Long Time . . .

Hey y'all! Since I haven't posted in over two weeks now I decided to put blogging on my Sunday to-do list to make sure I don't go another week without checking in. It's an overcast day and kind of on the coolish side so I think it's a perfect day to check in.

It's been a busy couple of weeks for me with work. Also, on the heels of Harvey's visit came a visit from The Sarah and Captain John (my parental units). They were on their way through for a wedding and spent a couple of nights so they could help me celebrate my birthday (I'm 45 now y'all and all I keep wondering is how on earth this happened)! Anyway we had a couple of days to visit. They took me out for a birthday dinner at my very favorite Thai restaurant and got me a teeny tiny cake that even had a candle!
On the home improvement side of things I've accomplished one small project. I have this itsy bitsy laundry room that is barely big enough to hold the washer and dryer. As I have no storage in this old house it also serves as my linen closet, pond supply room and storage area for my tools, including a few power tools like my drill and circular saw. All these years there has only been one shelf in there. Although I de-clutter and organize once a year it seems it has always been in chaos. Now that I have my nifty deck storage box on the front porch I decided to put the tools and pond stuff in there. I also decided to add a second shelf:


Took maybe half an hour to cut, install, and organize. This is one of those "small investment for big payoff" projects and it's now actually pleasant to go in there.

My self-improvement project lately has been working on my annual financial review. You might recall that a year ago I took an online course in personal finance following David Bach's "Smart Women Finish Rich." I spent a lot of time getting educated about my money and lack thereof and the simple act of doing this made such a change in my mindset. So in the past week I've been reviewing my credit reports and credit card statements and have it all written down and have made a plan for paying off several cards and an old loan from my mom and dad before the end of the year. I also found a terrific web tool if you're interested in this kind of thing - www.networthiq.com. You enter assets and liabilities on a monthly basis and get a line graph showing the progress of your net worth.

Here's a little 25 second movie I made Friday. I happened to be walking through the kitchen and glanced out the window and y'all, it is a nature preserve out there!

Other than that I am making a conscious effort to do earth and money saving things like turn off things I'm not using (printer, computer speakers, lights). I am trying to think ahead and consolidate errands to save gas. I am not fond of those compact flourescent bulbs because the light is so harsh and since I am "of an age" I like softer light. But since I live alone in a tiny house and don't normally burn lights in rooms I am not in I think I can forgive myself. I refuse to turn on the A/C until the inside temp reaches 80 and then I monitor the outside temp and once it evens out I turn the damn thing off and open the windows.

So that catches up pretty much. Hope you all have a great rest of the weekend and a good week. And I promise I won't let another 2 weeks go by!