Happy Sunday!!

I hope everyone is having a good Sunday. I decided to do a little work, and what I thought was a short dictation was actually 28 minutes long and took me almost 2 hours to complete. Yikes! By the end I was telling the doc to stop repeating himself. I am pretty sure the last 5 minutes were just "the patient and his wife know they can return to the emergency department at any time if the symptoms return, if the symptoms worsen, or if new problems arise." He would say something else, and that line again. Uff-da. It net me almost $20 for that one report though, so I am not going to complain....much!! lol

After that I put up a new mailbox. Apparently a tree branch fell on ours while my son and I were in the Hills. It had gotten to the point where the mailman couldn't close it anymore. My spousal unit has not noticed yet. No surprise there, since he doesn't notice that all the towels were removed around the house and washed, and he had to get a new one for him to use in the shower. He uses mine instead. I'm sorry, but I find it gross to dry my face with the towel someone else used on their butt.

Still no "no" from my (hopeful) new job. I don't want to jinx, it though. I did get a letter from Experian that they did send them a credit report. And what was sent doesn't look overly bad, actually. Of course, of the 5 things, 3 are from when spousal unit and I had a joint checking account and he decided to do a check loan thing. I take that back...2 are. One is his hospital bill. The other 2 are my bankruptcy and then a small claim from 2002 that I know I paid off before I bought my old house. We'll see what happens. That is one thing I *hate* about being married...I can do everything right and *still* not be able to get a loan because *he* defaults on stuff without telling me!!

But...it could be worse. I have a friend who's daughter is going through a nightmare thanks to incompetent daughters. Many hugs and prayers going her way!!!! I am grateful that I am healthy and that my son is healthy.

Speaking of, he is thrilled with his school schedule. He will be taking Video Production 1 and 2 this year. He's already got some crazy ideas thought up!! Curse you, Mythbusters, curse you!! They will be learning to work with a green screen, and I can't wait to see what he is able to do. He took some hard classes this year: Personal Finance, World of Economics, and Intro to Business. But he sounds very enthusiastic about all of them, which is good.

Our puppy goes to his new home tomorrow. We will miss him, but I think he will greatly enjoy it. 7 acres and horses to play with. It will be nice and quiet at night, though.

I found a wonderful pattern at Simplicity....and it was already out of print!! I need professional clothing at my new job and I am severely lacking in the shirt department. I have lots of material hanging out, ready to be put to work. Thankfully, I found the pattern on eBay and should have it in a week or so. The pattern number is 4164 if you get a chance to check it out.

This week I will be sewing with the patterns and material I do have, as well as cleaning house. Dad is coming to visit for Labor Day weekend, plus my in-laws will be here for Labor Day itself. So cobwebs beware...I'm coming after *you*!! I will also fit as much MT work in as I can. I am pretty sure of which contract I will have to give up, but we'll see. I may be able to keep them both, too. A lot of work, but that's okay.

On that note...I better go finish up the laundry and get things put away!! Thanks for reading, have a Blessed day!!

~~Heather

Potentially Good News Today

Pending a drug test, employment history verification, references, and credit check, I start with First Premier on the 2nd. Yay!! The only one I'm worried about is the credit check. They are only looking for credit card chargeoffs and fraud, so I should be okay. It is a great starting wage, is full time, and has good benefits. It will be nice not having to scrape for money all the time, although the first couple of checks will be to get my bank account up above a 0 balance again.

I got my first check from my 2nd MT company today, and it was off by $8. I knew it would be small, only $18 and change, but it was $10.01!! So my first thought was that the gal who trained me told me wrong on figuring up the lines. Sure enough, the total I was paid matched my stats from the software, not the line count from Word. I'm not mad, because the normal method is that stat counter (and Word includes lines we don't put in there, they are system-generated). I'm just frustrated overall with the gal who trained me as she gave me quite a bit of incorrect information and non-information. I would say that half the questions I asked her, she didn't know the answer to. But it's still a decent contract, and so I won't complain.

I called my nephew today on Skype (so we can see each other with the webcams) and the first thing he asked for was our hamster (aka our leopard gecko! lol). He did finally call it a gecko (before it was a snake!) and found it very funny as Ziggy was climbing up my shoulder and tickling my neck!! It was really neat, and I love being able to see him like that, since I can't see him in person as often as I would like.

I finished the Pacifier Bear I had been crocheting. What a relief! It is absolutely adorable, but because of the loop stitch, it took forever! I can't post pictures because I don't want the recipient to see it yet. It's her Christmas gift. Or b-day gift. Whichever works. She'll get them all in October. hehe

Over the weekend I read the last 2 books in the Twilight Saga. Oh man. I cannot wait to see the movie. Conveniently moved up to the weekend after my son's b-day...is it wrong to take him for his b-day when I also so desperately want to see it?? But now I'm at a loss. I don't feel like working on my 2 afghans, nor my wrap, nor read the Stephen King novel I just bought (the first in the Dark Tower series, I've never read them!). I'm sure I'll figure something out to do.

On the DH front...things are as usual. He's all lovey-dovey now that I have this conditional job offer. Didn't bother to call or apologize for being 3 hours late coming home. Typcial. Once I am done with training (last day of training is the 19th of September) he gets the ultimatum. One more misstep and I am through. I do not need the headaches.

On that note...time to find something to do...like go through my closet and dig out my professional clothes....ugh. It's a call center...why can't I wear jeans???

~~Heather

Happy Friday!!

Most people are off on weekends, so to all of them, TGIF!!

I technically am scheduled to work a few hours each weekend day with one contract, and the other I can log on when I want. But it's all good. I can still enjoy Fridays!!

I didn't post last night...we had an electrical storm come through. Lots of lightning for about 3 hours. Thunder that made the house shiver. It was great. I did get to finish reading "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" and now I need to go back to the library to get the other 3 books. I have one more mystery to read that I checked out from the library, then I can get on with the Twilight series. Then Tanya can talk about them with me!

I had an interview at the local grocery store for the liquor department. Rather ironic, since I'm not much on drinking. We'll see, I haven't heard back from him yet. I also haven't heard back from First Premier. I called them this morning to check on the status, and she said she would call back...but I am not holding my breath at this point. I don't understand why there cannot be a happy medium. There are no full time jobs for me, but my DH is happy where he is, and also has a standing offer for more money with benefits. (He claims he will negotiate with his current employer when his supervisor gets back, as we really do need health insurance.) But all I can find are jobs that pay $7-8 an hour for 15-20 hours a week. It's better than nothing, but I still feel like I am being wasted here. *sigh* Well, something will come up, right?

I am now debating on opening a checking account at USBank or WellsFargo. My credit union is in the Black Hills, 300 miles away. Makes it hard to cash a check when my son's grandmother sends it. For now, we've mailed it to my Dad to cash and get a Visa gift card to mail back. I'm leaning towards USBank, they offer a bit more for me. We'll see.

We have 2 hits now on our pup. I will be sad to see him go, but I think he will enjoy being able to run around a farm much better. I am very appreciate of these families, because they are taking the time to learn more about him and his breed before making the decision. Something I need to work on.

Today's plan, since it is my day off, is 30-60 minutes on the treadmill, and work on sorting my office. I really hate the decluttered look it has. I've always tried to keep my work spaces neat, but my home office seems to be a "catch all" for stuff. *sigh* I can usually get a bag of stuff to either throw away or give away when I start sorting, so that's where I start.

Thanks for reading!!

~~Heather

Beautiful Wednesday

It's another beautiful day here. I feel kinda like Garfield there, though. Not a lot of gumption.

I received 4 boxes of Harlequin romances today off Freecycle. I sorted through and found 1 box that I would keep (some of which is actually Reader's Digest Condensed Books) and then the rest I will re-list. I'm actually searching for 1 book in particular, "One Thousand Roses" or "A Thousand Roses" or something along those lines. I just really enjoyed that book. I'm also looking for "Silken Web." I'll enjoy these, though, I'm sure. Have to get my romance somehow.

The rest of the afternoon I will spend working. I am rapidly finding out that 20 minutes sitting in an office chair at the store is nothing compared to spending hours in it at home. Unfortunately, the one I really wanted (and should have gotten!) is no longer offered at the one store I know used to carry it. So I work in short bursts, and then move back to the living room for awhile.

I did find a yarn that is close to the yarn I was using for a teddy bear for a friend. Hopefully she won't pick on me too much. Thankfully, she's a knitter (I crochet) and so she knows that sometimes the yarn doesn't last as long as it should and you can't find a match again (even in the same brand and type!!). I should be able to finish it up this weekend.

I just read "The Old Man and the Sea" today for the first time. I enjoyed it. I'm not 100% sure I understand it, but I enjoyed it. Tomorrow I pick up the last 3 books by Stephanie Meyer and will read those through the weekend. A friend was nice enough to loan all 4 to me, but she only had 1 done when we were visiting in the Hills.

No plans for the rest of the week, just work and get through it.

~~Heather

Sunny Tuesday!!

Three days of blogging in a row...that must be some type of record for me. It's a beautiful day out, not too hot but still requiring the use of the AC. I can live with that.

I managed to do another 60 minutes on the treadmill...30 at a "workout pace" for me, and 30 at a stroll. It's not as hard to carve out that hour as I thought it would be, but then, I'm probably using it as an excuse not to work.

School starts for my DS in 8 days. 8 days. Woohoo!! (Not that I'm counting or anything. And it could be worse (for him)....Sioux Falls is starting on Monday already.) My goal is at that point to get up and do the strolling pace while outside walking my dog. Then I can just do the 30 minutes later in the morning or in the afternoon. We'll see what happens. Either way, my DS is going to start getting up a whole lot earlier tomorrow!! Time to break the habit of sleeping until 9:30-10:00!!

I haven't heard back from the company I interviewed with a couple weeks ago. I still am hoping, though. No news is not bad news, right? Thursday I will be doing a "pep test" (perhaps a precursor to an interview?) in the liquor department of the local grocery store (well, still 20 miles away, but close enough). It's only part-time, but it's better than nothing.

We have decided to give up one of our dogs. A very hard decision, but he really needs someone who can give him more attention than we do. He has a longer coat than I thought and it needs daily brushing. He also needs more training. We will miss him, but it will be for the best. He's a doll, and we love him, we just aren't as attentive as we should be. We listed him on Freecycle, but only 1 hit and that was for someone who wanted us to take him over 100 miles. Is it wrong of me to think that if you can't afford to come pick him up, then you can't afford his vet bills also? (We did specify in the "listing" that you must be able to pick him up here.) Of course, if we get no hits, we'll have to figure something out. He may be "stuck" with us!

Well..off to work some more! Thanks for listening to my rambling!!

~~Heather

Rainy Monday

I thought this picture was funny. At the bottom of the screen when our local news or the CBS morning news is on, they have temperatures for the larger towns & cities. I'm originally from Rapid City, and I still have friends and family in the area, so I watch for it yet. Today, it appears the entire town was missing.

My not-so-dear DH is off to work for a couple hours. On his day off. Because they're going to have a busy lunch. Since he did the schedule this week, one would presume he would have been smart enough to schedule for that. Mind you, he is on salary, so he gets no extra pay for this, and it taxes the already tight gasoline budget. But he doesn't think like that. When I finally told him my thoughts on how much gas he *should* be using based on the lowest gas mileage he's told me he's gotten (15 mpg in a 1994 Pontiac Grand Am with which I *had* been getting 28 before we met?) and the size gas tank, and asked why it seems like he uses so much more (he's running out of gas again between paydays, so he's borrowing money from work), his reply was it's because he's running a lot of errands for work. Excuse me?? You're using our gas money to run work errands?? Enough that it's taking up almost 50% of our gas budget?? I told him no way, he needs to get reimbursed for that because we can't afford it. No comment from him (this was Friday) and he's off to work on his day off. Lovely.

I know...developing a crush on TV personality is exactly what LuckyDuck2 said yesterday... Safe. What can I say, I'm a romantic at heart. But I do know nothing would have ever come of it. I am lucky in that there is no physical abuse, no verbal abuse. But there is what I would consider emotional abuse. Not to mention the gambling and the lying. There is no sex life, and no attraction either. He did help do dishes this weekend....after he got pissed off at me for trying to explain to him about DS's reaction. That, and when company is coming or I say "This is what we're going to do today" are the only times he helps out around the house.

I could go on and on, but I really should get some work done. It's all pretty much SSDD, and until I can make enough money to be self-supportive, I'm stuck. Wal-Mart is looking pretty good again...the horrors!!

~~Heather

A bit of a funk

Well...I'm in a bit of a funk. You know that feeling that you've lost something before you even got the chance to have it? I'm going through that right now.

I've been having problems with my DH for several months now, almost 1 year. I to this day am still not sure why I married him. I really think it was the thought of being married that I was marrying, not him, if that makes sense?? I also think if I had met him living alone instead of with his mother helping her keep her house, I probably would have known more then, and probably would not have continued dating him, let alone marrying him.

I have not yet given him the ultimatum. I still do not have job. I had an interview that I think went well, but is dependent on my credit. I had filed for bankruptcy in 2005, and then things have been added since then due to the whole situation with my DH. We'll see what happens. I have not heard back on any other applications/resumes, which is disheartening.

To add a little more to my poor, already deranged mental status...I developed a crush on one of the main investigators on one of my favorite shows. Nowhere could I find his marital status, so I foolishly let myself daydream about meeting him and blah blah blah. Well, I found out yesterday that he is, in fact, married. I don't know why it upset me so much, but it did. I think it falls under the "losing something before you even had a chance at it" category. It also pretty much reinforces that I should never have married my DH. He was not the right one.

On my myspace page, under people I want to meet, I put "my soulmate, that one person I cannot live without." It seems like a funny thing to say when one is married, but what is sad is that I could live without him. I would miss him. He's not a "bad" person, not an "evil" person. Just not a "compatible" one. This week has reinforced that in how he and my DS have been getting along, and how he has reacted when I try to explain to him why my DS reacted the way he did. There is very little respect flowing between those 2, and it's very sad.

So I'm in a bit of a funk. I've got this opportunity I feel I missed out on, even though I have never actually met the guy, and even though he's married, and seeing the places he's been able to go through that TV show just reminds me of how much I wanted to do in my life, and how little is going to actually get done. It doesn't help that I watched "The Bucket List" this weekend (VERY good movie!! but it really does make you think...) and then Bernie Mac died at age 50. I never knew him, but he was a very funny guy. He was also only 4 years younger than my mother when she passed away unexpectedly. Everything is kind of combining to make me wonder how short my life is ultimately going to be.

Two questions asked by the keepers of Heaven, per Egyptian legend, that you must answer correctly before you are allowed in:

1. Did you find joy in your life?
2. Did you bring joy to someone else's life?

I have found joy in most of my life. I have a wonderful son, great pets, good friends. But I also know I am missing out on so much...

As for number 2....no. Plain and simple, no.

~~Heather

Whoa....I missed something there. What happened to July????

I blinked. That has to be it. I blinked and July was *gone.*

Sadly, along with it has gone a lot of the respect I had for my DH, and I am now making plans to become self-sufficient again. Once I do, I will give him an ultimatum: You gamble one more time and we are through.

While we were in the Hills, he chose to gamble the last of his money. Thankfully, this time the bills got paid first, but still. That meant no groceries. And for me, no caffeine. Yes, I have a caffeine addiction. If that is the worst thing I am ever addicted to, I will count myself very lucky. (And really? I'm not sure if it's caffeine, or carbonated beverages. I'm okay with Diet Sprite, too.) But he made sure he had tobacco to roll his cigarettes. *sigh* AND he called me the morning we were coming home to tell me to get gecko food because he'd "had a bad night." Mind you, he was supposed to have gone fishing the night before. I'm pretty sure you don't catch walleye in a casino. So there went the last of my b-day money from my father, which I am specifically *not* supposed to spend on household/auto/pet supplies/items.

So, while I love my MT work, it's not enough to be self-sufficient yet. Tomorrow I have an interview at First Premier, in their collections department. With my current credit, I doubt I will get hired, but since the worst they can tell me is "no," we'll see what happens. I have a few other applications out there, as well.

In the interim, I'm training with another MT company, and so far I am enjoying it. I am hoping no news is good news from QA, too. I am also going to spend more time working my other contract. The pay is low, but some pay is better than "no" pay.

Today I had small goals:
Hit my 10 report max with ST.
Get 10 reports with OTM.
Do 30 minutes on the treadmill.
Shower.

I have 8 reports done for ST and 4 for OTM. I'm not sure I'll hit that goal, but I'm pretty close.

I didn't do 30 minutes on the treadmill. I did *60*!!! I did 30 at a "workout pace" for me...then 30 as a cool-down/stroll to see if I could make it through the entire Dr. Phil episode. Which happened to be on spouses abusing their overweight partners. And then yes, I showered afterwards!! Need proof?? Here ya go!!



So now it's off to work on those reports. I also hit my goal of 8 glasses of water again. (2 of which were drank while on the treadmill!!)

(Oh...and the caffeine thing? My DS was nice enough to let me use money from collecting cans, with the change I had left over, and a $1 off coupon AND Wal-Mart dropped the price from $4.02 to $2.98...I was able to get a 12-pack to share for the rest of the week. He gets to share the 12-pack *and* he gets the rewards points (vanilla coke zero). So then my DH comes home with a 2L bottle of Diet Dr. Pepper because he "had to borrow $25 from work anyway." I know...it was a nice thought...I'm just scared to ask if he borrowed it from the till (aka stole?) or from a coworker??)

~~Heather

Hello from the Black Hills!!

My son and I are spending the week at my Dad's house. The main goal is to sort through...oh, 30+ years of clutter! My son and I worked on it a little bit yesterday morning. We're sorting toys to be given away, kept for my nephews to play with when visiting Grandpa, and kept as sentiment. Dad had made me a Barbie doll house....23 years ago? Maybe even longer. I'm going to be taking that home with me, and probably all of my Barbie stuff. I have a niece who visits often, and she will enjoy it. Although, it has a lot of sentimental value, so it may become a "showpiece" instead. We'll see.

I'm also going to be taking home stuff Mom saved from as far back as elementary school. I have no doubt I will even find stuff from before then. My brother doesn't want his, but Dad & I feel that it might be "safer" to box it up and store it just in case he changes his mind or his wife or sons have a curiosity.

Today I will get to spend the day with my sister-in-law and my 2 nephews (2-1/2 years and 9 months). I am so looking forward to it! Partially because I get to use my Hobby Lobby gift card I got for my b-day, but mostly because I get to spend time with my family. I am desperately lonely where we live. My son spent last night with one of his best friends, and I'll get him back this afternoon. Then we'll spend the evening with another friend. Tomorrow we'll spend the day working upstairs. Thursday I'll hang out with my sister-in-law at her house (and if it's nice enough, we'll go to the beach at Sheridan Lake again!!).

We'll be going home Monday morning. I won't have a weigh in until Tuesday morning. I've also decided to move my treadmill downstairs so I can watch Night Court in the mornings!! lol

Well, it's time to get going to meet my sister-in-law. Thanks for reading!!

~~Heather

New 'Babies!'

Ziggy

Izzy

Fuzzy checking Iggy out.

We got 2 leopard geckos today!!

They were on Freecycle, a lady can't take care of all her critters anymore. They are actually really sweet and *very* soft. The female is "Izzy" and the male is "Ziggy." I had them named that before I even saw them, and nothing else seemed to fit. :-) The poor cats aren't sure which is more of a curiosity...the geckos or the crickets!! (edited as my DH suggested "Izzy" instead of "Iggy" for the female, so we renamed her. Again. lol)

Things are going well. I start doing phone calls Monday. I could log in between now and then, but I think I won't. I'm just not altogether that anxious to be on the phones, ya know? I am off full QA for my medical transcription contract. That means that they no longer read all my reports before going to the hospital/doctor/clinic, but will instead randomly check them. That makes me *very* happy! I also potentially have another contract coming in...I'm still waiting to hear back.

I'm looking forward to spending a week in the Black Hills, the 21-27th. My DH will be unable to come with, but that's OK. He can take care of the new critters!

I'm slowly still losing weight. I do miss the vet clinic job in that respect. But such is life. I did notice, on my ticker from ticker factory, that my BMI is down a full 2 percentage points. I thought that was pretty amazing!!

Not much else...trying to at least make ends meet...and maybe be winter be slightly coming out ahead? We'll see what the future brings.

~~Heather

Happy July 2

I was watching a repeat of David Letterman the other night. His guest was Julia Roberts. What a fun segment!! She actually had him speechless a few times. And she looks incredible, of course. I would love to be able to sit down and have lunch with her someday. Wouldn't that be a treat?!

I'm slacking this week on movement. I'm struggling to hit 1,000 steps a day...youch!! We kind of spent a week of no schedules while my DH was on vacation. I need to get back into a routine, that's for sure. Even when the alarm is set, DH turns it off if he wakes up before it. Hello? I need it too!! Oy. It doesn't help that we've been staying up until 11 or so at night, either. Need to work on that and drinking more water and moving. I bet I sound like a broken record!! LOL

My DS will be leaving for 5 days tomorrow, to go visiting relatives. Lucky him. :-) I was supposed to go, but will be doing my training.

I read an article at the Newsweek website about the BLM (Bureau of Land Management) wanting to euthanize wild horses!! They are "overcrowded" in the corrals. Well, put 'em back in the wild, dodoheads!! *sigh* But lobbyists for the beef industry have convinced WA that the horses (27,000 left) are doing more damage to wild lands than 4+ million cattle. Hmm...let's think about this.

Some ranchers are turning to raising buffalo over cattle. Why? Well...for one, cattle will bury a watering hole/spring. Put a herd of buffalo in the same pasture, they will find it back and open it back up. Put a herd of cattle in a blizzard, they will turn tail to it and start to walk...right off cliffs, into creeks, etc. Buffalo? They do something we all should do with our problems: They face the blizzard head on and survive.

I like beef as much as the next person. However, I don't think 27,000 mustangs are harming the federal lands (you know...the lands we *all* pay taxes on) more than 4+ million cattle.

I could go on and on, but I won't. It's frustrating to me. I've never been into politics, but some things just irritate me.

At least it's a nice day today. Yesterday got a little warm for my taste...almost had to turn the AC on!! :-)

~~Heather

End of June Already??

I can't believe this is the last day of June. The year is half-over. Where has it gone???

At least I'm moving down on the scale consistently. That is nice to see again. I am eating less, and not feeling hungry, so that's an improvement. I am going to try to drink more water & less soda. I'm also going to move more. Really, I am. :-) I've already sorta started. I need to increase my steps on my pedometer, so when I'm walking around the house, I double-step everything. My family looks at me like I'm crazy, but they should have already figured that out by now, right? :-)

I got to do the self-paced training for my project for my employer. It was tough. The desktop didn't want to let the program run properly, so I ended up doing it on the laptop. At least I was able to get it done.

Yesterday was a rough day. I wanted to make oat banana breakfast cookies (for ease of grabbing as I walk out the door to walk is the theory) and I mixed up the wet ingredients, then started to combine the dry. Only to discover I was out of dry milk (which my son and I were certain we had) and baking soda. Who doesn't have baking soda in their house?!? (Turns out, my friend Bryan, doesn't. But he's a bachelor. That doesn't count.) My DH was able to get some on the way home from work, so they got made in the end...at midnight! lol

I was also making a photo album for my 2 year old nephew, and the printer kept jamming on the non-brand paper. I finally got it to work, but that 30 minute project took last night and today to finish. But they're both done, and that's what counts.

(Oh yes, the cookies are wonderful! AND they have 4 g of fiber AND I wasn't hungry - as in no stomach growling - for 3-1/2 hours!)

Tomorrow will be a "town trip." I'm going to go in, donate blood, pick up my final check from the vet clinic, and my son will take the aluminum cans to be recycled.

Then home again to work. :-)

~~Heather

End of June already?

Time just seems to fly by, doesn't it?

I couldn't stay on as a kennel assistant. Because of my weight, and the nature of the job, I developed prepatellar bursitis...aka "housewife's knee." If I wanted to continue working, it would have eventually meant steroid injections. Not fun. That, and every other weekend I would have had to drive 20 miles, worked 2 hours, come home, drive back and work for an hour and a half to 2 hours, or stay in town for 6 hours between. That's a lot of gas spent, or time wasted. Between the two, I made the difficult decision to leave. I was bummed, as I was losing about 2 pounds a week with that job!! lol And I truly did love it, and loved the people I worked with.

But I am still working for the medical transcription service out of Phoenix, and I love it. I am seeing that I still have a lot to learn, and I need to proofread a little better. :-) I love the flexibility of it. I did test with 2 other companies today, but if they don't come through, I'm OK with that.

The telephone surveys job has me doing the last of my training this week. It's been a long wait, but I am anxious to get started. This one will be my bread and butter while I continue to improve my transcription skills. It is also weekly pay which will really be nice!! :-)

We'll be staying here for quite awhile. Things are just too iffy right now to try selling this house and getting another one. We're OK here, and so we will just run with it. I was a little upset that our "balanced budget" electric bill went up $70 a month. They dropped it from $189 to $154 in January (we went to balanced budget in October of last year) and now it is up to $219. I know it's in part due to the late-starting long-lasting cold weather, but it is still frustrating. Had they never dropped it before, we wouldn't have the large "debit" on our account. Oh well. What do you do? :-)

Hope all is well with everyone!!

~~Heather

Great start to June!!

Yay!! I haven't been posting at any of my forums much...I am so sorry. With starting a new job (the call center I work for moved 60 miles away...not happening!!) and trying to land a medical transcription position/contract and trying to make ends meet....well, I've been busy. :-)

So right now, I work at a veterinary hospital as a kennel assistant. This is part time, 20 hours guaranteed with occasional weekend work. And the best part? Since I started on May 12, I have lost almost 4 pounds. Yay!! It is cleaning indoor and outdoor kennels, plus smaller cages, assisting the vets, and the nefarious "other duties as assigned." lol

My first MT contract is with a company in Phoenix. It is part time, although if I want more work and it's there, I am welcome to it. That is always good! I do have feelers out for other companies too, so we'll see what happens.

And I also will be contracting for a company doing outbound telephone surveys. Both this one and the MT are at-home positions. The nice thing about this one is it is hourly pay with a differential on weekends.

My goal is to start getting ahead to the point I can clear up my credit again, save up, and move. I like my house here, but I just can't afford the high utilities and the cost of driving to town every day. We'll see how it goes. :-)

~~Heather

If at first you don't succeed.....

Well, I regained 4 pounds, but was back down 3 earlier this week. We'll see what tomorrow's weigh-in brings. This week I am going to start following Leslie Sansone's 6-week program. I will start with a WATP dvd or hit the treadmill every morning, and then in a notebook I will follow her journal outline and reading her tips, etc. (Call me silly, but I don't want to write in the book itself! lol) I am eating enough, although not as many veggies as I should be. The calorie counts each day are good, unless I'm missing things. So, in the calendar I keep in my purse, I will just start jotting down every little thing I eat.

I have started applying for MT jobs. I've even gotten 2 rejections! :-) Not a big deal, and it was because they weren't hiring "newbies" at the moment. I did bite the bullet and applied for the 2 that I really want to work for. I'm also debating on whether I can "handle" being a statutory employee, as far as taxes go. I'll have to do some more research on that. If I think I can do it, then I will apply for another company that really looks promising.

I had a productive weekend. I did some decluttering in my office and my room. I even got my rocking chair in my room like I've been wanting to do! Now I can sit in the chair and journal at night, or read, or whatever. That is a nice feeling.

I think by the time spring comes around (it was snowing again today, but nothing stuck) I will have a van-full of boxes of stuff to get rid of! haha And I'm not done yet. That's pretty scary. :-)

~~Heather

Seedlings :-)

OK, only because you may ask where I got these, I will include links for my employer's sites. I got these through the Antique Home & Hardware catalog, my employer is VanDyke's Supply (Vandyke's Restorers, Antique Home and Hardware, VanDyke's Taxidermy).




Today I started a mint Eggling pictured to the left, and a mini Tomato plant, the two pictures on the right.

Hopefully they will do well.

I'm putting out feelers for jobs, and I've already had 2 "rejections." :-) I'm preparing for the RMT exam as well. So I'm still keeping busy. I'm anxiously awaiting warmer weather so I can start some yardwork and garden work. Not to mention take my dog on long walks so she can run!! :-)

With the rising cost of gas, I will be grateful for being able to work from home. Wish me luck!!!

~~Heather

I have no accent. :-)

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Midland "You have a Midland accent" is just another way of saying "you don't have an accent." You probably are from the Midland (Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, southern Indiana, southern Illinois, and Missouri) but then for all we know you could be from Florida or Charleston or one of those big southern cities like Atlanta or Dallas. You have a good voice for TV and radio.
The West
North Central
The South
The Inland North
Boston
Philadelphia
The Northeast
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

I'm down 2.4 pounds since Feb. 25th, yay!! I've just been watching what I eat, smaller portions of everything. I know I need to add exercise in, and that is my goal this week. But 2.4 pounds, yay!!

Also, I took my finals for my Medical Transcription course through Everett Community College and now I am done!! I can officially start job-hunting and by summer I WILL be working from home!! No more 1/2-hour commutes each way, no more office politics, and no more dumb people on the phones!! lol But best of all...my "office staff" will be thrilled that I am working from home!! (That's my Fuzzy-kitty in the picture, sleeping on my desk while I study!)

~~Heather