Lisa's Wish Journal - Now we have gone Dopey.

[inkkognito]

Good for you to know where to focus your efforts. Finances can be indirectly related to weight because the stress can mess up eating/exercise. Life is all about balance in all areas. You have goals in place to tackle those bills so now it's just a matter of follow-through. Finances are tricky because you can control them to some extent but then you can get walloped by emergencies.

 

[Amy&Dan]

Lisa, you can get those finances in order! Having a plan and knowing exactly what you owe are huge. So many times, we don't even know for sure how much we owe on cc's and that is a mess. You don't fall into that category!

Sounds like you had a great weekend. We all need those down time weekends and time away from the kids. Its nice to just have time at home without too much stuff to go to sometimes!

Keep up all your good work, I know you will!

 

[eyor44]

Thank you Ladies for the support. Was very scary for me to write that post. I felt like part of a support group (which we are!) "Hello. My name is Lisa. I owe $$$$." I knew each one of you would be there for me. and That was a great feeling.

Last night Roo and I walked. She did two miles and I did four. It was colder than I thought though and I am paying for it this morning with my foot. It was fine last night which is why I went out, but this morning..... I'm hobbling, but getting around and as the day goes by, it is getting better.

Monday, right after I posted my earlier post, I came down sick and had to go home. I spent the rest of the day in bed. until DD had to go to dance. I was fine, just shaky. Something I ate I guess. Tuesday (yesterday) was spent trying to fix a couple employees travel. I really don't like the software program we use for online travel. It just doesn't work quite right a lot of the time. Talk about stress and frustration. So periodically, I'll get up and walk the halls for a few minutes. Today, I am hobbling, but same effect.

DS was promoted in ROTC. He went from group C color guard to group B. He gets to present colors at the basketball game Friday night. My guy is moving up in the world. Well, his world.

 

[lovinaz]

Congrats to DS! What an honor, you must be so proud.

I hope your foot gets better soon. That is definitele a body part most of us take for granted, isn't it??

We have issues with our online travel manager too. Some people call it travel mangler...

 

[Amy&Dan]

Hi Lisa, that is awesome your ds is getting promoted! You must be very proud!

I agree with Amy our feet are easily taken for granted until they hurt. I hope your foot heals up quickly!

I hear you on the support group regarding money. I struggle with wanting to do better with money and spending as much as I do with my weight! But its good to put things down and feel like you made yourself accountable. I know you will get those debts paid off!

 

[toystoryduo]

Congrats to your DS! I bet you are super proud of him!

I hope your foot is feeling better soon.

I hear you about the support group for money. That's one of the things I love about the WISH board. Not only can we support each other on our healthy living journeys, but in other aspects of our lives as well.

I hope you have a great day, Lisa!

 

[eyor44]

Thank you ladies. Sorry I missed last night. Internet went out...

Today was another horrid day at work. I have two travelers that I honestly do not know if they are going to leave Sunday as planned. I am off tomorrow and so is the other lady in my group who could take care of any problems. Every time we think we have it straight something else strange happens to mess it up again. On my way out, I let their supervisory know that we have done all we could and if he really needed me (deep breath) he has my home phone. But to please, please, please don't let anyone touch anything until their plane takes off. (fingers crossed and prayers said).

So happy to have tomorrow off and 8 hours all to myself. Of course I will be doing house work and such, but no work problems, hopefully.

I didn't get to walk tonight. I took DD up to the school to look at the science fair projects. She isn't required to do one yet, but a couple of her friends did and we went to look at those. Some of them were really good.

I am happy to say that I did not buy anything today. I have been thinking about Tracy doing the no-buy days and have read a couple of the threads on it. I think that is one step I need to make towards getting my bills paid off. I don't do random clothes shopping any more and need to stop making random, unneccessary purchases on other things. Well, I can always justify what I buy, but still.....I can do way better. I have been, but I know I can do better. I also took my lunch every day this week, but I did buy a couple snacks at work. I try to keep snacks there, but sometimes I just want something I don't have. I am one of those people who can have a craving, try to eat three other things instead and still have the craving so bad that I have to have it anyway. Not good for the diet.

Okay, I got real OT there. What prompted my seriously thinking about the NBDs is a friend keeps mentioning the two of us going to Disney together. She asked about going with me next January. (I know, I said I wouldn't take anyone with me again, but she is different) She asked me how much would it be. We discussed it a little and the figure (even doing a real value trip) kind of daunted her. So, I broke it down. I asked her if she could save $100 a month and to think about what she would be willing to give up to make that goal. Knowing her finances as I do, I can find it for her and will present the savings plan to her along with the spread sheet I am working up with the cost figures. I decided that I am going to do it with her and started thinking, "what am I willing to give up?" I am going to think about my list tomorrow. I already have a couple ideas.

On tomorrow's agenda:
recycle
go to bank
clean dance studio
wash clothes
clean house

I hope everyone had a great day!

 

[Amy&Dan]

Lisa, that is how we finance our Disney trips. On paper, it often looks impossible to travel, but then when we sit down and evaluate what we spend, what we could spend and what we could not spend, it comes together. Often when we are about to go out to dinner, I say to dh "this night out would buy two cs meals in WDW" and we realize we don't want to go out that bad! Of course it means we don't eat out much and we do maybe four movies a year but its what keeps us going to WDW and to us that is worth it. I know you can make that trip with your friend happen!

And on that note, I have often said "I will never go to WDW with anyone again". But then I realize that all rules are subject to change if the person in question is I know a person or persons we could travel with. I just no that there are certain people I will never go to WDW with again, no matter what! That is what you have to stay firm on, the people you know ruin your Disney Mojo!

You'll get a walk in today or tomorrow. Some days there just aren't enough hours to get everything done!

 

[toystoryduo]

No buy days are a good thing! Although I didn't come close to making my goal this month, it allowed me to plan my purchases ahead of time and it also caused me to step back and ask myself which purchases were necessary and which ones weren't. We're going to do a no buy in February as well.

I hope you enjoy your day off today, Lisa! Have a nice weekend!

 

[lovinaz]

That is how I saved up for our last cruise - figured out the cost of the fare, plus extras on the ship, plus shore excursions, etc then divided by the amount of time left then put that much more into savings every month. And voila, a stress-free trip. We actually didn't spend as much as we saved, so that was an added bonus! I know you can do it, especially if it is for a good cause!

 

[eyor44]

Hello everyone. Sorry I was MIA this weekend.

Friday I completed 2.5 of my goals.
Recycling was 1/2 done. I have to go to one place for alum and metals and another place for newspapers. I got the metals done first thing in the AM, went home and fell asleep. ... for three hours. Kind of killed the schedule I had. Loaded the car with newspapers and it started raining. The place I go to is 30 minutes away and the bin is out in the open. Nope, not gonna do papers in the rain, so I unloaded the car and went to clean the dance studio. Got it done in record time and was back home for the kids to get off the bus. Also got a side trip to CVS in. Laundry was 90% done. Of course, there is always laundry in my house.

Saturday I had my hair appointment and then came home to get DD ready for her first official sleepover. She has had one here before and been to several with April, but never by herself at someone's house she has never stayed before. I was very proud of her and she said she had a good time. DS was in a funky mood and we were trying to think of something to do with him. I finally remembered the hocky game on the coast, so we loaded up, drove down there, had dinner and went to the game. I haven't been to a hocky game in years. We had a blast. Of course I kept totaling up how much it cost us, but when we were on our way home and DS said "I had a great time", that made it worth it.

 

[eyor44]

Sunday, DH and I slept in. Of course we were up until midnight the night before, but it felt sooooo good. Picked up DD from her sleepover and she said she had a good time. Just spent the day at home, doing stuff here until Gram and my DN came over for dinner.

Then right before bed I started feeling bad. I asked DH if a front was coming through, as pressure changes really give me problems and he said no. By 2:00am, I was sick. For about 3hrs, I was sick. bad. Finally fell asleep on the couch and then DH woke me up when he came out to get the kids ready for school. He had to help me back to bed and said he would call my supervisor for me. Woke back up about 9:30, then 10:30, then 12:00. Got up about 12:30 to get a shower and something to eat. Took me awhile, but I got going.

I'm really not sure what got me this time. I have been being so careful. But I think it was a combination of stress about finances and work and something I ate the night before. I really have to learn to let things go at work, and that there are some things that I just can not control. It is just very hard for me. Everyone expects me to solve their problems.

Tonight was better. I took DD to dance and when we got home DH cooked dinner. It has been a quiet evening. Tomorrow, hopefully, will be better.

 

[eyor44]

I know occasionally we discuss different web sites on which to earn points and stuff, but I was wondering if any of you have tried these two.

Mysurvey.com - earn points and get cash back. or prizes, but the cash works for me.

GlobalOpinionpanels.com (Marie Brighton) - earn points for cash, but I also get products to test. About once a month, I'll qualify to test a product. Then I'll get another survey to do after testing the product and receive additional points. It took about six months of doing surveys before I qualified for testing, but I like it. Tonight we tried a spagetti sauce that I had never heard of. I have gotten toilet paper, shampoo, conditioner, dog food, shaving products, etc. Funny thing is most of the products I get is stuff that we usually use. Older DS got to try a new version of a shaving cream that he uses and he loved it.

I like these two programs because on mysurvey.com you always get points whether you qualify for the survey or not. Globalpanel, you don't get points if you don't qualify, but most of the time I do. On both, I think the more you do surveys, the more you get. I notice that when I am not able to take them all the time, then I get fewer until I start answering them again.

 

[toystoryduo]

Sending a your way, Lisa. I hope you're feeling better today!

I like My Survey and do their surveys whenever they come up. I have signed up for GlobalOpinionPanels, but I haven't done any surveys with them in awhile. That's cool that you get to test a bunch of products with them.

I hope you have a much better day today!

 

[lovinaz]

Are you feeling better today? I hope whatever was causing you grief is long gone...

I'm sure the money spent at the hockey game was well worth changing DS from funky to happy!

 

[Amy&Dan]

Hi Lisa,

I need to check out those survey sites! So you get the products to try out for free?

For sure sometimes you have to look at money spent as an investment towards your life (or in this case your son's life). As they get older, its harder for us parents to find things to do with our kids!

So sorry you got sick, that does sound like food poisoning. I hope you continue to feel better, that always takes awhile to get over!

 

[eyor44]

Thank you ladies.

I feel much better today. Yesterday, I still had a bit of a headache, but I made myself go to work and just was quiet at my desk and it was gone by evening. I was able to take Roo to the track. She did her two miles and I did my four, so we were both happy.

One of my guys didn't make it on his trip and the other had problems but got where he needed to be. Such is life. I have a bunch more going out this weekend and I have forbid any of them to even log into the system.

Amy, I do get the test products for free. This time was a jar of spagetti, that would be about $2 at the store, but one time a can of shaving cream with extra stuff came for DS and they estimated the value to be about $6. Nowadays, every little bit helps. Plus you get "paid" for doing the surveys.

Thank you all for reminding me that investing in my DS is a good thing. Helps stregthen our relationship and shows him we care by spending time with him doing things he enjoys. I get so focused sometimes that I lose sight of other things.

Today I am hoping for a good day. I am pain free, I had a good mid year appraisal yesterday and someone brought in a king cake. I don't care for the sugar or filling, so I just scrap that stuff off. I the "cake" part, so I'll get a small piece. Thankfully Mardi Gras is a short season this year.

 

[eyor44]

Got a bit of good news this morning. My friend who keeps talking about going on a trip just me and her, mentioned to her DH about my recent Disney trip and the marathon. She said how much she would like to do something like that one day. He responded with "why don't you go with her next year". She told him how long it would be and how much. and he said he could handle their DD while she was gone and we had a whole year to save, so he didn't see a problem. After all, he goes on guy weekends all the time. We never thought he would let her go.

She said last night when they were walking (they do the track by their house) that he finally asked her to slow down and what was the rush. She told him, "I may have a whole year to train, but it's gonna be up before I know it and I have to be able to keep up with Lisa or she will leave me behind." She knows me waaaay to well.

 

[Amy&Dan]

Lisa, good job eating the part of the cake you like best and leaving the rest of it alone! What is a King cake? Probably a good thing we don't celebrate Mardi Gras here, if food is involved I generally celebrate a holiday way too much!

So glad your friend is good to go for WDW. You can train, plan and look forward to this together.

Great job getting the walk in and glad you are feeling better. You keep those guys at work in line, men NEED that!

 

[lovinaz]

Glad you are feeling better! And that is way cool that your friend can take the trip with you!

Is King cake the one with the little plastic baby Jesus in it? I remember a friend from college told me about it, and I think that is what it was called. Can't remember what happened if you got the baby Jesus in your piece though...