1/3/23 Here we go!! Blog 365.

 

So updated "bills/budget/checkbook"....let's just say I might be a broke B...h, but bills are paid and got a little for upcoming hiking trip.  PayPal acct balance = $0$

Capital One acct balance = $0$

Paid my half of Allegiant = Go Me (disclosure we'll be using my card for rental car so will have another 1/2 balance owed)

#letsdothis 

Just another Manic----Life ! #GoMe

Lot's have happened during the last few weeks...and when I say lots I mean L~O~T~S!

     Right after my last post was the Expo for Horse Capital Half/Full Marathon at Fasig Tipton..my friend Starr and I had been working on getting vendors for it during the past year. It was a lot of work but so worth having new connections and providing options for the runners to purchase local made merchandise. Even with all the challenges of putting it on I learned so much regarding branding/promoting from the various vendors. #GoMe

The goal for next year is of course to have it Bigger and Better..plans all ready in the works. #GoUs

     A Runner's Mom (aka This Girl) got her spot on the local radio WHIR1230AM (Tuesday mornings at 8:15) ...#GoMe !!

I'm beyond excited to be able to get information out to anyone/everyone that listens regarding races I'm involved in, which has actually opened a few more opportunities for me doing race photography.  

     I competed in the She Power 5K while my daughter and her friends ran the Half Marathon and PR'd !! #GoMe  It was the first time walk/running in the rain which may have had some factor in the said PR..

I helped a friend out with photography for her first Women's retreat during their 4mile race at Rising Sons Winery, again So Much Fun! Then competed again for Christmas in July 5K in Indianapolis no PR but still just under 45minutes, #GoMe

     My ''The Picture Lady Photography'' schedule has been full since my last post as well 12 races reported on A Runner's Mom radio talk show - with most weekends coming up booked along with a couple I'm going to do while my runner daughter and her BRF's (best running friends) do their thing.

     I [we] bought a different vehicle.. a Ford EcoSport her name is Ethel, something I really had not planned on but with all the traveling I will be doing helping with races and finding out everything that was going wrong with the Taurus I'm glad we did. We ended up with a Great vehicle along with a Fantastic Deal...I am one of Those People, an amount was planned for car payment and it happened with 15$ to spare. Another #GoMe 

     A unexpected expense was the washer not doing it's thing correctly....[because it was part of a  appliance 'Lowes Package Deal ' back before we got married] the washer was a bit Fancy, electronic timing start/stop wash settings and thinking it would last for my lifetime duration but alas It. Did. Not. I refused to buy another 'Fancy' washer like the Mr wanted to do, we went to a local scratch & dent store and guess what their machines come from Lowes! Go Figure...bought the same brand for a third of what the other one was, it's Bigger and is simple to start/stop/wash...#GoMe

    The Mr goes on Medicare/Medicaid soon so on the hunt for reasonable medical insurance on me for the next few months (I qualify next April), it is Ridiculous ! Wish me Luck!

     Now it's a matter of planning/organizing/scheduling my time, work on re-budgeting money [putting extra $$ to Ethel's payment], looking ahead for what's yet to come for this Fall & Winter. I have several goals & Plans to do yet this year luckily as a #retirednotexpired person I can work on them at my own pace or Not. In the meantime gonna try and link up with Sandra for Happy Homemaker Monday.  

The Weather...
     Finally a bit cooler but with Rain in the Forecast, Last week had so HIGH Temps it was almost unbearable!

What I'm reading...

     Finishing up

Then going back too ..... it's normal to read multiple books at a time ...Right??

TV Shows this week...

     I have a few movies DVR'd,
     anything RH,
     Elementary,
     Instinct

Menu Plan...

     Grilled Chicken Breast will add some kind of side
     Taco Salad
     Grilled Salmon & salad
     Mixed Greens Salad with lots of added Yummies..yellow bell pepper, shredded carrots, tomato's from the garden, sugar snap peas, black beans,
     Spaghetti
     Frozen bagged meal [there a few to choose from in the freezer]

This Week To Do/Goal List...
      Finish this post....

     fine tune A Runner's Mom radio show list
     finish #IMOMSOHARD book,
     work on August Budget,
     plan and pre-post FB for Run for the Ribs 5K I'm organizing,
     inventory pantries & freezer,
     get a least 3 walks this week,
     attend Team Beef meeting with the daughter,

     

Project this Week...

     Re-organize basement,
     add other portable closet for work out gear,
     deliver collected shoes for Sole4Souls shoe drive [day trip with the Mr]

     deep clean Dining Room
 

Todays Motivation...

   

#GoMe

I can see clearly now! - Water everyday - Zumba

 

 

It is isn't it...Tuesday and feeling like it should be Thursday at the Very Least....

 

Got all my Favorite containers filled, ready to...I do this daily! Huge thanks to my friend Julie for making my Flamingo Mama & MOM SQUAD cups...LOVE'em

 

Started the day of course with COFFEE!! Thinking I should really cut back on this....Not!

The first thing rolling my day was the dishwasher, of all the daily chores I do this is the one I Hate to do...don't know why cause it's the simplest one to do...Loading it I'm OK with but putting them away...Shew'eee if it wasn't for the sink and counters getting over ran by dirty dishes/pots & pans I would let the sucker go until I need something out of it, that's what I get for cooking instead of going out to eat.....

The countdown has begun for this chore to pass onto the MR - 13 more days and he joins the retirement club...THIRTEEN! Well to be honest he's actually not retiring then but with vacation he has already accrued and the Floating Holidays his last ''working'' day is mid-month. I Can't Wait! We have much to do and the ''Planning'' has begun, not just with household & yard projects but his newest adventure...post coming soon I Promise! 

 

A little TV time today for a change before heading to get some new specks....it's been a while since I got different glasses, but do to the whole MR retiring thing getting ready to happen I figured get'em while I can now.

My prescription has changed a lot bit and the cataracts have grown some....nothing to worry about yet as I expected them to develop long before now [Thanks Mom-got that heredity thing].

 

Meal prep for tonight Meatless Meal for the win...Baked Sweet Potato, Sweet corn, Cottage Cheese, and Salad is on the menu...

 

Prepped for the gym last night all I need to do is get there...luckily there wasn't any of the expected rain, sleet, snow forecasted last night so I won't be late...

 

I've missed going to class and though I need to take it easy and not over-do it I will make exercise & fitness & healthy eating a better priority. 

Zumba with Mavis was on point as Always!! Love, Love, LOVE her teaching... just enough pause between songs to show the steps ahead of the music...

 

Back to working on the meal plan [three weeks worth done-go me] I started planning for winter meals a long time ago and as $$ allowed I would pick up items to use for later and cooked extra meals more so for the MR to re-heat when I am gone on destination races,

schedules [gym-meetings-races for the win],

and budgets [almost balanced]....

 

 

That's my Thursday crap Tuesday hope you're all doing well!

 

 

Do you Zumba??

How much water do you get in a Day?

Can you plan 3weeks worth of meals?

Hugs, Kisses, Safe Run/Walk Wishes

A Runners Mom and More

2016 Projects and a $$Budget$$

Since just before getting married I (we) try and do a list of projects. More recently projects haven't been as Major.  Mr and I came to an agreement that we would get the home place as ready as we could for when and If we are able to retire. In the past three years we had the whole House "Electrical" updated, re-painting/wall paper all the rooms (ex-wife colors O~U~T!), bought new kitchen appliances, laminate flooring  in the kitchen, new Large capacity washer & dryer, and purchased a Huge generator (we will not be stuck with out power like we had been during the ice/snow of 2009) did we stay on budget with everything? Almost, we only went over a few hundred dollars because I forgot to factor in a new dryer outlet & cord. Oh well not the end of the world.
Now for 2016 finally our list of projects are more of what I ''want'' instead of what we ''need''.


2016 Project list & estimated budget:

• The downstairs bath will get overhauled & upstairs tub reglazed $750.00
• Heating & Cooling for the upstairs $450.00
• Roof Repair (stupid Leak) $1200.00 (only a guesstimate, need to still contact roofers)
• Re-vamp landscaping $300.00 
• Fridge for the Garage $200.00-$450.00

So there we are one NEED aka roof, the rest are Wants. Is it bad to already be thinking ahead for 2017 projects?

Re-Invention " 101 " Budgeting

Re-invention a word that seems a bit intimidating to some. For me it's going to be a 2016 New Improved Me process. There are so many things I really NEED to do, Things I'm planning on doing, the list could go on and on.
Going back to some of my old ways will happen this year, being more diligent with money/budget will be top on my list due to a major change going on in the company I work for.



Hopefully by the beginning of summer employees should know something good, bad or otherwise about what the company is going to do. Am I concerned?? Ummmm no, should I be?? Probably but guess what, they can't take my birthday. Rumors flying around about the split is there will be wage freezes &/or standardized wages by position, possibility setting a flat 2 week policy for all employed after 1year (this will take 3weeks of vaca time from me), price increase for insurance (yet again!!). So what to do?? Well I'm going to ride out the storm like I have in the past.

Time taken - not on my side!

     I last posted [finally] that I wasn't a slacker, and really I'm not. I get side tracked sometimes, maybe I schedule to many activities at the same time, possibly get in some much needed OT at work which I always work [you do what ya gotta when your a broke you know what] or volunteer to help out taking pictures for one of the runner kids, but, that means you get
                                          far,
                                   far,
                                far,
behind with the blog stuff. I do stay on an 'even' status with the day to day stuff, most of the time. I have a system for getting laundry washed, dried, and folded, H2B though has to either go downstairs to retrieve his clothes or not. It really is that simple, get them and put them away or leave the clothes in piles on the table it don't matter to me. I have a rod hung up under the stairs that I hang my t-shirts on and since I down there so much I get what ever I'm going to wear on a daily basis, it works for me so don't judge!

     One of the items that I posted before was the fact that a nephew had found me after 30+ years. At this point in time I still have yet to hear back from him about getting to know each other and hopefully meet up. I have sent another message to him on FB and have sent a email asking a few generic questions. He has two different jobs listed on his profile {FB} so I know he's most likely busy, busy, busy. From his picture there he favors my brother in stature and a little in his looks, but I do see his Momma in him as well. I'm not going to be discouraged - yet - and pray that he still wants to be a part of my family. I'll keep everyone posted!!  [posted get it? like in keeping this blog up to date posted!!]

     Something that I'm going to share here is the engagement photo that H2B had arranged to be taken. Have I told you yet how great he is and how spoiled I am? The picture thing was on my wedding list of things to do, and of course being the cheap ass that I am I was going to work on taking them myself, with the whole timer option thing and what ever!!! and then hope for the best. But instead we have the following;

     I'm not a big fan of the antique look but for an engagement notice in the paper it will be perfect!! The sales rep was a friend of H2B's from 50 years ago - yeah we're old  - they played B'ball together when they were about 8 or 9. He was good at selling H2B on buying this or that package of pictures, {have I mentioned that I'm a cheap ass}??  We have the advertised 10X13 collage of pics and then added a 5X7 and 4 wallets for $25, and that was all! Bless his heart he did try but I had my budget set...period. It will be in the local paper in about 6 weeks can't wait!! I have picked up the few invites that we are sending out, my friend Dana has been a GOD send doing this stuff for me. She hand embossed a swirly thing on the invites as well as printed them too! I have the lights for the trees ready to deliver to her along with the table cloth she wants to use. The last thing to get to her will be the birdcage decoration thing that the MIL2B has made. With that said I will close for tonight, though this is suppose to be a "runner" blog this is also what I am.......


a runners mom~~that's what I am!

Computer/Cash/Credit

Pull up a chair, get comfy, have a drink it's going to be a long post, hope you stick with me till the end...............

This was me-before H2B was in the picture and before our first years together- incurring debt during previous marriage, and plain stupidity on my part, and it was a fairly sizable DEBT!!

More than I want to admit..... 

$~$,~$~$~$~$

Then, even though I was finally in a much happier place-still before H2B-more purchases were made, (rewarding myself for not killing anyone) all on credit, a lot!

More than I want to admit....

If you haven't been out of control with spending I would Love to shake your hand and congratulate you. It wasn't easy for me to admit to my self that 'Hey Lady' there's a bit of a problem here..Your broke again two days after payday...the paycheck is gone?? So I looked at the countless entries in the checkbook registry....Deficient spending waiting it's turn....measly amounts to various card companies.

**** C~R~A~Z~Y ****

It had to stop...,it was going to stop! I was going to be in control not the credit cards. So I started making a plan...
making a budget...
cutting up cards...

it was HARD to do at first....but I buckled down, then out of curiosity I sent for a free credit report...yet another rude awakening...

[enter 4letter word here]

So there I was, living paycheck to paycheck, digging my way out of the Debt Gutter,

which comes to present day..

I still have a credit card that I (still) owe on but its shrinking every month. I'm making extra payments every chance I get, and want/will be at zero balance by the end of 2014. Do I have all the other cards back? Yes I do, but they are locked up. Occasionally I have used one but only when necessary, for instance hotel rooms in 2009 during mom's funeral, and paid the bill across 3 pay periods. 

I'm doing this on my own...taking responsibility for what I have done to myself and making better choices for my spending. Yes I still have a splurge day, or two, or three, But I always get back on track and I don't use the credit cards.

With all this said, most of my postings have been during breaks from work where I have no privacy {AT ALL!} though I have used the H2B computer whenever I have had a chance. I have finally been able to purchase another laptop, though refurbished/used new to me from the good folks at 'The Computer House' and it is paid for in full...

~~~with Cash~~~!!

And Blogging Again Finally!!

arunnersmom~that what I am!