Trip to Minnesota... Day One

Facebook is a wonderful thing..

We keep up with family members... we find old friends... we make new friends...

And I have done all of the above, plus some I'm sure, since joining Facebook.. But thanks to this blog, and a Facebook group called the Fat2FitPack, I have made several friends that have been super supportive during my unsuccessful weight loss attempts (and through this last successful one).. Weirdly enough, most of them (not all though) are in Minnesota..

So, back in December, I decided to go up and visit them.. and it just so happened that NKOTB, Boys II Men and 98 Degrees were coming to Minneapolis the same weekend as the Color Run was going on.. Well, that made my time frame pretty definite.. lol.. In the beginning, I was supposed to come up here from July 13th to the 23rd.. 10 days.. BUT thanks to my new job (which I will talk about once I get back home on Tuesday), I didn't want to ask off for that long having just started.. So I'm here from today til the 23rd.. Woohoo!!

Thanks to the Package Tour being rescheduled, I am still able to go to the concert.. I just missed the Color Run, which I can do next year.. no biggie..  But the fun part about this trip is that while I've talked to Sami on the phone a couple times, and seen her pics, I've never physically seen Sami.. or any of my other MN friends.. So today (technically yesterday around 1:30am) I started out for the 11 hour drive (yes, I drove) from Southern Indiana to Minneapolis, MN..

I love driving at night.. It's so peaceful.. and there is noone around to see me singing at the top of my lungs to 80's and 90's pop hits.. lmao.. This is my first long distance trip after my surgery, and I've begun to notice that if I eat while I drive, I get a little nauseous.. I didn't think anything of it as I packed up my goodies (yes, junk food.. but I had lots of fluids too) and figured I'd eat some of them.. haha, nope.. not a chance.. Ate some gummy bears and a couple Twizzlers.. and then thanks to some crappy roads, started to get nauseous..

So I spent most of my drive drinking water, Vitamin Water Zero, and Powerades to keep myself from getting sick..  No more eating during trips.. It just isn't worth the trouble..  I will find some other way to keep myself awake (when necessary)..  Love that Minnesota is an hour behind Indiana.. So I made it by 11am.. Met Sami's husband first and then Sami.. and went out for coffee/tea with Kris, one of my other FB friends from MN..

All in all, it has been a fabulous day.. And I have four more to go.. :)

Good night!

Hello World..

Hi peoples!  I'm sorry I've been MIA for almost a month.. Life has been so crazy that I just haven't had time to come on here and fill you all in..  But it's settling into a "normal" pattern so here I am! :)

So here's a recap of the last month..

** I MOVED **

I can't remember how much I've told you all about my living situation, but my parents decided back in April 2012 that they were gonna let our (piece of crap) house go back to the bank..  They moved into my brother and SIL's house in August (bc they moved to Washington DC) and I was gonna stay in the house until they foreclosed on it (which is happening on April 2nd).. 

While I looked at buying a house in the beginning, I found that my second income didn't count towards anything for another 6 months (until I was there for 2 years), so i basically was out of options that way.. BUT thankfully the man I met about a house had a duplex for rent.. It's so funny how God works..  So, two weeks ago, I started moving my things into my new home!!  It's so awesome!!  It's got one bedroom, one bath and half a (huge!!) basement..  

I forgot how stressful it is to move (seeing as I haven't moved in 5+ years).. And while I'm still not 100% moved or unpacked, I'm almost done.. :) It's so fun to decorate a whole house.. and thankfully I'm only like 3 blocks away from my old house!!

** I'M IN LOVE **

This one I'm so excited to brag about!!  I haven't been in a relationship in so long that I was kinda cynical in the beginning.. The Boy has been in my life (he's my BFF's younger cousin) for over 14 years.. The day before Valentine's Day, The Boy messaged me on FB like he randomly does but this time was different.. A little back story: I've liked him for a while.. BUT he was dating someone for a long time (and eventually married and divorced her), so he was off limits to me.. I basically put him in the "friend" zone.. 

Well, that day he told me he liked me and has for a long time (which made me feel a little bad for his ex).. Of course, we haven't seen each other in almost 2 years, and he's had a rough life.. BUT we went out and it's been wonderful ever since!  We've been dating 5 weeks and it's just been so awesome.. We have so much in common.. We are so similar and it's just so easy with him..  And while it's only been 5 weeks, we have spent so much time together during those 5 weeks, it seems like longer.. Plus, I've known him so long..  I honestly can say I love The Boy..

I will probably get a lot of crap for saying that, and the next few things, but I don't care..  I can see myself marrying this guy.. The more I learn about him, the more in love I fall.. We've talked about all of this recently, and honestly I see being engaged to him by the end of the year.. :)  I'm so happy with life right now..

** I'M IN THE 210's **

I made it to day 11 with Insanity.. I started noticing that I wasn't losing weight while I was doing these workouts..  and I was okay with that.. but when I started gaining weight, I was worried..  I was only halfway done with my weight loss, so any gain is worrisome to me..  So I took a couple days off and lost the 3 lbs I gained.. So I took a couple more days off, and lost some more weight..

My plan is to start is back up once I get around 170 lbs..  While I realize that I most likely was gaining muscle, I don't care at this point.. My goal RIGHT NOW is to lose as much weight as possible until I get to around 170ish..  I have been so busy with life the past month, I haven't had energy (or time) to workout.. BUT thankfully I'm still losing..  I'm hoping to be in ONEderland by the 7th of April (5 months post op).. I think that's doable, at least 13 pounds in 18 days.. Totally doable.. Especially since I just got my Rockin' Body workout DVD's from Beachbody.. It's by Shaun T (the guy from Insanity) so I hope it's killer..

I think that's everything.. lol.. Well, I'm off to eat something for dinner.. Hope everything is great with you all!  I'm hoping to catch up on other blogs over the weekend.. :)

Saving My Pennies..

I've been talking about saving money for a while.. I think we all want to save money, but don't always know how..  I'm one of those people that have no idea how..

While I'd like to blame my variable income, it's my own issues with money.. I was lucky to receive one of Dave Ramsey's wonderful books from a friend of mine last year.. And while I have yet to read it all, I do plan to.. lol.. BUT I've gone online and saw what the gist of it is..

** Have a $1,000 emergency fund
** Pay off big bills first

And yes, that's all I remember.. lol.. Well, seeing as I am not moving jobs (hopefully) any time soon, I need to learn how to save with what income I have.. Because I truly would love to save enough money in the next couple years (prolly more like 5) to put a down payment on a house..

While I will never be a great saver, like TeacHER Finance, I can try to save as much as possible and still pay off bills, right?!   Yeah, I originally thought so.. and had been on track with my original savings plan.. UNTIL my car decided to spring a $107 leak.. My car is my life.. seriously, I drive for both my jobs, and drive 3,000 miles/month..  So it had to be fixed.. Thankfully it was cheap, but it blew out the $64 I had saved..

BUT, thanfully my tax check will be in my bank on Monday!!  WOOHOO!!  So that will replenish the $64, plus a bit..

I make about $1500/ month (if I work like I should), plus I get a mileage check in the middle of the month that is about $400.. so my plan is to keep going with my weekly deposit, and adding an additional $10 a week to it.. PLUS putting 20% of any extra money I get (mileage check, tax check, etc).. so my $2600 tax check will net my savings over $500!!  I'm halfway towards my $1,000 emergency fund!!

The rest of my tax check is going towards moving (aka first month and deposit) and I do plan to spend some of it frivolously (because I'd be lying if I said all of it was going towards savings).. 

OH!  I also have gotten back into the habit of not using my change.. I'm trying to carry paper money now, because I'm less likely to spend a lot if I have to look at it coming out of my hand (unless it saves me money to use plastic, like with the Target Debit card).. So all my change is going into either my savings or to my change purse for laundry money..

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I'm sure most of you are interested in where my weight loss stuff went, and while I haven't really been feeling it (or 100% well these past few days), I do plan to blog tomorrow about all I've been up to.. :)

With Age Comes Wisdom..

Right?!

When I first thought of all the things I wanted to accomplish in my 29th year, I was more concerned with saving a little money.. and getting myself back into the rat race of dating..  BUT, as I sit here trying to figure out where I am going to move to, I can't help but want to change my goals to more financial ones..

I looked at my credit report today, yep all of them.. and was happy to see that my TransUnion score has went up since getting my car loan in October.. Yay me!!  Now, after looking at my Experian, and the SUPER helpful report that Equifax provides, I can't help but hope that my Experian report will eventually go to look like my TransUnion report.. Because I don't like that there is a 70 point difference between the two of them.. :(

So instead of going places (other than Minnesota, Las Vegas and Virginia), I will be putting all my money and efforts into paying off all my bills.. and saving money.. and increasing my credit score..  :)  If I don't start dating again this year, so be it.. I'll only be a year older when I put myself back in the game.. Plus, I'll be most stable and that should make me much happier..

I also plan to keep looking for a full time job, but can't help but think that my job history is helping me, so maybe I'll just keep bugging my overnight company to keep me working 4 nights a week?  For now, that's gonna have to work..

So right now, I plan to do as much money saving/raising as possible (I've already gotten enough points on ExpoTV to get a $15 Amazon gift card.. YAY!!) and pay off as much as possible, so that maybe next year, I can look into buying a home instead of renting.. :)

Insanity: Day One..

Today is gonna be a two post day.. Just so I can keep this Insanity post ALL ABOUT INSANITY!  lol..

I had a friend of mine burn me a copy of the Insanity DVD's and paperwork.. Yes, I realize this is illegal.. but I just don't have the money to pay full price for it.. Even if I wish I could get the t-shirt after finishing it.. :)

I finally got it yesterday, and thanks to working last night, I had to wait to do the Fit Test until this afternoon..  So after coming home this morning, and getting a little sleep, I finally got the guts to do the Fit Test.. lol.. and boy was I wanting to die afterwards.. but I'm glad I did it.. and hopefully will feel that way for a while..

It's only about 25 minutes long, including a warm up and cool down, and thanks for the music, it wasn't boring.. and while I think my form wasn't exactly 100%, I think I did pretty good..

This basically proves to me that I need to work on my upper body strength.. That is my weakness when it comes to my body..  So hopefully this will help me build that up.. :)

I can't wait to see the differences after 60 days (even though that seems so far away)..

Money Doesn't Grow On Trees?

Alright, we all know that money doesn't grow on trees.. even if we wished with all our might.. so when I found this website I'm about to tell you about, I was shocked at how easy it is.. Honestly, I'm a big fan of earning gift cards without having to BUY anything..

Yeah, there are those sites that pay you a certain percentage back.. and that's great, IF YOU HAVE MONEY TO SHOP.. BUT, for people like me who don't shop that often (for stuff outside of groceries and the like), this website works out well..

Expotv is a website where you upload a video of yourself giving a review of a product.. They have 100's of products to review.. The points for each review depends on the product, but the smallest amount I've seen on there is 300 points.. And it only takes 600 points to get a $5 Amazon gift card.. Or you can get a wide variety of things.. Like an iPod Nano shuffle!!  or workout DVD's!!  It's so amazing how much stuff is in their "store" for us to buy with our points..

Want to try it out?  Here's a link to the website, and you'll get 500 points for uploading your first video!  You really can't go wrong with this website.. I've uploaded 3 videos and I've already earned a $15 Amazon gift card.. My plan is to use this to get my Paula Deen pots/pans.. :)

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Another moneymaker that I love is actually a smartphone app.. I'm sure many of you have heard of Shopkick.. Well, I ABSOLUTELY LOVE this app.. You get "kicks" (their version of points) for walking into certain stores, and for scanning certain barcodes.. Again, no purchase necessary to get rewards..

If you haven't tried Shopkick, you really should.. Especially if you live by a mall or even just a Target or Best Buy.. They have some great gift cards that you can earn.. Since starting 2 years ago, I've earned $210 in Target gift cards.. Seriously, that's easily done..  It's a nice app to have.. Here's a link for it, if you are interested.. :)

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Hope these links help you earn some more money, because we all can use some extra help in this economy, right?!  :)

January Wrap Up..

Holy crap, where did January go?  Anyone know??

I can't imagine how others are feeling, but I'm sure I'm not the only one shocked that it's already February..  And with a new month, comes new goals.. But first, a wrap up of January..

** Cook at least once a week: This really didn't pan out thanks to my busy schedule..  I still plan to try to cook more in February, and also plan to cook tonight as a matter of fact..

** Work out at least 4 x's a week:  This also didn't pan out, and I kinda set myself up for failure with it.. I did work out 3 x's a week, most weeks.. So it wasn't off by much, but still, I missed my goal..

** Save up enough money to buy my Paula Deen pan set: I saved enough money, but my printer broke, so I made a deal with myself..  I bought a new printer, and I would get my pan set with my tax check.. and the rest of the money goes straight into savings..

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February Goals are pretty much like January, but with a couple extra things..

** Reach 60 lbs lost by February 7th: This keeps me on my 20 lb loss/month, and I'd like to keep it going.. I'm currently only 9 lbs away from that goal..  If I work out each day til then, I should be good.. :)

** Work on selling old stuff online:  I've currently got a Facebook page for my clothes, my mom's clothes and their stuff.. While I've been able to sell some of it, most of it is still here and it has slowed down a bunch.. So I've got to get back into it to make some money..

** No more than 8 hours of sleep each day:  This includes naps.. I've gotten into the habit of taking naps each day.. and that's not good.. not to mention how I stay sitting in bed most of the time I'm not working..

AND HERE'S THE BIGGIE:

** Start Insanity on February 4th:  This workout scares the crap out of me.. and I think that's just what I need..  Because I have a lot of muscle, it's getting harder for me to lose weight as opposed to when I first got the surgery.. Which is good, I guess, because I need to figure out other ways outside of eating to keep this weight off.. and I think Insanity will keep me from getting bored..

Well, even though I don't feel well, I'm off to go do my Just Dance workout.. Oh!  Be on the lookout (prolly Sunday) for a review on the Fullbar products I got before my surgery..  :)