Post Office Vent

I do not need stress at the moment. Fact is I can't think of one person that does.

Since December 16th the Post Office has lost not one but TWO packages I have mailed to customers. Both have had delivery confirmation and insurance on them. Funny thing is I have now wasted almost 2 hours (mostly waiting in line) trying to get things sorted out. Their website has different information than the office/supervisors I have spoken with and I am getting nowhere. They wont even let me file for the insurance until it has been 30 days since it was lost! #%@%^#$&^%^#&

I have always tried to use the post office for shipping orders to support them but right now I don't even want to buy stamps. This is not good for my business and not good for my customers.

Ok, off my soap box...going to get a pedicure and relax. Has the post office lost anything you have sent?

Weekly Money Checkup

Go check out My Pretty Pennies to Join in.

1. The most I’ve spent this last week was on a new duvet cover. For some reason ours was getting little holes in a few places. I only spent $60 and since even my husband was noticing the spots he was happy. I have been on such a role paying things off though I hated to spend that.

2. Today I am thankful I finally was able to sleep in. I haven't been sleeping much and I feel much better at the moment. Kerrie+no sleep=not someone you want to be around....just ask my husband.
 
3. Money can’t buy happiness. One free thing I did last week that made me happy was finally transfer our music library to my laptop. I am still cleaning up our music mess but now I am not worried our old desktop will crash. Not sure why I was paranoid about it since we have it backed up on our external hard drive.

4. I will consider this week a success if I get anything done at all. Since I started the day out late from sleeping in getting something done other than general housework would be nice. I still have a few things I need to do this week to make my life easier.

5. If I could change one thing about my home it would be the flooring. We could really use new carpet but that requires the concrete being fixed in the family room (about $1000). I have no clue how much new carpet/padding will cost as I haven't measured. I also would like new wood/laminate in the dining/kitchen because it doesn't match and it was not installed correctly. Pretty sure both of those are pipe dreams at the moment! 


My plan for paying everything off got set back Saturday by over two months due to another bill with our insurance. Astronomical Bills+Zero Sleep=Super upset Kerrie I am kicking myself for letting us spend more on Christmas for each other but am glad at the same time because this is going to be the year of as little spending as possible. I can't cut back on much else bill wise unless someone can talk my husband out of cable (it is really his one entertainment though). We are pretty lenient with what we spend on gas for the cars since we moved here because we want to see people but that has got to end. My husband already scheduled a trip in March for a wedding...I am at the point I don't want to budget for food. Ack! I hate bills!

Weekly Money Checkup...on Tuesday

I am behind again! :) Yesterday was a day to get little things finished up before my husband had to go back to work. Not everything got done but most of it is complete. Hopefully I have the energy to finish a few more things on our list today.

1. The most I’ve spent this last week was on $28 on handles for the kitchen drawers. I redid paint/knobs/hinges on the cabinets about a year ago and never got around to the drawers. Finally we have a finished product! Why did I wait so long when it was under $30?

2. Today I am thankful so many little projects are finished. It is nice when your wish list (you know the one that usually never gets done) has shrunk considerably. I also am really thankful that I double budgeted our electric/gas bill this paycheck and discovered Sunday we had extra money to pay on our debt. Not an hour after that the washing machine sounded like it was going to blow up. Lucky me my husband was home for once to hear it in its terror. I really hope it can make it another 6 months....we will see. :(


3. Money can’t buy happiness. One free thing I did last week that made me happy was go through all the extra parts that come with anything you have to assemble. I always save them and usually don't remember what most of the pieces do. We saved the parts my hubby thought would be good and chucked the rest. Yea to de-cluttering!

4. I will consider this week a success if I scrub both of our tubs. The master needs done badly and my husband has the faucets taken apart in the guest tub to fix what I thought would be simple. When you turned the water on it came out of the shower head when it only should have been coming out of the tub faucet. Long story short he is now replacing all the parts (not in great shape) so no one gets unexpectedly sprayed. Husbands muddy boots=me cleaning tub. He would probably clean it for me but since I initiated the mess I am going to clean it up.

5. On New Years Eve we drove over to some friends of ours that just moved close. Her kids just moved here last week so we had a little home party. They bought a bunch of lego kits. We built the ship from Pirates of the Caribbean, I was impressed how detailed those kits are. Different spin on a party but fun.  

Hopefully my phone is charged up as I need to call the post office which lost a package going to a customer that had both delivery confirmation and insurance on it. I am not looking forward to using up my minutes and being on hold. I have a feeling after I call I am going to be making another bracelet and shipping it just so my customer gets her item. I always use the post office to support it but the issues the last few months are driving me nuts! Hope you have a wonderful Tuesday!

Busy and Lazy

Hope you had a wonderful Christmas! And are geared up for a New Year!

We spent the holiday relaxing and getting little things done around our house. My husband has had the entire week off due to unused vacation time that had to be used up. We probably should have used it more productively but we have kind of lounged around the house.

There are some pretty snazzy new toys in our house right now, we are blessed. Here are our favorites:
Husband-Gun safe, garage heater, he already hung up his new fire extinguishers, beer for his fridge, music cards, and he has been wearing his slippers a lot.
Kerrie-Kindle Fire!!!!, a new torch (my husbands eyes lit up when I got this), strings of lights for the back yard, tea, music gift cards and some cute clothes.

This is boring but sadly this is what we have gotten done this entire week.

-Went to see the Christmas lights at the Zoo.
-All laundry clean and folded :) Everything ironed (I hate ironing so this makes me HAPPY)
-Curtain rod raised that has been hanging too low and driving me crazy.
-Gun safe bolted to the wall in our basement.
-Base for car seat installed in car.
-Garage organized
-Car windows cleaned and inside wiped down, still need to vacuum.
-Christmas decorations put away, minus the front porch.
-2 parts ordered for the 4-wheeler, $16 seems pretty reasonable.
-Address label list made so we can send out announcements easily.
-An entire morning buying music using the gift cards we got. I actually had a list of songs for once.
-The exercise bike and fooseball table gone. And found a home for the bar cabinets once we rip them out. I can see our basement transformation even though it is a long way off.
-Baths for both dogs
-Lots of cups of tea :) My husband put some in my stocking that is delicious!
-All but 3 thank you notes written and sent!
-Met with the life insurance agent to increase life insurance, cheers to being responsible.
-Business taxes up to date and ready to finish.
-Review of our finances and plan for the next year to pay off debt! We are farther ahead than I projected even with a Christmas splurge and extra expenses! I want to go buy some gold stars for our calendar!

Our list of things to do was much longer but I think we did pretty good. We have also frequented the Red Box machine and have been streaming movies though Amazon. This has probably been the most inexpensive vacation my husband has ever had, and the least we have spent on fuel. Since we are still trying to have a life (not be total hermits to save money) we have had more game nights/dinners at home with friends (which I prefer) and are finally catching up on excess bills created by our insurance sucking. All of these things are trivial but crossing them off our list and knowing they are done is so relaxing to me. We have three things that are at the top of my list but I feel mostly prepared for the upcoming month and that makes me breath easier. Right now 2011 is ending on a positive note and 2012 is looking incredibly promising and we can't wait.

Hope you have had a wonderful week as well! Happy New Year!

Dogs for Free..........

I have been trying to get all kinds of things done as of course I am behind. Stuck to me wherever I go though is at least one of my dogs, until my husband is home they wont get much for than a foot away from me. They are both driving me NUTS! Especially since I am trying to clean and lets face it dogs are mess makers, they do not help clean.

All I can say is all our beds and bathrooms are clean and the main floor has been swept. I am not moping as my parents dog will be staying while they are traveling and with the snow outside and 3 dogs in my house I really can't see the point in bothering. I dusted...talk about bad after all the dust from my husband wiring our surround. Now I just have a few things left to do and I can get back to writing thank you notes. Right now all I want for Christmas is for someone to vacuum the couches and do my ironing.

We have an excess of cookies since I have been busy baking for gifts and my husband brought home a basket full of Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory goodies that was a gift from one of his sub contractors. The subs usually give gifts when my husband has been on big jobs but he does lots of little ones now and its nice that this sub thought of him.

It is beautiful outside with lots of pretty snow but I see some dripping already today! I love how it looks but I hope it refrains from snowing again because we have so many friends traveling right now. I have wasted enough time on the computer and better get back to work. Most of what is on my list HAS to be done today. :(

Merry Christmas!!!! Enjoy those you love! And if anyone wants a dog or two.....

Weekly Money Checkup

Weekly Money Check-up is sponsored by My Pretty Pennies, go check her out.

1. The most I’ve spent this last week was on dinner Saturday night with some old and new friends. I made reservations for the 6 of us at a Brazilian restaurant that has AWESOME food. One of the couples is from Romania and they were excited to try something new and the other couple introduced us to lots of different foods when we lived in Phoenix so I knew they would want to try something new in Denver. It was a nice night, and nice to get dressed up since we rarely go out to eat.

2. Today I am thankful this weekend is over. We had a Christmas dinner Friday and the one Saturday and Saturday day some other WONDERFUL friends came over and helped complete the TV/Stereo/Surround system wiring. I am beat! And this week still has so much that needs done. I am sitting in my chair for an hour and then getting my butt in gear.

3. Money can’t buy happiness. One free thing I did last week that made me happy was make Christmas cookies, peppermint bark, book marks and spiced tea for gifts. I still need to make more cookies but that can wait a few days.

4. I will consider this week a success if I complete all the things on my to do list to get our family room carpet cleaned. All the drilling into concrete and drywall etc. made a lot of dust. The upstairs of our house is spotless but we ran out of steam yesterday after deep cleaning that. Hopefully I have the energy to get at least 1/2 of my list done the next few days, it is long.

5. One of my holiday traditions is ???. I don't really know anymore, we had been away from our families for so many years we just kind of did whatever worked that year. Last year my sisters came over and one of my cousins and we made Christmas cookies together. I liked that but we wont be able to do that this year. Maybe I need to think up a new tradition? My one personal tradition is trying to get all my shopping done really early. I don't hate the lines at the stores but the traffic drives me insane.


Since I am bad about posting more than once a week have a Merry Christmas!!!! Hopefully I will be able to post again with pictures of our finished family room but this week is packed full! Enjoy!

Weekly Money Checkup

I started this on Monday and got sidetracked by my list of things to do and the third book of the Fire and Ice Series.


1. The most I’ve spent this last week was on things at IKEA. I went with a friend that needed a cabinet and came out with a bunch of stuff. I planned on looking at some tall candle stands for our mantel when it is done and bought those and more. At least 2 things I bought were for my husband. They had nice robes for $20 and soft bath rugs (he hates when I wash the rug and there isn't one). 

2. Today I am thankful I am sitting at home relaxing. It was a long but great weekend, the best part was seeing family/friends all day Saturday. I LOVE living closer to those we love. This whole week I have "dates" with several of my friends that couldn't attend my shower or the Christmas party we attended Saturday.

3. Money can’t buy happiness. One free thing I did last week that made me happy was watch my husband clean up his mess after working on his mantel project again. He got the fireplace hole all wired and something wired in the garage. Not sure how long it will take to get the speakers in but I see progress. :)

4. I will consider this week a success if I continue working on my crucial list before the end of the year. I forgot about two things that needed to be on it so it grew!

5. One of my favorite holiday decorations is a little reindeer made out of 2 peanuts. His name is Peanie Rudu and years ago when my mom gave me my ornaments my dad got upset that he was going with me. For years now I have sent my dad a photo of him every time I put him on our tree. We are kind of silly :) I also enjoy putting up my husbands ornaments since most of them were handmade by his grandma. And I hate to say it but I get upset every time I get our decorations out since we were robbed late 2007 early 2008. A lot of our Christmas items were taken and the new items just are not the same as the old ones. Thankfully most of the important ones are still in our possession.


Sometime soon I need to drag myself out of the house and get dog food, some dog treats for the dogs stockings, and find some gifts from my dad for my moms stocking. I need to do that and get my husband a garage heater (his last present) and I am DONE! That is unless my dad calls back and needs me to do more shopping since he is traveling. Then I am working on things that have to be done so I don't freak out in the coming weeks. Hope you are having a wonderful week!

Great Start to The Day

I started out the day great! Somehow I managed to sleep in! That NEVER happens anymore. Then I cleaned my master bath and unloaded the dishwasher. I know that sounds super exciting :) All our bathrooms are sparkly this morning. I hate to say it but my husband being gone for a few days makes it easy to get things clean and have them stay that way.

I have BIG plans today getting my sewing projects done for the house and a few quick Christmas gifts. Nothing much but things I wanted to get done. I spent the evening last night reading and not doing anything needed but it was so nice. Tomorrow is my day of paperwork though so I better get lots done today and have FUN! I even have dinner planned for tonight, yea for productive days!

Hope you are having a wonderful day as well!

Weekly Money Checkup

1. The most I’ve spent this last week was on a red table runner for Christmas and some groceries but it was under $30 total. My husband spent $27 on his shopping trip for the mantel project though. I'd say we had a good week.
 
2. Today I am thankful we live inside. If it wasn't flu season I think I would go down to the shelter and volunteer. It is COLD! I am just praying those that don't have homes are staying warm today.
 
3. Money can’t buy happiness. One free thing I did last week that made me happy was watch a dog of some friends. They are originally from TX and had a spur of the moment trip for a funeral. He by far is the best house guest we have ever had. I pick them up from the airport today and I think the poor guy is missing them, he is 12 and recently just lost his doggy brother. 

4. I will consider this week a success if I continue working on my list of crucial items to finish before the end of the year. Last week I didn't get enough done. My aspirations are low this week, if I get 2 done I will be happy. One will probably take at least 2 days though.

5. My favorite Christmas gift as a child was ?. Sadly I can't think of any gift that stands out. I think the gift I enjoyed the most was gift cards to the book store. The used book store banned my sisters and I from trading books of one genre in for others. We used to take giant bags in from my Mamo so we could get the books we wanted of other genres. That poor book store owner got a lot of murder books before he changed his policy.


I finally am sharing some photos. My husband cleaned up a lot of his mess so this looks pretty good. Here is the TV/Mantel wall missing the mantel. The stereo components cabinet is only half way in it's new home and that snazzy board with electronics outlets will go in the ceiling of the hole where the cabinet is sitting. We also have baseboard missing where he is permanently wiring our surround sound so there wont be any cords on the floor. I hate cords but since he has been cutting so many holes we are also increasing insulation and the contractor that built this house did not insulate around the fireplace so hopefully our family room will stay warmer when we are done. My husband is out of town most of the week so it shall sit like this until Sunday when he has time again. I can't wait until then!

I had to throw in a picture of our Christmas tree for cheer.

Warm and Cozy

I am nice and cozy sitting in my sweats and slippers curled up with the puppies. It is icy and cold outside, I would hate to be our dogs needing outside when the snow is taller than their poor short legs. Should we be doing things, of course....lots and lots of things but staying warm sounds much nicer.

Yesterday I braved the nasty weather and got a pedicure and manicure...note flip flops do not work in snow. Then did a little shopping and wrapped all the Christmas gifts my Mamo bought for her adopt a family. She and my cousin picked out some really nice things but we both think more than one toy would be good for the kids (they needed clothes, pjs, underwear etc.). She got one toy for each and those essentials so I think Monday I am going to go pick up a small toy for each and either a grocery card, movie theater card or a restaurant card for the parents. Both parents only had essentials on their lists, things that their family needs so I think it would be nice to give them something for them. I know she spent more on them than she intended but we both agreed we would much rather help unfortunate others. Yes we both have bills and debt but you feel so much better helping those that have so little. Next year I am either going to save a little more for Christmas or cut our personal gift budget down so we can help out more. We used to do that as an entire family, not sure when we stopped. :( That makes me feel more in the Christmas spirit than all the holiday music playing everywhere you go.

So right now I am trying to figure out what 5 year old little boys like and 7 year old little girls like? At least I have a few days because I am not going shopping at the toy store on a Saturday in December. That would equal ZERO relaxation on a weekend.