How Beautiful It Is To Do Nothing

I can't wait to do nothing again

noreply@blogger.com (Samantha) — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 01:03:00 +0000

I've been so busy with doctor's appointments that doing nothing hasn't been on the calendar. My feet, ankles and legs have been swollen for about a month or so now. It started when I went to Florida the beginning of July. I've had a few days where they felt okay but most days they are painfully swollen. I've had to keep my feet up when I'm home which means I'm not in my art room at all. I have taken some time to watch some videos that have sparked my interest though. They are on Buddhism and mythology. It's giving me a lot to think about and is sparking my creativity. I got a couple of things from Amazon today (string and clothespins) that I'll use to hang some of my art and stuff up in my room. I'm still waiting for my bigger art portfolio. Hopefully it will be here tomorrow.

I don't have any doctor's appointments set until the 12th when I see Dr. Fouss. I'm just waiting on test results now. So I finally have time to relax and do nothing. Nothing tonight means blogging, watching a video perhaps and maybe getting back to TAW stuff. I haven't done anything for over a week in any of the books. I will get back to it though. It's amazing how much impact not feeling good and having swelling in my lower extremities is having on me.

Anyway, it will be fun pulling out some artwork, songs, poetry, and photography that I've created to hang up on the wall. I'll take some pictures when I get some stuff up.

treasures

noreply@blogger.com (Samantha) — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 23:09:00 +0000

I just went through 2 art portfolios that I've had for years. I found a lot of poetry from the 80's and art that I did while I was inpatient at Two Rivers back in 2005. There is also some stuff I did at home in recent years. I love finding things that I forgot about or don't even remember. I'm getting a larger portfolio for my poster size stuff (which I think is under the futon mattress). That should be here sometime this coming week. I'm going to take time tomorrow and work on sorting through stuff so I can display it in the guest/creative room. Some stuff will stay in the portfolios because there isn't enough room to display all of it and there are some pieces that I don't want to display. They only have meaning to me.

I've been thinking a lot today about how I have a lot of supplies, sketch books, etc. that I don't use. I just like buying them and having them. Having them makes me feel like an artist, a poet, a writer. Today I don't feel like I'm any of those things. I dabble, yes, but I'm not accomplished in any medium. At least that's how I feel today. I think that's why I want to sort through everything and spend time just looking and reading. I don't know that anything comes naturally to me. Most of what I try to do feels like work unless it's during an inspired time. Then I seem to be able to produce works that even I don't know the origins of. I'm not sure where the creativity comes from. Does God give people those ideas? Is it just the creativity of the universe that we step into? I know that I really feel it at times and I know that most times I don't feel it at all.

I think it will be interesting going through all my creative pieces tomorrow. One thing I seem to forget to add is photography. I am a good photographer. I have a lot of pictures that are awesome. And not just because I took them but because the subject matter and composition came together at just the right time. Going through photos can be overwhelming though because I literally have thousands of them. Most are in albums or are somehow organized, so that makes it easier to go through them. It's the loose ones that overwhelm me.

I'll post some of the things I found today once I can get a staging area set up for photos. More later.

A few of my photos

noreply@blogger.com (Samantha) — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 21:22:00 +0000

I took this picture of the river rocks that are in the back yard. Sometimes the most ordinary, every day things can be the most beautiful. I love the colors and shapes. I was looking directly down on the rocks when I snapped the photo. This has always been one of my favorite photos.

These 2 photos below are from our trip to Yellowstone National Park in July of 2005.

The official beginning of the "Psychedelic Frog Fish" online gallery

noreply@blogger.com (Samantha) — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 06:12:00 +0000

This blog is still dedicated to the fine art of doing nothing but doing nothing will look prettier now with the addition of my creative pieces being displayed here. I might include a photograph, a watercolor, a sketch, a colored pencil piece, a poem, an illuminated text, a song, a craft or whatever else that shows what is going on inside of me. I'll be sharing works that were done as far back as the 1970's (and maybe even earlier) and ones that I might have done today. This is going to be fun. I'm looking forward to looking back at all the things I've created and displaying them in this blog for others to enjoy.

I already have some artsy photos on Flickr and a few pieces of watercolor. I'll link to all of them and pick out my favorites to post on this blog. Psychedelic Frog Fish Online Gallery

Enjoy the ride!

Where have all the shoppers gone?

noreply@blogger.com (Samantha) — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 15:11:00 +0000

I usually sell at least a couple of things on craigslist each weekend but I haven't sold a thing and it's Sunday already. I do have a bid on some photo paper I put on eBay, but that doesn't end until Monday. I'll make about $5 on that sale. I have some things on craigslist that I thought would sell right away but I only had a few bites on them (Kitchenaid Stand Mixer and Pampered Chef stoneware baker). I think that people's money and focus is on Easter this weekend. I think I might take everything off of craigslist so I can relist them next Thursday night. I have to average about $18.50/day to make my March snowflake goal of $1,000. I still think I can make it with eight days to go. I do have some stuff pending (Amazon, half.com and eBary sales and an $100 rebate from Office Depot on my new AIO printer. That would really help to reach the goal. Think I'll hop over to the MyTMMO forum and check out what's going on there. It's pretty slow there today too because it's Easter. Unlike me, most people are going to church, preparing nice meals and visiting with family and friends. David and I don't have any plans. I don't even have a ham to cook! No Easter basket with goodies in it either. Oh well, there's always next year.

The Dog Blog is BUZZWorthy

noreply@blogger.com (Samantha) — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 18:29:00 +0000

I had to make a call to a person who is helping me put some advertisement on the Dog Blog (my other blog). They found the blog and sent me an email telling me it's BUZZWorthy (I get to put a badge on my blog stating that lol). I think I've got the ad all set now. Guess I should look into getting something going for this blog too. Anyway, I also got a call from New York on the jewelry I was having appraised. The offered me next to nothing for it, so I asked them to return the items I sent to them.

I've been so busy doing nothing that I haven't had time for anything else!

noreply@blogger.com (Samantha) — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 17:18:00 +0000

Wow! It's been a while. Last time I posted I hadn't started working yet. I was just days until my first day at work. Well, here it is March 22nd and I've been at work for 4 months now. I am the medical receptionist for the Lab and Radiology departments at the East Branch of CSHP. I work 7:30am - 11:30 am, Monday through Friday. I really enjoy my job. Sometimes it gets a little overwhelming, but most times I can handle the flow of the patients coming in for Lab/Rad. I also enjoy the people I work with and they seem to enjoy working with me. I had my 90 day review the beginning of this month. My boss, Paul, came over from the downtown office to go over the review with me. I did really well. I had no areas for improvement because I'm doing such a good job. I'm making pretty good money and it brings in an additional $800 or so each month. That has been quite helpful for the finances.

We're still following the Baby Steps (Dave Ramsey's plan) and we are debt free but the house. We're working on BS3 right now - funding our Emergency Fund. I've been selling everything I can to get the money for the BEF (beginner emergency fund) and the FFEF (fully funded emergency fund). I'm trying to put my entire SSDI check to the EF each month. This month I was only able to put half of it to the EF though. But, every little bit helps.

On Thursday I started an FPU (Financial Peace University) class. For the first hour we watch a DVD of Dave Ramsey teaching a concept. The second hour we spend discussing the concept. The DVD was hilarious. Dave is so funny. It makes it enjoyable to learn about finances. It's a pretty big class too - at least 40 people (mostly couples). David didn't go with me to the first class because there was a college hockey playoff game on TV. I'm going to ask him to go to the next 2 classes though:

1. Relating with Money - how money effects relationships and
2. Cash Flow Planning- the dreaded BUDGET!

We have to have a 'quickie budget' done for the Relating with Money class. I already have ours. We've been budgeting since October 2007. I work on the budget all the time. I'm always updating it and tweaking it. It's fun for me to work on the budget (did I just say that out loud? lol). I've been active in the forum posting about 3x a day. It's so informative, encouraging and helpful to be a part of the forum. During FPU we get to be a part of the FPU forum. It's not quite as interesting to me as the MyTMMO forum is. Probably because we're on Step 3 now.

On April 5th we're going to a TMMO Live event. Yep, we're going to see the man himself, Dave Ramsey, live! I can't wait. Now that is going to be a fun time. It's a 5 hour event so I hope I can make it through the whole thing. We bought VIP tickets so we don't have to fight for seats and we'll get to sit up closer. I want' to see Dave, not a projection of Dave. I'm hoping it will really get David fired up about the plan. He's okay with it but isn't exactly gazelle intense by any stretch of the imagination. But at least he's on board. That's my birthday present this year - going to the TMMO Live Event.

So, we're done with BS1 - $1,000 in the bank (our beginner emergency fund). It's kind of weird to just have money sitting there "just in case". Nice feeling though. We completed BS2 on February 20th, 2008 when we paid off the Jeep loan at USAA for David's Jeep. Now we have the title to both of our vehicles. The only debt we have now is the mortgage. Very cool. I have the budget worked out so well that I can schedule bills to be paid once for the month and not have to mess with it again. That is a huge time saver and it assures that all the bills are paid on time. I love using web bill pay. No more checks, envelopes or stamps. The CU takes care of all of that. I only write out a check when I absolutely have to.

Now we're on BS3, which I'm finding to be the hardest step so far. It's not easy, when you are a spender, to just pile up money. We had a little bit in there last week and David bought new (used) wheels for his Jeep. $400.00 worth of wheels. It wasn't an emergency but it came out of the emergency fund. We shouldn't have done it, but we haven't changed our behavior completely yet. We are both still spenders. We have cut way back though. But a one time, $400 purchase makes a big, negative impact on the EF. I'm hoping to refund the $400 by the end of this month. Our ultimate goal is to have about $10k in the FFEF. That's going to take a while, probably until the end of this year. It will be worth the effort though.

BS4 is investing in retirement. We're sort of working on that right now because David gets a company match of 4% so we put that much in. At our ages we have to keep putting in the retirement account. Stopping for a year would not be prudent at this point in the game. I've been trying to do some research on what we should be investing in but haven't really come up with an answer yet. There's an investment forum on the TMMO forum and I've asked some questions in there but we still haven't got it all ironed out. I've also been checking online for advice. We're going to have to move quick and be a bit more aggressive since we only have $20k in the fund right now. I'm not eligible for 401k at work yet. I think I have to be there for a year before I'm eligible to contribute. I will though as soon as I can. I'm going to check out a ROTH IRA also. I may be able to start contributing to that sooner (once BS3 is completed). I'd like to sit down with an investment person (a DR ELP) and see where we should be putting this money right now. I'll have to look into that too.

We'll be skipping BS5 because that's a college fund for the kids and we're past that now. So, we'll jump right into BS5 which is paying off the mortgage early. That's a bit off in the distance right now though.

SSDI lets me work and make as much as I can for 9 months. After the 9 months I can only keep my benefits if I make under $940 a month. I'm already making more than that now so I'd have to figure out away to deduct from that amount over $940. I think filling my prescriptions every month instead of every 3 months would do that, but I'm not sure. Another thing I'll have to look into. Otherwise, I lose my SSDI and have to live on my part-time pay only. I'd have to ask for a FT position at the point. I don't really want to work FT though. I'd rather work part-time and get my SSDI benefits. I'd make more that way and I don't really think I'm physically or mentally capable of working FT now or months from now. I think July is the last month that I can make however much I want without losing benefits. In August I'll have to be prepared to have a plan in place. My prescriptions would have to be about $60 a month to keep me under the limit. I think that is possible.

Gotta go for now have a call to make.

Vocational Rehabilitation

noreply@blogger.com (Samantha) — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 02:19:00 +0000

I went for the Voc Rehab orientation this morning. It was basically a PowerPoint presentation and then setting up an appointment to see a counselor. I'll go back to see the counselor on November 26th. I have a packet that I need to fill out. I've already done some of it, but I'll have to get back to it. This afternoon I went and picked up my Skills Certificate at the PPWFC. I have a Silver Certificate (there are Gold, Silver and Bronze certificates). All of this, the disability stuff and only getting a siver cert has me wondering if I really am capable of going back to work. I'm going to give it my best shot. But even David said that I won't continue working if it's too hard for me. I'll give it my best though. We really need the money. Looks like we'll have the BEF in place by the end of January and start on the DS in February (paying off the $700 family loan). We will never borrow any money for anything ever again. Period.

I'm going to go clothes shopping Saturday afternoon. In the morning I have to go pick up the AFM box. Then I have someone coming over to buy some christmas stuff I posted on craigslist. It's just $10, but every dollar helps.

I have to upgrade my MS Money. The trial period is over. I'm checking one out on eBay. It's about $20 online (the MS site). The $20 one is an essentials version. The one on eBay (which is at $1 plus $4 s/h) is a deluxe version. I'm also watching a DR Financial Peace University DVD set on eBay. It's at $75 right now. Theres about 3 days to go on both items. I could definitely work both into the budget.

Tomorrow I'm going to go over to the Open PC lab at PPWFC. I'll be working on a Computer Skills Assessment (Word, Excel, 10 key, etc.). I don't know how long it will take so I'm going to get there at 9am when it opens and try to complete if by noon the latest when the lab closes.

I'm disappointed that I only earned a Silver Certificate on the Reading, Math and Location Skills Assessment. I really feel like I could have done better. But that was when things were different, before the accident. I really had a much harder time with the test than I thought I would. So I'm not sure how I'll do on the Computer Skills Assessment. I'll just do my best. I'll bring that stuff to the Voc Rehab appointment. I know that doing as well as I do doesn't look like I have problems, but I know it's different now. Even filling out the application for the appointment on the 26th was making me anxious. I felt like I couldn't figure out how to fill out the application at some points. It's frustrating. And I'm having a heck of a time with my right thumb (the one that was dislocated and surgically repaired).

I will start work in 5 days. Yikes! I'm going to feel like an idiot if I can't do the job because I talked myself up so much. It has been 7 years since I worked though, so I anticipate an adjustment period, mentally and physically. The first day I have to go to HR for orientation at 8:15am. Not sure what the rest of the week will look like. I have Thanksgiving off, paid. That's cool. But I have to work on Friday and David is off. He has hockey that night though. We'll have the afternoon together. Maybe we can do something special.

I haven't been feeling good for days now. My allergies are really bothering me. My nose is runny and I've been coughing. I use cough drops when the cough gets bad. I feel dehydrated. I need to drink more water. I weighed myself this mornin and I'm under 250. Woohoo! I think working will help with losing weight too. I'll be more active and focused on other things.

Enough for now.

Clothes shopping

noreply@blogger.com (Samantha) — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 23:47:00 +0000

I have dinner going. The potatoes are boiling and the chicken is baking. I really felt like having a nice meal tonight. I still have to do an inventory of all the food I have so I can plan out some meals. I forget that I have stuff so it's a good idea to list everything out. I'll take care of that after dinner.

I'll have to do some clothes and shoes shopping this weekend. Thankfully the dress code is business casual so I don't have dress to the hilt. I'll start at Goodwill and see if I can find anything there. I may have to get shoes at one of the cheaper shoe stores if I can't find any at Goodwill.

It's going to be weird to go back to work after being off more than 7 years. I'm sure it will take some time to adjust to being somewhere for 4 hours straight. I'm sure I can do it though. I want Paul & Caryn to know they made the right choice offering me the job. I don't know how much training I will need. Hopefully I'll pick it all up quickly. I'm really excited that I'm getting so much per hour ($11.52). It should be interesting to start up a new job.

Guess what?

noreply@blogger.com (Samantha) — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 22:17:00 +0000

I got the job!!

The HR person called me this morning and offered me the job at $11.52/hour. I'll start on 11/19, the week of Thanksgiving. And boy will I have something to be thankful for. On Monday, the 19th, I have to go downtown to HR for orientation. I don't know how long orientation lasts. I'll get Thanksgiving Day off paid. Woohoo! I had to go this morning for my drug screen. It took me two hours and three large cups of water to get it done. They'll have results in 48-72 hours. It'll probably be quicker than that but I'm sure they say it will take that much time to cover themselves. When I go to HR on Monday I get to park in the Parking Garage for free because I'm an employee. Yep, that's me, an employee. I am very excited and nervous all at the same time. I do have to work the Friday after Thanksgiving but David is off for the day. I'll only work a half a day. My normal hours will be 7:30 - 11:30 am, Monday through Friday. I'm still going to go to Voc Rehab on Wednesday. I want to see if they can do anything for me even though I've already accepted a job. Then in the afternoon I have to pick up my skills certificate at the PPWFC.

I called David first to let him know that I got the job. Then I emailed Lisa and then called Lynn. Everyone is happy for me. Lisa called me after I talked to Lynn. I also emailed Kitty to let her know. So this is my last week as a homemaker.

It's already 3:30pm and David is home. I'm going to make chicken and mashed potatoes for dinner tonight. I probably wont get that going until about 5pm or so.

Okay, I'm going to go check out the TMMO forum. I'm just so excited!

2008 Budget

noreply@blogger.com (Samantha) — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 11:56:00 +0000

I made David's lunch. We're saving a lot of money by me making his lunches each day. All he spends on is breakfast and chew. That's about $20/week. That's his blow money. My $20 usually goes to get groceries. I need to fix that. I should be able to blow my blow money on whatever I want. I need to adjust the grocery budget if it's not working and I have to use my blow money. At the end of this month I'll figure out just how much I spent and then make an adjustment.

I'm craving orange juice this morning. A nice, cold glass of orange juice just sounds really good. I do have a few dollars. I could get some orange juice if I wanted to get some. There's some change in the change jar I could use.

I added 2008 to the budget. I just copied previous months and pasted them into the budget workbook. I feel good getting that done. Of course, I'll have to make changes along the way to account for my new, job income but that will be a pleasure to do. And I'll have to tweak things as we go along too. It takes a few months to get a working budget that's fairly accurate. And of course, we have the holidays coming up and I'm sure that will have a slight impact on the budget. I don't really know how much to plan for for the holidays. Thanksgiving will be okay since we'll be going over to Lisa's. Just bring something to share instead of cooking a whole meal. And I'm sure we can do Christmas inexpensively too. We'll get our AFM food just before Christmas. That will be a big help. And I already have a turkey for Christmas if I need one. That would be my $5 turkey. I saved over $7 on that deal. I saved 41% total on the whole bill that day because I only bought sale items. I'm trying to be a good steward with our money.

Guess I should start cleaning up around here. David should be leaving soon so I'll start right after he leaves. More later.

The time has almost come...

noreply@blogger.com (Samantha) — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 11:05:00 +0000

It's a bit after 4am. Blitz woke me up to go out. I let her and Huxley out for a few minutes. It's really cold and windy out. They're back in bed. I'm up because I'm nervous about hearing from CSHP. I should know within hours whether I got the job or not. It was weird not seeing it on their website or in the newspaper. I've really been focused on getting this job. I don't want to work too far from home with winter coming up. I also don't mind working part-time for now and then maybe FT later. I figured it out last night that I'll be starting off making about $5 less per hour than I did at my last job. Hopefully I can move up that way as I go along. I know I'm not going to get a job for $17/hour but a girl can dream.

I'm going to jump in the shower later so I can be ready in case they need me to come down to the HR office today to do pre-employment screening or a drug test. I need to check my list of meds and see if it is up to date. I can also check with Wal-mart today on those $4 prescriptions. I want to save money wherever I can. Plus it would be easier to get prescriptions when I need them instead of having to wait for them to come in the mail. Too bad I can't get all of them at Wal-mart. I may check their prices just to see what the difference in cost would be. It's nice having a 3 month supply but it would be nicer to save some money and have quicker access to the prescriptions.

I also need to make a call to the Healthcare company so we can have someone come and pick up the oxygen machine. We're paying for it but David's not using it. And it's pretty expensive. The Healthcare company was part of our financial planning. I need to take care of that too.

I'm going to get the house straightened up today: laundry, dishes, vaccuum, paperwork and cleaning. I really need to catch up. I'll feel better if I'm caught up on stuff. The house is kind of a mess right now. No problem though, I'll just jump in where I am.

My allergies are really bothering me. I have post nasal drip, a cough and my tongue is sore. My eyes are watering too. I don't want to take allergy medicine because it will make me sleepy. I need to be awake to get the house cleaned and chores done. I think I'll also take an inventory of what food is on hand and plan out meals. I have quite a bit of meat in the freezer so I'll be able to make quite a few meals. There's quite a bit in the cupboards too. And Saturday I pick up the AFM food. All that shoud last for quite some time. The only things I'll need are perishibles: milk, bread, produce. Oh and I'll need to get cereal. Although I probably should stop eating so much cereal and eat smoothies again for breakfast. I've gained back a few pounds because I've stopped walking because of th weather. I could wait until later in the day to go walking when it's warmer and less windy out. I need to get back to walking. Either that or use the treadmill over at the clubhouse. That might be too boring for me though. But I've got to exercise somehow. I don't want to gain back all the weight I lost. I should start out today and just get out there and walk this morning. I have a hoodie I can wear to keep me warm. And I have gloves and a hat to keep me warm too.

David's radio alarm is going off. He hasn't got up yet. Wait, I think I just heard him getting up. Yep, that was him. His alarm is off now. The dogs should be in bed sleeping. That's where I should be too but I'm too amped to sleep. I'll probably go back to bed in a little bit though. I really need my sleep. I haven't sleep through the night for so long now. Either the dogs are waking me up or I'm getting up to go to the bathroom. It stinks. I won't be able to work if I feel like this all the time. I've got to stay in bed until at least 5:30am. I want to be at work by 7:20am because people start getting to the lab at 7:30am. I don't want to keep people waiting. (She says, knowing that the job may not be hers.)

It would be so nice to make more money. We could get the BEF done, pay the family loan, get a month ahead on bills and then pay off the jeep. After that we'd start on the retirement again and whatever is left over would go towards paying off the house. It'll definitely take years to do, but it's better than taking 30 years (the length of our mortgage). It will be so nice to not be in debt. It will be awesome to pay for things with cash and have the money to do things with. We are living like no one else so that later we can live like no one else. I don't know that we'll ever be millionaires, but it would be fun to work towards it. But even if we don't end up as millionaires, at least we'll be able to enjoy our lives guilt free and debt free.

I'm a bit nervous about whether I will be able to actually keep a job. I know it's just nerves making me worry about that but I am worried. All I can do is what I can do. I'll work if I can. I need to make some sacrifices too to get us out of debt. David can't be the only one who works all the time. Even if I can just work part-time, I'll be adding in more money, making a bigger 'shovel' to pay off the debt with. I always doubt my abilities before I attempt to take on something new. Guess that's just human nature. I'm confident in my abillities but I'm also worried that I don't have the skills to do the job. It's hard going back to work after not working for 7 years. I'm hoping Voc Rehab can help me and I'm hoping I can get this job. Having Voc Rehab help would make it a bit easier because I wouldn't have to worry about SS doing a medical review. I worry about that because I haven't been able to afford to go to the doctors (mental health or physical). I could try to get back after I'm comfortable in my job. It's not that I don't need to be seen, it's just that I can't afford the copays. We'll have the HSA for next year and that will help us with meeting our deductible. We've gone to the basic PPO for this coming year. I hope that is the right thing to do. If not we won't be able to change it unti 2009.

I should get up and start doing some stuff around here. I don't know that I'll go back to bed. I'm too nervous. I could use that nervous energy to clean up around here. I've had a basket of laundry in the living room for days now. And the counter is full of dishes again. I need to get back to my FlyLady routines. I've completely gotten out of my routines. And the house shows it. But I know that working 15 minutes at a time, I can get a lot done around here. I just need to pace myself. It will feel good to get things 'under control' again. Routines are the way to achieve that.

It's almost 5am now. I can't believe I'm up but then again what else would I be doing with all of this nervous energy I have.

I need to remember to call the Healthcare company and Vonage today. I want to see if they have done anything on getting my money back to me. That $80 would help out a lot. I'm afraid of them trying to rip me off though. I can't believe I had to pay $39.99 to get my service transferred back to Qwest. They told me it wasn't a disconnect fee. The person I talked to at Vonage repeated that over and over again. The person said that it was just a temporary fee and I would get it all back because I was within the trial period when we cancelled. I'm sure they will give me the run-around though. They always seem to.

I think I'll probably jump in the shower after David leaves. I don't want to be showering later when the call from HR could come in. If I don't hear anything by 10am, then I'll call her back.

It feels so cold in here because we have the heat turned down to the low 60's and it's cold and windy out. I don't want to feel like I'm freezing all winter long.

I only have a few dollars left for this week. I think I have most everything that I need. Just remembered, I need to make David's lunch. BRB.

Still waiting...

noreply@blogger.com (Samantha) — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 22:55:00 +0000

The ad for the job at CSHP has been taken off of the CSHP website. They must have chosen someone for the job. I have to hope it will be me. If it's not, it's because God doesn't want me to walk into something that will be a negative experience for me. I've prayed that I would get the job if it's the right thing, but if it's not, that the door would be shut completely on it. I'll wait for a call in the morning. If I don't hear anything by 10am then I'll call the HR person back. I did leave a message for her on Friday and asked her to call me back. I would assume that she would call me right away so I can get the pre-employment screening stuff done.

I checked online for help with food and clothes just in case we would need that. There are services out there if we need them. I think we'll be okay though. I'm planning on getting the BEF funded in November and December. Then we'll work at paying off debt. That will start in December. We'll start on the FFEF in April '08. Of course that's all tentative. Who knows what Murphy will bring. That's the goal though. Then after the FFEF is funded, we'll start working on paying off the house. We could be completely out of debt in 5 years if we stay gazelle intense. We have to. What else can we do. Stay in debt? I don't think so. It's going to take a lot of sacrifice but it will be worth it.

I've been tired all day. Haven't done anything around the house. I really need to get caught up before I have to start working. I'll have to get into a routine for sure if I get a job. I don't want to come home to a house that's a mess and laundry and dishes every day after working for hours. I'll probably get a lot done tomorrow because I'll have so much nervous energy even after I get the call. Whether I get the job or not, I'll be nervous. I really don't want to have to do anymore job interviews. I'd like this to be it. Gosh, it's so hard to wait. I'm not very patient.

David and the girls are still napping. I should go in and join them. I have to figure out what to do for dinner tonight. I haven't taken anything out of the freezer. I'm just so unmotivated today. Not much going on in the TMMO forum so that's not keeping me busy. That's why I've been blogging so much today. It's keeping me busy and helping me to get out the nervous energy.

I got a letter from Brad the other day. He sounds like he is doing okay. I sure hope they keep him in jail for a while this time so he can get his GED and learn a trade. Hopefully he'll do well with the structure and then have a better chance of doing well when he gets out. Grace said that he seemed happy and okay on the day she visited him (his 20th birthday). I'm glad that he has food, shelter a place to shower and structure in his life. He gets sentenced on December 20th. If they let him out he'll be out on the streets in the winter time. I don't want that for him. I need to work on another letter for him. I'll do that in a little bit.

Back to dinner. I really want chicken and mashed potatoes but I'm too lazy to make them. Maybe I'll get some energy here soon.

Just remembered: I didn't take my medicine this morning. I better go do that.

No jobs in this weekend's paper

noreply@blogger.com (Samantha) — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 19:12:00 +0000

We went and picked up the Sunday paper. I've already looked through the jobs section. Nothing of much interest today. CSHP isn't advertising for the East branch receptionist position. They must have made a decision. I should know within 24 hours if they are open on Veterans Day. If I started on 11/19 I'd work for three days and then have a day off. Not sure about the Friday after Thanksgiving. I think that's a work day for CSHP. Then I'd have the weekend off before starting my first full week. I'm kind of nervous about training. I hope that I can pick things up quickly. I'll need to be very focused on what I'm doing. I'll have to take a lot of notes. I don't want to rely on my memory. I don't want to forget things. I'm sure I would do okay. Well, it feels like it's time for a nap.

Waiting...

noreply@blogger.com (Samantha) — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 16:27:00 +0000

If I can just get through today the waiting should be over. I just want to know if I got that job or not. Of course, that makes me nervous because what if I get the job? Yikes! I'd be a worker again. But I'll do whatever I need to do to help pay off our debt. We have that family loan, David's jeep and the house. Then we will be debt free. I'm curious how our taxes will turn out for this year. We haven't borrowed any 401(k) money for the first time in a long time. If we get a refund I'll have David change his deductions so we get it back during the year instead of lending it to the IRS. I just hope we don't end up owing anything for this year. We'll have deductions for the mortgage interest and for charitable donations. Not sure what else we can itemize. I'm thinking of going with a DR ELP CPA to do our taxes this year. It may cost a few dollars more then the local guy, but I'm not sure if he's a CPA or not. Just checked. He is a CPA. He's done our taxes for years, so maybe I'll stick with him. He always seems to do a good job. And I believe he would cost less too. Hopefully we'll get everything we need to do taxes by mid-February. I'd like to get them done as soon as possible.

I need to work on the allocated spending plan (budget) and make worksheets for 2008. I want to be able to plug in my new SS amount and my part-time job. It will help to see how fast we can move along with our plan.

craigslist is awesome!

noreply@blogger.com (Samantha) — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 16:01:00 +0000

I put the Left Behind series and all the board games on craigslist. They would make good Christmas presents so now may be a good time to list them. I'm asking $15 for all the books and $75 for all the games. Hopefully I'll get some action on them.

Finances

noreply@blogger.com (Samantha) — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 14:31:00 +0000

I researched the Wal-mart $4 prescriptions program. Looks like we have a couple of meds on that they cover but some of them aren't cost effective to buy at Wal-mart. My prozac would be cost effective to buy at Wal-mart though. I'm paying $200 every 3 months for that prescription through mail order. If I paid $4 per month I'd only be paying $12 for that same three month period. That's a huge savings. I'll take my list of prescriptions to Wal-mart and see what they cover and how much they would cost (there's a note on the Wal-mart Pharmacy page that prescription costs may be higher in Colorado). I'm looking to save money anywhere that I can. Most of what we spend seems fixed, but I'm realizing that not everything is as it appears with the finances. There is a lot more wiggle room than I imagined there would be.

I haven't heard anything from Vonage yet about my refund. I'm going to call them tomorrow and check on it. I know they received the equipment because I paid for delivery confirmation. I'd like to get my $80 as soon as possible. I had to pay them immediately but they seem to drag their feet on refunding me my money. It's already been six days since they received the package and I haven't heard anything. That is frustrating. And I won't see why deposit refunded from Qwest until December of '08. I should however see my $300 credit on the next bill. That will help out a lot. All the phone stuff is so expensive through Qwest but because I want DSL I have to go with Qwest. And now we're locked into contracts on the wireless phones and DirecTV. I hate contracts like that. It's expensive to get out of them too. Oh well, it's the price we pay for wanting technology.

I've been up since 6:30am. It's almos 8am now. David is still in bed. He said last night that he probably wouldn't go into work today. I'm sure he's tired of working every day. We really could use the OT $ though. Of course, I can't really talk because I'm not even sure I'll be able to hold down a job, even part-time. I really don't mind if he doesn't work today. He deserves a day off.

My easel didn't sell again on eBay so I'm going to give it to Lisa. Either she'll use it or she'll let them use it at the boy's school. At least it will get used and not just sit around gathering dust.

I want to get a month ahead on bills after we fund the BEF. I won't feel comfortable trying to pay off debt if I'm worried about paying bills. DR says to be current with all bills and for me current means being a month ahead. It'll take a few months to get there but it will be worth the sacrifice. I'll still pay the family loan off first though. I don't want that hanging over our heads any longer than it has to. It would be nice to be able to pay off the bills in Jan with November's income but we're not there yet. Right now we're still living paycheck to paycheck. But at least we have a working budget and everything is accounted for. We're just going to have to stick to the budget as much as possible. Spending $30 a month on the AFM program will really help out with the grocery budget. I hope it works out to do it.

I should look at selling the games we never use (except the NHL Monopoly). I could pick up an extra few bucks there. And this might be a great time to sell them since we're coming up on Christmas. Think I'll research prices and see how much I could sell them for.

I'm getting a raise!

noreply@blogger.com (Samantha) — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 04:44:00 +0000

I was just doing some research online and found out that I'll get a 2.3% COLA in January. That will amount to about $27 a month. I get a raise! Woohoo! I'll get to work for 9 months and make as much as I want during that period. Then in the following 36 months I can make $940 a month after I take out for prescriptions or other things I have to pay for in order to work. I'll have to check out what exactly I can deduct. I'll go do some more reaserch. BRB.

Yes, I can deduct what I spend on prescription drugs and probably equipment I need to buy in order to be ergonomic at work. But I don't have to worry about that for 9 months of making over $600 or so a month. If I get this job I'll definitely make over $900 per month. I'll have to figure out deductions to keep me under $940 after the 9 months.

I'm also going to check with Wal-mart and see if we're eligible for their $4 prescription service. I know it's only on certain drugs, but it's worth it to check it out. Think I'll go research that right now.

Smell like berries...

noreply@blogger.com (Samantha) — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 01:52:00 +0000

I picked up the girls from PetCo. They smell like berries and they are so soft. And their breath is nice because they got their teeth cleaned. Their nails are a lot shorter than I expected and that is great. They were way too long. I'm sure their feet were bothering them because of their nails being so long. I am so glad we had the money to get the groomed. It was worth every penny. I did save $10 with PetCo coupons. It cost a total of $70 for both of them. So worth it.

The DR show is on now. I love watching the show. It motivates me. I think we've been doing a whole lot better with finances lately. Which curiously has made things a whole lot better between the two of us. Isn't that interesting? David worked 4 hours OT today and I think he's going to work 4 hours OT tomorrow morning. The OT money is great. It's getting us on track. We still don't have anything towards the BEF, but we are able to pay all the bills and buy groceries and gas for the vehicles. I know every day where we stand financially. It's a good feeling, very empowering.

Hmmm? Maybe the DR show isn't on. It's on the schedule but it's not on TV. That's too bad. I'd like to see an episode tonight.

I just thought: I hope they didn't use any strawberry on the girls. I'm allergic to strawberries. I'm feeling a bit itchy already. It could just be what they used even if it's not strawberries.

I sure do want to hear about that job at CSHP. Monday can't come quick enough. I'm sure I'll be anxious on Monday morning and up early. I'd like the job hunting to be over but if it's not, I'll just keep doing what I can do get a part-time job.

Taking the girls to get them groomed

noreply@blogger.com (Samantha) — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 22:09:00 +0000

I thought I was going to have to wait until Tuesday to find out about the job because Monday is Veteran's Day. But I don't think CSHP takes Veteran's Day off. David has to work that day. I let Lisa know that they called me. She thinks they'll offer me the job. I sure hope they do. I just took a shower so I'll be ready to leave to take the dogs to be groomed, nails trimmed and teeth brushed. They really need to have that done. It's been too long since their last 'spa treatment'. lol David had hockey again tonight. I'm going to try and get some stuff done around the house. I've been behind for weeks. I just need to jump in where I am and do what I can do. There are dishes on the counter that need to go in the dishwasher. There are dishes in the dishwasher that need to be put away. There's a load of towels to be folded. There's laundry in the dryer that needs to be put away and laundry in the hamper to be washed. The house definitely needs to be vacuumed too. I also need to stop by the store. We are almost out of milk and we are out of bread. There are a few other things I'll look at but they will have to be deals for me to buy them.

Nothing happening with the eBay or craigslist stuff today. I don't really have much else to sell at this point. I guess I could check out what's in the garage and see if there's anything there to get rid of. I also could consider selling my desk and bookcase that are in the office. I really don't use them for anything but storage. They sit unused most of the time now that I have my laptop. I do go in there to print though. I want to get a wireless printer when I can afford to get one. Then I can sell my printer (HP 6110xi). So I guess there are a few things around here that could be sold. I'll have to check to see how much I can get for that stuff to see if it's worth selling.

If I get that job I'll need to pick up a few things at Goodwill. I don't have any work clothes right now. They have awesome deals at Goodwill. I'll also have to pick up a pair of jeans. I'm always having to hike them up because they fall down.

I have to wake up David in about 5 minutes and leave with the girls in about 15 minutes. Minnie is up on my chair while the dogs are outside. She loves coming out and getting some attention.

Depending on how long it will take to ge the girls done, I might go to the store while they are getting groomed. I may have time to shop, bring the stuff home and the go pick them up. That would be ideal. I don't want to leave stuff in the car because it's at least in the high 60's today. I'll be using blow money to shop. I never really use the blow money to blow it. I usually spend it on groceries. I'll have to make sure that I'm alloting enough to groceries. I didn't allot anything this week but I could allot $25 to keep with the grocery challenge. I know we'll need milk and bread again because we're eating a lot of sandwiches and cereal.

Time to get David up and get the girls over to PetCo.

Grooming secured

noreply@blogger.com (Samantha) — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 16:18:00 +0000

I was able to get the girls in for a 4pm appointment today for 'the works' which includes a medicated wash, condition, nail trim and teeth brushed. They'll be smelling good after they are done with that. They are quite dog smelling right now. David smells it more than I do. I'm always so congested.

David should be home from work in an hour or so. I think I'll let him take a nap and I'll go over to the library to peruse the CPT book. I have a book called "Decoding the Codes" on hold, I'm number 2 in the queue. That will be very helpful to me. It's a book that I may want to buy at some point. I'm not sure how expensive it is though or if it's even available for sale.

I checked my item on eBay this morning, still no bites. If it doesn't sell this time around, I'm going to give it to Lisa. She said if she couldn't use it she'd take it in to school for the art teacher. No bites on my xmas stuff on craigslist either. I hope someone will be interested in buying the items. If not, I'm not sure what I will do with the stuff.

Gosh, I'm feeling sleepy. I'm thinking about going back to bed for a while. Or maybe I'll wait for David to get home and join him in a nap. I haven't had breakfast yet so I need to do that. Oh, it sounds like David is home. Woohoo!

Bizzarre things

noreply@blogger.com (Samantha) — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 15:35:00 +0000

I woke up a bit after 8am this morning. That's sleeping in late for me. I still feel tired though. I think it's because I'm not used to taking all my medicine. I also woke up with a cough. If I get a cold, now would be the time, before I have to start work. I wonder what they do during the pre-employment screening. I know that there will be a drug test so I'm ready for that. I have my last 2 orders from the mailorder company to show what meds I take. I'm assuming they'll do a background check and have me fill out paperwork. Maybe they'll do the background check prior to me doing the paperwork. Would be kind of wasteful to do it simultaneously. If a person didn't pass then the paperwork was done for nothing. I shouldn't have any problems though. I'm just waiting for that call on Monday tellling me that they are offering me the job. I wonder if they'll offer me $11+ like the HR person said. I need to ask how often they get paid. I'll have to work that into the allocated spending plan. It will be a pleasure to have to do that. :-) I think I'll bring in about $800/month net. That will put a dent into the DR plan. First we have to get the BEF funded, then pay the family loan, then it's on to paying the jeep off.

I had a weird dream last night. I dreampt that we still had the Tundra and we were using it to haul stuff to sell at the flea market. We still had stuff left after the flea market, so we packed it into the truck and parked the truck in Aunt Frances' back yard. Well, in the dream it was stolen along with all the stuff we were going to sell. We were served with a $90,000 court action. But the guy serving me knew David and let us go without paying the $90,000. I was so upset about the truck being stolen. I was walking and driving around looking for it. Never found it though. Then David and I were on bicycles riding 'home'. Instead we ended up at a friends house where the living room was as long as a bowling alley with nice hardwood floors. In the dream I spoke to a girl who was pregnant and having problems. She didn't want to go to the ER because she would have to admit that she was pregnant. But I talked her into going so she and the baby would be safe. Then the attorney I was using to help with the truck being sold took something that I made and started a business for me. I was trying to pick out a name for the business. I wanted a name that would be interesting. Then I was on a new browser system on a weird little PC and I was trying to download pictures of the stuff that was in the truck and the truck itself. I was having difficulty getting it to print out. The browser kept going back to pages that I didn't need to be on. I think I dreampt about that because I installed FireFox last night on my PC. Anyway, that is the jist of the dream. I'm sure it means something but I can't make hide not hair of it at this point. Oh yeah, I couldn't wait, in the dream, to go onto the TMMO forum and post about the truck being stolen. I guess you know you're spending too much time on a forum when you start dreaming about it. lol

I'm feeling a bit wheezy this morning. It's either a bad case of allergies or a cold is coming on. I hope it's just allergies.

I didn't allocate any money for groceries this week. On purpose. We have tons of food in the house and we should be able to get by on it for at least a week. The only thing I'll have to buy is milk and bread. There are some other things I'd like to buy but I'll have to check out the prices first before I can justify buying them (Hershey's syrup, soy sauce, things like that). Next weekend we pick up the box from AFM. That'll probably take us through the end of the month. We're going over to Lisa's for Turkey Day so I won't have to buy a completer meal. I'll just bring something over to Lisa's to share with everyone. I'll try to make it something I already have on hand (maybe that pumpkin cheesecake). It'll be nice to not have to do massive amouints of cooking for just the two of us. I think I'll still buy a small turkey because they are only $5 at Safeway. We don't have to use it for Turkey Day. We could save it for Christmas or some other time. It's definitely worth the money if I clean off all the meat and use the carcass to make soup that I can freeze.

That made me think of Leanne (a turkey soup recipe) and the job I applied for with savingdinner.com. I haven't heard anything about that job. Oh well, I want the job down the road anyway. It's going to be so nice to work less than 2 miles from home (positive thinking). I'm sure they must have been calling to offer me the job.

Lisa told me some of the questions they asked in the reference check. Most were pretty routine and straightforward. One was bizarre though. They asked if I had any violent or ? tendencies. What the french toast? That is the weirdest question I have ever heard of in a reference check. Violent tendencies. Sheesh.

I'm starting to get a bit nervous about actually working a real job. After taking that test yesterday and realizing how difficult some of it was, it made me wonder if I'll have a hard time at a job. I know it's just the jitters and I'll be fine once I'm at the job but I worry that in the last 7 years I've forgotten how to learn quickly and pick things up fast. When I think about it rationally, I know that I will do okay.

It's just a bit after nine now. I don't feel like doing a dang thing. I'm wheezy, have a tickle in my throat and I'm coughing. I need to see if I can get the girls in for grooming. They really need a bath and to have their nails trimmed. I guess I should try and call PetCo and see if they have any slots open. I'll blog more later.

I might have the job!

noreply@blogger.com (Samantha) — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 04:53:00 +0000

I got up early and went to my skills assessment class at PPWFC. The whole thing took about 3 hours. A good percentage of it was fairly difficult. I did complete the test and scored well on the 3 categories - math, reading, location. I'll get to pick up my certificate next Wednesday. I am getting a silver certificate. After class I went home and let the dogs out. They were anxious to get out. I let them back in and then left to do errands. I dropped off the book on tape at the Library. I wasn't able to pick up those books because they both are reference materials. I stopped for gas and at the CU. After I did my errands I went over to Lisa's. We had a nice time. When I got home there was a message on the phone from CSHP. Tracy in HR called and asked me to call here back. She sounded positive so maybe I got the job. I called back but she was already gone for the day. I left a message for her to call me back. I'm assuming that she won't call until Monday. I can't believe I missed that call. I should have forwarded the home phone to my cell phone. Grrrr! Oh yeah, and they called Lisa for a reference. She was nice enough to give me a good reference. Any time the phone rings I want it to be the HR person telling me I got the job and I need to schedule employee pre-screening and drug testing. I'm sure I won't hear from her until Monday. And hopefully she'll call early on Monday. If I didn't get the job I'd like to know as soon as possible. David is at hockey tonight. I miss him. I'm ready for bed and I know he'll have to sit up for a while to unwind. He's going to get in some OT tomorrow and maybe Sunday. He'll probably work 4 hours each day. We really need the OT money. It's helping out so much. It's hard for me to believe that I might be working in a week and a half. I did do okay with sitting there for three hours today to do that skills assessment. But I'm tired tonight and my allergies are making me feel sick. I really need to get some sleep.

Research done

noreply@blogger.com (Samantha) — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 07:00:00 +0000

I checked and they have CPT books and ICD-9 books at the East Library. I'll check them out when I drop off that book on tape tomorrow. I think the ICD-9 is reference only. It's the CPT book that I'm really interested in anyway.

I sent a thank you to Paul & Caryn via the HR department. It's either going to tell them something good about me or it will blow the job for me. Whatever is supposed to happen, will happen.

Okay it's midnight now. I seriously need to go to bed. Goodnight.

Interview went really well!

noreply@blogger.com (Samantha) — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 05:36:00 +0000

I had my interview with CSHP this morning. I think it went well. I was interviewed by the head of the lab department and the head of the radiology department. I was able to answer all of their questions and even had a chance to ask questions of my own. I feel like I would be a good fit for the job. If I'm offered the job, I'd start on November 19th, 11 days from now. They said that HR would notify me by the beginning of next week. I have to admit that I'll be disappointed if I don't get the position, but if I don't I'll just keep looking. I'm going to have to brush up on my lab and radiology codes and procedures. I'll look and see if they have anything at the library since I'm going there tomorrow to drop off that Stephen King book on tape. I never finished it. It didn't grab my attention like the other one did. I'm really nervous about waiting to hear from CSHP HR. I so want this job. I did pray though, that if it's not the right job for me that God would completely shut the door on it. I don't always know what's best but He does. I wish they'd make a quick decision and I'd get a call tomorrow. I just have to be patient I guess.

Tomorrow morning I go to PPWFC and do a skills assessment test. That should be fun. If I do well I'll forward that to CSHP HR. Couldn't hurt. If I don't fair too well then I won't send it to them. Then tomorrow afternoon I'll be going over to Lisa's for scone church. I'm looking forward to that. She invited us over for Thanksgiving. We accepted. I won't have to buy a big meal then. I'm not sure what I'll bring but it will be less expensive than doing a whole meal for just the two of us.

David and the girls are already in bed. I'll be heading there pretty quick. I took some time tonight to reply to topics on the DR forum. Being on that forum is so helpful. It keeps me accountable in the finance department. I got paid for both the items I sold on eBay. I used the money to put some gas in the jeep, get Benadryl for the dogs and to do some grocery shopping. There's a challenge on the DR forum to keep grocery shopping to $25 a week until the first of the year. I had budgeted for $60 a week. If I can spend half that, I'll be doing good. In two weeks I go pick up the AFM unit. There will be all kinds of stuff in there. I hope I can use most of it. Whatever I can't use that's non-perishable will go to Care & Share.

I have to be up by 7am the latest tomorrow. I'll have to leave about 7:45am. I don't want to be late. I have no idea what the testing will consist of. I'm sure it's all done on the computer though. I guess there could be some writing too. I'll know when I get there. It'll be fun.

I called the recovery center and told them that I would like to be taken out of the running for their office position. I also emailed the owner that I interviewed with yesterday afternoon and told him that same thing. No need to drag it out. That way the can eliminate me and go on to the next candidate.

If I get the CSHP job, I'd be working from 7:30 - 11:30 am, Monday through Friday. They said there is a possibility of the position turning into more than part time, but that would be down the road. I won't worry about that right now. I have 9 months to make as much as I can before I have to worry about going full time or making the appropriate amount with my disability. Nine months should give me enough time to figure out if I can really go back to work, even just part-time to start. I have applied for some other jobs, some of them are full-time, just to get some more experience doing interviews. Oh yeah, they mentioned tattoos and piercings being frowned upon, so I'll have to always wear long sleeved at that job. I did stop last night and buy a $2 shirt at Goodwill. It looked really good today. Until I know what job I'm getting and what the actual dress code is, I won't buy any work clothes. There's no jeans at the CSHP job except on payday Fridays. I will have to ask, if I'm offered the job, what my pay rate will be, when I get paid and what happens with the holidays if I'm only part time. They have some days that they work only half a day but get paid for a full day (xmas eve, new years eve, sometime around Thanksgiving). Since I'd only be part-time I don't think that would apply to me.

It's 11pm. I really need to get to bed. I want to feel refreshed for the testing tomorrow. I also have an appointment next Wednesday with the Voc Rehad people. I don't know what, if anything, they will be able to do for me. At least I'll be able to go to the appointment. Unless of course the pre-employment screening and drug test for CSHP has to be done on that day. They would have all of that done by next Thursday so I could start on the following Monday (the 19th). It's nerve racking not knowing if I did well enough in the interview. I need to remember to send a thank you to Paul and Caryn for interviewing me.

Well, I'm going to go look up the lab/radiology stuff at the library and see if I can find out where to send the thank you's and then I'll head to bed. I'll be back sometime tomorrow.