This & That...My Silly Life

To busy for exercise today :( It has been some long days recently, a lot going on and stressful, so today I am skipping my exercise which I hate, but I have just ran out of time today....and for once I would like to get to bed before 12:00. My day started pretty well until I found out Marks hours were getting cut at work and then it just slowly fell apart from there. I have been an emotional wreck lately and mostly just worrying myself even though I know some way everything will work out. I can home today, luckily didn't have to cook dinner (left overs), but I did bake some comfort cookies :) I worked on my cleaning project for today which was dusting our bedroom and furniture and cleaning all the mirrors. In addition to making sure the kitchen is clean and my living room. You know I actually think I will like my little "honest effort" project. I will have to do some adjustments on the days and things I do, but once I get everything worked out I think will feel so much better about not spending the weekend cleaning. Today my house is so clean, and it just makes me feel so good to look around and see no mess anywhere!!!

Other than that, I had to do my sister's taxes today. Tomorrow I have to do Mom's and then I will start working on our taxes Wednesday. It's just one more thing to add to my day, but I enjoy it. I also spent some time searching and working on a few applications for part time jobs. Speaking of that....Mark doesn't want me to have to work another job. I know he doesn't want me to spend my whole weekends working, but I don't mind. I can see some benefits to working part time especially right now with the work situation. Trust me deep down I don't want to work all the time, but for some reason I just feel like I need to do a little extra. So as far as that situation goes I think I will see if I get any call backs and if so I will have to make a decision at that point in time. Speaking of...what is the deal with all these online applications? I do like the fact that you can fill them out from home and on your own time, but there are a few things I dislike. Today I had to answer 69 questions on an application. REALLY!?! These questions were so stupid (in my opinion) they were multiple choice and asked about ideal working conditions, adding and subtracting (what in the world) and other random stuff....such a waste of time! Then I noticed several of the applications I have completed ask for your social security number and drivers licence number for a background check. I am so sorry I probably wont get any call backs because I am not putting all that information on an application (especially online)!!!!!!!!!! Can we say that is just identity theft waiting to happen.... Then some of the applications asked for your age, sex, and race...I thought that was against the law???? Oh maybe it was ok since they said that those questions didn't have anything to do with the application process. If they don't then why do they ask them?

Geez this world is crazy! Who knew you had to give every detail about your life to get a part time job for minimum wage... Ummm, not me! So maybe I don't have to worry about the part time job....LOL I could understand giving them the information if they offered you a job, but not just to apply. If you want to hire me then you can do all the digging you want :) As for those 69 stupid questions, for starters anyone with common sense is going to put the answers they want to hear (duh) so that was pretty much pointless. So that's my rant for today...if you want to get a job I guess you should be prepared to sign over a arm or leg if asked!

Well that's it for today folks, hope everyone had a better Monday than me! I am grateful for the life I have even if sometimes I feel like nothing goes right. I am counting my blessing and praying for things to turn around for myself and everyone else who is facing the battles of this crazy thing we call life!

Forgive me in advance, this will be a long post... It has been a few days since my last post so I have a ton of stuff to talk about and it will be all over the place.



What a weekend! This has been one of the best weekends I have had in awhile. I got a lot of things done, and had a lot a fun :) Friday night was pretty low key. We had a couple of folks stop by for a bit and just chatted and sat around, and went to bed early. Saturday was a busy day... I got up early and got my coupons together for the Kroger Mega Event and left to meet a friend for a Zumba class. Let me just say this class KILLED me...seriously I thought I was going to pass out, but I made it out alive. (thank goodness) After that I was off to get my flu shot (ouch) and then to the grocery store and the bank. Got home and done some cleaning and then relaxed for a bit. Saturday evening we met Amanda and Russ for dinner and then we had Joey's surprise birthday party. We had a blast, I think everyone was there so it was good company, a good band playing and just a good night :) Today I got up early cooked breakfast for Mark and me, caught up on my tv shows, cleaned a little more and managed to get outside and jog 2 miles. It was such a beautiful day here and I just couldn't pass up getting outside to jog. I can't jog in the cold and I have really missed my daily jogging and the fresh air :)

Kroger Mega Event Spent $44.22 saved $88.58 or 67%!! The good part about this was I really didn't have coupons for most of this stuff. I had to stock up on the cheese and butter since it was a good price without coupons and I was in desperate need! So I was happy with the savings :)

What I got...2-32 load All detergent, 2-Snuggle fabric softers 46 loads, 1-French's mustard, 1-Finish dishwasher detergent, 1-box of Texas Toast, 4-40 oz Ketchup, 3-cans of Hunts tomatoes, 12-packs of Kraft Singles, 17-cups of Mac n Cheese, 8-tubs of Butter!



Honest Effort Update:



So after talking with Mark the other day and telling him my plan about keeping the house clean during the week he proceeded to tell me that the house was messy...HA HA! This made me quite ill...so I asked him what he was talking about. He said that when I was clothes (on Thursday night) that I leave them in the living room and don't put them up until Saturday. In my defense...I do laundry on Thursday night, I usually don't get to bed until 1:00 because that's what time it is after I wash and fold the clothes. Needless to say I am on a mission to make sure the house is 100% clean all the time now so Mark cant say anything...oh and I will be pointing out his messes :)

Hmmm...looks like Marks boots sitting in the living room floor!

That chair doesn't look like a laundry basket... oh not to mention the gun that's not in the gun cabinet or the change that is laying on the floor (LOL)

and the last thing I will point out...he always has a mess right here! Ear plugs, flash light, fox lure, coozie, Axe spray and gun shells...no I don't think any of those things belong there. Yet I am the messy one...right! I think he doesn't notice the messes he leaves, but I am on a mission to start pointing them out :)

Well, I think that is going to be about it for today. I still have some things to do before bed and I am exhausted. I will get back to my normal blogging this week. Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! Start the week off right ;)

A pretty slack post tonight. It has been a strange evening...one of those where a bunch of nothing gets done. So after work today I had to do some grocery shopping and stopped and picked us up some dinner.

I am still couponing, if your wondering. The deals have been terrible lately and I really haven't been doing much grocery shopping, but I will share my trip from today. Harris Teeter (my favorite grocery store) was the store pick of today. I needed some random things, soft drinks, lunch meat, Crystal Lite drink mixes (beacuse this is all Mark drinks, and geez they are expensive), bread and some frozen items that were on sale. Just so you know I only used 6 coupons today :( Anyway my savings today was 57% not to great but for the items I had to buy I was pleased. Especially with the soft drinks...when did soda get so expensive? I got the 12 pack fridgemates for $2.47 (you won't find a better price) so I stocked up and bought 10, I was down to my last pack (I only buy them if I can get them for $2.50 or less) so I was VERY thankful that they went on sale!!! As for the Crystal Lite drink mixes Mark will only drink the Wild Strawberry, and that is about all he drinks. Those things are so expensive....Walmart came out with thier own brand of this flavor, but they are ALWAYS sold out in the store. The Walmart brand cost $1.97, but Harris Teeter had the name brand on sale for BOGO which meant I only paid $1.92 for them. I was really estatic about that....I bought all they had which was 10. Sorry if anyone else wanted some, but my dear husband goes through these things like there is no tomorrow! I might try to go back and buy some more!!!! All in all I spent $65.oo at Harris Teeter today which is alot of money at the grocery store to me, but for what I got, I won't complain.

Other than that we had to do some work to our heating unit today, which took up about an hour of my time. I got to watch 1 TV show. (thank goodness for DVR) On a great note...my kitchen is clean so I am doing good with my "honest effort" :) Tomorrow is laundry day...I hate laundry! On a bad note....I have only managed to get one day of exercise in :( I have been busy... I spent some time tonight sending resumes for part time jobs so I can be prepared if I absolutley have to have one >>>sigh<<<

What an exciting day right? How was your day? Well I have to get to bed....after I floss and brush my teeth ;)

To make life a little easier. So the plan is to try really hard to get into a routine of doing certain things everyday that will ultimately make life easier.

Here is how I will start off...

• Clean up after dinner each night...I must admit that I don't do this every night because sometimes after preparing a meal I just don't feel like cleaning the kitchen too, but I am going to try to do this one for sure!
• Wipe down all the counter tops after everything is cleaned up
• Put all the dishes away in the dishwasher and wash the ones that I can't put in the dishwasher
• Floss every night before bed...I have been working really hard on this one, but sometimes I am still a little slack
• Make sure all my stuff (bills, magazines, mail) is put away and not sitting out in my living room (another tough one, because I usually work on these things late in the evening)
• Keep the dirty laundry sorted in baskets to make it wash ready on Thursday night....not so tough for me, but I need to get Mark on board with this one!!!

So that's the main things right now. I will add more a little at a time. I didn't want to start off with a hefty list because I knew I would be less likely to hold myself to it. If I can do these things everyday my house will be happy and I will be happy when I don't feel like everything is a disaster. I am tired of spending my whole weekend cleaning, so eventually I hope to have everything where I do all my cleaning task during the week and have extra time for what I want on the weekend. If I break it down into smaller task throughout the week I think my life will be easier and I will feel less stressed on busy weekends. I will keep you posted!

On another note....yesterday I mentioned some things that were stressing me. So here it is, more than likely next month they are cutting our hours at work (AGAIN) I am just so disgusted over this, and to make matters worse Marks hours will probably be cut too. I just don't know how we are going to make it, but we always find a way. I might start looking for a part time job even though I really don't want to...but in times like this you do what you have to do :( The sad thing is I love what I do, I like my co-workers, and I love our customers...the past 3 years have been really tough and it just don't seem to be getting better. I am the type of person who wants to stick through the tough times, but when I have to stress every day over paying my bills something has to give. I am thankful that I have a job, and that I am not unemployed but this is really straining me physically, mentally and emotionally. Tonight for the first time in 8 years I sent an application out for a position with another company. I filled everything out and got to the point to submit and I cancelled it...I couldn't bring myself to send it! I can't imagine going to another company or doing something different than what I do everyday... After sitting around, cleaning my kitchen (see list above, LOL) I went back to the website and filled out the application again, uploaded my resume and cover letter and made myself send it this time. I am scared! I am not quiet sure if they will consider me as a qualified person since I have never worked in that line of work, but I do have two Associates Degrees that I feel maybe qualify me...we shall see. I just don't know, I think I might be more nervous that I might be qualified and I might hear from them and actually have to make a decision. I love what I do, I love that Mark and I work together and save on gas and things like that....but the way things are I just worry that we have too many eggs in one basket as far as work goes. I have to consider our best interest so I think it's time for me to look and see what else is out there for me....it never hurt to look right? At the end of the day I just want to be able to pay my bills!!! Who can fault me for that?

An update on my sister.... Jayme is less than thrilled about her 3 week training. She said it has been pouring rain there and she has physical test outside tomorrow. Apparently even if it's raining they still have to do them. Poor thing, I hope the rain is gone by tomorrow! I know it's probably lonely being there with nothing to do and not seeing many people she knows. She is really stressed about passing everything because she really loves her new job. I have my fingers crossed for her and I know that she can do anything she puts her mind to....Love you little Sis, you will make it through :)

I hope everyone is having a great week. Count your blessings even when they seem slim! Eventually things will work out for the best and life will somehow find a way to guide you in the right direction.

Geez, it's been a Monday! My day started with the alarm clock singing at 4:30 this morning. I really wanted to hit the snooze button, but there was no time for that...I had to get up take a shower, warm my car up, make a pot of coffee and get ready to pick my sister up at 5:00 to head to the airport. I know your thinking 30 minutes isn't much time, but I don't spend hours getting ready and luckily my sister lives right behind me :) So off to the airport we go! My sister was hired at the Federal prison a few months back and she is gone to Georgia for 3 weeks of training.

I have to explain a little about her...Jayme my sister is 27 so she is grown, but sometimes you wouldn't know it. She has never flown before and she was really anxious and nervous about the whole situation. I myself have not spent much time on a airplane, but I have flown a few times. So it's a 45 minute drive to the airport and all she keeps saying is she is going to be sick...what if she passes out on the airplane, how will she know where to go, wonder if something happens and she misses a flight...yatta yatta... So I spend the whole ride trying to calm her nerves and explain that it's really nothing to it, and she shouldn't be so worried. I explained to her where to go when she got in to check her bag and pick up her tickets, I explained to her about going through security, I told her that if she wasn't sure about something to ask someone who worked at the airport and they would help her. Still she went on and on for the whole ride... So we get to RDU and her paper says terminal 1 but there is no sign for US Airways there...hmmm I just so happened to remember hearing something on the news about some airlines moving to terminal 2 so we pull up and I tell her to run in and double check to be 100% sure, because I know if I leave and she is in the wrong spot she will probably have a panic attack...LOL So US Airways had moved to terminal 2, and we unloaded her bags, I gave her a quick hug and off she went. So I am on my way to work...I somehow miss my exit on 540 and end up who knows where, but then I seen some shopping centers and figured out I was in Brier Creek...thank goodness because I hate to be lost! I was back on the right path and on the way to work. My sister sends me a text to tell me she got her baggage checked and her tickets and that she was on her way to the security line. She had plenty of time since her flight didn't leave until 9:10, I just had to get her there early so I could make it to work on time! Not long after I get to work she sends me a message saying how cool the airport is and that she is excited...thank goodness because I was worried about her! She sends another text before she boards the plane and said she would text me when she landed in Charlotte to let me know how everything was going.

I go to lunch...I have herd nothing from her, I get off work and I have herd nothing from her... So now I am the one freaking! As soon as I get home from work, I am searching the arrivals and departures from every place she went...all planes left and landed on time. Why in the world haven't we herd from her! So I am thinking, maybe she lost her phone, maybe her phone is dead...she must have lost it because she would be at the training facility for a few hours by now. I am talking to my Mom and she hasn't herd from her either. So now I am trying to figure out how in the world we are going to find out if she made it there. FINALLY at 8:30 my phone rings and it's Jayme!!!!!! She said every since she got on the first plane her phone hadn't worked...thank goodness because I as starting to think someone have kidnapped her or something!

So I get her story about her day...so funny! She said all the airport people were very nice but she found the normal people to be quiet rude. She said a lady was ugly to her when she asked about the zones they call out for seating (she didn't know...it was her fist time flying) She said while she was sitting she asked a man if he could tell her if she was at the place and he told her to look at the board (she didn't know) so she was upset with the way the average people treated her :( Of course I was thinking about the last time I flew, and about all the people who were around. I only had 1 person ask me a question and I tried to help them....like I said I am not an expert at flying! Why are folks so ugly and rude? The funny thing is my sister said the people she asked were people she thought to be in their 40's. I wonder how people would feel if someone they knew were confused in a airport and asked a question and someone treated them like an idiot! Moral of the story...not EVERYONE is a jet setter, sometimes people in an airport are flying for the first time or the first time in several years...it can be scary and overwhelming!!! Really no one has manners anymore and it makes me SICK!

It makes me think of the other day when I was in Walmart... I overheard a man ask another shopper where he could find cream of chicken soup, and the lady just blew him off and said I don't know. Really!?! So I turned around and told him I didn't know the exact isle, but that it would be on the aisle with all canned soups and what the display would look like. I saw him later in the store, and he stopped me and said I really appreciate your help, I don't usually grocery shop but my wife was sick and couldn't get out. You know a little kindness goes a long way! It was amazing how thankful he was that I tried to help him find some soup... So everyone please try to help someone when they need it, don't ignore or treat folks with disrespect...sometimes the smallest act of kindness can make a persons day :)

So that was my Monday...some other stuff to0, but I will get into those things later this week. My day hasn't been so great and I have several things that are stressing me at the current moment. More than anything I need sleep...so off to bed I go!

So it's Sunday and a lazy day for me :) I have been trying to rest and relax today to get myself prepared for the work week ahead. Not only that but I have to get up at 4:30 tomorrow morning to take my sister to the airport. Monday is going to be a LONG day for me :(

I did need to do some things today, but I didn't really get them done. I managed to clean the trunk of my car out and that's about it...lol

So last night was Colby's party and we had a great time. Nothing like dancing the night away with good friends.

So that's it for today, I have to get ready for bed 4:30 comes way to early!!!!

~~~~Have a great week~~~~

It's sad but true in December I started my 28th year of life :-) I must say the past 28 years have been a long journey, but a pretty good one. Truth is I feel like the older I get the more responsibilities I have which has it's up and downs. Either way I have been doing some serious soul searching lately and it's time to get my plan together for the rest of my journey or at least the next few years.

In life I have learned no matter how much you plan life throws curves at you. Over the past few weeks I have spent countless hours trying to figure out where I am and where I am going. I think a life evaluation has been way over due!

What's important to me? Number one, my husband...he makes my life so wonderful and together we have accomplished so many things over the past several years. This journey is OUR journey and I am loving every minute of it. Next comes my family, we are close, I love them and will always be there for them. My job, because I have to have it or my journey will not go very far...LOL My friends, because they make life interesting and fun and we all need someone to talk to about our lives. There are other things too, but I will leave it at that.

However, I have found while sitting down and really taking stock of things that changes need to be made. After Amanda's baby shower last week we had a 2 hour phone conversation that really just opened my eyes to so many things. Friendships come and go, I can't tell you how many friends have popped in and out of my life over the past 5 years, but it's been a lot....not because of things I have done, but just because of life and how it changes over the years. It makes me sad to not see or talk to people who meant so much to me at some point or another. That's just how life is...people change, I change and the world changes there is no stopping these things. There are some people that over the past few years we have not spent as much time with and being around them last week, I realized how much Mark and I missed some of the times we had with these people. We need to change, we need to move out of our bubble and rekindle some of the friendships we have gotten away from. For instance 2 1/2 years ago Mark and I got married....things change when you get married. You tend to stay around people who are couples and spend more time at home, but at the same time you leave people behind. Now a lot of the people we haven't spent as much time with are where we are....settled down with mortgages, significant others and maybe even children on the way (love you Amanda).

I am 28 years old and it is getting close to the time for Mark and I to start considering when we will start our own family. This scares and excites me at the same time! I wonder what type of people we will be with children, and how our life will be different, and who will still be around when we start our own family. Truth is I don't feel like I should be 28, I don't feel like I should be thinking about a family...but the years are coming so fast now, and we can't wait forever. Children are something Mark and I talk about...mostly joking about what kind of parents we will be. Who is going to be the mean one, who is going to be waking up all hours of the night, what will they look like, and just random things that we laugh about.

The plan, yes we have a short term plan (ha) Our goal for the year is to buy a new car...there are several reason for this. Winston will be driving next January and he will need something to drive, and it is our plan to give him my Honda to start him off driving. (yes I am a sweet sister) We really want to buy a larger car that will sustain us for the next few years (like 8) and we know we will have a family within this time so we need something big and 3rd row seats is a MUST! My pick....a Honda Pilot :) It's out of our price range so the only way will can do this is to save about 7,000.00 to put down on it so our payments will be within our budget. So that's our plan...save the money by the end of the year and buy my new (family accommodating) SUV. We will see how that goes....

The deal is once we have a family sized vehicle we will start talking about adding the family. No rush....I just want to have my first child before I turn 31 so I have 3 years :) That's were we are in our journey.

This year I have vowed to make some changes. I am going to live my life for Mark and myself. Forget everything else...all the drama and folks trying to write the story of my life. Move over because this is MY life, OUR life and we are writing the chapters in this book...no one is going to get in our way! So those who want to be a part of our story are more than welcome everyone else can just move out of our path. This is the year things will change for real! I don't need anyone...as long as I have the support of my family and Mark by my side I will have a happy life :-) So I am excited to see what my 28th year of life will bring, let's hope only good things!!!!

On another note... Tonight Momma and me went to a Zumba class that one of my old high school friends was teaching. We had so much fun! Zumba is a great workout, I was pouring sweet, but it was fun and the music is awesome. I got the chance to see several folks from high school that I have not seen in a million years...it really made my day :) I love my Momma, she is my exercise partner in crime. I love how we motivate each other to work out because not only does working out clear my mind it makes me feel better in general! Still planning to get to the gym sometime tomorrow, but as always we have a busy day. Our nephew has a birthday party tomorrow and the we have to go celebrate Miss Colby Lee's birthday which I am sure is going to be a total blast :-) Can't wait to see the friendlies tomorrow and dance the night away....woohoo for the weekend!

Y'all come back now....you hear?

Yes someone is aggravating me today...I wonder who it could be? Maybe it's two people and I only live with one so that is the one I am taking it out on...LOL



My husband thinks I am crazy for the whole light bill and power usage thing, and that is getting on my nerves. Today one of our friends came to look at our unit. We had a wiring problem and I guess the people who lived here before us put some type of filters over something that can make the unit work harder. Either way our heat is back on (thank you...it's cold) and I will see what the meter looks like tomorrow. FYI I am now checking it four times a day...when we leave for work, when we come home from lunch, when we get home from work, and before I go to bed...I am staying on top of this situation.

my new "meter readings" sheet...yes I am organized (ha)



Oh yeah...back to the story. My husband talks to people and then comes to me with stuff they said. Yes this pertains to our meter usage! So and so said it was probably this or that...WHATEVER How about I know what we use, we haven't changed anything and our consumption has more than doubled. How about I cut our unit off for two days and our energy consumption went from 105 kwh to 3o something....anyone with some sense can see what the problem is! (DUH) So that is on my nerves BIG TIME! Besides that he just seems to be in what I call a "man mood" where everything he says iterates me and I just rather not talk to him. I know I am not the only wife who goes through this from time to time...holler if you hear me! So now I am sitting in my living room (yes we have two separate living rooms) enjoying a cup of coffee in silence, besides the tv :)



Second person on my nerves (love her too) my sister. Story is she is fixing to leave for GA for 3 weeks for job training. She has to fly (which she has never done), and she is driving me crazy with a million questions. Is this enough toothpaste for 3 weeks, can I pack my face cream, what happens if my baggage gets lost, can I take my cookies in my purse, which bag can I carry on....yatta yatta yatta OMG my head is fixing to explode!!!! Not to mention the fact that my Mom was suppose to drop her off at the airport and now she can't....so she leaves Monday and needs me to take her. I have to work, her flight doesn't leave until 9:30, and tomorrow is Friday and I can't ask to be late to work on Monday....1 day notice is not acceptable in my book. So I told her she would just have to get there at 6:00 so I could get back to work on time. All in all, looks like I will have to wake up at 4:30 Monday morning to take my sister to the airport and get to work on time....oh the joy! This totally sucks :( Not to mention that she will also need someone to pick her up and Mom can't because her flight comes in at 2:00 and my mom has to drive a school bus. So now I guess I will be taking a vacation day that day so I can round her up from the airport and bring her home. I am not that happy about this, but she is my Sister and I love her so if I can help her out I will. It seems like my family is so needy...all I can say is when I need something they BETTER be bending over backwards to help me since I am always doing things for them. I have to go research my sisters airline so I can make sure she gets to the right place and between now and Monday she is probably going to drive me crazy with questions. Love her, Love my husband....even though they are on my nerves today <3 id="SPELLING_ERROR_17" class="blsp-spelling-error">Zumba class. We will see how everything goes.



****I want to start trying every week to make a list of things I am thankful for, just to keep track of the things that matter in this chaos we call life...not a lot of things but just a few****



~I am thankful that the heat is back on (cause it was really cold last night)

~I am thankful for the people who drive me crazy (without them life would be boring)

~I am thankful my carpet is super clean (that new vacuum I got for Christmas is AWESOME)

~I am thankful for COFFEE (I don't know how I would function without it)

~I am thankful tomorrow is Friday (who doesn't love the weekend?)



Hope everyone has a good weekend :)

Does anyone else out there thrive on having a peek into the mind of human realtionships? Yes, I am that girl... I love seeing how people react in situations, relate with others, and handle day to day life. Some may call it nosey, heck even I think I am nosey at times, but seriously its more than that. I look at how people handle thier relationships and then look at myself and pick at the differences. With all the technology today it is so easy to do this...blogs, facebook, twitter (which I don't have), text and blackberrys...everything gives you a look into peoples lives and how they interact and handle things.

So lets start off with the blogs... I love reading blogs! I like to read the blogs of my old friends to see whats going on in thier lives, and I like to read blogs of random people whom I have never met. I can't tell you why...it's just interesting I like to see that I am not the only person who gets annoyed by things, or has struggles or has random monents of insanity. Reading blogs generates lots of feelings for me. Sometimes I feel like I am not greatful enough for the things I have and the life I share with the people in it, sometimes they make me feel like a lazy person, sometimes they make me cry or laugh, and sometimes they make me want to strive to be a better person! All that comes from reading the words and wisdom of others....crazy right?

I think looking into the life of other people can help you in your own life. Reading a blog of someone who has a great life can make you question the way you live yourself. Seeing the relationships they have with people and the way the talk about people let you see how the realtionships in thier life work. Maybe you can see these things and alnalyze your own relationships...maybe you can find faults in yourself that you never noticed before. Perhaps it can give you the strength to work harder at your realtionships with others. With all that said everyone is different and what works for one may not work for another, but it still intresting to see the differences in human interaction.

Next on the list.....Facebook! I can barely remember what life was like before facebook!!! I was talking to Amanda today about how I wish facebook was around when we were in our early 20's. Maybe it was around then, but just not as popular...I am not sure :) As much as I love facebook it annoys me sometimes....LOL On facebook I can find out random things people are doing, how thier day is working out, what they cooked for dinner, who just potty trained thier kid....all kinds of random information. Trust me I can honestly say I know sometimes people probably wondering what I am thinking by my status dates sometimes, but it makes me feel good to put random things on thier from time to time. I can see the release in posting a status about a bad day....sometimes you just need to feel like you got something off your chest, and that is what facebook is for...I think! Facebook also makes me realize that some people just make no sense. For instance I see someone saying they are so poor one day and the next they are off shopping and buying new things....yeah that annoyes me!

If there is one thing I can say about social media it is that I always see people who are seeking pitty from others. >>>>>SIGH<<<<< Nothing gets on my nerves as much as this does. Yes, you will often see me complain about things in my life, but DO NOT mistake that as me asking for PITY! Throughout all the things I have been through in life I have never once wanted anyone to pity me!!! I don't want any ones help and I would never ask for it, I am a believer that you reap what you sow. Sometimes life does smack you in the face, but it's your life and you just have to handle it, and adjust for things that happen and come up. It's no ones responsibility and you shouldn't be begging :( Life is hard, but no one ever told me it would be easy so I don't expect it to be and you shouldn't either.

I read a few blogs of people who have overcome extreme obstacles in their life. Major health problems at a young age, or a terrible loss, yet these people are still thankful for all the good things. The look at life so much differently and these are the people who inspire me. Their stories lift me up on bad days and make me feel like the things I deal with are so small and petty. So read some random blogs and see what others lives look like. Feel grateful for what you do have and don't worry so much about what you have to do with out. At the end of the day you might just learn something from these people their relationships and life.

Still feel free to sound off and complain.... It always feels better to clear the air sometimes!!! I know my blog is therapeutic for me. It makes me feel good to get thoughts out of my head and keeps me sane for the most part.

Other than that I have been a good girl today. I can home from work and walked two miles in the cold with Mom. Jogging was out of the question! My Asthma hates cold weather and I can't run in the cold so I walked. It was nice to get out and get some fresh air! I feel like I stay so couped up during the winter months so I enjoyed the 50 degree temperature today that let me get outside for just a little bit :) Got some more exercise in...7 miles on my exercise bike, so I rewarded myself with something sweet. It's not fun to work hard and not get something in return, which is probably why I don't loose much weight!(Ha Ha) I think Mark is finally tired of having the Chili Beans I cooked for dinner Monday, so I guess tomorrow I will actually have to cook again :) I hope everyone is having a good week, hump day is over so it's all down hill from here.

If you could change one thing about yourself what would it be? I bet your mind is wandering off to a place where you can easily name all your faults. Everyone has things that they dislike about themselves....gosh my list is a mile long! How can you pick just one????

My #1 fault is I worry about EVERYTHING! It drives me crazy, it must be built in my DNA because I can't keep myself from doing it...worrying to me is like breathing. It's just natural. I envy the people who can just go through life carefree and don't stress over the small stuff. I wish I could be like that. I'll admit I don't have major problems in my life, but it doesn't matter because all the small ones drive me into a manic state of worry. It never stops, I toss and turn at night thinking about all the things I haven't done, and going crazy over things I just can't control.

Just so you can see my insanity here is my worry list for today...

• appealing the fact that my prescription plan won't pay a cent on my Asthma medication
• our $400 light bill that's due next month
• I feel like something is wrong with our heating unit and I think this has something to due with the fact that our light bill has doubled (we have someone coming to check this out tomorrow)
• how much is it going to cost to service our unit and fix it if there is a problem
• my house is not clean to my standards (even though I spent all evening cleaning when I got home from work)
• If something isn't wrong with our heating unit what else could be causing our excessive energy consumption
• I need to exercise and I am running out of daylight!!!
• All the stuff sitting on my desk at work
• Trying to save money, but it's really hard when little things keep going wrong
• That I spend entirely too much time worrying
• what do people thinking about me

Oh gosh I can't even keep going with this list...it's making my head hurt! Anyway, that is my delima, and even though I know what my problem is no matter what I do, I can't control it.

So there are a lot of other things I would like to change about myself, but that is my #1....what about you?

Just some other notes:

Happy Birthday to Miss Colby, she turns 21 today! What an exciting birthday :) I sure hope she enjoyed it, and we will be celebrating this weekend....yippee!

Well that's about it for today, I think I going to get 30 minutes in on my exercise bike while I watch The Good Wife....love this show.

Yay...Monday is over! I have been super busy at work today, but got so much work done...that makes me happy :) I have several things to be happy about this Monday (who would have guessed)

It's Matt and Megan's 1 year anniversary!!!!

Happy anniversary you guys :) Meg we definitely have to work on some serious picture taking because I have NO pictures. Please don't kill me for this picture...LOVE YOU GUYS <3

I got a email today from Verizon Wireless saying my discount had be re-evauated >>>Uh O<<< come to find out it was great news! I am getting an extra 5% off my bill every month, can you say AWESOME!!!! I love you Verizon Wireless :)

I have been wanting chili beans really bad, and tonight I cooked some. They were so delicious.
Now we will have dinner for the next few nights :)

The only bad news is my light bill situation. I mentioned the other week about our bill doubling. I have come to the conclusion that something is seriously wrong, but I don't know what it is yet. I checked the meter today and it is averaging out at 105 kwh per day, and I know that is not right. We use a lot more electricity in the summer when we run our pool, and even then the most we use is 80 kwh per day. I have a funny feeling that it may be our unit, and if it's not that then I don't have a clue! I have to figure this out FAST because if I have another $400.00 light bill I am going to be in the poor house!!!!!! I mentioned it to Mark tonight, and he thinks I am crazy, guess we will see when I find the problem.

That's it for tonight!

Who has time to do it all? Not me apparently! This has been one of the best weekends I have had in a long time :)



Let's party for the baby shower!!! I had a BLAST at Amanda & Russ's baby shower, I promise when I do have a baby I am going to have a shower like that!!! It was a couples shower and they had cooked out hot dogs and hamburgers and it was just really fun. We all know most of the time at these things people just sit around and look at each other and it's just awkward...LOL So the shower started at 3:00 Saturday afternoon and I think we ended up getting home about 1:00 am! We got to see several of our friends that we don't see too often and Mark and me just really enjoyed ourselves.



Amanda is one of my oldest friends. I was just thinking about our friendship today, and realized that this year makes it 10 years since we first met...man time flies! I love this girl to pieces and if anyone asked a question about the past 10 years of my life, she would definitely know the answer. I wrote a note for her in my card last night, thinking that she wouldn't really read it until later but I was wrong. She started crying and I swear, I thought I was going to start myself. We had a really long talk on the phone this morning and it just got me thinking about the two of us and all that we have been through together over the past 10 years. So I was sitting in the living room getting emotional...LOL We have been though a lot. She has been there for the really bad times and the happiest moments of my life. Sometimes I feel like we aren't as close as we use to be, but I know it's not that we just have one of those friendships that can never be replaced. I am so happy for her and Russ. He is a great guy and I am glad they found one another and I love him because he makes my dear friend so happy :)

Momma and Daddy to be <3

So I was really mad because I took my camera because I wanted to take a million pictures, but for some reason my memory card messed up and I wasn't able too...UGH! I can not wait to meet baby Kayleigh! I know she is gonna be such a cutie pie. Soon Amanda will be starting the newest chapter in her life as Mommy and I can't wait. I can't wait to see how our friendship evolves through the next 10 years, at least this time we are older and wiser ;) So here's to 10 years of a wonderful friendship, can't wait to see what we do in the next 10!

In a way I am sad that Amanda is having a baby without me :( I just always knew we would have kids together, but she beat me to it...LOL We have already planned out her next baby so I think I will catch her the second time around (wink, wink) But we all know plans don't always go the way you want them to so we shall see.... At least by the time I have a kid she will be an expert and can come help me out!

Other than that I got nothing accomplished this weekend. I am looking around and my house is a disaster, and it is going to stay that way. I need some relaxation before starting another week. I did manage to clean my bathrooms, kitchen and sweep and mop so that's something. I ran all my errands today so I shouldn't feel too bad. The rest can wait until tomorrow.

And to top my weekend off.... The BEST HUSBAND EVER (yes, that would be Mark) cooked me the best steak dinner tonight. Love Him! It would have been even better if he would have cleaned the kitchen, but I can let that slide :)

Make it a great week, next weekends adventure is right around the corner!

Tonight Mark got stuck having dinner with the girls, I think he had a good time though. Only my husband would let me drag him out to eat with two of my wonderful girlfriends :) No complaints from him, maybe the couple of beers he had helped...LOL We all had a good time and a yummy dinner. Best of all that meant I didn't have to cook!!!! What a great start to my weekend.

Tomorrow is Saturday and it is going to be a super busy day. I have to get up early to get my hair colored. I need to do my weekend cleaning which is going to be tough. We have a baby shower/cook out tomorrow afternoon/night that we are really looking forward to. We are going to get to see several people we don't see that often so we are excited about that. I am excited because my dear friend Amanda is getting closer to her due date and I am so happy for her. She is so cute and I can't wait to meet her bundle of joy. Amanda and I go way back, and we have had some good times...it's hard to believe she is having a baby. It just makes me realize we really are getting older and life is changing. When did we turn into grown ups? It seems like just the other day we were out on the town or riding around stalking folks...time flies by! I am glad she is having a baby first, I plan on getting the full story on the events of child birth and babies first months, I know she will tell me like it is. After I hear about all these details I will have to think about Mark and my future with children... Just kidding, one day we will have some too, just not right now ;)

I really wanted to go to the gym tomorrow morning. I decided I was going to try my best to make it into the gym every Saturday for an hour or two, but I doubt it will happen tomorrow. I need to do some grocery shopping and that probably wont happen either...maybe Sunday! Why must the weekends go by so quickly?

Hope every has a great weekend, enjoy it because Monday will be here before we know it (Ugh)

~April~

The tragedy our nation faced this past week is truly awful. My heart goes out to all the families of the victims. There are evil people in this world and we will never be able to understand why they do senseless things like this. Each time we hear of a tragic event where there is a shooter involved everyone starts talking about gun control. Is there such a thing as gun control? I have several thoughts on this issue and that will be my topic for the evening.

First of all, let me start off by saying we are gun owners. Shot guns, riffles and handguns...yep we have them all in our home. Some people are afraid of guns and that's understandable, but just because you don't believe in guns doesn't mean that people shouldn't be able to have them. We are hunters...deer, rabbit, birds, turkeys yes we love hunting, and we love our guns. Here in North Carolina you have to have a background check to purchase a firearm, and to purchase a handgun you have to have a pistol permit which is obtained from the Sheriffs office. To get a hunting license you have to go through a hunters safety course, and during this course you go to a range and shoot. So I think the system in place is good. It is alot of paper work to buy a gun and the process is time consuming, but I understand.

Sometimes guns get into the wrong hands...that's pretty obvious. It's my personal opinion that there is no way to stop this. If a person who wanted a gun for the wrong reason couldn't purchase it legally they would just find a way to buy them on the street. I think of gun control like the battle with keeping drugs off the streets...it's just not possible! When you restrict the ability for people to purchase guns it really only hurts the people who are using them for sport or personal protection. The bad guys will always find a way to get what they want! I know there are bad people who have purchased guns legally and used them in bad ways, but I bet if you go back and look at every crime where a gun was used to injure or kill someone most of those guns were in the hands of people who had no way to purchase them legally.

For example...guns are not allowed in schools. Teachers can't carry a firearm in a classroom for personal protection. How many school shootings have we seen that a student as gotten a gun into a school and hurt or killed people. Guns get into places they are not suppose to be all the time...and who brings them? The bad guy...and the good people are left with nothing to protect themselves from the people doing the wrong thing.

I have a handgun...a small one, and I carry it mostly in my car when I travel alone. It doesn't go in stores and not in my purse. If you ask why its because guns are not allowed in most public places. A lot of times I ask myself how much good it does me, if someone attacks me in a parking lot I doubt they will give me a chance to get to my car to get my gun, but the law says I can't take it inside and I follow the law. The law doesn't work for the good guys!

My gun is very usually in my home. That's really the only place it will do any good for personal protection. If someone decides to break into my house and try to cause me harm I feel sorry for them! I will never have someone hurt me in my own home...it's my castle and I am going to protect myself inside of it....

At the end of the day, it's not the gun that kills people....people kill people. We will never understand what makes a person good or bad, or what sends someone over the edge, but we can't take away every individuals rights because of the ones who do wrong. I honestly believe that if all the good people walked around armed that the bad guys would think before they decided to hurt others. If you had a plan to do something bad and you knew the minute you walked out there you were surrounded by armed people I think they would think twice. I think they wouldn't be able to get 3 shots off before someone else took them out. They do these things because they know chances are there is no one that has the means to stop them. I know there are brave people who would try to take a gunman down, but I feel if in that situation I would never have the guts to go after a armed person without being armed myself.

These days I never feel safe when I am away from home. The government won't let me feel safe. I don't have the right to have the means to protect myself when I leave my home. Why is this? I do the right thing, my guns are registered, and I obtained them legally...I would never harm another person unless my life was threatened and I had no other choice. How come the bad guys always get to win? Why do they get the chance to hurt the ones who follow the law? You will never get all the illegal guns off the street, there is no way possible to keep them out of the hands of people who shouldn't have them... So what do you do?

I guess we just take a chance every time we go out into the world. Someone could hurt us and more than likely we won't be able to stop them, and that is the sad truth. So for all those who don't believe in people owning firearms I say to them...if you don't like them don't have them, but your not taking mine!

Well that's my rant for the day... Tomorrow is Friday! I hope you all have a great weekend :)

~April~

I woke up this morning and see ice every where outside. I still had power which was wonderful! So I went right to my cell phone to see if anyone had called from work...no calls or voice mails so I started getting ready for my work day. So Mark and I jump in the truck and start out to work. Obstacle #1 getting off our dirt path. Our dirt path is at a slight incline and the main road was covered in ice so this was the hardest task of the day. We made it!!! Then slowly down the road until we get to work. Pull into the parking lot and there are like 3 cars there...hmm No worries I am sure everyone will be late coming in because the roads really weren't that great. Ralph says that everyone is not coming or coming late. OK so no one called me, and I just risked my life to get to work so I am staying for awhile. They decided to close for the day, but by this time there were several warehouse workers there and Ralph is getting them started and Gerald said it was ok for me to stay and get some stuff done....after all I did actually come in today. So I was the ONLY person in the office today, all by myself :) It was the greatest day!!!! I entered orders, talked to a few customers, done some quotes and then cleaned out the file for 2010's quotes I got so much done and it was quiet and peaceful...yay! I left at 1:45, so I lost two hours but I am going to try to make those up during lunch the rest of the week. AND GUESS WHAT....I am NOT going to have to give up a vacation day...WOOO HOO!!!!!!!!!!! My only gripe...if work is unsure of what they are going to do they should call the employees in advance and let them know BEFORE they leave for work, if I don't hear anything I assume I am expected to be at work. If something happens and I don't make it into work I have to call and let them know so why is it so hard to extend the same courtesy to me before I start driving in bad road conditions. Just wondering???

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
This is what it looked like at work today...empty and the lights were off on the other side of the office because no one was over there

This is me at my desk all alone and having a very productive day :)

So I got home around 2:15, so I have had plenty of time to do some things at the house...only I haven't HA! I did manage to load the dishwasher and I am going to do a few other things later on.

On the exercise note...I did attempt to start my exercise video tonight and it was very depressing! I only made it through a 1/3 of it and I had enough...but I told myself it was ok. I have to get back into it since I took such a long break. I plan to do 20 minutes on my bike tonight so that will make up for only getting part of the way through the aerobic video :)

Today is Tuesday and tonight the grocery stores will put up their new sales ad's...hopefully with some good deals this week!

And NCIS Los Angeles and Good Wife come on tonight...YAY good TV night! I love watching LL Cool J on NCIS LA, he is always super calm and cool its comical to me. I can still remember watching is R&B videos on MTV when I was a teenager, that was a long time ago!

April

It's Monday, a dreaded day by everyone who starts a new work week. For once today was actually a decent day :-) It was very quiet at work today and although I was quite busy I got a ton of stuff accomplished which makes me feel good! The phones were pretty quiet mostly because some of our customers were closed due to the weather.

Speaking of weather, we have been awaiting another winter storm of snow and ice. We didn't get much snow, mostly sleet and it is going to continue through the night...yuck! I don't know what the roads will be like tomorrow, but I do know that ice is never a good thing. You can't drive on ice so I don't know what the work situation will be for tomorrow, but hopefully we will be able to make it in...I am not ready to start giving up vacation for an ice day.

Speaking of Monday...it's Bacholeor night! I love this show :) I was so glad that Brad ditched those two girls who were constanly bickering with each other. The fang girl has got to go next, she is quiet strange and kinda scares me. Are her teeth naturally like that or did she have that done to them? What a werido!!!! I think this season is going to be very entertaining and I am super excited about it... I am so glad the holidays are over and all the shows are starting over, I was really getting tired of the re-runs and tv is my favorite way to unwind at the end of the day.

I have also had some random thoughts of things I need to do or start to do again....for giggles I will tell everyoen about them :)

**After a long break from daily meter checking I got a reality check today. Yes, my light bill which was $355.00 this is $100.00 more than usual. I know these cold days have helped to make our bill jump, but this is ridiculous and I am going to have to start checking that meter again and keeping up with our power consumption yet again...and the insanity starts again!!!!

**Due to some rising cost of my prescriptions (stupid insurance) I am also going to have to start my money monitering again. This is a very time consuming process where I write down every penny I spend in a note book and color code it into groups. The point of this is to see where most of my money goes durring the month and then work to lower certian groups of spending or at least be more cautious of my spending.

**Find us a new credit card. Over the holidays Mark's credit card was used frauduenlty online to purchase something for $200.00, after talking to the company it was charged to they agreed to credit the charge. After they credited the charge the stupid credit card company (Capital One) put the charge back on our account. We have been going back and fourth with them for 2 months on this now and it is so flustrating. Thier mistake and they act like it's no big deal. FYI ---> NEVER get a credit card through Capital One, their customer service SUCKS big time and they are complete idiots. I have never seen a company that is so slack on taking care of their own mistake.

**Work on the coupon stuff. I have been slack with my coupons lately. I feel like I could be doing better with that and I will start spending more time trying to save money with my coupons :)

**EXERCISE....Blah Blah Blah! I really got out of my routine over the holidays. Who knew taking 3 weeks off would make it so hard to get back in the swing of things? Well, I have got to get on the ball. I did ride my exercise bike yesterday, but today I did nothing. Before my 3 week exercise vacation I worked out 6 days a week, and now I have been lazy. Time to get that back under control before I add too many pounds and have to start all over again =:0

**Last but not least conquer my sewing machine!!! I was so excited to get a sewing machine for my birthday this year. I can do anything, and I thought this would be another thing I would just jump into and it would be easy. Yeah, that didn't happen....AT ALL!!!!!!!! I have spent hours yelling and screaming and being frustrated at this machine. It's not easy, and it drives me absolutely crazy. So hopefully before the end of the year I can actually make something that doesn't look terrible and I can become a good sewer. Unfortunately I thought I would be a master by now and making curtains and who knows what else... At this point, I just hope I can make the stitches work without being too much extra thread and just totally messed up. If I can make a pillow I will be happy. I attempted an apron and that was a total mess...maybe before the end of the year I will be able to do that. Wishful thinking :)

Well that's about all I have on my mind today. I think I am going to go clean my kitchen and get ready for bed. I might have to work tomorrow...LOL

Oh no...it's Sunday =:0 Where did my weekend go? I have been sorta lazy this weekend. I don't get many lazy (by my standard) weekends. I slept late (10:30) Saturday and today, which never happens. Saturday I managed to make it through the whole day in my pj's until about 4:00 when I had to get ready to go to the annual rib dinner at the shack. I spent most of my day cleaning and taking tv breaks and then cleaning some more.

Sunday...didn't really go as planned. I had planned to get up early go run all my errands and pick up a baby shower gift for a shower I will be attending next weekend. I knew the exact gift I wanted to buy a high chair....I get to target and it's out of stock so I decided maybe the pack n play...nope out of stock too(UGH!!!) No stores have them so I had to pick out some other stuff which made what should have been a 15 minute trip a 2 hour one. So then off to the grocery store, I go in and the stuff I went to buy has been cleaned out...at this point I am thinking ok this is crazy! So back to the car to run two last errands and get home. I need to fill up with gas...I found it at a station for $2.95 (SCORE) I was happy about that and thought maybe my day was turning around. Next CVS to pick up my medicine. So I get to CVS and they give me my medicine and my total is $86.00...WHAT!?! My medicine only cost me $20.00, well not any more. They changed our prescription coverage at work and guess what...this company won't cover the inhaler I use for my Asthma...seriously? So I am all upset, and yes crying yet again because an extra $60.00 a month is a big deal to our already stretched budget...why are things going so bad for me. I call the insurance as soon as I get home and get no good news from them so now I am going to have to appeal them not paying for my needed medication and they said ***maybe*** they will decided to cover some of the cost. Oh and now I have to get a letter from my doctor stating that my medicine is necessary. DUH, the doctor wouldn't give me medicine if it wasn't necessary!!! Not to mention I have had asthma since I was 2 years old so it's not like its something that just popped up. Anyway, today was another bad day....but I am getting use to it :) Mark and I had wanted to ride 4 wheelers today, but since I ran into a million complications today on my errands we didn't get to.

Other than that the rib's were delish Saturday night and I ate way too much! We could be looking at some form of winter weather again tomorrow...my goodness it has been a strange winter so far.

Well, I hope everyone has a great week :-)

So after yesterday everyone probably thinks I am a total loser...well today I have topped myself. I know how much we all love going to work everyday...ha! It's one of those things we do, but rather be doing something else. Anyway, work has been so stressful lately. I am coming off a week vacation from Christmas so you would think after that amount of time off you would be relaxed and ready to get to it...umm no! This week has been terrible. I am VERY thankful to have a job, don't get me wrong...but I also think that some days work is sending me into a deep dark depression...LOL So let's get to today's story of my insanity.

We have vacation forms we have to fill out each year. Usually not a big deal, because who knows when they will need time off, we usually just all coordinate together and it works. So this year they tell us we have to write down each day we want to take off and take that day and honestly it just got me to my boiling point!!!! First of all they have taken away raises for the past few years, we lost the matching of our 401K and the work load is just unimaginable to say the least. I understand the economy is bad and things have to be cut, but with no sick days or personal days it makes it hard to schedule every day I want or need to take off at the beginning of the year. I use my vacation days if I am sick or have doctors appointments because I can't afford to have less than 40 hours on my paycheck. In my eyes what makes it worse it that I feel that I am a great employee. I have worked for this company for going on 8 years and I never call out of work or miss days...usually I go to work sick and I always schedule time off in advance. What gives? I am a emotional person, and when I get really mad I usually cry, but I told myself enough is enough and I am going to plead my case on this one. Is using my vacation days (the only thing left I feel I actually get) when I need them and not knowing when I will need them in January a CRIME? I think not! So I go to talk to my boss and I am just so worked up that I start crying at the end of the conversation...what a loser right? Ok so I go to the bathroom and hang out for a few minutes and try to pull myself together and it makes me even more mad that i am crying at work and looking like an idiot...LOL Not to mention when I get back to my desk every time I think about it I start crying over and over. Now I don't mean loud distraught crying... More like my face and eyes are red and there is a tear running down my face here and there, none the less crazy...i think. By lunch time I am telling Mark about it and I start crying again, he just thinks I am crazy! Am I??? I hope not, but there may be some type of problem :) Really I was just mad and upset and it had to come out. So here's my new year...today wasn't better! Tomorrow is Saturday so I am thinking it will be a happy day.

Ok, so I know I probably shouldn't express my feelings about work like this, but hopefully I won't get fired for my feelings or crying at work...LOL I think I am going to put sticky notes all around my desk with positive reinforcement so I can keep my frustrations to a minimum. Try is the key word :)

Praying hard that things get a little bit better, because right now I feel like I am in the bottle of a black hole somewhere screaming for sunshine. Hope this gave someone a laugh and maybe later I can read this and laugh too :)

We all love to vent in some form or fashion...maybe if I made the time to blog more often I would be a happier person...maybe. So its the begining January and I am already hating 2011, serioulsy can things be going this bad this early in the year? I admit I am probably being a bit childish, but geez this year has been sucking for me so far, so I hope it turns around QUICK!

Like every year, I started 2011 paying property taxes and homeowners insurance for the year, and that is a big chunck of money and makes me very sad :( I hate taxes...at least we didnt have another increase this year on property taxes so that was releaving. I am sure some government offical is off wasting away my hard earned dollars and that makes me mad too! Lets see...next on my list vacation. So all of our friends are going on a cruise in August and I was so excited that maybe me and my darling husband may finally get to go on a trip. Lets see we have been together for 5 years and have never been able to take a nice trip or any trip for that matter...yeah thats the middle class for you...can't afford nothing but the bills. Well thats not going to happen because once again we don't have $1,100 dollars to spend on a cruise, so no vacation for us. I am just so sad over this, I mean we work so hard all year and I feel like we deserve it, and yes I thought about whiping out the credit card and just doing it, but we are honest folks who live within our means, and at the end of the day spending months stressing over a credit card balance and paying intrest on a trip just doesn't make sense to me...it is what it is.

I feel like there is so much stress in life! Between work and bills and worring about this and that, I swear I spend more time worring about the day to day than enjoying it. I know so many people have it worse than me, and my heart goes out to them, I know I am blessed for the things I do have!!! I often wish I could be the person who didn't stress over everything, but I can't help it, it's the way I am. So I am already over this year, I hope the rough start is not a vision of whats to come.

How about those resolutions? I personally didnt write down resolutions...I usually do but for some reason I thought I would be disappointed if I didnt obtian my goals for the year. I actually hope to be able to buy a new vehicle by the end of 2011, but I am not betting on it, I need to save a decent amount of money so who knows! Other than that I really dont have any goals...LOL I have had this car goal for the past 3 years so don't worry I won't cry if it don't work out. Just as long as I can get to and from place to place I am good, and I mean in a car. However I bet walking everywhere would really help with weight loss...but it would be quiet time consuming :)

I hope everyone else has had a better begining to 2011, and maybe with some prayers we can all get through the tough and good times this year has in store for us :)