It’s that time of year again! As in, the end of the year, and the start of a new one. This time last year, I was thinking about losing weight and researching different diet pills like phentermine and seeing how much a gym membership would cost.
This year, I’m going to give myself a break. I feel a little better about my looks (or at least, a little more comfortable in my own skin) so I’m not going to beat myself up over a few extra pounds. Instead, I’m going to focus on other goals, and let the idea of losing weight just work itself out as part of the overall picture. We’ll see how this works!
I know all of these posts about the new apartment must be getting boring, but I’m just so amazed at the difference between this current apartment and our previous one. For one thing, we have a ton of windows, so there is just so much more light. Luckily, they were are replaced a couple of years ago, so they’re pretty weather-resistant. It still gets chilly in the living room at night, but we’re making do with an extra sweater and afghans. While I woudn’t mind one of those Amish fireplace heaters to warm up the room (both in temperature and looks), I think we’re going to have a fairly warm winter here.
Zelda the Cat has this thing she does that I call “Lick Lick Chomp.” It happens at night, usually right as I’m falling asleep. She’s a cuddler, and crawls into the covers and snuggles up near my face. When she gets really comfy and happy, she gives my chin a few licks, and then – CHOMP. I fall for it every time! Usually it’s because I’m so sleepy, I can’t really think straight to stop her before she does it. If I knew that kitty kisses were the world’s best acne treatment I wouldn’t mind as much. But it always hurts enough to make me jump and wakes me up.
Oh well. It’s part of the price I’m willing to pay for the lap snuggles and purring furballs.
Happy Christmas! Mr. Martini and I exchanged our gifts yesterday, and while neither of us got the other the all inclusive vacation we both wanted (hee!) we did do well with the books and various items that we did exchange. The cats enjoyed the wrapping paper, and a good time was had by all.
I think the best gift I got was a couple of extra days off from work to hang out with Mr. Martini and the cats and get myself rested and prepped for the new year. Sometimes the best gifts can’t be wrapped and put under a tree!
I’ve mentioned before that we have a very small bathroom. Everything works, nothing leaks, so it has that in its favor, but the size? Very very small. So now I’m constantly looking at bathrooms on TV and in magazines, imaging the day when we can have our own large, spa-like bathroom with glass tile and rainfall shower heads and heated towel racks and a double sink.
In the meantime, I’ll just give thanks that our toilet doesn’t run and our shower has decent pressure. And hey, a smaller bathroom means there’s just that much less to clean!
I love getting a good deal. I’m one of those people who peruses the Black Friday listings looking for great doorbusters, knowing full well that I’ll never be able to drag myself out of bed to get the best 4 a.m. deal.
But that’s OK. I’m still good at perusing the internet, and finding the best deals that way. It’s so much easier to comparison shop when I have the websites of four or five (or more!) stores at my fingertips. Plus, I don’t have to camp outside a store for hours on a freezing cold night. Score!
Sometimes I think that it would be good to go back to school to increase my worth as an employee. I work in a very data-driven industry, and any opportunity I can use to increase my knowledge of information technology could only help me in the long run.
One program I looked at was the online IT degree program at Western Governor University. They offer an online degree in Information Technology as well as other programs such as Education, Business Management and Health Professions.
What really impressed me was how affordable the programs are, considering that WGU is fully accredited. The best part is that I could work on my degree in my spare time from home, without having to worry about commuting or traveling. WGU also places a high importance on personal attention, which is particularly important to me.
It’s definitely a program to consider. And these days, any opportunity to increase my worth as an employee is incredibly valuable!
It’s a dangerous time of the year for me to be online. I’m just too susceptible to influence. Here I am, minding my own business, doing research on the cost of term life insurance, when I stumble across a sale at Old Navy. Or an e-mail with a discount code to Borders. Or I get sucked into the gold box deals page at Amazon (oh, Amazon, I love you, but you cost me big money this year).
I suppose I should just log off until the holidays are over. But we all know that’s not going to happen. Besides, I have an online coupon for the Gap that’s going to expire soon.
I’m always trying to find new ways to stretch our budget. Besides spending less, I’m trying to figure out ways to add more income to what we’re already bringing home. I’ve been doing some research about freelancing and part-time computer work. There are options available, like data entry and becoming an outsourced customer service rep. So far, nothing has panned out for me (mostly because I’m not pursuing certain avenues as aggressively as I could be) but it doesn’t hurt to keep looking!
I’m still loving my new camera, I have to admit. It takes gorgeous pictures, and it’s easy to use. I’m so, so glad I got it. But one thing I didn’t think about when I started playing with it was the amount of pictures I would take, and subsequently need to store. Digital photos have started to take over my hard drive, and now I’m trying to figure out if I should do an online backup of all of the photos, or invest in an external hard drive.
I suppose the easiest solution would be to go through all of the photos and just choose the best ones to keep. Wait, who am I kidding. It would be way, way easier to just back up all of the photos, most definitely!
