How my goals went for January.

1. Read more. This one is going good. Right now I'm reading No Girl Needs a Husband Seven Days a Week. It's not too bad. Way out of my usual reading league. Most parts are funny, but there are some I'm having difficulty getting past.

2. Pay down debt. This one is also going well. We have not used our credit cards at all this month. And we paid $2,100.00 on them!

3. Do more family oriented stuff. This one was hard. Since DH was gone 1/2 the month and DD has been grounded, there hasn't been much opportunity.

4. Try not to get pissy with DH Well, I think I've done well with this. I haven't had time to be pissy.

5. Meet more people. I don't think I actually met anyone new. But, I did have a couple nights out with friends. One girls' night and one with everyone.

6. Stop watching so much TV. This one was really easy. It seems DH is the TV hound in the house! I haven't hardly watched anything since he's been gone!

7. Volunteer more. Nope. They even had a recertification test for therapy dogs this month and I missed it. I haven't set up a schedule for anything.

8. Start going to church. Haven't gone. NO excuses.

In all, I don't think that's too bad. The credit card one was huge for me. And I'm taking the next step to help with that by getting another part-time job. I have another interview tomorrow!! I talked to her on the phone today, and I think it went well. Hopefully it will be just as easy in person.

Next month I will try to focus more on the last 2. If I at least get started, that will count for something.

China and snowstorms....

Well, as most of you know, DH has been in China for the last 2 weeks, Guangzhou to be exact. http://tinyurl.com/2lrj5y talks about the snow there. They say it is the worst in 50 years. Power is going out, people are stranded. And it's almost the Chinese New Year. Which means they are all trying to go home for their family reunions and celebrations. So, the train stations and airports are working overtime. IF they are working at all!

Yesterday the airport in Guangzhou was a complete mess. http://tinyurl.com/33th6h
So, DH decides instead of trying to fly to Hong Kong, he will just take the ferry there.
Yes, he made it. Right now he is in Hong Kong, sleeping. When he wakes up, hopefully he will be able to get to the airport and make his flight.

I don't think I can take another day without him. Mainly for selfish reasons, but whatever. He needs to be home. I miss him. The kids are driving me crazy. I'm stressing over my job search. I have plans for Saturday (if he is not here, I will have to cancel). I miss him. I need him here for my sanity.

So, lets all hope that things start to work out and he gets home on time.

If you don't read the articles, this sums them up:
"The “spring rush”, as it is called, is the largest annual movement of people in the world, with a total of 2.38bn journeys over three weeks, surpassing even the Hajj, the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca. Always a nervous time on the political calendar, this year the largest snow storms in 50 years amplified coal and power shortages to paralyse the transport system, closing train stations in large swaths of the country."

What to talk about? Sylvan learning center....China...and an interview

Well, I have an interview next Tuesday. It's with another temp agency. The one I was with seemed to have alot of office work, but not bookkeeping and such. This new one has a lot of positions that interest me.
I've also sent my resume to lots of places, but no bites. I'm hoping going with a temp agency again will get me up to date experience and my foot in the door for a dream job.

In the meantime I'm still at the law firm. Drafting letters and scanning. So wonderful.

DH has been gone since Monday and won't be back until next Friday. I've been keeping buys with the kids, my new job search, and pet sits. I'm also planning a surprise birthday party for him. It will be one week after he gets home, so it shouldn't be too hard to keep my mouth shut!

My son is doing great. My daughter is still causing me grief. I got a call yesterday from her math teacher, she has not turned in 7 assignments this month. This is the 3rd time we will be sitting at home doing nothing but math for several days. I would have thought she would have learned by now that it's easier to do them as they come, rather than doing them all in 3 or 4 days.
She is also failing science.
It's not that she CAN'T do it, she just WON'T do it.
I just don't know what to do with her. I guess when she's still in 6th grade next year she might pay attention and do her work.
We're thinking of sending her to Sylvan learning center for tutoring. We've looked into, but it's just so expensive. He school doesn't appear willing to help out in any way, so it looks like we're going to have to just pay for it.
DH is talking to the school when he gets back to voice our concerns and frustrations. I've done it, but they don't seem to listen to me. And I haven't actually gone TO the school to do it. I don't deal well with confrontation ( I tend to be a bitch), so hopefully DH will get somewhere.

I guess that's all for now!! Have a great weekend!

What goes around, comes around

And it came around fairly quickly this time.

So, in regards to my previous post...........you know about my boss screwing over my husband and telling him what he should and shouldn't charge for and all that.

Well, today she got served. Small Claims Court. A previous client payed her almost $5,000 for her to research his case, meet with him and then decide she could not represent him. She referred him to another attorney. Well, this guys wants his money back, for services not rendered!

She went on for 40 minutes today. "I did that work, I deserve that money. I will win this, the judge will realize I did the work and deserve to be paid for it."

It was so hard for me to keep my mouth shut, but I did. I so wanted to say "why yes, people who work should be paid for what they did".

I know she sees no connection in this though. But, I did and it made me feel better. Of course now I'm worried that DH really won't get paid, because she is going to set aside this money in case she doesn't win.

She's supposed to pay us tomorrow, we'll see.

Ok, so I probably shouldn't put this out on the www, but oh well. I'm too pissed to think straight.

So, I've been working for this company part-time. When I started they were complaining about the way the IT stuff was set up (server, etc...), so I mistakenly told them my DH does IT stuff on the side.

Well, they hired him in December. Told him they wanted a new server, and all new computers. They wanted it done in December. Well, since this is his side job, he explained it would NOT be done in December. He can only work in the evenings and on weekends. He tells them how much he charges an hour, and gives them an estimate on how many hours this will take, but explains that things do go wrong and it may take longer.

So, they say ok. He orders all the stuff. When it finally arrives, he starts working. Apparently he had issues with the back up software that was supposed to work with the new server. So, he sent it back and ordered another one.

After one month of work, he sends them a bill with a detailed list of what he has done, what still needs to be done, and an estimate on when it will be done,(depending on how long it takes the new software to get here)

My boss calls him into the office. Totally tells him how he should do things (things he has been doing for years). Says he should charge a flat fee for this kind of stuff, cuz she flat fees people (which is bull).
1. Have you ever heard of any IT stuff being a flat fee?
2. she does flat fee some minor things, but if she knows it will take time it is hourly.

She says he should not charge her for the extra work he had to do trying to make the software work. Ummm....she charges her clients for any research she does and everything else (she is a lawyer) AND, mind you, he did credit her 5 hours for all the problems he ran into, which he only did because it was my boss. He has never done this before.

She almost wasn't going to pay him. She demanded to know exactly how much longer it would be. Ummm.....he has no idea. He knows about how much more time if everything works right. But, if there are more problems, there is no way to tell. She says everything should work right if it is done right and she should never have any problems again. Umm...HELLLO!!! Computers are problems waiting to happen! That's why the IT field is there.

She still demands a time. He finally told her 10 hours. That is all he is getting paid for, no matter how much time it takes. Normally he would have told someone like that to find someone else.

But, I was put in the middle. There is no way my boss would have told anyone else that. But, since I work for her, and this is my DH, she apparently thinks she can. My poor DH didn't want any ramifications on my part to come of this. So, he agreed to the 10 hours and left.

He will finish this project, but he will not support her in the future.

Hell, even a plumber gives estimates and if it takes longer, you pay more. It's how the world works. Hell, it's what my boss does. I've had my share of her clients complaining about the high bills.

I will find another job.
I won't work for someone who feels like they can take advantage of my family.

My dream just got shattered....no paybacks

The Colts lost. It's over. No more football for me. (this year)

Both teams made several mistakes. Penalties everywhere. Incompletes. Interceptions. Players hurt. Close scores.

It was a great game. But, now it is over.

And now talks of Tony retiring?? I really hope not.

This is a pretty big football weekend

As most of you know, Denver is my #1 team. But, I also have a back up team, the Colts.

The Colts started the season off great, went undefeated for awhile (I don't know my stats, and don't care to know them, but I still like to talk). Their winning streak was broken by the only team who is now undefeated. The Patriots. I loath the Patriots. But, there might be some sweet revenge soon.

The Patriots won yesterday(of course). While I've been screaming for them to lose, it may be nice that they haven't yet.

If the Colts win today.............then they play the Patriots again. Then whoever wins that game goes to the Super Bowl. I think it would be great if the Colts broke the Patriots winning streak....since it was the Patriots that broke theirs. And then left the Patriots in the dust to go on to win the Super Bowl!

Up until right now....yes right very now......I was 100% sure that the Colts would win today and that they would go on to take the Patriots down. But, now, at half-time I'm just not so sure.
Manning is not doing well. I lost track of how many incompletes he has thrown. 2 of those ended up as interceptions. It is now 14-10, Colts losing.

Manning isn't the only one making mistakes, the Chargers have had a share of their own. Let's hope the Chargers keep messing up, and let's all pray for Manning to get his damn arm working again!

Can I curse in the same sentence that I'm asking you all to pray in??

Ok, back to watching the game.

This is the stupidest thing ever!

Ok, so I just opened up one of my credit card statements, the one with the lowest interest rate but the highest interest. We only pay the minimum amount due on this, because of the low interest rate. We pay the high interest rate cards more than the amount due.

Well, this card with 5.99%, just got raised to 16.97%!!!!! WTF!!

DH is on the phone with them and they are saying because we have so much other credit card debt and because we only pay them the minimum due, they raised our rate. How the hell does that help us?!?!?!

They are currently reviewing our account to see if they can go back to the old rate. Yeah right. Whatever. Fuck you.

Now I'm more than ever determined to pay this shit off. I can't believe we were so stupid in the first place to do all this. Last year at this time we owed $10,000. Now it's way more. In just one year. Most of it was the wedding. We should have saved up.

Anyone reading this, learn from the mistakes of others.........

I forgot a goal!

I went out with my girls group on Saturday. There was supposed to be a couple new ladies there, but they did not show. There were a couple however that I haven't spent much time getting to know.

It was a very nice evening. We started at P.F. Chang's then went to a nice and quiet bar to finish our evening. We were having such a great time talking away, that we couldn't believe it when they were kicking us out at closing time.

Sorry, no pictures...........

Oh, and DH returned from Minnesota on Friday. I broke a goal that night. We went out to eat, and spend $60 on the credit card. Damn me. But, it did count as family time!! Do you think one good and one bad cancels each other out?? I learned that somewhere, and I think I'll apply it to that night.

DH will be home until the 21st, then it's off to China for 2 weeks. But. I. am. not. pissy. about. it. Not at all.

How did my weekend goals go? Shitty.

I got this done from my list
1. laundry
2. kids chores
5. print reports for business taxes, but haven't reviewed them
11. clear off desk

I also sorted mail, updated invoices, updated my website (kinda), and filled out permission slips and wrote checks for kids school activities. Kinda cleaned the kitchen.

So, this weeks goals are
1. payroll/taxes
2. organize reports for taxes
3. take daughter shopping
4. get DH and son to clean fish tank
5. go to home depot for new blinds
6. balance checking accounts
7. pay bills
8. make banana bread
9. update mileage driven last year to write off on taxes
10. reveiw credit cards
11. finish deep cleaning kitchen
12. go to social security office and change name

I'm also going to simplify meals. I'm going to www.simplesupperstogo.com to make 6 meals, then freeze them and thaw/bake when needed! It saves a ton of time and the cost is not that high, about what I would pay anyway.

This will give me more time for family and to keep my house organized.

I also came across this website this weekend. I'm still reading through some of it, but it looks like it might help me organize my time/house. www.flylady.net I'll keep you up to date on it. The partial kitchen cleaning I did was cleaning my sink, as talked about on the website.

This weekends goals/to do list

To hold myself more accountable, I'm putting all out there for the world to see.

1. Laundry
2. get kids to do chores
3. payroll
4. payroll taxes
5. get business paperwork together for taxes
6. take daughter shopping to spend gift cards
7. go to home depot and get new blinds (mom gave us $ for Christmas)
8. get DH and son to clean fish tank
9. balance checking account
10. pay bills
11. clear off desk
12. figure out which credit card to start paying down first. I keep going back and forth on this one. The highest interest one, or the one with the lowest balance.

To expand on the credit card debt. There is much controversy in the financial world on how to pay your credit card debt down.

Some say to pay off the one with the smallest balance first, and just keep moving down the line. They this this gives a person a sense of accomplishment because they can see they have less debt by having less bills every month. But, in the end you will have spent more money, because your highest cards may have the highest interest.

Others say to pay the ones with high interest off. In the end you will be spending less money, because you will be paying less on interest. But, you don't see the immediate relief if those cards are the ones with the highest balance.

Maybe one if these days I will start posting my progress on this, right now I'm embarrassed by how much debt we have.
Over the last couple months, I've been making spreadsheets and such to keep track of our debt and I think I've finally came up with one I like. If I stick to my plan, we should be good by 2010. By good, I mean our credit card debt close to done. They doesn't include student loans and such.

I'm only paying the minimum on student loans because I can write that interest off on my taxes. After credit cards are paid, I will move onto those.

Ok, I think that is enough for this post, better get that laundry started!!

A New Year

Where to start? I don't do new years' resolutions. I don't do them, because by doing them, I am setting myself up for failure. And I don't like to fail.

So, I am going to set some goals for the year. Maybe by putting them here, I will take them more seriously.
In no particular order, here they are....

1. Read more. And to make sure I am reading, I am logging everything on goodreads.com. The link to my account is.......well I'm sure there is one, but I can't figure out how to find it. Anyways, I just spent about 1/2 hour adding books to my to-read list. I should stay busy for awhile. I actually read 4 books since Christmas. Off to a good start.

2. Pay down debt. This one sucks. But, when I looked at what kind of money I would have if I didn't have credit card debt, I was shocked. I basically be able to buy whatever I wanted. But, instead, I'm sending all that money to those damn credit card companies, and I really have nothing to show for it. So, I will be going out less, eating out less, and working harder. I have to just keep reminding myself what it will be like when I can keep my money.

3. Do more family oriented stuff. This kinda goes against my #2 goal, but I'm sure we can find some cheap stuff to do. I know an art museum here that is free, we have a ton of family games at home, I've set our TiVo to record some family movies, and I've started reading some of my daughters books (so we can discuss them), and we volunteer with the local humane society so I plan on us giving more time to them.
I'm open for ideas on this one as well.

4. Try not to get pissy with DH on all the traveling he is going to be doing. Right now he is in Minnesota and later this month he will be in China for 2 weeks. There are many more trips on the table.
I have to remind myself that these trips are part of this awesome global position he has that looks awesome on his resume. So, when we are ready to move, he will be able to get the job he wants.

5. Meet more people. This one is both hard and easy for me. Easy because I belong to an awesome group on meetup.com. The more people join, the more I meet. Hard because I really am a shy person (until i really get to know you) and it is difficult for me to open up to people. I really pushed myself last year, and have a great new group of friends. Then I realized once I had those, I stopped putting myself out there for the new people. So, this year I will get to know them.

6. Stop watching so much TV. Really. This has made both DH and I lazy. I didn't realize how lazy until this writers strike. We didn't know what to do with ourselves when there was nothing on. Now my kids' know how to play Rummy, and we'll start on Hearts next month. This also goes with spending more time with family. Even though we are all in the same house, we are really not together when we are all stuck to the TV screen.
Now, DH isn't going to be as joyful for this as I am, so I have a plan. We will TiVo some good family shows, and the shows that he thinks he can't live without. And we will only watch what is TiVo'd (is that a word?)
What does he think he can't live without? Lost, 24, Chuck, The Riches, ER, Life, The Office, Heroes, and Desperate Housewives. Ok, so some of those might be mine, but he does watch them all!!

7. Volunteer more. I am a volunteer at our local humane society, but I have not been spending much time there. I need to work out a schedule to help out at least once a month. I blame it on the long drive, but really, what kind of excuse is that to abandon all those poor doggies and kitties?
I also have a dog who used to be a therapy dog, but I stopped taking him places. My goal is to get him re certified and then find a place where I have to commit to a regular schedule.

8. Start going to church. I have no idea why I haven't done this. I have a church very close to our house, but I have never gone. I'm not sure if my kids know who Jesus is. Ok, so they might know who he is, but they really need to know more. And I would like to know more about my faith. I didn't really take it seriously when I was younger, so it's time to do that now.

That's it for now. I will start blogging every time I accomplish one of these. So, I should have a post at least once a week. I guess that adds another goal, to post more.