Linking up for Blogmas 2014…25 Days of Christmas. Because I LOVE Christmastime…not even a flurry, yet!! 😐
Looking forward to reading about this from my Blogmas Buddies, since I don’t do the stocking thing…maybe I will next year if I find some good ideas. 🙂
I haven’t written anything in awhile, and truly miss writing. I was working on a post about holiday traditions. But in light of the tragic events in Connecticut, my heart is heavy.
In October, I lost my father suddenly and that grief is hard to bare on some days. There are no words that can possibly convey comfort to a parent who has lost a child to such senseless violence. There are no words to comfort a child who has witnessed such horror. All I can do is offer my prayers to every family affected, and pray for this hurting nation of ours.
Well I did it today!! I hit 1,000 views on this blog. Thanks to all of you who view this blog, it’s a small milestone, but exciting none-the-less. When I started this blog, I didn’t know how much fun it would be to write about different things, and view my stats to see how many people are reading my posts. Thanks again!!
I am still planning on starting a series of articles, but the homeschooling does take up a lot of my time. Now that the days are getting shorter, and it is getting darker earlier, maybe I will find the time in the evenings to begin these articles. Oh yeah, we get that extra hour in a couple of weeks, maybe I’ll use that to my advantage. I look forward to that extra hour every year, beginning in the spring, when we lose it. 😉
Have you ever heard the stories about people saving change and then use it to buy something big like a boat? I recently heard about a guy from Indiana who bought a 2008 Dodge Ram with change he saved for thirteen years, worth $26,670. These stories always inspire me, I guess because I once saved pennies when I was little to buy my beloved Timey Tell doll. For some reason the amount of $11.00 sticks in my head. I don’t know if that was the actual price, or if that’s what I paid towards it. Like I said, I was saving pennies, which I probably earned by doing little things around the house. I was probably about 4 or 5 when I bought Timey Tell. She was great. I was pretty much a tomboy when I was little, not much into baby dolls. But Timey Tell was different. She had this cool watch to set the time, then I pulled the string on her back, and she told me what time it was and what I was supposed to do. “It’s 8:00, it’s time for bed.” Come to think of it she was real bossy, always telling me what to do and reminding me of what time it was. Maybe that’s why I struggle with schedules and time restraints now. I have that little voice in my head saying, “It’s 9:00, it’s time to….it’s 10:00, it’s time to…come on, move, move, MOVE!!” Oh…sorry. Anniehow.
I did see first hand how saving a little over time can add up. But when I think about saving change now, it’s nearly impossible since I don’t use cash anymore. I like the convenience of my debit card. But then, I saw the commercial for the credit card that rounds your purchase up and deposits change into a savings account. Where do I get one of those?!?!? What a great idea!! But…I don’t use credit cards. So I came up with a plan. I could do this using my debit card!!
OK, before I explain this to you, I need to let you know something else about myself. About 10 years ago, I took some college classes and two of them were accounting. I’m really not a math/numbers kinda person, but I really caught on to this and I just love the concept of bookkeeping. Everything balances at the end and if it doesn’t you have to go back and search for that penny, dime or thousands of dollars that’s throwing you off. Anniehow…my little “virtual change” plan kind of brings out that geeky side of me. If you don’t like to balance your checkbook, you might want to stop here. Go check out my blog about how you can get free jewelry. 😉
So here’s what I do. I use my debit card for everything. I also then track all my purchases on Microsoft Money. When I enter in each purchase, I round it up to the next dollar. I code the actual purchase for what it is, and then code the “change” in a category I call rounded savings. It’s really good for when I pump gas. I could never stop the pump right on the dollar, so now every time I pump gas, I’m saving money. So at the end of the month I run a report of my “rounded savings” category and see how much I need to transfer into my savings account. The way I actually do this is at the end of the month I credit the rounded savings category and then debit it. This is then transferred to my savings account and the rounded savings category is back to $0 for the next month, and now I can actually balance the account. (OK, you’re now thinking you should of checked out that free jewelry) I know, it seems confusing, but I have saved about $25 dollars or more each month doing this, and I don’t miss it. This was very exciting to me, because it was a way to put money into savings very easily. Plus I looked forward to the end of the month, just to see how much I actually saved. Every little bit helps. I don’t have specific plans for my virtual change, it’s just nice to have a way to save easily.
photo courtesy of morguefile.com – author: cohdra
I had to do get my B12 shot today. Usually older people have to get B12 shots, but a couple of years ago, my doctor found out that I was B12 deficient. This is how it happened.
I usually didn’t see a regular doctor routinely, I saw my gynecologist yearly, but that was it. Once my dad had his by-pass surgery and was diagnosed with heart disease, my siblings and I knew we needed to be tested for high cholesterol, and the things associated with heart disease by the time we were 35. At that time my brothers and sister were that age, I had a couple of years yet. They all got tested, and had high cholesterol. I put mine off until I was 38, praying I inherited my mother’s genes. So I went in and my doctor did all kinds of blood work. In addition to my high cholesterol (242 ugh!!) She also found that I was B12 deficient. When I went in for my check-up, I did mention to her how tired I was all the time. Usually when I told people that or my gynecologist, the response would be, “You have 4 kids, you should be tired!” I would then think, yeah, they’re right. But deep down I knew this wasn’t a normal tired. I could get 9-10 hours of sleep in a night and still take a nap in the afternoon. Plus day to day tasks seemed overwhelming to me, it was like my mind was bombarded with all the things I needed to do, and then I had a hard time getting things prioritized. So I was very grateful that my doctor was able to figure this out. She suggested the B12 shots. So to start, I had to get 3 shots within 1 week and then I would get them monthly after that. So I systematically set them up for the week before my little guys 1st birthday. We were having a huge cookout since he was born on the 4th of July, inviting a bunch of people. My husband was working as a truck driver then, so he was on the road for the better part of that week. So I knew I had a lot to do, not to mention it would also be “my time of the month.” When I got the first shot, I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t remember feeling this good. By the third shot, I was unstoppable. The energy, the clarity of mind and thought, and the restful sleep I had once I got the shots was unbelievable!! My husband even noticed the difference right away. When I told him how good I was feeling, it brought me to tears. Because all those years I was having problems, I just thought it was me. It was never said to me directly, but I always felt like it was implied by different ones that I was lazy or lacked motivation. After awhile, I just started to believe I was, because there was nothing I could do to change it. Looking back, I feel this contributed to the bouts of depression I dealt with. At that time I didn’t think I was depressed, just thought I was stressed over different circumstances I was dealing with. So after talking with my husband and just being relieved that there was something physically wrong with me, he actually apologized for not getting me to a doctor sooner. We as women and moms take care of everyone and we are always the last to go to the doctor. We need to be in the best health we can be, because it affects everyone around us. Also, with our spouses, we need to urge them to see a doctor, if something doesn’t seem right. We know when something just isn’t right!! Don’t be afraid to ask questions and talk to your doctor. Keep going until you find one you like and who’ll listen. In that first check-up of mine, I talked with her about different things, and almost didn’t ask her this one last thing, I was too embarrassed, or thought I was being too vain. Even though it had been a year since I had last given birth, I just felt like my stomach seemed too big. When I wasn’t really holding it in, I felt like I looked like I was 5 months pregnant. So that’s what I told her. So she had me lay down and she had me lift up like I was doing a crunch, while she felt down the middle of my stomach. She knew right away what it was, Diastases Recti. That’s the separation between the left and right side of the rectis abdominus muscle which covers the front surface of the belly area. Multiple births and repeated pregnancies increase the risk in pregnant women. So she gave me some exercises to do, and that cleared up as well.
Every month I go in for my B12 shots. I can tell when I need one, my sleep isn’t as sound, and it takes me longer to wake up. When I just get the shot, I can sleep or take a nap, but once I wake up, I’m awake. It’s strange how something that gives you energy and alertness can also give you sound sleep. I plan to continue to get these shots, I have tried talking B12 in pill form, it just didn’t work as well as the shots. So I encourage you as a woman and a mom, if you just don’t feel good or are tired all the time, if you can, see your doctor, and ask questions, am so glad that I did!!
Carrie Ann Alexis 