Now March is almost halfway over!

gosh the speed this year is going...sigh...before I know it Christmas will be back again. I still haven't lingered here long enough to get the hang of pics and all but I thought blogger was a lot simpler when I first started with my old blog...sigh... could NOT sleep well last night and feel lousy. Switched to day shift Monday which is hard enough on its own but following a week where I worked almost the entire week on nights due to overtime...well...now I'm more used to night shift than usual. I was up at 4:30ish and decided to put some frozen boneless skinless chicken breasts in the crockpot with a can of diced tomatoes with diced jalapenos (first time with these!) and a can of petit diced tomatoes that were best by 3/1 (yes of this year - the other cans are being tossed since they're, um, NOT this year...) I have a huge can and 3 small cans left that I need to get a plan for before I toss them (all are 3/1/14 best by). I also have a carton of vegetable stock I bought for some reason (can't remember which recipe - if any - I had in mind but was probably during my brief no-meat phase I went through for a couple of weeks last year) I'm debating taking the broth, can of tomatoes, and adding some onion and potato and making a simple soup. maybe fix a quesadilla to go with the soup. Potatoes seem to be on sale in the 3,5 and 10 lb bags now..just afraid of getting overwhelmed with using them up before they go icky. RIght now I'm struggling with the wrong purchases of flour tortillas - stopped at Walgreens the other day in a hurry wanting flour tortillas and all they had were the big ones - lemme tell you an extra inch in diameter makes a difference! my breakfast tacos are cut in half now and eaten in 2 meals or at least a few hours apart. I want to make taquitos with the chicken I'm cooking in the crockpot - woke up early early EARLY this morning craving Mexican food - specifically quacamole - so thought I'd just make this and see if it takes care of the craving. This will involve a grocery store trip (right beside where I live) for avocados and corn tortillas..which gives me something else to worry about using up LOL! They sell the corn tortillas in such large packages and even the 20 ct ones are about the same price as the larger count ones. I've never tried freezing the corn tortillas though so that's an idea to look into. I'm also debating dumping in a can of black beans to the crockpot chicken to use as filling in messy chicken tacos then making taco meat for taco salad to eat with the avocado or just use the avocado on quesadillas...hmmm life has too many choices sometimes! I had plans to hit the nearby grocery store this morning but kinda tired and not in the mood though I could probably go for just a few things - they have digital coupons now and that gets me in trouble sometimes getting stuff or almost getting stuff I really don't have plans for at the moment. They have green cabbage on sale and I'm debatged buying a head of that and some Italian sausage and fixing those together with onion in a skillet with olive oil...sounds yum but not sure how it would re-heat for later meals. Not even gonna hope it can be frozen- cabbage is so watery. anyways plans for today are to take it easy and hope I'm awake at 6 pm - my church has a short 20 min or so communion at 6:30 followed by a 1 hour Bible Study then at 9 pm I like to watch an online 'live' worship service rezonline which starts a new Lent sermon series on the Gospel of Luke- Gospel of the Nobodies or something like that! In -between I may stop at Food Town which is near the church on the way home...not 100% on that. I was hoping to find a good sale on stable fruit - had a good deal on grapefruit there a few weeks ago and they were good but haven't seen much produce in their add. the store near me has strawberries - not a super price but decent so long as they're ripe. other plans are to do more sorting/decluttering and working some in the garage which seems to have become by dumpster :-( so hopefully can make some headway there and feel more positive and awake :-)

February is nearly over

Well it's been a while since I posted any 'news' but I'm still doing the Financial Peach University - 2 more classes to go - and they're gonna be challenging because I'm working night shift the night before and night after the next class and I'm supposed to take the Saturday callout on nights the following week which messes me up since I want to go to church that morning but doesn't give much time for a nap unless I do early service, come home around 10:20 and manage to fall asleep til 3 and that might tide me over til after the class...probably not though! Oh well I'm telling myself it's only for a season and the money is good. I may still see if one of the other 2 want that Saturday and give up the money...depends I guess. My finance coach is kinda pricey IMO but she's nice and was helpful. We weren't able to go over my home insurance which is really needed since I think I'm paying way too much for a townhome. I had gone by and requested a printout but apparently it wasn't the complete policy and of course when we logged on the website we could open the one for auto but the site was down for home. Next time we can go over it - hopefully! We also budgeted for 4 'weeks' and now I'm on week 2 - week 5 will start at our next meeting since it happens to fall on pay day! I found a local credit union that's credit union friendly so I can use my CU's debit card to withdraw cash for my envelopes - grocery, blow, and dining/entertainment. So far I've done well other than 'losing' $1.01 somewhere :-( I will probably splurge on the deluxe system since the ledge is small on the beginner one and the envelopes are easy to replace - the other system you can buy extras to use. Mine came with extras but don't think they'll snap into place. She also surprised me with the 'blow' money -she said we do the budget then go back over and cut what needs cutting and reminded me that some of these 'weeks' were only 4-5 days since it's February - I think the last week is the longest. After a week I'm thinking the grocery may be more than I need but I'm also eating out of the freezer and pantry some instead of buying from 'scratch' every week. After Finacial Peace class tonight I'm wondering about my retirement savings. A few years ago I was frustrated with blowing money so I bumped my 401k to the 15% maximum and recently started doing the Roth IRA again - Dave Ramsey says to do the match amount - 6% in my case - then fund a Roth IRA entirely - then go back to the 401k to contribute where my TOTAL is 15% instead of whatever percent total I'm doing now (more than 15% since the 401k alone is currently 15% just by itself not counting the Roth IRA). I need to ask my coach about this as I like lowering my taxes but if I'm saving too much inside retirement when I could be traveling to Alaska or Scotland I wanna change it LOL! I have a feeling she'll roll her eyes - she seems to think right now I'm in a good place and that things will fall into place with overtime and budgetging so I'll see. I have another meeting that's a few hours then after that I have 6 1 hour sessions to schedule then I can decide if I want to continue the coaching or not and I can also go to as needed and pay a higher hourly amount. I'm lucked out and been off work for severaly quilt things this year and the end of last year - of course next month or month after it will likely shift since I work 4 week rotations overall which is 28 days an dthe months aren't all 28 days. sigh... but I've managed GNO (girls night out) several Friday and Saturday (once per month) and a couple of bees as well as sewing with 2 friends for 3-4 days. I'm gotten a lot of tops done and friend who longarms has about 4-5 of mine - I need to do the backings for a couple and one I may do myself since it's smaller. Was planning on doing a chicken chili tonight but kinda tired so may put it off until Wednesday night when I'm off. the night is still young though - barely my bedtime for when I'm working day shift!

Wednesday January 29...at least I think it is...

Well I'm not liking the look of this blog...even without pictures it's boring and soooo many words all crammed together. Maybe one of these days I'll figure it out (or get the energy to figure it out...) I've had 3 Financial Peace University classes now - I like the group I'm with - small - 9 of us total - and pretty varied. A set of twins who just graduated...the couple leading it who are probably close to my age maybe a tad younger - she teaches pilates and other exercise stuff and not sure what he does...another couple about our ages- she's a nurse and not sure what he does but he hunts and stocks their freezer with game and both are on their 2nd marriage...another younger couple with a baby and 2 or 3 yr old son and they've done the course before but like me they need to get remotivated before they get in over their heads again. And me - single, childless, and needing to get a grip before I get in over my head too! Fun group and I'm glad I'm taking it with them. The house is paid off. I also went on Dave Ramsey's website and found a financial coach and signed up for their services. I'm not gonna lie- it's NOT cheap and yes I wonder if I did the right thing but I want a budget and to see what they can do for me with motivation. I went with the one in training because she's cheaper and I took the main guy's advice to go with her..he's higher because he's a CPA, etc etc etc but I don't think my financial situation calls for that level of knowledge. My big 'bootcamp' is still about 3 weeks off - the 18th of Feb. Really hoping it goes super well. I have to go cash / debit card only with them - no credit cards. I spent last night at work in my free time changing over autodrafts to either the checking account or the debit (only if they didn't have ACH draft available). I had already created new savings accounts the beginning of the year with capitalone360 (used to be ING so hopefully I'll be ok with the new management....) I also looked up some free atms in my area so I can do the envelope (cash) system for food and eating out and pocket money and probably entertainment as well....not sure yet about that because I'm hoping I won't always use all that money and it can go into a sink fund for when I want something later. The savings accounts I have with capitalone360 are the original 'orange' savings (from ING's logo) and I'm not sure yet what to use it for - maybe the general purpose 'blow' money that's left over or that I choose to add for later travel or other purchses. I did a reverse savings plan I found on someone' blog - where each week you save $52 then $51 the 2nd week until you save $1 the last week of December..I decided to make up for the partial weeks by adding a $53 payment. I also opened one to save for the kid savings plan or the smaller plan - Jan I save $12 each week then $11 each week in Feb until Dec with $1 per week. I titled this one for my friend's kid thinking I'd use it for his Christmas but thinking I should probably scale down on the Christmas and may do it for that and his Feb birthday or split it between him and his older cousin I also buy for - maybe $200 and $100 - again not sure..sigh...I also opened sink funds for my HOA monthly dues, Long term care insurance, and property taxes. I'm thinking maybe another for Giving Tree at church this coming November and Operation Christmas Child that starts around October/early November - I spent some money in those last year and they were rewarding - esp the local one at my church - but I want to budget for those this year instead of getting caught up in the emotions of the season. I also did a rough budget and will do the allocated budget probably tonight or tomorrow since I'll be busy this weekend. A friend of mine is coming in tomorrow evening and staying until Mon evening. She wants to stay here but my place is honestly a total disaster - not just messy but filthy. yes I'm lazy but I also let things get way out of hand and never caught back up. It's not as bad as it was but still needs improvement. Maybe I'll work on that tonight.... anways we're sewing with another friend - the one she's probably staying with - and I'll come back to check on Sasha(my dog). I have stuff planned on Sunday so hope she's not ticked but it's stuff I want to do and already had tickets or plans for and she knew about. We'll have 2 full days of sewing (quilting) and 2 most of the days so it should be great! :-) I'm trying yet another new recipe though can't say I followed it since I had to sub for a bunch of the stuff but I think the basic formula was followed - sort of LOL! I didn't have enough bread slices - thought I had 3 or 4 hamburger buns but only had 2 (and calls for 6 slices of bread cubed) so I added a couple slices of that Ezekiel whole grain bread(big difference in soaking up the stuff lemme tell you!) didn't have ham so used jimmy dean turkey sausage crumbles and instead of 1 1/2 cups cheddar I used 1 cup cheddar jack and 1/2 - 1 cup mozarrella. I also added in some bell pepper and onion I had left in the freezer that was in the way. just hoping it's good and I don't waste 6 eggs and cheese trying to save the milk and avoid wasting the 2 hamburger buns...I also skipped letting it sit in the fridge overnight- I'm hungry! hoping enough soaked in that it will be ok. well off to wash my hair while I wait for this to finish cooking...hard to wait!

Update after first Dave Ramsey class

Well I had my first Dave Ramsey Financial Peace class Sunday. Nice group and I'm not the only single LOL! odd number of people but 2 are brother/sister who just graduated and parents gave them the course as a gift so they could start off right. A couple leads it and 2 other couples joined- one has done it before (I'd started before but didn't finish when my mom got so sick) adn another couple is on 2nd marriage for both with teens and have never taken the course. The couple who have taken it before are sorta like me - they need the motivation and budgeting/advice. The new couple has some debt but said nothing huge other than mortgage. I like the group so far and think it will be nice to meet for 9 weeks. As usual I'm doing something and jumping ahead - but at least it was the next baby step...I was already through step 4 - $1000 emergency fund(beginner), debts other than mortgage paid, 3-6 months living expenses(a little skimpy here but could live with it), and 15% going into retirement funds. step 5 is saving for kids' college and don't have kids and already 47 so likely not gonna happen! so step 6 is to pay off mortgage so I looked up my balance at Fidelity that's left from the larger 401k I inherited from my parents- I spent some wisely and some not so wisely-and had dwindled it down to just $3000 more than what I needed to pay off my mortgage...so I called and got the ball rolling and the wire went through. I should be owning my home soon! YEAH! Now the problem is that I'm feeling relieved, excited,,,but also panicked...yes panicked! My budget isn't ironing out well enough - AT ALL! My first attempt I was 3x my takehome and thought I was being petty tight! oops! I got it a lot lower but really it's still tight. 2 reasons are - the amount I was spending on my mortgage plus a bit I want to tithe with to the church I've been attending (Found out I DID join 23 yrs ago but am inactive but can change that....)because I feel it's past time for me to do this. I like to give but have never been faithful about tithing for the 'boring stuff'. And also I want to keep putting $500 in the old credit union that pays a better interest rate - currently 1.5% I think and that's good considering nothing else is paying anything...I really want to keep building that emergency fund. I also used some $ to pre-pay my HOA which are currently $214 per month for my townhome - includes trash, water, lawn maintenance for common areas...and I went to capitalone360.com (was INGDirect for years when I first signed up) and opened more savings accounts for stuff I pay about once per year...I set up auto-deposit for HOA dues, property taxes, and Long term care insurance. also opened a reverse savings plan I read on someone's blog where the first week I save $52 then the 2nd week it's $51...and did the kid version where each week in Jan it's $12 then goes to $11 each week in Feb..this one I'm saving for my friend's kid's Christmas - though I may split it between his Christmas and bday or just cut back and use it for 2 kids' Christmas this year with more for little dude since he's my little dude. I'm debating other savings accounts (think I can have up to 20)for Giving Tree at church, car repairs, home projects..depends on how well the budget works out. I'm planning on a lot of overtime so that could fund some of these so I can leave the credit union balance alone (I can only put money in that credit union through payroll deduction so once I withdraw it's out and can't get back in unless I change the amount withheld and that's a pain...) and I also tend to get too detailed that I mess up the big picture...sigh... but in a way I'm excited - I need to get finances under control and spend time enjoying what I already have. :-)

back again!

Well blogger has changed since I used it last - don't think my first post posted...now hopw I don't have a duplicate! That was Monday night's post and it's Thursday night now. The chicken dish turned out AWESOME! I am very happy with the results though after thinking about it I basically stuffed chicken breasts with artichoke dip LOL hard to screw up with that much fat! But it's delish- heated up good even in the microwave and I just put leftovers in sandwich bags then wrapped in foil and put in the freezer so hopefully it will reheat well in the future. The sloppy joes were ok but the longer it sat in the fridge I think it got even better - plus I cooked around the minimum time stated - it's one of those recipes that can slowcook for HOURS! So I also froze 3 big servings of that for future meals - have a meal left out for later tonight or tomorrow. Pretty tasty- sloppy joes aren't something I crave often but wanted to try the recipe and glad I did. I actually cut it in half - the original called for 4 lbs of ground beef and made 24 servings LOL - if I ever cook it for a crowd I'll do it but 2 lbs was my limit on risk just in cae the recipe was crappola ya know?! Turned out to be a good thing I cooked Monday evening/night because I had to work overtime Tues night. I had been looking forward to enjoying that night off with it still being cold weather but oh well I'm trying to be positive and think of the overtime pay which I'll be getting a lot of come March... I also managed some good sleep the last couple of days (working nights this week) so that helped. I came to work tonight with a bit more energy I think - more optimistic though the place still sucks with the managment attitude towards us peons... I'm beind on my good things jar which ticks me off though I DID fill out a couple I haven't put in the jar - they're in my wallet in my purse and I only missed a few days I think and I know what to put on those - sleep LOL! but good sleep helps a LOT! I still wake up but have had decent dreams and not waking up too hot or too cold or too groggy which is a bit PLUS! Monday will be switching to day shift and that's the toughest for me but hopefully it will work out ok. Need to figure out my 'game plan' for this weekend. I get off work in the morning(Friday) and will crash I'm sure but set the alarm for 3 pm so I can get stuff together for the quilt sew-in we call GNO - girls night out - I have one project that's started and portable but really need my quilting stuff sorted out so I can grab and go when I don't have time to get stuff together (like now!) I had planned on fiddling with quilting Tuesday night but ended up at work instead so nothing got done. So...Friday night is quilt group with friends...Sat night is quilt group with friends(different location)..debating organic co-op on Saturday as well depending on what time they have pick-up (usually still used to being up at night and snoozing during the day)..and I want to go to church on Sunday- I like to be there so I can eat breakfast the men's group fixes then go to the 9 am service and sunday school then maybe repeat with the praise service at 11:15 - sermon is the same but different music and worship style. I've been happy with this church so I think picking one and sticking with it and making myself get involved (Giving Tree at Christmas) is helping me feel more like it's personal and I belong there. I grew up in this denomination and couldn't wait to find a 'good' church that didn't seem like the one I grew up in then I wanted one just like it -small- which ain't happening in a big city plus I'd gotten used to churches being 'entertaining'...I was surprised when a friend on facebook( a methodist preacher) suggested I watch online - rezonline.org - a methodist church in Leawood, KS - and wow! that next Sunday I watched and they were starting a sermon series about spiritual growth based on John Wesley (the dude who got the methodist church started) so I was hooked then decided I was missing something if other methodist churches were that way so gave a couple more a shot and liked them but decided with my tardiness that I'd better pick the closest methodist church LOL and wow it was good. I like rezonline's preaching better but I have to say I never thought I'd have to think about stuff preached about but I do! and it's nice...so back to the Methodist church I went! :-) hopefully this will 'stick' this time- I've decided with my crazy work schedule and being tired that I need to just do what I can - make it there when I'm able (been doing the Wed communion when I can and the Wed supper as well...)and watch rezonline when I'm able and try to relax and take things as they come. I already know work will be rough with overtime and drama but I need to TRY my best to chill and trust God to provide what I need when I need it. NOT so good with that...

Still here!

Well my gung-ho-ness with blogging fizzled fairly quickly...guess I was just too lazy to figure out how to do the pics where the stuff about the pics matched...sigh...plus I really don't think I have that much interesting to blog about! My interests bounce around and when I'm 'into' something I'm INTO something to the point of OCD I think! :-) Right now I'm still into reading though I'm pretty much ebook only at this point (ipad, and yes went OCD with ereaders last summer/fall and have, um, several now and seem to alternate which one I'm 'into' at the moment though it's usually Kindle paperwhite or Kobo Glo - mostly the Kindle because Amazon has a good selection of books and freebies/cheapies and I love how easy it is to do non-usb transfers for library loans (some authors/publishers don't allow this easy way and that just sucks. It's not like I'm gonna steal the ebook when I can barely figure out how to load it... also wanting to get healthier but my health kicks are always short-lived mainly because I'm so tired from this nutty shift I work plus it's 'foreign' to me...I wasn't raised with a family who exercised or focused on eating healthy- that was fine weight-wise when I was younger and didn't like school lunches and ate a bare minimum breakfast and had marching band...not so much in the later years and I never stuck with it long enough to make it stick permanently and the weight crept up and up and up....my main goals right now are to do my best to stay interested in being healthy and to cook at home and try to stop eating out so much. I'm telling myself the recipes don't have to be super low fat or healthy - just find some good recipes - though not deliberately going overboard with fried and full fat cheeses...also wanting less canned cream soups in my meals which eliminates a LOT of casseroles! I'm also finding frustration with recipes - just put together one where I had to pound chicken breasts and smear on a filling and roll up - um, called for 2 lbs of chicken and I used about 4 and still had some stuff leftover. It DOES smell good so hopefully will be a great meal(s) - enough to freeze. I've also wasted some meals by not being prepared to freeze...hopefully this dish can go in zippy sandwich bags then a freezer bag.will have to see how runny the dish is. I'm also not smelling the love so to speak with a sloppy joe recipe that called for a dinky bit of a ton of ingredients...it's not wonder people eat junk - it tastes seasoned all in one can...but anyways I will give them both a try. I did have to make a substitution on the sloppy joes- forgot tomato soup so used Italian diced tomatoes for flavor and added a bit of water. so....I'm also thinking of adding in some exercise - not pushing it but I miss how I feel AFTER a good walk - even an in-home walk. I bought some dvds of nature hikes with gorgeous scenery- fun to walk on the 'hike' to the soothing music and look at the scenery. I've also walked/bounced on my rebounder along with these and my tried and true Leslie Sansone and other assorted workouts. I'm also making plans to move my parents' furniture down here. They've been gone over 2 yrs now and it's time we did something with that house and that means I need to get stuff out. My brother says he doesn't want any of the stuff except maybe tools in the shop so we shall see...I will be busy with overtime beginning in March for sure with someone out for surgery and milking it for as long as she can. The money will be good but I'll be tired and definitely unable to spend time emptying a house 4 hours away. my house here has been a disaster - never really made into a home except when I first moved in - usually cluttered or downright disgusting. I finally found out about 1800gotjunk and paid them to haul off this nasty oversized furniture so I can clean the floor and get my mom's down here. :-) It will be nice to have living room furniture and use this space again! I don't entertain so all the 'sitting' at home is done either in bed or in front of the computer or in front of my sewing machine. I'm also wanting to get my fireplace gas logs made to light with a remote so I can enjoy the fireplace without turning on stuff at the wall and having to deal with matches...hopefully that will work the way I want. I'm not sure if I'll get it done in time to enjoy this season but I'm optimistic I will with it already being cold down here way earlier than expected. On the collecting/accumulating front I've gone overboard the past couple of years - esp last year! - but I'm overall happy with my purchases but have slowed wsy way way down thank goodness - tea pots, tea cups, vintage pyrex and of course quilts!! bought a LOT of antique and vintage quilts at the International Quilt Festival - not many were what I'd call expensive but all together it adds up quick! I've been enjoying them though- haven't made my way through all of them but have definitely been using them either for display on one bed or to display and even sleep under on the other 2 beds. I've also alternated these with some I've made and some my mom and aunt had hand quilted. oh, and also puzzles - got into brain teaser wooden puzzles and jigsaw puzzles- jigsaw puzzles BIG TIME! for the wooden ones it's off and on (love Creative Crafthouse out of Florida that I bought from puzzlewarehouse.com) as well as some smartgames and thinkfun games - antivirus has to be the stupidest name for a puzzle but I like it LOL! and Rush Hour is fun as well (like the jr version too!) I was also big-time buying board games/ card games earlier last year but work kept interfering along with trips out of town so I fizzled..I do plan on going to more of those meetups though this coming year whenever I can. This past Christmas/New Years holiday I managed to play a card game with my friend and her hubby and rummikub with my friend- she taught me both games years ago and I've missed playing them with her. Her son is almost 6 but still isn't able to play a lot of stuff - he can handle Uno but still has to be corrected sometimes because he gets lazy and lays his cards down but mostly he's ok with it and lucky for me I like the game! well time has passed- hauled out a couple trash bags while taking a break from typing and waiting for the 2 minutes before checking the chicken dish...not a big aroma but when I took the dishes out and uncovered it looked and smelled pretty good. I put them back in since I didn't pound to paper thinness (figuring they must've meant that since the 2 lbs didn't use up all the filling). Nice and bubbly - the filling has mayo (I used a light version), lemon juice, grated parmesan(bought the stuff in the deli section instead of the green can by Kraft...), canned artichoke hearts, onion..think that's all...then rolled into the chicken and put in casserole then drizzled with olive oil then bread crumbs. Hope it turns out good and will freeze/reheat well for me. I'm debating getting my parents' deep freeze while I'm hauling stuff- thought my brother had it sold 2 yrs ago but apparently not. It's an upright so no having to bend over to dig around for stuff- figure it can go in my garage. I held off getting one because I'm afraid I'll overfill it and not use the stuff and yep might be overkill but hopefully I wouldn't do that...my little freezer gets too crowded and I get frustrated digging through it all the time to see what I have. well the food calls!