Happy New Year's Eve!!

Well, here's to the end of 2006. In my house, it was a year of changes, good and bad, and losses. We moved from the Black Hills to 2 hours north of Sioux Falls in March, and we absolutely love it here. At the end of summer, I started part time at the hospital, which gave us medical benefits and steady income to supplement my at-home income. My DH lost his step-grandfather (July) and step-aunt (December), and I lost my mother (November). My mother's was the most unexpected loss, she had a fatal heart attack at only 54. No warnings or anything, she woke up that day, started the coffee going, logged online to check e-mail, and then she was gone. It's still very heart-wrenching.

So, for 2007. It's going to be a year of changes. Mom's death was a wake-up call. She was only about 30 pounds "overweight" (I never really thought of her as overweight, but she did carry it right at the waist, the worst spot) and I am about 150 pounds overweight (but it's all over, so "better" for heart disease?). I have joined Discovery Health's National Body Challenge, 8 weeks of being held accountable to A LOT of people!! LOL I'm not focused on losing weight so much as I am on getting healthier. But a big part of that is exercising and eating right, of course. That's change 1.

Next change is becoming more focused on my WAH contract, and earning at least $500 per month on that. That means working for at least 5 hours a day on my days off from my job, and focusing on that and probably turn the IMs off (sorry guys!).

September I am planning on going back to school. Wonder if anyone will notice I'm 33, not 18? ;-) I plan on getting a 2-year AAS degree in Medical Secretary/Transcription, and then working towards working from home full time as a transcriptionist. So that will be a big change, and hopefully I can figure out a way to squeeze in 20 hours of work a week to keep the benefits. Hopefully they'll work with me, too!! :-)

How about everyone else? Will 2007 be a year of changes for you, too?

Heather

Hi!!

Hi!! Did y'all miss me?? LOL I can't believe how hectic things got around here, and so here I am, approaching the New Year, and I'm not entirely sure Christmas got done! LOL

I've set up some goals for the new year...who's with me? ;-)

1. Stick to my exercise program 80% of the time or more. (And I have great motivation here, I'm signing up for Discovery Health's 8 week challenge!)
2. Eat healthier.
3. Enroll at Mitchell Tech to start the journey of my 2nd AAS degree.
4. Learn to knit.
5. Blog better. ;-)
6. Keep working on my 43 Things (I only have 7 at the moment!!).

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and I hope everyone has a wonderful 2007!!!

Pets...gotta love 'em!!

We have a few pets, more than some people would have, not nearly as many as others have. Recently, the topic came up as to how much money I would have each month if I didn't have so many critters to spend it on. Well, we have 1 dog (formerly 2, but one crossed the Rainbow Bridge the day before Labor Day), 5 cats (and 4 kittens who will be ready for new homes in about 6 weeks), a fish and a hedgehog. While my preference is Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover's Soul for food, it's not readily available where I now live, so we're giving them your basic department store foods. For the cats, we use Tidy Cats clumping because it's the only one that has a lesser amount of dust. For some reason, the other brands make me sneeze, and the brand I used before we moved (Precious Cat I believe) is also not available here. So in all, we spend about $30 every 2 months.

Now, before I had all my critters, I was diagnosed with situational depression, and was put on Zoloft. At 50 mg, it was around $50 per month. Plus, it only maintained my mood, it didn't help with stress-relief. The best way for me is to just laugh or cry, and the critters make me laugh and curl up with me when I'm crying. They're my company during the day (I work from home, and it can get lonely! LOL) and they are also built-in pest control. How much fun is it to watch 4 cats surround a cricket in the dining room??

We have a little extra work, cleaning litter boxes, checking food, and taking the dog for walks, but in the long run, it's more than worth it. Not only mentally, but also physically. I have a natural walking buddy, natural stress relief, and I think I'm definitely getting the best for my money this way.

Woohoo!!

Well, my wonderful friend has sent me far more roving than I had hoped for, considering she was giving it to me!! It arrived today, and I cannot wait to give spinning my own yarn a "whirl" (the pun wasn't originally intended, but I left it there!)!

Sooo...I better get some work done, get the house tidied up (I am getting company this weekend, dear friends from our old home are coming to visit!) and then I can spin with no worries! Well, no worries except learning a new craft! lol

Off to take some before/after pictures and get some work done...

Heather

It's our First Anniversary!!

We made it to one year!! LOL It's been such a stressful first year, it just shows that we really do have the perseverance for the long haul. :-) He also became an "instant Dad" to a 13 year old boy, so for everyone it's been quite the adjustment.

In addition to all my other projects, I hit a thrift store yesterday and picked up enough yarn to make a cat tunnel for my kitties. It will be a turquoise and white (2 strands white to 1 strand turqouise, crocheted 3 strands throughout.

I also picked up some supplies to make a drop spindle out of a dowel and 2 CDs to try my hand at spinning. I'm very fortunate that Isela is sending me some roving so I can try to spin some yarn! Just in searching eBay I've found so many colors and textures of roving to spin into yarn, including buffalo down!! We'll see, though, I may simply not like the process of spinning. But if I do, here's hoping my brother will be nice enough to make me a spinning wheel! LOL

Heather

I couldn't resist!! :-)

Thank you Kat for having this on your site..and when I found out how I will be described, well, I couldn't resist letting the world know! LOL

Heather -- [adjective]: Sexually stunning 'How will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com

TGIF!!

I hope everyone is planning on a wonderful and safe weekend. We have no plans, my DH works Sunday, but is off Saturday, so we will spend the day relaxing and trying to stay cool.

I just finished re-reading the Earth's Children series of books by Jean M. Auel. Most people are familiar with "Clan of the Cave Bear", which was made into a movie starring Daryl Hannah. The movie is good, considering they had to take so much and condense it into so little. It was also re-vamped a lot to make it more understandable to anyone who has not read the book. However, if you have read the book, you probably won't like the movie. There is so much that is left out in the movie, it makes it difficult to watch, almost. I am anxiously awaiting the next in the series!

I'm also re-reading "Cry to Heaven" by Anne Rice. It is about the castrati singers of Italy, and I found the story fascinating. It's, to me, historical fiction, in that the story itself is fiction but based on the events of the time. I then found an audio file of the last of the Castrati, Alessandro Moreschi. He was about 46 at the time the recording was made in 1902. Even though the audio is not the best, given the recording technology of the time, it still demonstrates why the Castrati were revered. While I by no means condone the practice, I do understand why people enjoyed hearing them perform.

I have taken up a new hobby, knitting on round or rectangle looms. I have never been able to grasp knitting with needles, but I love this technique! I have several projects on board, and am also working on 3 crochet projects and I have at least 4 cross stitch projects scattered around the house. LOL I also have some beaded jewelry to make for Christmas gifts, so perhaps those will be my plans for the weekend?

Have a great weekend!

Heather

Working Late Nights

Well, I haven't posted in far too long, and I am sorry for any readers who missed me! I'm scrounging around trying to get caught up on bills, and so right now I'm working late nights. I'm a work-at-home Mom, and I love it. And hopefully working late nights will get us caught up!

It's been an interesting change. I'm not used to sleeping until 11AM, but when you don't get off the phone until 4AM...what do I expect? I think I'm adapting well, though, and as long as it's lucrative, I'm going to continue to do so.

Does anyone have any suggestions for "transplanting" from a daytime person to a nighttime person??

Heather

What kind of yarn am I?

Well, it certainly fits me. Amazing how well these quizzes can do that, isn't it?? :-) (Although I am NOT born to clean, my house is clean but tidy is a whole other issue!! LOL)

What kind of yarn are you?

You are Dishcloth Cotton.You are a very hard worker, most at home when you're at home. You are thrifty and seemingly born to clean. You are considered to be a Plain Jane, but you are too practical to notice.
Take this quiz!








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TGIF!!

OK, so as a WAHM, I typically end up working 7 days a week, but for those who don't, TGIF!! :-) I hope everyone has a great and safe weekend!

I was musing yesterday on obesity. Now, before anyone jumps on me for it, I happen to weigh literally twice as much as I did in high school, and I was at the high end of the "healthy" range then. But yesterday was one of those days where it was over 100 degrees Fahrenheit in my area. We don't have AC at all in this old farmhouse (which I love!), so it was also about 90 degrees inside the house. Being overweight, that means unfortunately I was feeling pretty yucky and lethargic. And as such, I was on the couch, drinking ice water and watching an X-Files marathon.

For some reason, I got to thinking about the ladies and gentlemen that have been on the news that weigh 700+ pounds. And I thought to myself, how can they afford to weigh that much? Now, typically they are married, and their spouse works. But my goodness, here in South Dakota a bag of chips is no less than $3. If you're eating one of those a day, that's $90 a month. I can't imagine eating so much per day that I am gaining that much weight over time. And when these souls are trapped in their home, it means there is only one income in the family.

I'm in a 2-income family, and we're barely able to make our $500 a month house payment, not to mention utilities, gas and then groceries. If I'm lucky, we can scrape together $75 a week for groceries, for a family of 3. So you know we're not getting all of our nutrients in either.

So my question yesterday was how do they afford it? They live in what appear to be affluent neighborhoods, so their house payments or rent are at least as much as ours is, probably more. They have almost new vehicles (whereas our "youngest" is a 1998, our 2nd is a 1994 in need of much repairs to be back to where it was when I bought it 4 years ago), so they have a car payment and higher insurance rates as well. I can see how "easy" it would be to lay on the couch all day eating junk food and watching TV, I did it yesterday after all. But...at the end of the day, I still had to go to work to pay for that privilege, since we can't afford to be a single-income family.

I guess it boiled down to, ultimately, my wishing I could afford to lay around the house, being fed by my husband and never having to move. After all, in times gone by, it was a sign of status to be overweight. It meant you had enough to not have to hunt and gather. In today's society, we don't have to hunt and gather, but for most of us, we still have to work our tails off. So, I wish I could afford to lay around the house, but even if I could, I think I would use the time to walk my dogs, play with my cats, and go grow a garden to gather from. :-)


Heather

Welcome to my Blog!

I admit it, I'm a newbie. Sometimes it takes me awhile to get with the program. And the reason I did today was because I just loved this blog:

We Heart Yarn: On Knitting and Drinking

And decided I needed to tell the world!! LOL

I make no promises when I will post, what I will say, or what I will include. Hopefully someone out there will enjoy my blog.

Heather