

For today:

  • Blog
  • 60 minutes Fitness plan
  • Track food
  • Confirm church times for tomorrow
  • Drink 2 liters of water
  • Read for at least 1/2 an hour
  • Change bedding
  • Put laundry away
  • Vacuum/Sweep/Mop
  • Spend at least  1 hour filing creative paperwork
  • Go through current bills
  • Update electronic bill tracker
  • Go through at least 10 magazines (I have at least a hundred of these all over the house)
  • Bathe Faye
  • Make time for playing!

Wow! I had better get busy!!

Have a FABULOUS day!! 😉

Started Out Strong & Peter’ed Out!!!

When I woke up this morning, I had every intention of doing EVERY SINGLE THING ON MY TO-DO LIST TODAY!!! I started out strong, motivated, driven, and I even did the scariest things from my to-do list first!!!

After I had accomplished about 4 or 5 things, my energy level absolutely plummeted!!! What’s up with that??? Plus, during my walk today, within the last block of the 3-miles, in the freezing rain, I turned my ankle!

“OUCH, it’s ok, it’s ok, I am just going to walk it off!”

Well, after about two hours after getting home and doing some more chores, I realized that not only did I hurt my ankle, I tweaked by lower back and pulled a muscle in my leg! Doesn’t that just figure???? LOL! It’s all good! as of tonight, only my leg is a little ach-ey, so I am sure by morning I will be back to 100%

Jason and I starting to struggle a little bit right now on vacation! We are starting to get a little antsy and bored! I can hear my mom saying,

“Get outside, and go find out something to do!!”

So, starting tomorrow, we are going to have to get creative in what our activity options for the rest of this week are!!! I need to pretend we are hanging out of the beach house (oh, how we miss thee!), and do the same kind of things that we would do if we were there!!

An update on my To-Do List from today is:

  • Blog – Done
  • Walking plan – 3 miles – DONE!!! YEAH!!!
  • Track Food – Done
  • Drink 2 Liters of water – Working on it!
  • File my stack of creative paperwork – Started
  • Read for at least 1/2 an hour – Done
  • Write letter to my sponsor child – Done
  • Mail it – No
  • Organize bills – Started
  • Update electronic monthly bill tracker – Started
  • Finish Laundry – Done (Thank you, Honey!!!)
  • Eyebrow wax appointment – Rescheduled to next week
  • Bathe Faye – Done
  • Bathe Sophie – Done
  • Sort all magazines (HUGE project!!) – Started
  • Create a journal bookmark for my planner – No
  • Go swimming with Jason – make time for play!!! – No
  • Go to bed by 11 – That is still the goal!

I am getting ready to go upstairs and get some more filing done!!

In the meantime…

Have a FABULOUS evening!! 😉

Putting My House On a Diet!

I am seriously thinking about putting my house on a diet. We have a really small place, and seemingly a whole TON of stuff. OK, I know this seems like a REALLY random thought, but let me tell you what brought this on. I have a friend who is a financial adviser for, let’s just say, for people who have WAAAAAY more money than I have. Anyway, he sent me a whole bunch of information today on how I can make my financial dreams come true, and HOLY MOLY!! I realized I have a lot of work to do, the first HUGE thing I need to do is to get myself COMPLETELY out of debt, AGAIN (I have done this once before believe it or not!) Once that is done, I have to figure out how to figure out how to live with only 50% of my income!!! AAAAGH!!! Can you imagine??? So I either have to learn how to live with a whole lot less, or I have to learn how to make more money!! Which brings me back to putting my house on a diet. While I am trying to decide what small business I can start in my free time, I thought I would try selling some of my literally hundreds of unused items from our house. Kind of like an online garage sale!! I am not sure how to make this happen though – so I thought I would just throw it out to the universe and see if maybe anyone out there had any ideas??? Let me know in the comment section – I would be greatly appreciative for the help!!! 🙂

Thanks, and have a FABULOUS evening! 😉