Fish Don't Eat Marbles

Resolution Time!

2012-01-03T00:58:00.000-08:00

Everyone starts talking about resolutions - it's the NEW YEAR; we must set goals!! I can't help but think about those things I've been wanting/needing to do. The beginning of the year does seem like a good time to write them down, create a checklist, if you will. I may not accomplish them all, but here is what I have so far:

1. Lose about 35 more pounds by May 20 for the Bay to Breakers and for Sylvia's wedding on May 26 (spaghetti straps - eek!!!). This one is a must - I want to beat my time at Bay to Breakers and want to have rockin' arms for the wedding!

2. See more movies at the movie theater - I miss seeing movies! The summer I saw everything that came out is still one of my favorite summers.....

3. Read at least one "for fun" book every week. The book club book is one, now I just need to do 3 more a month. Right now, I am reading "Nickled and Dimed" by Barbara Ehrenreich. Well, I started it anyway.....

4. Blog more - at least once a week. My poor blog gets neglected when I get busy, but I want to make it a priority. Writing has always been something I've enjoyed, and I feel good when I do it. So I need to get to it!

5. Get organized and stay that way. Yeah, I don't know about this one. I am semi-organized, but I have a hard time keeping the clutter at bay. I used to be sooo neat at my old job. My desk was always neat when I left for the day, and everything had a place. I was super organized at work, but I've never been able to completely carry that over to home. I think I might have to call a professional organizer for this one.

6. Pay off the last debt - my student loan. With my new, old job, we should be able to pay off the balance this year. I am so excited to be done with debt.

So there they are - my "resolutions" for 2012. I'll keep you posted on how I'm doing!

Happy New Year!!

The TV Died....

2011-12-14T23:00:00.000-08:00

Right in the middle of watching "Whose Line Is It, Anyway?" with the teenager, the TV went black and made a little zap noise. It's dead. Even though the title of thist post is about the TV dying, the post is actually about why I'm not freaking out about the TV dying, a really cool feeling actually. I have to thank Dave Ramsey because without his plan to financial freedom, I would have whipped out a credit card to fix everything this last month, and I'd be worrying how to pay it next month. Instead, I checked my checkbook and the only thing I have to think about is where to find a good deal on a good TV that I will buy with cash.

#1 - The TV is 13 years old - it's ancient, right? It's 25" - tiny compared to today's TV standards. I bought it in January 1998 when I got my dinky little apartment in Orange County for me and the now teenager. It was my first major purchase - about $200. I had ordered it from Penney's and used my charge card. I don't know how long it actually took me to pay it off or how much I actually ended up paying. But it was "my" TV - I felt very grown up when I bought it. I knew it wouldn't last forever; therefore, there is no need to freak out that it died. Instead, I laughed.

#2 - H is getting a bonus. So H works A TON, which means he is working A TON of hours that can billed to the company's client, which means that he makes the company a profit and he gets a percentage, albeit a small one, of that profit, which becomes a bonus that pays out over a quarter. Yep, bonus = extra money for crazy stuff like the TV dying = I am not freaking out.

#3 - We have an emergency fund. Does a new TV count as an emergency? Even if H didn't have a bonus, we have an emergency fund, but I am trying to figure out if this counts. Probably not. But, considering that we've have some actual emergencies this month, the emergency fund does cover those (see #4 for the list), so there is money for a new TV! See, no need to freak out here!

#4 - This is the way the past month has been going. Brakes for the SUV = $384. H's computer repair = $180. Heater repair = $184. Dishwasher repair = $194. A grand total of $942 in "extra" spending since mid-November. Really, I am so not surprised that the TV died. It was inevitable that something major would happen after I've already forked out nearly $1000 to keep things running. Really, all I can do is keep laughing. This is funny stuff, right?

Oh did I mention that the Wii is acting up? I am not dealing with that 'til next year....

Ch-ch-ch-changes....

2011-10-01T20:19:00.000-07:00

Here we go - time to make another change in my life!

Remember last year when I was SO excited that I was doing SO much teaching? (need a refresher - go here) Well, that wore off. I am not against working hard, but crap, grading essays is harder than hard. It takes a lot of hours to grade a stack of essays. If they're written well, it's not too bad. But more often that not, the majority of the essays are poorly written, and those take much longer to grade. Of course, then there are the cheaters. It takes time running the document through Turnitin, tracking down original sources to compile the evidence, and finally reporting the student to the program director or dean. And once I've caught a cheater, I'm so mad that I have to stop grading for a while. The process takes up a good chunk of one weekend day for one class. I had 4. Essays have been consuming my life.

But no more! I still have 2 classes at the local community, but I am taking time off from the business school to get control over my own life again. I get to be home and take care of my house again. Actually fold the laundry and put it away, not just toss it on the living room floor. Clean up the piles of various school-related papers that have been accumulately for 2 years (can I finally get them organized? O.M.G!). Do some home improvement projects, plan a garage sale, cook real meals! There is so much I can do now that there will be time! I also get to be home and take care of me again. Anyone want to get to the gym with me?! I've got to get back in the pool. I can take time to plan menus and cook healthy meals. I can go for walks. All without feeling guilty that I should be grading.... Last, but certainly not least, I get to be home to spend time with the family. Arts and crafts with the little princess. Movies with the teenager. Date night?!?!?!?!? Is it really possible?

I will have TIME. Can anyone ask for anything better?

(I have to give so very much gratitude to my wonderful significant other who provides for this family, sometimes being away days or weeks at a time. Without him, this change would not be possible. Thanks, honey!)

When I did this last time....

2011-09-14T21:55:00.000-07:00

I recently revisited my first Weight Watchers experience in 2004 to give myself a reminder that it CAN be done. I went back in November of last year, and I've been struggling every single day since. Ok, maybe not every day; some days I completely ignore the fact that I should watch what I eat. For the most part, though, it's there, in the back of mind, nagging and bitching at me: "Don't eat that! Ugh, you know better. What's wrong with you?"

So, back to 2004. I started at the end of August and a week later, my dad passed away. My emotions were all over the place, and I had school that I needed to concentrate on. I felt like I couldn't control anything, but I could control food. I was focused, super intense on tracking everything I ate and sticking to my points every day. Obviously, the plan worked. In 18 weeks, I lost 25 pounds. During those 18 weeks, I maintained in Week 4, gained 0.2 in Week 6, gained 0.8 in Week 8, and gained 0.8 in Week 15. Seriously - I lost weight in 14 of those 18 weeks to the tune of 25 pounds. That's awesome. By August of 2005, after one year on Weight Watchers, I had lost 44 pounds. I looked and felt better than I had in about 10 years.

Flashforward to September 2011. I have now been back on the plan since November 29 - 41.29 weeks (thanks WolframAlpha). I have managed, barely, to keep off 2.2 pounds. Are you fucking kidding me? And there I am in my head, wondering every day what my problem is. What is so different this time that I can't seem to focus for more than 2 consecutive days?

Epiphany. It came in the past couple weeks. If you've been reading, a recent post detailed my unhappiness with one of my jobs. Once I made the decision to not teach there in the coming term, a huge weight was lifted from my shoulders.  Part of the conflict was not wanting to disappoint my supervisor, a woman whom I respect and enjoy spending time with outside of work. But I also knew that if I didn't take time for me, I was on a fast track to serious burnout. I really need to work on me.

I was reminded last week by my Weight Watchers leader that when I lost the weight in 2004, I was a single mom going to school and working part time. Life was mellower then - my responsibilities were limited to caring for one kid, passing my classes, and getting work on time.  Truly, life was much easier then. Now, I have two kids, a significant other who spends significant time working out of town, a full-time plus workload teaching writing between two schools, a volunteer position with a local group, and various on-the-side business ventures. Yeah, just a little busier than before. Duh, and I wonder why I have no time for me. I'm always doing other things - I'm low on the list.

But no more.  When I did this last time, I made ME a priority. It's time to put ME first again.

Open Window

2011-09-08T23:12:00.000-07:00

I'm at peace with where my life is at the moment. I had to make a tough decision, but once I did, everything else seemed to fall into place. It's a great feeling, but not anything that I can put into words, so I've borrowed some pictures from the internet to show you. Enjoy!

http://myartlessonplans.com/

http://wallpapers.free-review.net/42__Spring_Blossoms.htm

http://www.taltopia.com/view/177265/

http://www.arthit.ru/abstract/0079/abstract-art-18.html

http://vectorart.org/swirl-flower-vector-graphic/

Grading ... Not Grading

2011-09-05T14:08:00.000-07:00

I am supposed to be grading. It feels like I'm always supposed to be grading. Yes, I knew this was going to be part of the job going in, but I never in my wildest dreams could have imagined the sheer tedium of grading essays into which virtually no effort has been put.

I have ranted about students and grading before (here and here), but the apathy appears to be getting worse. Either that, or I am getting more and more bitchy and sensitive about the students' lack of care.

To top it off, at one of the schools where I teach, there is a culture of doing more to make the students happy, rather than put the burden of educational responsibility where it belongs - on the students themselves. How are we teaching them to survive in the real world if we continuously pander to their dependence? My teenager is more independent than more than half the students who come into my classroom. He know that excuses don't fly, so don't even try. He could teach my students a thing or two about taking responsibility, but they wouldn't hear it.

School can be a fun and exciting time, but the majority of the time spent in school is time spent working, including approximately 2-3 hours of work outside of class for each hour spent in. Many students don't do the work for reasons unknown to me. It could be that they're lazy, they forgot, or they just don't bother (I'm leaning toward the last). Am I not supposed to assign work outside of class now? I can just see it: "Students are unhappy with completing homework outside of class; therefore, we have decided that all work must be completed in class, so students are free to party and not think about school once they leave every day." This is not outside of the realm of possibility: students were just given equal parking rights. If you're an adjunct instructor with classes later in the day, you get to park in the back of the lot. Hope you didn't piss off any students today, or you might end up with a keyed door.

The whole thing has made me a bit bitter about my chosen profession. Yes, I entered into this career knowing that I had to do the dirty work, but I didn't foresee the politics involved in making sure students are happy so that they stay enrolled, rather than focusing my energy on those students who give a shit about learning something, about bettering themselves to get that better job, about learning for the sake of gaining knowledge about the world. Why do I have to spend my and my family's time putting energy into something that so blatantly doesn't deserve it? Maybe I'll start using this method to grade essays from now on (he uses exams, but I think the principle will hold): Guide to Grading Exams.

I just now realized that my blue pen and correction tape match, as do the grey pen and stapler - that was totally not planned. I'll try to take that as the silver lining to this cloud. Maybe it will spur me to continue grading.....

Law Abiding Citizen

2011-08-25T14:51:00.000-07:00

So, those who know me know that I follow most rules. I don't want to get into a whole social, political, or philosophical discussion about it, but suffice it to say that I think there are rules/laws that are ridiculous, and I don't feel any remorse for not following them, like these Fresno gems:

Skipping rocks in a city park is not allowed (full text here)
No one may annoy a lizard in a city park (full text here)

And there is one law that I have broken quite often since it was put into effect on July 1, 2008 - the cell phone law in California that requires drivers to use a hands-free device when using a cell phone while driving. Usually, I don't have the phone in my hand (and therefore am not breaking the law); most of the time, I have the phone on speaker on my lap or under the seatbelt on my shoulder. But occasionally, I hold the phone in my hand while I'm talking. Today, I got busted.

Thank you, Mr. Highway Patrol, for giving me a story to tell my students to explain why I was late to class this morning.

Sunday Morning Ritual

2011-08-21T16:48:00.000-07:00

I am a creature of habit. Quite often, I stick to an unwavering routine, though I'm not against change, especially when it's really really good. Today was good.

I wake up by 5 every day during the week, and Sunday is usually the only day of the week I don't have to wake up to an alarm. Of course, when your body is used to waking up at 5, it considers 7 "sleeping in." So it was that I awoke at 7 this morning.

I decided to go with it and get some things done. I got my 5 newspapers (yes, you read that right - visit me at www.suzyqpon.com to see why) and got my 5 coupon inserts and checked the ads for more great coupons. I sorted my inserts and typed up a list of the coupons in today's paper and posted to my website. I then sorted other loose coupons that I have floating around and started my list for Winco.

I had almost 2 hours to myself and got quite a bit done. That little bit of quiet was something I really needed. Once the family began to emerge, I made pancakes for breakfast (Bisquick - recipe is on the box; use the Supreme Pancakes option YUM!), ready to get on with the usual routine - grading and class prep!

Sunday at 7 am - be ready, you'll be seeing me from now on.

Couponing!

2011-08-11T12:59:00.000-07:00

Couponing has taken on a life of it's own. Therefore, all my couponing related posts from now own will be posted at www.SuzyQpon.com! Head on over and check it out.

And while you're at it, come "like" me on Facebook, too: www.facebook.com/SuzyQpon

Mommy

2011-07-31T23:33:00.000-07:00

My daughter calls me "Mommy." I like it; that's who I am to her. I am her "mommy" - there is only one other person in the world who has called me Mommy (he grew out of it - punk). It's my title in my home, but don't confuse it with a descriptor of who I am - the term does not define me.

I hate (loathe, destest, despise, abhor, anathematize) the term "mommy" when used by adult women to describe themselves.

I think it stems from the fact that part of the problem with many kids today is their sense of entitlement. They've been given everything they've ever wanted from the moment they graced their parents' lives. There is a sense in young people that just because they are alive, they don't have to work for anything. And it comes back to their "mommies" in the end.

This new breed of mother, the "mommies," are women who are now making their children the focus of their whole world. Their entire identity is wrapped up in their children, giving all of their time and energy over to the kids. Giving, giving, giving - all the time. And the kids learn to take, take, take with no thought of anyone but themselves.

My mom was a stay at home mom until I was about 7 when she had to rejoin the workforce. Even still, when she was at home, I knew that I was not the sole focus of her life. That's not to say that we didn't spend time together, but she had a home to run and other kids to take care of. I got pawned off on the older siblings at times or was sent outside to play and get out of her hair. My happiness, while I know that my mom wanted to make sure I was happy, was not the whole of her job. She taught me to find happiness on my own and to think about things on my own, without her. Life doesn't work that way. The best moms teach their kids to be independent.

And that's an issue I have with the "mommies" today. Their kids are never on their own! Mommy is always there (helicopter mom), ensuring little darling's happiness at all moments. Mommy has to be sure that the apple of her eye is perfectly comfortable with everything he or she wants to be fulfilled (no, I didn't say need - I don't dismiss that these women provide for the needs of their children, for the most part). Little princess always get a toy when out shopping with Mommy. Little buddy has all the video game systems and every new game that comes out. Mommy is always there, ensuring happiness, but never allowing Junior to learn that sometimes life brings disappointment, sometimes life makes you wait for what you want.

All this is just to say that the phrase, "I'm a mommy," really drives me up the wall. Some will think I'm a bad mother, but whatever. I know I'm doing it right. My kids will be strong, independent members of society. They will treat others with respect, and they will never expect to get something they don't deserve. And that's because I'm only Mommy by title. My actual job description is educator: I am teaching my kids how to live in the real world! And to do that, my kids have seen their mom in all her roles, not just one: mom, teacher, friend, sister, daughter, girlfriend, TV junkie, writer, editor, helper (there's more, but I'm tired)....

Now, if I could only get these women to see themselves as more, too.

Weight Loss.... Yet Again

2011-07-28T23:26:00.000-07:00

(Warning: Lengthy Post!)

Ugh. Here I am again. It's been almost 5 years since I got pregnant with my cute little munchkin. Nearly 5 years since my weight loss progress came to a screeching halt and made a tire-squealing u-turn back the other direction to the tune of 60 pounds. Ugh is about the only word for it. I've been back to Weight Watchers (WW) 4 times since 2007 with no progress whatsoever. I'm getting sick and tired of being sick and tired, as Dave Ramsey would say. But I can't figure out what's holding me back. Apparently, I'm not sick and tired enough. One day I might post my actual weight, but for now, you'll just have to be satisfied that it's A LOT.

My weight loss journey started in 2003. A few months before I graduated from Cal State San Marcos, I decided I would try Atkins (don't worry - I know how bad an idea that is!). In about a month, I lost 20 pounds. That was great as a kick start, but completely unsustainable. I gave up the Atkins and over the next year, managed to keep off 12 pounds.

In 2004, at the end of August, I signed up for WW for the first time in my life. My sister had been on it for several months and was really successful. She had lost a ton of weight, and being the competitive person I am, couldn't stand that she was losing weight while I wasn't. It was on!

One week after I joined WW, my dad died. I felt like my life was out of control. I didn't do as well in school that semeseter as I could have because I couldn't seem to focus on anything school related. But, I could focus on food. And focus I did. It was something I had absolute control over, and I watched my points and tracked my food for days, weeks, months without letting up. My momentum carried me to a 25-pounds weight loss in the first 5 months (including Christmas and New Year's!).
Between 2005 and 2006, I lost another 21 pounds.

In that time, I swam, did Walk Away the Pounds videos, lifted weights, never took stairs, and hiked. I was active and had my food under control. I was maintaining--still above my goal weight, but maintaining very well. I had days when I slipped, but I always got right back on track.

And then came pregnancy #2. It was so vastly different from #1. I was nauseated ALL the time. It abated a little when I ate something, so I snacked A LOT. But I was tired. Sheer physical exhaustion. When I came home from work every day, I crashed. I was barely able to get kid #1 dinner and get him to bed before I passed out. I was spotting and worried every day that I would miscarry. And the weight came on, slowly at first but picking up momentum as each month went by. In about my 5th or 6th month, I gained 10 pounds in a month. And that was the month I watched what I was eating! My doctor was concerned about toxemia because of the weight gain (luckily, it wasn't an issue, as I didn't have the accompanying hypertension). Anyway, I gained 60 pounds with Miss Munchkin and have yet to take it off. That's the point I guess.

I am disappointed in myself. I KNOW what it takes to do well at WW. I know exactly what I have to do to take this weight off and keep it off. I can't blame it on WW, as others do when they fail, because it's not WW--it's me. So what the hell is my problem? I haven't figured it out yet, but I am going to keep going. I have to. I can't spend the next 4 years where I am now. I CANNOT turn 40 and feel like this because I know how good it felt to be strong, toned, and in shape.

In 2009, I started WW again at the beginning of the year, go here and here if you want to read about it. And then I changed careers in early 2010, which derailed me again. In November 2010, I started again. By March of 2011, I had lost 9 pounds. I gained it back (exactly 9 pounds) by May. Since June, I have kept 3 pounds off. But really? In 4 years, that's my progress? Ugh, indeed.

This week, I went back to my meeting. And I'm making a commitment to blog about the ups and downs. Please send your positive vibes my way, and don't be shy about commenting - I need the encouragement!

Vacation 2011

2011-07-17T18:35:00.000-07:00

We've been back from our 12 day road-trip vacation for 3 days now. We're both back to work tomorrow, the little munchkin is back to preschool, and the teenager is back to riding full time for the remainder of his summer. I feel like it was so much longer that we were away. Probably because I've never actually had a 2-week vacation before. Usually, we go somewhere for a week but spend 2 of those days on the road. This trip was mostly road!

July 2-5, we spent driving. Clovis to Salt Lake City to Casper, Wyoming, to Mount Rushmore, to Worthington, Minnesota, and finally to Bloomington, Minnesota. While on the road, we made sure to look for license plates from other states. We racked up a lot of them at Mount Rushmore, but over the course of the entire trip, we got all but 3 states (Hawaii, Rhode Island, and Alabama). We even spotted plates from 5 Canadian provinces!

While in Minnesota, we saw all my siblings and their spouses and kids (minus a brother-in-law and a nephew); aunts, uncle, and cousins from my dad's side of the family; cousins and an aunt from my mom's side of the family; the town where my mom grew up; the largest boot (Red Wing Shoe Museum); Wisconsin across the Mississippi; Como Park Zoo; and the Mall of America.

On the way home, we went through Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, and Nevada, coming home through Yosemite. We saw John Wayne's birthplace, which happens to be the same place where a couple of the bridges of Madison County are. We saw 2 of them. In Nebraska, we saw a Pony Express station, and in Wyoming, we saw a Lone Tree in the middle of the highway. We came into Colorado up north through Laramie, Wyoming, and stayed in a ski town where it was about 58 degrees (so nice after the heat and humidity everywhere else on the trip). In Utah, we stayed with my sister and her family for a night. In Nevada, we just drove - it's a long way across!

Our last night on the road, we stayed in Reno, then made our way to Lake Tahoe before taking Tioga Road through Yosemite to get home. We stayed in Staybridge Suites - it was awesome! Lake Tahoe was beautiful. The kids and I had never been there, and we had fun on a trail next to the edge, climbing on rocks and watching a parasailer. The little munchkin got to see snow for the first time on Tioga Road - the road was still closed up until about a month ago, so there is still a lot of snow along the road and in the trees. As always, Yosemite was amazing. The falls were roaring down the rock faces, and we enjoyed the views of the valley from the road, stopping at the Tunnel View overlook to see El Cap and Half Dome one last time on the way out.

We had a wonderful vacation, and survived all that togetherness! We saw quite a bit of the country that we hadn't seen before, found a few geocaches, and got to meet cousins for the first time. But, as with all vacations, it was fantastic to get home!

Shopping Update - Week of 6/19

2011-06-26T14:27:00.000-07:00

For those of us in the crazy couponing world, the shopping week starts on Sunday (Wednesday for grocery stores). I've already cut out and organized all my coupons and reviewed the ads from the Sunday paper to see what deals are out there that I just can't pass up. This coming week, I won't be buying a lot of anything, since we're at the end of the month, and I've done the big trips earlier in the month.

This past week, though, I did stock up on some items from various stores. I promised a shopping recap for the week, so here it is:

Vons - Spent $47.60, saved $78.13 (62%)
This was the best trip of the week, and my best savings ever at a grocery store! I received VonsClub mailers at the beginning of the week with coupons for free products and really good discounts. Overall, I had $10 off a $50 purchase, 10% off the entire purchase, $5 off Rancher's Reserve meat, $0.30/lb off bananas, and my other coupons. Free items: pineapple, eggs (not pictured), soup, cereal (not pictured), and apple juice. Items under $1: Gatorade, bread, salsa, peanut butter, mac & cheese.

Savemart - Spent $19.50, saved $27.28 (58%)

I mainly went in for the cereal promotion - Cheerios and Cinnamon Toast Crunch for $1.49 when you buy 4. I had 3 coupons for $0.50 off each box of Cheerios (none for the CTC), so I paid just $1.12 for each box. Another promotion was for Almond Accents and Marie's Salad Dressing for $1.99 when you buy 4. I bought 2 of each with coupons ($1.25 off 2 Marie's and $1 off one Almond Accents). Regular price for both products is $3.99. I would have saved more, but I also bought milk, which is $3.09/gallon. I didn't want to make the drive to Winco just for milk, even though I would have saved $1.60.

CVS - Spent $7.60, saved $14.09 (58%)

This was my smallest trip of the week. I bought Twizzler's and Pantene. The candy was $4 for 2 packs, so I bought 4 packs, using 2 coupons for $1 off 2 packs. The Pantene was 2 for $6.97 with $2 in ExtraBucks reward when you buy 2. I also had a coupon for $3 off 2 products. I also had a $3 ExtraBucks coupon from another trip. (Note: when calculating savings and cost per item, most couponing sites count the ExtraBucks you earn toward the items just purchased, NOT toward the future purchase. It still works out the same, as long you don't let them expire!)

Target - Spent 39.29, saved $28.55 (42%)

I might have saved more at Target had the refrigerated section not been out of service due to the extensive remodel. That's OK - 42% is still a decent savings. The best deals from this trip were the Sally Hansen nail polish and top coats (I ended up getting them for $1.09 each), Crystal Light packets ($1.22 each), and BBQ sauce (87 cents for one brand, 91 cents for another). The grocery section of Target is getting bigger, and Target has a TON of printable coupons that can be matched with manufacturer coupons for really great savings on a lot of products.

Total Spent $113.99

Total Saved $143.05 (55%)

OCD

2011-06-24T22:54:00.000-07:00

Yes, I have it. Obsessive Couponing Disorder. I admit it.

I already had the bug (read about it here), but this week I really stepped it up. I had a binder, but I had to upgrade to a bigger one to fit all the new coupons I printed (target.com, coupons.com, couponnetwork.com, smartsource.com, redplum.com, and many more). My old binder had a loose organizational system, but when I found the contents and dividers pages at thekrazycouponlady.com, I knew I had to have them.

I printed, I tabbed, and I reorganized. I used plastic sheet protectors for the divider pages, Post-it tabs to number the categories, and trading card pages for the coupons. I had to buy another 3 packs of trading card pages (total of 6 so far) to have enough (just made it - phew!).

I have an awesome coupon binder, and I am ready to save!

Coming Sunday: Shopping trip update from this past week.... Stay tuned!

Extreme Couponing - California Style

2011-05-24T20:59:00.000-07:00

I am hooked on that Extreme Couponing show. I am amazed by what those shoppers can achieve at the checkout line. I am jealous of their 96% savings. I am flabbergasted by their $25,000 stockpiles. I am in awe of the time spent on couponing. You get the idea....

But I can't do what they do where I live. There is no longer a grocery store that double coupons, since Ralphs closed about 5 years ago. And we aren't allowed to do coupon stacking, the process by which a shopper can use multiple manufacturer coupons on one item to bring the price down, sometimes all the way to zero. So how extreme can I actually get?

Well... I can save almost half every time I go to the store. For me, for this area, I think that's pretty darn good. But it takes work, every week to keep it up. I go to 6 different stores almost every week, and the trick to being successful is knowing the "regular" price of the items we use all the time. There will never be a $25,000 stockpile in my garage, but I do stock up on what we use.

There are tricks to maximizing savings. Each Sunday, I clip coupons for items we use and things we might want to try. Then I go through the ads for the stores where I know I can get the best deals: CVS, Walgreen's, and Target (grocery store ads show up on Tuesday or Wednesday). I look for, again, only the things we use. I always try to match up sales with coupons. I also look for rewards that the stores give, so I can save money on the next trip. I had $5 in reward coupons from Walgreen's - Christian and I got our movie candy free! I do the same at Vons and Savemart - at those stores, I ONLY shop for sale items that I have coupons for; otherwise, they are just too expensive. And my final stop is Winco for everything else.

Winco rocks! Let me just put it to you this way: I save almost $3 a box on my Kashi cereal (and I buy 3 boxes at a time), almost $4 a bag on Christian's spicy chicken wings, and over $1 a gallon for milk. Just on those items alone, I save $20 by shopping at Winco every pay period. And that's just a small example of what I save there.

My mom taught me how to coupon when I was a kid. I've done it off and on for years, but this year we got serious, and I am getting a lot more out of our grocery budget. While I may not be able to save 96%, I am still proud of what I am able to do. Want to learn more about my methods? Message me on Facebook!

Adventures in Gardening

2011-05-01T21:51:00.000-07:00

I am not a gardener. I am got good at keeping plants alive, so I never kept any. But since we moved into our house, I have found that some plants can pretty much keep themselves alive. The poppies that come up every March, for example, are extremely hardy and need absolutely no interference on my part to do their thing (you know, make my front yard gorgeous for a few months each year). The roses in our back yard, as well, have fared without me doing much of anything, other than annual pruning.

But this year, our rose bushes have not done so well. They grow well and are producing large, beautiful roses, but they appear to have some sort of fungus and they are full of aphids. We don't like to use pesticides on our plants, so off HC went to OSH to buy some ladybugs. Tonight, after hosing down the rose bushes and waiting for them to be out of the sun, we released our new little friends.

We all had fun, trying to shake them out onto the plants while many of them flew away and many crawled over our hands and arms. Finally, we got a large number of them onto the bushes, happily wandering, drinking water, and searching for food. According to the container, in a couple weeks, our bugs will lay eggs. I hope in the next couple months, we have lots of larvae and many more ladybugs.

For not being a gardener, I sure am enjoying have living plants in my yard! I have no idea what to do about the fungus on my poor rose bushes, but once our little friends eat those pesky aphids, we'll move on to that.

One of these days, I will post photos about our wildflower garden (which takes no work, either)!

Happy May Day!

Getting Older

2011-04-29T09:57:00.000-07:00

April is the month of birthdays for our family. Mom, my three brothers, and I all have our birthdays in April (plus countless friends) - it's a great month.

Mom's birthday starts the month, and every year it makes me re-evaluate what a person's age means. She is still working full-time, on her feet most of the day. Will I be able to do that when I'm her age? Will I still be as strong as she is? Will I look younger than I am, like she does?

Brother #2 has the next birthday. We're 5 years apart, but it seems much closer. Every year, I can't believe he's THAT age! He and his wife just had a baby last year - there's something about a new baby that makes a parent seem younger.

I'm the next birthday. My own birthday doesn't usually bother me, though I have to admit that when I turned 26, it was a tough day. 10 years later, my own birthday didn't bother me (I'll re-evaluate in 4 years). It was just another birthday.

3 days after my birthday is Brother #3. This is the birthday that makes me feel older every year. My brother is the baby of the family. It doesn't matter that I'm next to last - when the baby gets older, I feel it.

And, rounding out the April birthdays is Brother #1, the eldest child. He's turning 50 this year, and I'm still in shock. I have no idea how HE feels about his big day, but I can't believe I have a sibling who will have a 5 in the 10s digit of his age... Sister #2 will be joining the 50 club next year, so it's only getting closer for me. I have a ways to go until I get there, so I take comfort in the fact that my siblings have aged very well!

April brings about a more contemplative me. I wonder what my life will be like as I get older, but what I've learned so far is that I don't change much every year, other than a few more wrinkles and a couple of stray white hairs (only a few!). I'll still be me when I'm 50, perhaps just wiser? One can hope.

One More Down... One To Go!

2011-04-14T09:52:00.000-07:00

We paid off the SUV yesterday!!!!!

We paid the remaining balance of $3798.97 one year and 4 months early for a savings of almost $500 in interest!

I am so glad I found Dave Ramsey on the radio that day in 2009 - we have paid off half our debt so far. No, I won't tell you how much. Maybe when we're done, I'll shock you with the number.

We will now begin attacking my student loan (I still can't believe it equals half our debt, but it's true). We should have it completely paid off by April 2013. Only 2 more years to get completely out of debt (except for the house), and then the REAL fun will begin (saving, saving, saving, and investing!).

I highly recommend The Total Money Makeover - it changed the way we think about money.

Book Club Selection - April

2011-04-10T08:54:00.000-07:00

Reading Waiting for the World to End by Nicole Hunter this month.

So far, it's a slow read, but interesting. After reading essays, in which I hunt for sentence fragments for hours on end, the author's extensive use of fragments is kinda wearing on me. She also uses the second person narration A LOT, which drives my crazy, as it's mixed in randomly with the third person narration of the rest of the story.

I'm not even half way through; I thought a week would give my plenty of time to read this one, but I find myself thinking of ways to avoid reading it. I think it's probably a good story, but the delivery is not my cup of tea.

Freedom!

2011-04-02T15:50:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, at 1:53 PM, I felt the most amazing, incredible, wonderful sense of relief. It washed over me, taking (almost) every bit of stress out of my body. It wasn't until about 15 minutes later, getting out of the elevator at Howard's office, that I felt the sense of freedom that the end of the quarter brings. I had a huge, goofy grin on my face as the elevator doors opened.

It is difficult to describe this quarter. As I do every quarter, I change up the information a little bit, present it a little differently, try to change those things that didn't work in previous quarters. I don't think it was me. In two of my classes, my students did well. The ones who didn't pass knew the reasons why, and they know what they need to do to pass next time. In my other 2 classes (2 sections of the same class), I had the worst results ever. It's disheartening when out of a total of 36 students, only 10 pass. But again, I don't think it was me.

The 26 students who didn't pass all had one thing in common: missing work. There seems to be this sense among students that it's OK to miss work. I have this feeling that in high school, students were allowed to make up work at the end of the term in order to bring up their grades, which gave them a false sense of how the world actually works. In real life, you don't get do-overs every time you screw up or forget to do something. Sometimes, forgetting or blowing something off has real, definite, and serious consequences. So, too, in my class. I allow late work - students have basically 2 weeks to get every assignment turned in. So why is it so difficult to get it done?

The questions will remain - I don't know why the students do what they do and don't do what they should. All I know is that I'm free today, and I feel good!

Opportunity

2011-03-26T11:05:00.000-07:00

Many have heard the saying, "When opportunity knocks, open the door."

But I think this quote by Louis L'Amour says it better: "Some say opportunity knocks only once. That is not true. Opportunity knocks all the time, but you have to be ready for it. If the chance comes, you must have the equipment to take advantage of it."

So I am always on the lookout for opportunities, whatever they may be. Usually, I am looking for opportunities of the writing or editing variety that I can squeeze in to my already hectic teaching schedule. There aren't many legitimate opportunities posted on Craigslist, but every so often something interesting shows up. Earlier this week, I was hunting around the writing gigs section and there was an ad for someone to create an office procedures manual using existing memos. I sent email inquiry email (no resume, just to find out if it was actually legit). I got a response - email my resume or fax it. I looked up the name of the sender and cross-checked the fax number. Yep, legit! I updated my resume and emailed it.

I got a call the next day to come in to the office and fill out an application and take a test. I asked what kind of test they wanted me to take. A DISC personality test..... o-k. I wondered if I should save them trouble and just let them know that I'm a C-D (and have been the past few times I've taken it). Nah, I figured I'd take it again and see what came up. So yesterday, was my appointment. I showed up on time, looking professional, ready to impress.

After filling out the standard job application and taking the test, making sure I chose all the C-D answers I could (oooooh subversive...), I took another test - word use, patterns, math, etc. It made me sympathize with my students for a moment. Then I got to the good part - reviewing the binder of memos they want turned into a manual. So far so good. Thank goodness for my brief foray into medical assisting - I still remember terminology and abbreviations. Finally, they asked me to prepare a proposal, so they could make a decision that day between me and another person. They never did tell me what I scored on the DISC test, but I'm guessing it's the same as usual (exacting, systematic, and likes rules and procedures with a mix of assertiveness and determination).

This is where the other part of Louis L'Amour's quote comes in. I had a solid chance of getting this job and bringing in some extra cash to help us with our financial goals. And I knew I had the equipment to take advantage of it. I drove home wondering how I was going to write a proposal, then realized I spent nearly 6 editing then writing proposals at the old job. And I knew that I could do the job because before I left the old job, I put those nearly 6 years of job duties into a reference manual, just like the one this company was asking for. I got this.

The response to my proposal? "Would you like to start Monday?" Yep, I got this. I answered the door.

More opportunity quotes at Quote Garden.

Why I Despise Grading

2011-03-19T22:15:00.000-07:00

Most of us love what we do. Teachers, I mean. We do love teaching - most of the time. But then it comes time to grade the papers. Those who can run all their tests through the Scantron machine have it easy, of course. But I'm talking about those of us who have to read and respond to nearly every assignment because it's our job to make sure these students can string words, phrases, sentences, and paragraphs together in a way that makes sense and includes correct punctuation (seriously? OMG, yes correct punctuation).

With every red mark on the page, I am amazed by the lack of understanding of the concepts I just went over in class. I can't help wondering what exactly I did wrong:

"Did I somehow not explain what I was looking for in this assignment?"

"Did I just need to explain it a different way for this student to understand?"

"Should I even be teaching?"

And then, I get to the "good" papers in my stack. I employ a method of grading whereby I reward myself with the "good" papers after I have dragged through all of the "bad" ones. The good ones are those students who make it all worthwhile. Some of them started out in the bad part of the stack, but have actually worked to understand the material and use what they've learned. Others have natural ability and just get it. They are my reward because they take way less work to grade, and it's a joy to read when a student actually thinks about the assignment and responds thoughtfully. And it's a reward to know that I didn't totally botch the explanation because someone got it.

Does it make me a bad teacher that I resent having to wade through all the bad ones? After beating myself up about it, I realize that most of those students just don't care to improve. They're perfectly happy doing half ass work the night before the assignment is due to get a mediocre grade that will allow them, just barely, to pass the class and move on to the next class, where I will again have to deal with their unwillingness to improve themselves in a way that will positively affect their entire professional careers. (And yes, before you get all up in my case about that sentence, it is gramatically correct). Is it too much to ask for them to care at least half as much as I do about their grades?

Confessions of a Farmer

2011-03-14T20:38:00.000-07:00

I am a farmer. I grow green roses, lilac daffy, and nachos. I have orchards of trees, a beehive, and a winery. I raise sheep, cows, horses, pigs, and chinchillas. There's an enchanted forest, a beanstalk, and a bridge with a troll on my farm. You can even see the Eiffel Tower. Yes, I am a farmer.

I got hooked on Farmville quite a while ago. I didn't go into it expecting to become addicted, but there's just something about the time limit of the crops that challenged me to come back, to not let those innocent crops wither in my negligence. Then Farmville added special shops where you could take those crops and make special products to sell to your neighbor farmers. Hence, the winery.

I now have a 5-star winery. I'm working on Green Rose Water right now. There are only 23 days left to gain mastery of this product, so of course, I am planting Green Roses and White Grapes as often as possible to get enough bushels to make the rose water. Seriously, is this what I think about?

The answer is yes. I think about farming. Not all day - I'm busy enough with other things. But when I come home from work, I want to relax and to not think about writing assignments, students' problems, and grading. So I farm. And I make my farm look pretty. I harvest crops and cross-breed seeds and collect eggs from chickens. And I work to win the challenges to win special prizes. Because I can. Because it's fun. Because in what other game can I get a princess tower, a beanstalk, a bridge with a troll under it, and a leprechaun tree house? Thanks Farmville.

Yes, I farm. I am a fairly intelligent, educated woman and teacher, and I farm. I am not ashamed.

The Sunday Evening Blog

2011-03-06T20:12:00.000-08:00

This makes the third Sunday in a row that I've written. Could this be a habit in the making? Let's hope so.

I've been thinking of something to write this week, and because my life is not as eventful and wildly interesting as I would like, there are limited topics to discuss: bad students, good students, my kids, Farmville.... See, not all that extensive. Or exciting, for that matter. But then I remembered the nifty little gadget that I got for Christmas and have just now put to use - my Nook.

I love my Nook. I have tons of books at my fingertips. Currently, I am reading "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett for the book club meeting this month. It's a great story so far. I'm not that far in, but I have a feeling I am going to greatly enjoy this one. I long for the days in high school when I could read a 500-page novel in a day because I had the time. I may just make it in time for the meeting with this one.

This is also my first experience as being part of a book club. I was invited to join by one of my colleagues at the business school, and my supervisor and another director are also in the group. The women, who have been together for many years, were very welcoming to a newcomer.

So far this year, we've read "Rebecca" by Daphne du Maurier and "Devil's Bargain" by Jade Lee. When school gets busy, I usually just read Harlequins because they're all the same formula and don't require any deep thinking. They're a good escape after reading textbooks and student papers all day. But the book club reading list is taking me out of that zone and getting me back into real reading again. I didn't realize how much I missed finding new books and reading different things. Thank you book club!

And I have to thank Howard for getting me a Nook because without it, I would have to add to our already overloaded giant bookshelf! Did I mention that I love my Nook?

We did it! We did it!

2011-02-27T22:57:00.000-08:00

It hasn't cleared the bank yet, but we authorized payment to the credit card for the remaining balance, which means we are almost half way through our debt and only have the SUV and my student loans left to pay off. Oh my gosh! I drew a black line through the credit card on our poster-sized budget on the kitchen wall. It's amazing to know that we will be able to nearly double the SUV payment for the next few months and then it will be paid off - about a year and a half early!

It's already nice knowing that the Honda is paid off, but when the Expedition gets paid off, it will be amazing. I can't even begin to describe how it feels to know that we won't have any car payments. Yeah, we have 10 year old vehicles, but they're ours. I can't fathom paying $300 or more a month just to have a new car. It's never been important to me to have the newest, coolest car. Plus, being my practical self, I just can't see paying for a new car that depreciates almost by half the minute I drive it off the lot. What a horrible waste of money that is. And, as evidenced by our journey to financial freedom, we don't waste money any more!

Ah, to be debt free..... We're nearly half way there in just 18 months. In another 18 months, I'll be posting, "We're Debt Free!"

Downsizing

2011-02-20T22:50:00.000-08:00

Downsizing for most people probably involves getting a smaller space, cutting out the clutter, that kind of thing. For us, it means purging the bookshelves. For those who don't know, when we moved into our house, we built a massive wall of shelves. Seriously massive. This is no sissy bookshelf. It's 9 feet high and 14 feet across. The lower 3 feet is cabinets to house CDs, DVDs, and even some VHS tapes that we just haven't gotten around to replacing yet... Which leaves, of course, 6 feet of open shelving for books. And we've filled it - nearly every inch of it with books from Dr. Seuss to the Qu'ran and everything in between. And it still wasn't enough, especially considering that we are constantly reading and acquiring new books. Today, we downsized a little bit, and our books can breathe a little easier. There's actually space on some of those shelves!

In addition to the books we wanted to keep, we had approximately 8 boxes of books in the garage that we knew we didn't want to keep. We have a hard time throwing out books (could you tell?), so we didn't want to just dump them. And yet we also would like to see some kind of return on our investment, so we were hoping that at some point, maybe someone would buy them all at a garage sale. No luck there. I found a site called Cash4Books (http://www.cash4books.net/) and thought it looked promising. Nothing like getting some cash for all those books, right?  That would be true if they bought all the books. They don't. But I'll get to that later.

I also found another site called PaperBackBookSwap (handy link is on the right side of my page - sign up, it's free, I get credit, yadda yadda). This is cool - post your books and send them to people who request them. In return, earn credit for each book you send that can used to request a book from someone else. You pay postage to mail the books, and you receive your requests free. So $3 for a book instead of $10-whatever. It's cool. I got 2 of my book club selections and am waiting on several more to arrive. I sent out 6 books today, and have about 13 more in the queue. The cost to send them adds up, but I will have that many "free" books coming my way in the future.

So, after finding these sites, I realized that we could try to sell some and whatever we couldn't sell at Cash4Books, I would post on PaperBackBookSwap. And today that's what we did.  We set up an assembly line, if you will. Howard ran the ISBN numbers through Cash4Books, setting aside those that could be sold through them. Everything else came through me to post on the Swap. Of the nearly 200 books we went through, we are able to send 11 to Cash4Books for a total of about $42 (and they pay shipping). The rest have been posted on the Swap. I already ran out of Tyvek envelopes!

At the end of the day, we've done a good thing. We downsized the bookshelves, decluttered part of the garage, made a little cash (well, as soon as we send the books), and will make many people happy with books for their own collections. It was sad, too. We threw away about 2 boxes of books - some of the books had no ISBN numbers and were just in bad shape, and another box had been peed on by a cat (damn those neighborhood cats sneaking into my garage!)... And I now have 4 four-foot stacks of books in my kitchen, so perhaps I'm not as decluttered and downsized as I thought?

Heating Woes

2011-01-28T07:09:00.000-08:00

It's a chilly winter day... IN MY HOUSE! When I arrived home yesterday at 6:00 pm, it was 64 degrees in the house - much too cold for the likes of me, who keeps it 72 all winter long. We reset the thermostat and changed the batteries, all to no avail. I knew I was in for a cold morning. I was right. 59 degrees as of 5:00 am. I wonder how "warm" we'll get today.

Last year, we replaced the motor in the heater to the tune of $990 because the motor was a non-standard part. Last month, we replaced the thermostat when this happened before, thinking that it was the cheap thermostat we bought when we moved in. It seemed to do the trick...until yesterday. I hope it's not an expensive fix this time.

Woe is cold me.

Financial journey continued...

2011-01-14T12:00:00.000-08:00

It's been a long road on your journey to financial freedom following the plan laid out in Dave Ramsey's The Total Money Makeover, but we have made amazing progress since our start in September 2009. In that time, we've gone through some changes:

Our wages returned to the full amount early 2010 (after a 10% pay cut in early 2009)
Howard was given the only pay increase in the company at the end of 2009 (other than employees who were given held promotions from the year before)
I went to 3/4 time at the full-time job in January 2010 and started teaching a class at the community college in the spring semester
I left the 3/4 time job when my second class started in March 2010 (late start)
I picked up 2 classes at a business school (April quarter)
I taught 4 classes in the next 2 quarters (July and October quarters)
I also taught an early morning class at the community college in the fall semester of 2010
Howard got his anxiously awaited promotion at the end of 2010

Through this whole process, Howard worked his butt off and earned a company bonus in all four quarters of 2010. The bonus from the final quarter of 2009 (and paid out in early 2010) was more than my monthly salary, which gave us a huge leg up and was the reason I was finally able to leave a job that I had long outgrown to pursue a career in education. Not only that, but my salary over the entire year of 2010 was only about $4,000 less than the previous year, which allowed us to continue working on our debt snowball and get things paid off, though not as fast as we would have liked.

But that's okay because our outlook for 2010 is even better. I am still teaching a total of 5 classes at a time, which is considered full-time, though it's still between 2 schools. My salary is still a little lower than it was at the full-time job, but that's okay, too. We've learned a lot through Dave Ramsey's plan: we know where we can tighten our budget and still be financially fine. Howard's promotion (and the raise to go along with it) will give us some extra money each month to attack our debts. I could possibly be full time at the business school this year, which would give us another boost to get us closer to our goal, maybe faster than we have planned.

We are now down to a car payment, one credit card, and my student loans. Our plan is to knock out the credit card and the car payment in the next few months with our tax refund. We will start paying the student loan and our goal is to pay off the entire balance in one year to be debt free by March 2012. It is amazing to think that in just over a year we could be debt free other than the house and be ready to start on Baby Step 3 to fully fund our emergency fund of 3-6 months of expenses. I cannot imagine having a bank account with that much money sitting in it!

What I'm really excited about is getting to Baby Step 4, where we start funding our 401Ks again and start saving for retirement. Howard is a little nervous that aren't doing this now, but I believe in this plan we're on, and I know that in the long run, we will reach our money goals!

Welcome to 2011

2011-01-01T00:29:00.000-08:00

It seems like a good day for a blog post, first day of the year and all that. I am ready for this new year. I don't know that there is any greatly profound reason why, it's just a feeling that this year is the year I get my shit together. There are always so many things I want to accomplish in any given year, and the end of the year comes around and I find that I haven't accomplished as many of them as I would have liked. Not that I feel like I have failed in any way, things change and those things that seemed so important at the beginning of the year no longer take precendence, and why worry about the things you cannot change, anyway? So in this first hour of the first day of 2011, I can see all the possibilities in what lies ahead in this year.

Some of 2011 is already planned, so there are fun times to look forward to. In May, I will walk/jog in my 5th Bay to Breakers in San Francisco. It has become a tradition since 2006, our first year. I missed 2007 because Spencer was due the day of the race. I probably should have gone anyway - she was 5 days late! In July, we're traveling to Minnesota with Mom to see where she grew up and learn more about her side of the family. We've never been there with her. We'll also have a reunion with my dad's side of the family and celebrate my oldest brother's 50th birthday. Can't wait for May and July to roll around!

And of course, there are the resolutions we're supposed to make every new year. I can never decide if I want to make them or not, and when I do, I make half-hearted resolutions that last about 2 weeks and then are forgotten in the daily grind. Perhaps if they weren't called resolutions it would make them last longer. Okay, goals then. I will set goals for myself instead. So what do I want to do? What do I want to see happen for myself in 2011? Let's take a look....

-- Complete the Bay to Breakers 12K in under 2 hours
-- Lose 20-25 pounds before the Bay to Breakers
-- Pay off the SUV and the last credit card
-- Pay down my student loans
-- Finish the work on the front yard
-- Plan better
-- Procrastinate less
-- Achieve a better work/life balance
-- Drink more water
-- Allow myself time to read
-- Walk, hike, and swim more
-- Blog more consistently

Welcome to 2011 - there sure is a lot to be done!

And the craziness continues....

2010-06-04T01:45:00.001-07:00

I had no idea that it had been so long since I last posted. I am a terrible blogger! But I have an excuse, I swear..... I last left off talking about how I was offered two classes at one of the community colleges in town. I accepted those two classes and made the arrangements to cut back my hours at my full-time job and then leave at the beginning of March. The first class started in January, but the second was a short-term class that didn't start until mid-March. I thought about staying with the company, but I only would have had about 15 hours a week available, so I decided that it was time to move on and completely immerse myself in the world of teaching (and finding more teaching gigs for when the semester ended).

I want to digress a bit to talk about the company I left. I worked there for 5 years and almost 10 months, the longest I have ever worked anywhere. When I got the job, it was just something part time to do while I got my Master's, nothing serious, and it paid well (always important for single mom/student). When I finished my Master's, I went full time, got a substantial raise, and felt like I had a grown-up job. It was good for a couple years, until the economy tanked. I still had the job, but none of the cool, fun parts - I was back to the administrative stuff that I had long grown out of. I was overqualified for that work when I took it as a part-timer all those years ago! I was dissatisfied there. It was definitely time to move on.

At a time when people are fortunate to have jobs at all, I quite a stable job with excellent benefits in order to fully enter the unpredictable world of adjunct faculty (scroll down). My semesters are never certain, and I don't know how much I will be working in the coming months - my fate is in the hands of schedulers who fit me in once all of the full timers and other adjuncts with more seniority have been given their desired schedules. To get one class is considered lucky.

I consider myself lucky. I was offered the two English classes having never met the instructor doing the scheduling - all he had was my resume with one class as previous teaching experience. One class! He took a chance, and I am so glad he did because if he hadn't, I wouldn't be teaching right now. I would still be sitting in that cubicle, wondering what else I could be doing with my grown-up life.

And I'm lucky because after I quit the job, I received a call from a business school in town that I had been hoping to hear from. Would I be able to teach two classes for their upcoming quarter? My initial response, was how can I possibly teach two classes over there? I'm still learning this whole teaching thing!! Of course, once I looked over our budget for the coming months, I realized that my only possible response was yes, that would be absolutely no problem. I went from one class last fall to four classes in April. I knew I was in for long days, nights, and weekends. That is one heck of a lot of essays to grade!

And grade like a maniac I did. In mid-April, I started at the business school, which operates year round on a quarter schedule. In mid-May, I finished at the community college, a long 18-semester. In that month, I had new classes to prep (I'm a newbie to all of this, so every class I teach is new to me - that means TONS of prep), research papers to grade, and final exams to write. I had to leave the house to get the grading done - the employees at Panera must have thought I was a complete masochist, working two straight days at a corner table with large stacks of papers and my trusty red pen.

That month was so busy. I could barely remember my name or where I was supposed to be at any given time. Laundry got washed and dried, but rarely got beyond the pile in the living room. Thank goodness Howard was home and not out in the field because we would have had no clean dishes, and the kids would have been lucky to eat (well Spencer anyway, Christian can fend for himself). My "office" began spreading - it started on the desk in the bedroom, took up residence in the living room, acquired a third of the kitchen table, and finally overtook the sacred "Mary Kay Room," since there was no longer time to run a business.

And so the craziness continues. There are four weeks left in the quarter at the business school, and I still don't know what the schedule is for next quarter. I could have one class, or three, or none. I hope it's three - my budget will love it, and I'll be busy, which I love, despite my complaints. (Maybe I just like to complain). On the other hand, if it's three, then I'll have four classes again when the semester starts for the state schools in August, as I did get a class at one of the community colleges for fall. At 7:00 AM. Ah, the life of adjunct faculty!

One giant leap...

2010-01-02T11:11:00.000-08:00

The first two relaxing days of 2010 don't accurately represent the craziness that will be my life in the coming year. I was offered two English classes at another community college - I accepted! In order to teach both classes, I've had to cut back my hours at the job where I've worked since 2004. Starting Monday, I'll only be working there 30 hours a week until March 5, when I will be leaving my job and taking a giant leap into the unknown! One class is a late start that starts in March and runs for 9 weeks (double the time in class during the week). I could have stayed on at the other job for about 15 hours a week around the classes, but it's time to try new things and make a new path for myself.

I have 8 days to plan my class - syllabus, schedule, readings, essays, etc. I've been working on it and getting some things together, and I've been deciding how tough I want to be! My sister told me she'd be scared to take my class - I don't know if I should be flattered or seriously think about changing my approach! I'm leaning toward the former... There are so many good readings in the book for this class. I would love to teach all of them, but I know it's just not possible to fit them all in.

To fill in the income gap that will now exist between what I was making and what I will now be making (yeah, I didn't make this switch for the money), I will be focusing more on my Mary Kay business. I've started my business plan and have started listing my goals for my business. I want to start a newsletter for my customers, spend more time on customer service, keep my blog updated on a regular basis, and of course, build my business and my team in order to be a Sales Director by the end of summer this year.

Another opportunity I will have once I have left my job is to offer freelance editing services for businesses in the same industry. I won't be able to take on a lot of jobs, but with a good client base, I should have fairly consistent work. It won't be a huge money maker for me, but it will keep me up on my editing skills and will give us a little extra income (or maybe support a small shopping habit!). A blog just for my editing may be on the horizon.

I am so excited for 2010 and all the opportunities I have! This is going to be an interesting year to say the least. Happy New Year!

Why Thursdays are the best days

2009-11-11T20:51:00.000-08:00

I love Thursdays! I know it's not usually a favorite of the days of the week; however, like Friday, Thursday represents an ending of the work week. I still work at my full-time job on Friday, but Thursday is my last day of teaching for the week, so it's a relief when I get home with pizza from Little Caesar's for me and the fam and am able to just relax. Thursday is the only day/night of the week that I don't do anything related to my class (other than check email just in case) - no grading, no prepping, nothing. The kids and I share some pizza for dinner, Spencer and I watch Wow Wow Wubbzy, and after I get her bathed and in bed, Christian and I watch Survivor. My vegetative evening continues with Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice, if I can make it all the way through! The only problem with Thursdays is that I am so tired from all the late nights during the week that I rarely can finish my shows. And that's why I also love my DVR.

Tomorrow is Thursday - I can't wait!

Teaching - 12 weeks down!

2009-11-07T14:27:00.000-08:00

Wow, how the time flew after those first few weeks! There were a few weeks there right in the middle where I thought I wasn't going to make it through the book and teach everything I need to teach, but we pushed hard and now the rest of the semester will be fairly smooth sailing. I had a total of 5 students drop the class and another 4 or 5 have stopped showing up, so I'm down to about 19 students. Unfortunately, of those 19, several are not going to pass this class and move on. I'm amazed at some of these students who actually think they will pass the class when they continually show up late, don't come to class, don't turn in work, and obviously don't read any of the chapters! Then I have the core group of students who are doing very well - and of course, they're the ones who worry about their grades, and they have absolutely nothing to worry about!

I do get frustrated with the students who think they can just slack off and do nothing. I gave my students grade updates, and I had a couple students who were failing. A couple of them dropped, but several stayed in the class, even showing up sporadically. I just don't get it. Either get to work or get out of the class! And the thing that really gets me is that although I am pretty strict, I do give a lot of extra credit and chances to improve your grade. I gave a quiz that was pretty tough for everyone - even my best students. So I gave everyone the chance to get full credit on the quiz by taking it home and completing it, and I gave them a week to do it. Surprising, not even half the class did it. Not surprising, my A and B students were the ones who did.

This is not to say that I don't enjoy teaching - I am still loving it, and I wish I could be doing this full time. It's so great that I get to help these students improve their English and writing skills. I put in my request for Fall 2010 - I can only request 2 classes because I'm part time, but I basically requested everything! The Department Chair did suggest that if I request 7am classes, I'll most likely get at least one class - no one wants 7am! I am so not a morning person, but I've gotten used to it, and I know my students wonder how I can be so awake that early! I wonder sometimes, myself. Still no word on whether there's a class for me in Spring - keeping my fingers crossed!

Now this just makes no sense...

2009-11-05T17:30:00.000-08:00

I finally have enough music on iTunes to do one of those music shuffle surveys - yeah! OK, so most of these answers make absolutely no sense for my life. Some of them are just plain wrong! My answers a bit skewed toward the Red Hot Chili Peppers (you'll see) - I swear I have more music than that on there! Oh well, it was fun anyway!

Here are the rules for anyone who has no idea what I'm talking about (how could you not know - if you've been on MySpace or Facebook for more than 5 minutes, you have to have seen one of these):

1) Open up your library (iPod, Winamp, iTunes, etc.)
2) Put it on shuffle
3) Press play
4) for each question, type in what song is playing
5) hit next for each question

----------------------------------------------------------------------
And now for this insightful glimpse into my life via my iTunes library:

1. What do people assume when they first look at me?
Road Trippin’ (Red Hot Chili Peppers)

2. What will be a big challenge in life for me?
You Won’t Be Mine (Matchbox Twenty)

3. Am I a good boyfriend/girlfriend?
The Man with the Dogs (The Dead Kennedys)

4. Do I have a Secret Admirer?
Around the World (Red Hot Chili Peppers)

5. Will I ever become manically depressed in my life?
Women and Men (They Might be Giants)

7. Is someone trying to kill me?
Pretty Little Ditty (Red Hot Chili Peppers)

8. What is my sexual preference?
Organic Anti-Beat Box Band (Red Hot Chili Peppers)

9. What am I afraid of?
Wonderwall (Oasis)

10. What will I be doing in a few years?
Man with the Hex (The Atomic Fireballs)

11. What is some good advice for me?
The Loved One (INXS)

12. What should I do instead of this quiz?
We Want a Rock (They Might be Giants)

13. Will you get married?
Smoke Two Joints (Sublime)

14. What is the story of your life?
Skinny Sweaty Man (Red Hot Chili Peppers)

15. How can you get ahead in life?
The Righteous & the Wicked (Red Hot Chili Peppers)

16. What is the best thing about your friends?
Love Trilogy (Red Hot Chili Peppers)

17. What song describes you?
Warm Tape (Red Hot Chili Peppers)

18. How does the world see you?
The Sounds of Silence (Simon and Garfunkel)

19. Will you have a happy life?
40 oz. To Freedom (Sublime)

20. How can I make myself happy?
Chica Me Tipo (Sublime)

21. What should you do with your life?
Underneath It All (No Doubt)

22. Will you ever have children?
Dosed (Red Hot Chili Peppers)

Our Journey to Financial Freedom and more...

2009-11-02T18:00:00.000-08:00

Well, it's just like Dave says in the book - things are going great and then something happens. In our case, it's fortunately nothing bad, just a minor setback on our journey. Let's just say we're taking an unexpected Thanksgiving trip to Phoenix this year! It's actually really cool (other than the initial outlay of cash) that we're going to be doing something so completely different for the holidays. The only bummer is that Christian won't be with us - he'll be with his dad in Illinois (his dad is getting married that weekend).

The coolest thing about this trip is that we're only paying for the airfare and the rental car! Howard has been working out of town since August (5-6 days per week), and he's a Priority Club member at Holiday Inn. He has so many points saved up that we're able to get our hotel free for our trip (5 free days in a hotel - how nice is that on a travel budget?) and still have enough points left over and left to earn to possibly get free rooms in SF for Bay to Breakers in May!! Oh the paradox of Howard's out of town schedule - I hate that he's gone, but it has its perks. And for food, we've really hit the jackpot. We were given $50 in Chili's gift cards last year, Christian "cashed in" a $25 gift card at the Bank of Mom, we had a couple of Starbuck's gift cards from somewhere, and Howard got a $100 gift card as a safety bonus on this job he's on right now. I also cashed in points on MyPoints for another $70 in restaurant gift cards, so just about all of our food will be covered while we're travelling, too. You never realize how much the food costs when you travel and have to eat at a restaurant for every meal! This will definitely keep us on a tight budget.

So, our journey to financial freedom continues. Because we had to pay for the plane tickets in October, we wiped our emergency fund. Yes, I know travel is NOT an emergency on the plan, BUT we knew that we'd have it back at the beginning of this month. The other perk to Howard working so much over the past several months is that he gets a bonus for his billable time - I won't tell how much the bonus is, but I will say that it's been extremely helpful! And I get my check from teaching each month (OK so I make about $4 per hour when you consider all the time I spend prepping and grading, but still), which really helps for all the little expenses that seem to pop up every month (school pictures $54 - wtf?!?!).

We started our journey on September 1 and have paid off 4 of the smaller things we had hanging over our heads, including one car! Granted, the car only had 4 payments left when we started, but still - we made 4 payments in 2 months! Even with this unplanned vacation, we could still be on track to pay off the next credit card bill by the end of the year. And not only that, but we've gone completely credit card free since we started. I thought it would be a lot harder than it's been (again, that bonus has been a life saver), but we have really made an effort to change our charging ways! I don't even let Christian borrow his allowance anymore - no more credit from the Bank of Mom!

Even though we still have a long way to go, and it's hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel, we can already see that first pinprick of light, and it's good!

Teaching

2009-09-07T12:24:00.000-07:00

I'm 3 weeks into the teaching gig at the local community college. I'm still loving every long minute of it! I teach for 50 minutes 4 days per week, so that's the easy part. The planning is something I just was not prepared for. Being a first-timer, I know it takes so much longer. All I had was the official course outline from the school and some example syllabi to go from. I didn't have any previous lesson plans or ideas for class activities. Just me, the book, and the internet! So far, I have been preparing my lesson plans for each day as I go, but I really need to get ahead, so I can be sure that I'm on the right track to make it through the semester. It takes hours to plan a day or two, let alone a whole week! At least this week coming up is only 3 days - that will help a lot, considering that at the moment, I am writing my blog instead of planning... Oops!

I am so glad I got this opportunity to teach. The chair of the ESL Department took a chance on me, and I so appreciate it! I hope to one be full-time someday, whether at this school or another. I am mentoring with the department chair, so he's given me some really great feedback and is guiding me while I find my way. It's a challenge to just jump right in, but at the same time, I'm glad that I'm making it my own, instead of basing everything off of someone else's plan. I can figure out what works as I go and make mistakes along the way. That's ok with me - I like to learn, too.

And while I'm learning and teaching, I'm still working full time. It's such a difference to go from the classroom to the office. I feel stagnant at my full-time job, but when I'm teaching I feel like I'm actively doing something worthwhile and productive. There's really nothing more for me at my full-time job - the job is pretty much topped out, and there's no room for advannowhere else for me to go there. They've got me pigeonholed into my position, and they fail to see what more I can offer, despite my best efforts to show them and remind them. But it will be their loss when I finally am able to leave there and pursue teaching full time. I've never worked anywhere as long as I've worked for this company, so it will be sad to leave when the time comes, but I will be so excited to move on and move forward. I will have a class for next Fall - they prepare the schedules the year before, so I'm in for next year. I just don't know if I'll have a class for Spring - I have to wait and see what happens.

Our Journey to Financial Freedom

2009-09-06T23:06:00.000-07:00

I came across "The Dave Ramsey Show" on the radio a couple months ago in a roundabout way. We had a cool station that played a fairly eclectic mix of music, but unfortunately it didn't last (as with all the cool stations). Of course, the channel remains preset in my car, and one day I was flipping through and hit the button, even though I knew it had changed to the FM version of the local conservative radio show. Obviously, this is not a station I would normally listen to. On this particular day, I hit the button out of habit and because there was nothing good on any of the other stations, I figured I would listen to what the conservatives were saying to get a good laugh. Well, interestingly enough, there was a guy talking about money. I like money, so I listened. He was pretty down-to-earth, and everything he talked about made sense. Not just, "Yeah that could work," but real common sense. I'm not usually in my car between 11am and 1pm, but after that day, if I was, I was listening to the money guy.

So fast forward a couple months. After listening to snippets of Dave Ramsey, I finally checked out his website, and Howard bought his book, "The Total Money Makeover" (TMMO) on Amazon for me. I devoured that book in about a day and a half so that Howard could take it and read it while he worked in the field. We talked about it every night that week! And when he came back, we made our plan and prepared for our journey to be debt-free! I won't go over Dave's book in detail, but I plan to record our progress in becoming financially free as we complete the Baby Steps in Dave's book.

Our official start date was September 1, 2009. We got our paychecks and started! This is a really good time for us to start - Howard has been getting a bonus (which will go through the end of this month) and we both received publication bonuses from work for an extra $500. Talk about a good start.

Baby Step #1 - Save $1000
I have been reading saving and debt reduction articles from a long time; like I said, I like money. So we had a small "emergency fund" of $600 already. Dave says $1000, so we're working on it. We wanted to make a start on Baby Step #2 right away, so we're taking care of #1 with our paycheck in the middle of the month. We will have our emergency fund started and can really get moving on the exciting stuff!

Baby Step #2 - Pay off all debts (other than the house)
So, this is the fun (and hard) part. We had 4 small bills that have just been hanging around and we just haven't been able "find" money to pay. So we knocked those out immediately and it felt so good to cross those off the list! We have two more things under $1000 to pay and will take care of those by October. Then we'll get the long haul of debt payment. We have 2 cars, 4 credit cards, and student loans for a grand total of about $65,000. How insane is that?

So Dave recommends paying off your bills from the lowest balance to the highest balance. Ok - that sounds good to me. I've paid off all my bills before, but I had used the system where you pay the bills from the highest interest rate first, then work your way through that way. I see Dave's point about going from lowest balance to highest. You get some quick results at the beginning to keep yourself motivated - that makes such a difference! I'm willing to give his sytem a chance.

Creating a Budget
This is one thing that we already had, but it just wasn't detailed enough. We had the main bills listed, but we didn't really plan for putting gas in the car or for miscellaneous expenses. We always just left some money over each paycheck, but we always used it up and then ended up charging gas or charging all that stuff we "needed" at Target. Not good. So Howard and I set up a new detailed budget where we account for every bit of money coming in each paycheck/month and know exactly where it's going to go before we even have our checks in our hands. We have money that we set aside each month for other expenses, like car repairs, car registration, household goods, or home repairs. It feels so freeing already! We use only cash (or a debit card) and all the credit cards are out of our wallets!

Next Steps
We had a great start out of the gate, but now we wait until our next paychecks. The next step is to finish the $1000 emergency fund and the pay off the next bill on the list. After that, we'll pay one car off 2 months early! The we really get serious to keep our momentum going to get those last bills paid. Goal date (debt-free except for house) = February 2012.

Freelance work

2009-03-02T22:42:00.000-08:00

Well I have learned a really good lesson over the past couple weeks. I've done freelance work before for colleagues and have never had an issue with payment - I do the work, tell them my fee, and I get a check within a week. I've never needed a contract with them - verbal agreements were always fine. But, now I realize that having a contract on DAY ONE is super important! I've got the tell the story.

I answered an ad on Craigslist for a blog writer and met with the prospective employer after going back and forth through email (submitted resume, got a response, was asked to complete a "blog writing task," wrote it up in about 2 hours of my own time, got a response to meet). So I went to her office and we chatted for three hours - I thought it was an interview, but it turned out to be more of a brainstorming session for what she wanted done. I even showed her some tips for Microsoft Outlook. So, there I was on an "interview" doing work!

So I started working... She first drafted an article for me to just do some clean up and post on her blog. Well the article needed more than just simple clean up. I'm not saying it was poorly written, but it definitely came directly from the Associated Press article! Thank goodness I looked up the original article to check a name or I never would have known it and I would have posted it online. Well my integrity demanded that I edit it so that it wasn't plagiarized... And that was just the first blog.

The next blog she sent over was a very long article and when I first read it, it was all over the place. When I read it again, I realized that there were three distinct themes running through the article, so I separated it into three articles and edited them. She wanted one of the articles posted for a contest - one of the rules required that the articles submitted not be self-promoting, so I removed most of the "I" statements and made it a general informational article. She sent it back to me rewritten, saying that I removed "critical information." I don't know what she was referring to because all she put back in were the "I" statements! And her article received only one comment, so I think that says it all...

And the final blog was something she sent over from another article she received. She read the original and then rewrote each paragraph, so the article would have been just a paraphrased version of the original. Again, my integrity would not allow me to post it that way. I edited it to develop some of the information (some was very vague and needed explanation). I also edited it to be sure that nothing was copied directly from the original. I know I did a damn good job. And she received a comment that said it was a great blog!

Well at the end of it all, because I didn't have a contract up front, this woman has "decided" that she is not going to pay me because she doesn't agree with my charges. She apparently only wanted me to do a light copyedit of her blog posts and then post them as is. Even though her name is on the blog and not mine, I still couldn't allow her to plagiarize. I sent her my invoice and she took 8 days to replay back about my poor work that took too long to do. She may know real estate but I know writing and editing. How dare she tell me how to do my profession! And then to question my bill. Does she allow her clients to decide how much commission they're going to pay? Does she decide how much of her electric bill she'll pay each month? Give me a break.

Well, in all of this, I have learned a valuable lesson about doing freelance work - GET A CONTRACT!!! OK end of rant...

Tour of California

2009-02-19T23:48:00.000-08:00

Christian and I went off to see the end of Stage 5 of the Tour of California about a mile from where we live in Old Town Clovis. We were hoping to catch a glimpse of Lance Armstrong (ah, the draw of celebrity). Of course, there was no way to know if we saw him - they were going by so fast! All I saw was the dust from the road in a cloud surrounding the riders and the blur of color and spinning wheels as they flew by us on the sprint to the finish line. But it was awesome!

So we went to the finish line where we could see the riders as they came across the finish and slowed down. But, the course was a loop, so we decided to go over one block (7th and Woodworth) to where we could watch them as they sprinted by and then run back and watch them cross the finish line. We made a wise move! We may not have been able to see Lance, but we met some local celebrities - Kim and Kopi, the news anchors for Great Day (local morning news show). We love their show and they were very cool in person. I chatted with them both as we waited, and Kopi was wandering around with a video camera filming for their Great Day Faces segment (they film people at events smiling and waving and then show the footage throughout the morning show). We may be on the news :)

We had our Livestrong signs and chalk and we kept hearing reports about how far out the riders were. It was exciting, and we knew they were getting close when groups of highway patrol motorcycles kept going by. Finally, we saw the riders flying down the street two blocks overs, flashing through openings in the crowd. When they got to us, they were going so fast, and I could barely get my phone up in time to take a photo! I got a shot of the middle of the pack - I have no idea who is in the photo.

As soon as the group was past, we and all the other people in our area, ran back to the finish line to see who would win. We were behind the crowd that had already gathered there and behind the photogs catching their photo finishes. We could barely see, standing on our tiptoes and peering through gaps. But we saw Cavendish ride through, arms held high. Unfortunately, I didn't get a photo of the finish, but here's a glimpse of the finish line...

It was fun to spend time with my kiddo. He rode his skateboard, I got out on a fantastic day for a 2.5 mile walk, we met people we see on TV... And the very best part of all - I got a picture of Christian SMILING!!!!!!!

Oh, the ups and downs of weight loss

2009-02-11T17:25:00.000-08:00

After two good weeks, I thought I was on track for a good third week, but got sick and had to take prednisone. Yuck! I still was good and watched what I ate, but it still made me gain weight. But the following week was good and I lost what I gained the week before plus a little extra! Yippee! And that was with the Super Bowl! Unfortunately, I was not good this past week and haven't tracked my food all week, so I'm expecting to have a not so good weigh in tonight when I go. All it takes is one day to throw you off track (darn that Super Bowl). I know what I did, I never took my tracking book out... I admit it. I left it in my snazzy little envelope that I carry my WW stuff in to the meetings. Usually I get home from the meeting, take it out and write down my day and make a good dinner, but not last week. I don't have a single entry in my book. OK - I promise to myself and anyone else reading this that I will take out my tracker as soon as I get home from meeting tonight and write down everything from today. And I promise to track the whole week! There, I said it!

Back to the weight loss

2009-01-25T23:05:00.000-08:00

I finally came to the realization that the 60 pounds I lost back in 2004-2006 and then gained back while preggo in 2006-2007 is NOT going to fall back off my body without some effort... Damn! I've been attempting to watch what I eat, but mainly all I do is watch my hand move the food directly into my mouth, over and over and over again. Yeah, that's not working. At the beginning of the year, I was only 2 pounds lower than the day I had Spencer. Yikes - that's depressing.

So I went back to Weight Watchers (where I lost most of the 60 pounds last time) and signed up for the monthly pass and got my first week books. All their materials are brand new, so it feels like I'm doing something completely different. And the books rock! The first week book had a bunch of recipes that I made for everyone (even Christian tried them - didn't always like them, but he did try). I was rewarded for my first week's efforts with a loss of 7 pounds. Woo hoo!!! And my 2nd week wasn't too shabby either - I lost another 1.6 pounds. Average = 4.3 pounds per week. Not a bad start!

Watching what I eat is not that hard. Weighing everything really isn't that hard either. It can make the whole meal planning and executing process take longer than I'd like, but so totally worth it in the end. What's hard is that I eat when I'm bored, lonely, tired, stressed, etc. Total emotional eater. That's a hard one to break, but I'm working on it. I can look at my points that I have left for the day and think, "I'm not <> enough to ruin my day." And then I go play guitar hero because you can't eat snacks and play a plastic guitar at the same time - who knew??? By the way - I love guitar hero!! It's so much fun :)

I want to stay on track and I figure if I post my goals on my blog, then I have to be accountable to whomever reads it... feel free to post comments and "smack" me if I'm not sticking to my program!!

1. Drink more water - this is one of the hardest things for me. I got myself a cute pink water bottle to take to work to drink more water. Yep - it's not at work yet. Gotta get on that.

2. Lose 25 pounds by May 17 - Bay to Breakers!! My sister and I do a 12K in San Francisco in mid-May. This will be my 3rd time (her 4th) because I was 39 weeks pregnant in 2007 and couldn't go. I did it last year at my heaviest and it was hard. It was a lot easier with 60 fewer pounds... 8.4 pounds down, 16.6 pounds to go!!!

3. Get back into a routine for exercise. When I lost weight before, I worked out about 5 days a week - swimming, treadmill, walking, hiking. Man, I felt so good then! And why am I paying for a gym membership to not use it??

OK there it is - the start of my weight loss journey (deja vu anyone?). Stay tuned for updates full of celebration and frustration!

Finally - the weekend!

2008-12-05T22:17:00.000-08:00

I love the holidays, but I feel like I am going non-stop most of the time! I am so very glad it's the weekend, and there is no wrestling! Christian is happy to not have to be up at 5:00 and at school at 6:00 for the bus.... Heck, I am happy not to have to be up at 5:00 dragging a tired kid out of bed to get to school and catch the bus!

Alas, we have lots to do tomorrow. The Christmas lights are still in boxes next to the front door to be hung around the front of the house. We got rope lights to go around the adobe planters in the front yard and the old school big lights to go on the house. I hope we have enough! I have a couple of strings of blue icicle lights that we might put somewhere - don't know where yet... I'd like to go back to the store and get green rope lights and do the trunks of the palm trees. It would be really cool to do the branches, but I don't think I can talk anyone into getting on the ladder to do that... I'm not a big fan of being up on a ladder, so if it's up to me, it's not getting done.

And two more weeks of work then vacation! I am so ready for a break and I'm looking forward to seeing the family. I never look forward to the drive with the baby, but I'm hoping for the best. We haven't done a long car trip for a while, so I hope she'll handle it pretty well. She's doesn't love the car seat after she's had to be in it for a while. It might take a lot longer than 6 hours to get to San Diego - yikes!

Ah yes - the weekend. It's here, but I have a feeling it's going to go by way too fast!

Spencer at a birthday party

2008-11-28T12:24:00.001-08:00

Spencer went to her friend's 2nd birthday party last weekend where she rode a pony and ate a cupcake. All in all, it was a good day!

Family Site

2008-11-28T00:02:00.001-08:00

Woo hoo - finally got it done!!

www.clovisbunch.com

Check it out!

Changes, again.

2008-10-09T13:08:00.001-07:00

OK, I decided not to go with the editing site. I always have so many things going on at once! So I still have the domain if I ever want to use it at another time, but for now, I will just concentrate on keeping my blog updated. I'm not very good about it (yet). So I am looking for a place to get a domain and hosting for cheap so I can have a whole family website where I can link all my online stuff and all Howard's online stuff and the kids' stuff together so that everyone can get updates on "The Clovis Bunch" in one place. I also want to be able to have my professional stuff listed, too. So I will continue the search for that and let everyone know when I get it done. With such a big family, I think it's good when they can just check in every so often at their convenience - we're all so busy! So for now, here I am, blogging with not a whole lot to say :)

Editing website

2008-09-18T15:09:00.000-07:00

I registered my editing website on yahoo! I'm designing it, trying to get the basic information on there to start with. There are some OK templates, but I'd like to learn how to design my own site. Maybe I can get Christian to help me - I'm sure he can learn HTML in no time at all :)

Check out the first version here: www.sue-hagen.com

Start.

2008-09-09T12:42:00.000-07:00

I want to blog, I start blogging, I stop blogging, I start a new blog.... Here is the newest incarnation of my fascination with blogging... I am always awestruck by people who keep regular blogs, those who actually update them and write silly, fun, witty posts and have people actually read them! Wow! So I am going to give it a shot - I am going to blog!