Monday Musings

I love alliteration! :)

So...it's been a while...I actually intended, hoped, dreamed and planned (I also love redundancy) to blog last week.  Every day, I thought, this is the day.

And every day, I was WAY too busy to blog.

Stoopid job.

Just kidding...I really like my job.  Really I do.  I mean, it has it's down days...like every job out there...but for the most part, it's not horrible.

But the last two weeks, have been slammed.  I appreciate the busy-ness...sometimes I wish the busy-ness was just a little more steady and not all at once, as it usually is.

Anyway...

I have decided that 2012 is the year I'm taking control.  My first step was taking control of some financial decisions.  You see, I hate making financial decisions...and I hate pricing stuff like insurance, etc.  It intimidates me to no end.  Basically because I've never paid attention to anything.  Truly, when I bought my house, I signed documents that I semi-understood...but my main concern was the bottom line.  If the monthly payment fit my budget, then all was well. 

So, last week I *finally* closed on my house refinance...still semi-understanding what I was signing...maybe with a little more knowledge than the first time...and with a new homeowner's policy...which was my other step in "taking control".

A couple of weeks ago, I decided I had put off going to the doctor long enough.  I won't even tell you how long it has been that I've been to the doctor for anything other than sickness.  I won't tell you because I don't know.  I *think* it's been less than 5 years...but I couldn't put money on it.  So, I called a new doctor's office to set up a physical...which ended up being a nightmarish event.  Evidently you can't just become a patient...you have to come to a "new patient" appointment and then they will schedule a physical (or whatever you are pursuing, unless you are sick, I guess).  To me, this read as their way of collecting two co-pays...but whatever.  My new patient appointment was last week...and to my surprise, the PA decided to go ahead and do the physical.  Mostly because she couldn't code the appointment to anything else...which I kind of thought about beforehand...but what do I know.  "Taking control".

I'm not really sure what else is on this "taking control" list...definitely some improvements at the house...and really working hard to control my eating...and getting in the gym more often.  All of my 2012 goals are part of the list...so, we shall see how this all works out.

Today, I'm thankful for a beautiful Saturday...and a rainy Sunday...but I am not digging the COLD today. 

Yes, it's snowing in the mountains today.

Take that, Spring! ;)

Happy Monday!

2012 Goals - Update

A couple of months ago, I finally decided on setting some goals for 2012...things that I felt like are very reasonable...doable.  As a reminder, these are my 2012 Goals:

I thought it would be good to give a little update on where I am...mostly because I'm excited to see some of these getting ready to be crossed off the list! :)

1 - I am nowhere near accomplishing this goal.  My problem is that once I create a list, I want to cross everything off.  Never mind that this list is supposed to be something that I take 12 months to  finish.  So...after I set the goal, I took off...pushing myself (which is good for a runner mentality)...but I think I need to back up a little and work on some other areas of my physical fitness...and then begin to push further into this.  I would say I AM working towards this goal...it's a work in progress.

2 - I am very happy to say that I have made significant progress in this area.  I still have a ways to go in paying this off, but I feel really good about where I am with it.  And while I am still striving to have my credit card balance down to $0 by December 31st, I feel very certain that if for some reason I don't quite hit that mark, I will have it paid completely off in early 2013.

3 - I am CLOSING on my home mortgage refinance on Monday! :)  I'm so very excited about this...because who wouldn't appreciate a month without a house payment?  But also...I'm excited about reducing my interest rate by a little over 2%.  Also, within this process I had my home owners & auto insurances reviewed by another agent...and I cut my home owners down almost $200/yr.  The auto stays about the same...but I had been thinking for a while that my home owners was way too expensive - turns out I'm right! So, with the reduction of my home owners & the interest, I should see a good monthly saving in my house payment!

4 - Currently I have $300 in my savings account.  I had put a portion of my tax refund in savings for the appraisal that had to be done on my house...but I put more than I thought I would need, hoping to jump start my savings goal.  I really feel like I'll be up to the $500 mark by May or June.

5 - No progress...sadly enough...

6 - Eeek...I was doing really well with this for a while...and then I didn't.  Still need to work on this one.

7, 8 & 9 - I believe will all be accomplished within the next 30-60 days.  A lot depends on what happens at my re-fi closing.  If they cash out my existing escrow (*fingers crossed*), then I will have a nice little chunk of change that will go directly to accomplishing these three items...and maybe, just maybe, some new living room furniture.  I'm trying not to count my chickens before they hatch...but these are exciting times for me! ;)

So there you have it...Out of 9 items, I really feel good about the progress I've made (or should be making relatively soon) on several of these items.  I'm already doing better than I did in 2011!  :)

What I'm Loving Wednesday

My friend, Rachel posted today what she's loving...so I thought (in my effort to blog a little more often, as I have time) I would jump on that bandwagon for today! :)

I'm loving...

Our weather this week...although, it appears that today is the last of the warm weather days.  It's not going to jump down too awfully cold...but today it's supposed to be around 80.  Tomorrow, low 60's for the high.  I will take it while I can get it!

I'm loving...

Now that my BFF is on Twitter, it's all about the hashtags - in texts, e-mails, in real life conversations...everything has a hashtag!  And I'm loving that she's there and can share in the Twitter madness! :)  Once again, blurring that line between virtual and reality...

I'm loving...

That tomorrow is my last work day for the week!  I'm off on Friday...but no sleeping in for me!  I will be watching my niece & nephew while my sister works and my brother-in-law sleeps (since he's on night shift this weekend). 

I'm loving...

That I DO get to sleep in on Saturday!  Dylan is going with Seth to his grandma's house to do some yardwork...so he's sleeping over at Seth's Friday night...which means that I don't have to get up super early to take him anywhere!  AND I have no plans on Saturday...AND it's supposed to rain (I think)...so I'm feeling a major movie marathon day!

I'm loving...

THIS song by Mercy Me...




So much so...that I went out at lunch and bought an iTunes giftcard so I could add it to my music! :)

I'm loving...

My new phone! :)  I got the iPhone 4 last year...fell in love with it.  Dylan has needed to upgrade his phone since December...and since I'm the cool mom a pushover I really wanted the iPhone 4S, I decided to use his upgrade to get ME the 4S and I gave him my old 4!  The best news???  If Apple DOES come out with iPhone 5 this fall (as is rumored)...my upgrade is in November!  Although, I have to say...the 4S is not a huge jump from the 4...so Apple is going to have to blow my socks off with the next phone for me to layout the moo-lah for another iPhone!

Happy Wednesday!