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I'm Back
.... from vacation that is! I had a glorious 7 days in St. Lucia. Although the first part of this year has blown by, I have felt every single nanosecond of each day. The first four months of this year were incredibly busy and a week in the Caribbean was just what the doctor ordered.
Updates
I'm currently working on some changes to this blog. Back in January I confessed my boredom with blogging and several of you gave me some great suggestions. I plan to update the blog and expand the content. Personal finance is a very fun topic for me but I don't want to talk about it all the time. My finances are on autopilot as I maneuver my way through growing a profitable small business. The last thing I want is to have a "preachy" blog about the do's and don'ts of personal finance, but that will be all too inevitable since I don't have much content that is or will be derived from my personal experiences and situation - at least for now. Without those personal stories, I'm just another blogger saying do this, don't do that, why did you do that, did you think about this. So with that being said, I'm not leaving personal finance as a topic, but I'll be adding a few more topics that are near and dear to my heart ... more to come.
Oh, and I did end up fixing the car. Crud. This is the last time I'll be able to do any major work on her ... the next episode will result in the purchase of another car. I was just too daggum busy to make the necessary time to research and purchase a car that suddenly.
Shout Outs
Thanks to all of my readers, I truly appreciate you. Special shout out to some of my favorite blogpals, Christine, Stinky, 444, Josie and Matt, please know that I'm reading your blogs, even when I don't have time to comment.
Until next time,
***Before I begin this post, I want you to know that there is no update on the car situation. Basically I'm in between bumming rides and renting cars. Obviously I have to do something soon, I just need a few more minutes to think about what I want and can do.
Back to the regularly scheduled program ...
Things have been incredibly busy with the business and I'm definitely grateful. Things are going so well that I'm beginning to feel overwhelmed and stressed. The pace that I'm going at now is unsustainable and I won't last long if something doesn't change. Thankfully someone is coming along to help me two days a week, and I have a really good friend who has offered her assistance as well. While this is going to be a great help for the work load, there's another part that's suffering too - me!
I have one of those bodies that responds well to proper eating. Food really is a fuel for me. When I load up on processed and manufactured "food," I can feel it and my body literally locks up. ***TMI ALERT - Feel free to stop here or skip to the next paragraph. Most nutritionist would tell you that you're supposed to eliminate after every meal, or at a minimum, once a day. Because I've been eating crap like ice cream for dinner, my elimination has been almost nonexistence. We're talking days, if not a full week. As if the lack of elimination wasn't concern enough, my energy level was at subzero. When I wasn't working, I was in the bed. I was beginning to feel like a zombie, moving in slow motion. So now I'm not eliminating and I'm extremely tired, but still not encouraged to evaluate the situation and make changes. It wasn't until I realized that my ability to think clearly and cognitively was severely compromised. It would take me 30 minutes to do something that should have taken 5 minutes. Forgetting basic, simple things was becoming the norm. I'd pick up the phone and completely forget who I intended to call. I'd hit "compose" on the e-mail and forget who I was about to email and for what reason. In the business that I'm in, those actions are UNacceptable! My mind is how I earn a living. It needs to function optimally at all times. So on yesterday, I had an intervention with me, myself and I and we unanimously decided that I needed to do something quick. Seriously, functioning at this level can be catastrophic to my business and if I'm going to fail, it's not going to be because I'm not eating properly and getting enough rest. How crazy is that?!
After the intervention I left work, came home, took a nap for several hours (I'm soo not a napper ... guess I needed it), and then headed to the farmer's market. I spent over $90 on fruits and veggies because I need to reintroduce myself to them. My intention is to significantly increase my intake of living foods and juice daily, like I used to. This morning's breakfast was an egg puff doused with a little kosher salt and hot sauce (two eggs cooked in the microwave for about 1.5 minutes... and btw, I looove hot sauce) along with the infamous apple/carrot/ginger juice:
Instead of grabbing an energy drink for an afternoon pick me up, I juiced one of the many almighty green juice elixirs. This baby had spinach, parsley, apples, ginger & lemon ... delish, you'd love it! Ginger and lemons are a staple in nearly all of the juices I make. I just love those added flavors, especially the ginger.
Results after day 1, significant. I feel better than I have in quite some time and my body is very thankful for nutrients it can actually use and process.
It looks like the time has come for me to retire my beloved 12 year old Honda Accord! Timing is awful but there's not many choices left. My car started sputtering a few days ago so I took in for a diagnostic test. ****sighing deeply**** It's the daggum transmission - $3,292, catalytic converter - $900ish and something else that I can't recall - $200ish. When you add it all up, we're talking darn near $5,500. Oh my goodness, I have no idea what I'm going to do. This was sooo not in the plans for 2010. Okay, gotta regroup and figure this situation out because I DO NOT, and I repeat DO NOT want a car note EVER AGAIN IN LIFE!
Since I became credit card debt free I only kept one card, which I pay off each month. I haven't carried a balance nor paid interest on this card in several years. There are stories all over the blogosphere and financial pundit sites that warn against the subliminal trickery of the banks to (1) circumvent the recently enacted credit card rules, (2) increase their revenue to offset the colossal amount of bad debt write-offs and other losses and/or (3) find innovative ways to increase their fee revenue ... which has become a major source of income for the banks during the heyday of credit abuse. Well, let this be a warning to you citibank, I shall not be a victim, scapegoat or random target for any foolishness. It was my idea that I'd keep one credit card for travel and online purchases. Plans changed and I actually use the card for everyday purchases such as gas and eating out. Although my monthly bill is NOT very high, I often have MANY transactions ... many. Such was the case for last month's bill, which included the usual suspects as well as Christmas and holiday what-nots. Much to my surprise when I looked at all of the transactions prior to paying the bill, I noticed a $37.01 charge. Hmm? I looked closer and realized that it was a finance charge. What? So I looked over prior month's bill to see if I paid it after the due date, and therefore incurred a finance charge. Nope. The bill was paid 1 week prior to the due date. Next step ... call Citi immediately! I called, the rep agreed that the finance charge was an error and immediately corrected the account.Thanks Citi, you get an A for customer service, but an F for effort. I'm sorry. Maybe I've bought into the financial conspiracy theory, the one that suggests big mega monster banks are sneaky, evil and prey on the unsuspected. Perhaps it was an honest mistake because after all, mistakes do happen. Mistake or not, I wonder how many of these "mistakes" go unnoticed by the customers. Hmm, yes, we all should exercise personal responsibility so I dare not lay all of the blame at the feet of the banks. This is just another example about why we must be vigilant about our personal financial affairs. As the saying goes, pun intended, mind your business! ***ps, thanks for all of the comments on my "bored" post. I'll stick around for now. I'm finding more inspiration now that I'm no longer forcing myself to always talk about finances. Oh, and my very first troll ... ha, thanks! I appreciate you too;-).
Ladies and gents, I'm suffering from a case of blog boredom. My life has changed quite a bit from when I started this blog and now I'm not sure which direction I should proceed. I don't have debt to payoff, my mortgage acceleration goal is on hold and there is no additional money going towards investments or other long term savings. Since branching out into entrepreneurship full time everything financial is on hold. I'm in maintenance mode right now. So here's the scoop - I'll either take a break or blog about other random things that may or may not have much to do with finances. If any of you have questions that you'd like me to answer via the blog or topics you'd like me to discuss definitely let me know, I could use the inspiration.
Why is it that I'm always an easy target for the countless career and personality tests floating around the universe? Truthfully I'm not convinced that they are reliable, but they always seem to be more accurate than not with my results. Case in point, MY RESULTS ...
Personality type: "Determined Realist"
Practical, traditional and organized. Likely to be athletic. Not interested in theory or abstraction unless they see the practical application. Have clear visions of the way things should be. Loyal and hard-working. Like to be in charge. Exceptionally capable in organizing and running activities. 'Good citizens' who value security and peaceful living.
Careers that could fit you include:
Military, business administrators, managers, police/detective work, judges, financial officers, teachers, sales representatives, government workers, insurance agents, underwriters, nursing administrators, trade and technical teachers. If you are interested in taking a career/personality test, click here; it's quick and easy. Don't forget to let us know how accurate - or not - the test results are for you.
BTW .... Merry Christmas and Happy early New Year;-).
Romeo,
I miss you already buddy. You were the sweetest, smartest dog ever. Although I only knew you for a short time, you carved out an eternal impression in my heart. It's so amazing how you managed to steal my affection and cause some folks to refer to me as "delusional" because I'd go around calling you "my dog." (inside joke, i needed that laugh). You were my dog. You were everything I ever wanted in a dog. Your communication skills were grade A, your friendship was unconditional and your personality was almost human-like. I'm gonna miss sending you care packages filled with your favorite treats, peanut butter snacks, doggie biscuits, and of course, all things chicken. I really wished you would have hung on a few more days so that I could see you once more. Well, maybe it was best that I wasn't there when you decided to go to doggie heaven. Unashamedly I gotta tell you, I have a lump in throat that won't clear, and yes, I've shed a few tears too.
Bye bye my doggie brother. There's not another jack russell terrier, or any other dog that can replace you.
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