Penny Pinching Mom

A Surprise

I had a pleasant surprise. I was figuring up how much I would be getting paid for my writing this month, and it’s going to be about $200 more than I had anticipated. That’s good news.

That’s not counting the stuff I’ve already gotten paid for this month. That money is already gone, but I need to go back and add it up as well to see how I’m doing by the month. What I should be getting next week is about what I was expecting total, so I’m doing a little better than I thought I would.

I’m still broke for the moment, but it looks like I should be able to pay the bills. Now if Hubby can just get back on track so he can bring in some money and I can have enough peace to get some work done, we can get somewhere.

Christmas

It’s hard to believe that Christmas is not all that far away. Actually it’s almost four months from now, but the time to start shopping is in about three. I’ve got enough on my mind now, and I don’t need to be worrying about that, but I can’t help it.

Hopefully things will be better for us by then and I can buy everyone the gifts I want to get them, not just what I can afford. I’m not one to go out and buy someone a car or anything, but I like to put some thought into my gifts and get something that will either be useful or sentimental to the recipient.

One of the Christmas gift ideas that’s at the top of my list is a picture for my mom. She’s hinted around on numerous occasions that she would like to have a professional picture of all three of her kids together. It doesn’t seem like we’re ever going to all get together to make that happen, but I’ve thought about finding a regular picture of the three of us and having a canvas made of it by Canvas on Demand. They did an awesome job on a picture of Pumpkin that I had them do, and I think they could make a great gift for my mom. I don’t know if I’ll get to do that or not, but I’m going to try.

Next Week

We are pretty much broke right now. I’m counting on some money I transferred to get into my bank account by the time I have to have my dental work next week- if it doesn’t I’m not going to have enough. Not unless I can pull together the yard sale I’m thinking about having tomorrow and get some money from it.

Sometime next week I should get paid for most of my writing for this month. That will help. I’m not going to be able to run out and buy a whole new set of Century furniture or anything, but at least maybe I’ll be able to pay some of the bills.

Dumb Criminals

Internet video sites have a little bit of everything on them. Whether you want to watch clips from your favorite reality TV show or funny home videos, you can find plenty to choose from on sites such as YouTube.

Dumb criminals are one of my personal favorites. There’s just something about seeing someone thinking they’re going to put one over on society, only to fall flat on their face, so to speak. I’ve put together a Tribute to the Criminally Idiotic over on Web TV Hub. If you like dumb criminals, do check it out. And if you find the videos as hilarious as I did, please Digg it!

Still Lovin’ It

Even with all of the stress I’ve been experiencing lately, I am still stoked to be working at home. I may not be a big famous entrepreneur with modern office furniture and a six figure income, but I’m happy that I can set my own schedule and work without leaving my home office.

It will be even better when we get all of our financial worries behind us. Then I can work on getting some passive income going in addition to my writing work. Then maybe I can get a nice house with a bigger home office to put some modern office furniture in.

Weight Loss Trials

I was hoping that once I quit my restaurant job, I would magically lose about 50 pounds. But so far that has yet to happen.

Once we get back on our feet financially, I’m going to start concentrating on losing some of those extra pounds. I’ve considered trying one of the free trial deals on the hoodia patch. I don’t know how long it takes to start losing weight with it, but at least I could see if I was going to have any side effects from it before I buy.

I also plan to start walking, but I don’t know where yet. It’s hilly around my house, which would normally be a good thing. But my knee hurts pretty badly when I walk uphill, so I need to find somewhere a little flatter to walk.

Inquiring Minds

Hubby has been telling everyone about me working at home. And a lot of people have asked him how I got into it, and if they can as well.

I’m always glad to help people get started working from home. But it was a long and difficult road for me, and I don’t think some of them realize that. I can tell them some things I’ve learned along the way, and even point them to a variety of things they can do from home. But they have to put forth the effort or it is all for naught.

Hubby’s cousin called tonight, and he was telling her what I do. She wants me to come over this week and show her how to get started. I told her I would be happy to. But I have a feeling that she wants me to get her hooked up with something that requires nothing from her. And if I knew how to do that, I would have been staying home for a long time now.

A Treat

Hubby, Pumpkin, and I have all been dying to see Mr. Bean’s Holiday. And I’ve come to the conclusion that if we have to scrape the money out from under the couch cushions, we are all going to go see it. It’s not often that a film comes out that we are all interested in, and we need a nice, fun family night out pretty badly right now.

Hubby and I have been stressed out lately, and Pumpkin hasn’t gotten to do anything special in a while now. I don’t think a silly movie is too much to ask. I mean, it’s not like I’m asking for an Orlando vacation rental or anything.

Cleaning Out

As soon as I get caught up on my work, I desperately need to work on cleaning house. It hasn’t had a good through cleaning in ages, or even a lick and a promise for that matter. I’m dreading it terribly, but in a way I’m also looking forward to it.

When I give my house a good cleaning, I invariably find things I had forgotten I even had. It’s kind of like Christmas. One time I was cleaning and found the biggest bunch of box cutters I’ve ever seen. If anyone else had seen all of those, they might have thought that I was trying to start a war with them as my weapons.

The best thing is when I find money. I’ve never found a huge amount, but I was going through some old clothes one time and found a $20 bill in the pocket. It was at a time when I could really use some extra money, and I was thrilled. Hmm, maybe I should go ahead and start cleaning now…

Sore Throat

I apparently caught Pumpkin’s cold yesterday. I started feeling a little funny last night, and once I finished working for the evening I curled up in my animal print bedding and slept like a rock.

I had set the clock to go off early this morning. When the alarm went off, I awoke to the feeling that my throat had been raked over coals. I hate that feeling.

I’ve been pretty draggy all day, but I’ve had to press on as best I could. I had to take care of some things for Hubby and get some work done. I didn’t get anywhere near what I wanted to do completed. But what else is new?

I’m debating on whether to go on to bed and get an early start tomorrow or work late and sleep in. I’ll have to do one or the other.