I had a unique problem this week. Usually, I look at all the pictures that I’ve taken, and all I can think is ugh, I need to find a good green tea fat burner or something, and eventually I choose the picture that I dislike the least. This week, I had a hard time picking a picture to use, but because I actually LIKED more than one picture! It’s a nice change of pace. I’m also liking that I don’t look sick this week. I still have a drippy nose and a cough that won’t give up, but I think that’s more because it’s SO dry than because of whatever Ick I’ve been struggling with for the last week and a half.

Today has been a pretty good day. I finally drug myself out to the grocery store this morning and got some food in the house. Then I cooked up a pot full of Pizza Soup. It was really good, and hopefully I’ll be getting the post up on Jenn Cooks tomorrow, but no promises. Sarah came over and we spent about 5 hours “watching” TV and catching up on all the good gossip we’ve been storing up over the last couple of weeks. It was great. A few minutes ago, I ran out to Martin’s to grab a few things that I didn’t get at the grocery store this morning. Not so happy that it’s snowing like CRAZY, but I’ll survive.

I need to get something for dinner before I head for bed. Think I’m going to put a potato in the microwave and see if there is anything good on TV.

My boss told me the other day to think twice about HD. He just got ATT’s U-verse, and in order to get HD on his TV’s he had to buy a special kind of HDMI cable that cost, get this, $125. EACH. He said he bought one for one television, but he’ll probably never upgrade the other TVs. Can’t say I blame him on that one… $125 per TV is INSANE. Hearing things like that make me glad that I’m perfectly happy with my fuzzy TV reception!

My CitiCard remained paid off. Obviously I don’t need to point that out, but since it’s the only debt completely paid off, I enjoy claiming it.

Car Loan went from 70.67% to 73.66%
WaMu card went from 9.91% to 11.34%
Capital One card went from 15.80% to 16.95%
Discover card 5.19% to 5.34%
Perkins loan went from 9.13% to 10.12%
Nelnet loan went from 3.15% to 3.81%
And the grand total of debt went from 11.08% paid off to 12.04% paid off.

With the exception of the car loan, all of those changes are accounted for simply from minimum payments. The car loan doesn’t have a minimum payment (long story about a standing financial arrangement), so that change is accounted for with a bit of snowflaking. Also this month, I mailed off the check for my December 1st car insurance payment.

The totals for this month will probably not change a whole lot from where they are right now. It will be another month of minimum payments across the board. All of my “extra” cash this month is being funneled into Christmas presents. I’ve actually started shopping, and the first present arrived on my doorstep today! As far as the rest of the shopping goes, I’m probably going to put it on credit. Before you panic, the money IS in the budget, and I have no plans to spend more than I have available for Christmas shopping. I know technically the smartest thing to do would be to wait until I have the cash on hand, but since some of it won’t get here until a mere 6 days before Christmas, I’m really not comfortable waiting that long. I’d rather purchase the things now and pay back the credit card 6 days before Christmas. If I’m going to buy someone rc helicopters (I’m not but you never know who is reading, and I don’t want anyone to know what they ARE getting), I might do that online, and I don’t want to worry about things being sold out, or not arriving in time. In past years, the gatherings have started a week or two before Christmas, so I just don’t want to take the chance.

So my Capital One card will slide backwards for the next month and half or so, but will be right back on track in January. Maybe not the best decision ever, will cost me a few dollars in interest, but it’s the one I feel most comfortable with.

Yeah, I thought they were weird, but man… 3 days? That’s such a waste of time and company resources.

The I worked for 4 hours this morning edition. I took this picture just before I left at 6:30 this morning. I’m not sure whether this shows you that I’m still a bit sick, still tired, or just that the cold meds hadn’t kicked in yet. I’ve gotta say, I’d rather have worked a full shift today, but I’m not going to complain about the half shift I got this morning. I’m an overpacker, and getting ready for working a shift in the guardhouse is no exception… Book? Check. Magazines? Check. Breakfast? Check. Cough Drops? Check. Callaway irons? Okay, maybe not. But you get the idea… today I read a good bit of my book, but other than the cough drops I didn’t touch anything else that I brought with me.

I did the round for the 4 hours that I was there, checked my email, and then played a prank on my friend Amy. When I picked up those third shifts a couple months ago, I stopped by her desk on my way around the building and left notes on her computer. The last one I left said that she didn’t have enough pictures hanging up in her cubicle, but I could offer her a couple pictures of me if she needed them. I joked that if I picked up some more overtime, I was going to decorate her office. So today when I finished my round, I printed off 9-10 of my SPS pictures and went up and taped them up in her office. I put a post-it note with a smaller picture of me on her computer screen that said, “Guess who got some overtime?” Hehehe, totally worth working 4 hours on Sunday morning for! I can’t wait until she gets to work tomorrow!!

For now I’m trying to motivate myself to leave the house again. I need to go to the grocery store, at least to get stuff for breakfast tomorrow (and lunch/dinner today) if nothing else. Other than that, I don’t plan to do much else today. Although my apartment desperately needs cleaning, I really want to get as much rest as possible. I’m slowly getting over this head cold (or whatever it is I’ve been dealing with), but I want to facilitate further healing and that’s not going to happen by pushing myself to get stuff done today. I was already gone most of the day yesterday, so as soon as I get back home, I plan on spending a good bit of time under a blanket on the couch.

Today I feel… better. Not great, but better. I’d love to spend the entire day under a blanket on the couch, but I’ve got things to do, places to be, my best friend’s bridal shower to attend! So I’ll just pump my system full of drugs and hope for a nap later. I can deal with the stuffiness a whole lot better because I don’t feel like I’ve been drug behind a mack truck all night. I’d still prefer not to be sniffling and coughing up a lung, but I’ll deal. So there you are… the requisite “I’m sick” blog whining! Now I suppose I’ll go drag my sick self into the shower because today’s plans are sneaking up on me faster than I’m prepared for.

I was a bit worried about how long it was going to take, but I managed to get there right after work and it only took me 10 minutes to get in, wait in line, color in all my bubbles, feed the ballot to the machine and get back in my car. And then I think about all the people who stood in line for an hour and a half to vote early to avoid the wait today and I laugh. I understand the sentiment though… I waited until after work to vote because I was worried about how long it would take. There were polling places in the area that had quite lengthy lines at 6am when the polls opened this morning.

It was important to me to vote, however. I believe it’s not only a right in this country, but a responsibility. It wasn’t that long ago that women were being tortured securing MY right to vote today. That’s not something to take lightly. I know quite a few people who chose not to vote today… whether they didn’t take the time to register, or they didn’t take the time to make a choice… I don’t honestly have a whole lot of respect for that. There are a lot of people who chose a candidate for superficial reasons, but that’s a whole lot better than not choosing at all. I know a lot of people who say they just don’t like either candidate, and I can understand that. As my boss says, this many people in the country and these two are the best they’ve got?? But I think it’s still important to do your research and make a CHOICE.

I’ll probably check in with the news periodically through the night to see what they’re saying, but for the most part I’ll be doing my own thing and I’ll be looking forward to seeing what happens in the morning.

So next year, I wouldn’t mind buying back a day or two at the end of the year, but I want to have gotten out of here a little more than that. Even if it just means a few 3 day weekends. I don’t need one of those Disney vacations, although I wouldn’t complain about that, but I’m hoping to fit in a road trip with a friend if the vacation time and the finances pan out. We’ve been talking about it for years and so far haven’t been able to make it work. Maybe 2009 is the year.

Sorry for the blurry picture, but I took it yesterday and didn’t realize until today that they were. I could take another picture today, but honestly I haven’t showered, and I look in serious need of a home acne treatment. I know you guys love me, spotty chin and all, but that’s still not going to make me put a picture of it on the internet! LOL

Today is a typical Sunday so far… catching up on the Tivo shows I haven’t gotten to during the week, a nap I shouldn’t have taken, and some housework. Not as much housework as there should be given the state of my house, but the day’s not over yet! At the very least, I need to wash the dishes before they get up and walk away, and scoop out the litter boxes before the cats stage a mutiny. (I feel like I say this alot lol)

In the meantime, I’m trying to make a Christmas shopping list. I think I have everyone figured out except one person… hopefully the money will follow through for my plans!