Penny Pinching Mom

Stressed Out and Completely Useless

Life sucks right about now. I’m behind on my work again, I’ve got a ton of stuff I need to get done today, and there’s no way I’ll be able to complete it all. I’ve been trying really hard all week to write, and while I’ve gotten a little more accomplished each day than I had been doing, it hasn’t been enough.

I’m beyond stressed out. It’s getting to the point where it’s affecting me physically. I’ve got a terrible headache that Tylenol just isn’t putting a dent in right now, and for the past few days I’ve had frequent bouts of absolute exhaustion. I’ve fought it with everything I had, but it’s nearly impossible to get any work done when my mind and body are so freaking tired.

Once I get all caught up, I have got to take some time off. I’d like to be able to take off and get a room at Hotel New Orleans or something, but that’s not exactly an option. But I definitely need to just stay completely away from the computer for a couple of days. If I don’t, things are just going to keep going downhill. And if they get any worse, I’ll probably end up giving up on writing.

My Thunderbird

Have you ever heard that song by John Hyatt, “My Thunderbird”? It’s one of my favorites by him, partly because it’s a good song, and partly because it reminds me of my Thunderbird. I haven’t driven it in a couple of years, but I sure do miss it.

Well, I might be driving it again soon. Hubby’s cousin came up from down the mountain to stay with us and look for a job, and he found one today. He’s going to need a way to get back and forth to work, so we were planning to get a battery and tag for the T-bird and let him drive it until he gets a car of his own. But you’d better believe that I’ll be taking it for a spin from time to time when he’s not using it!

We had just gotten the kinks worked out of that car when I parked it. There for a while I couldn’t leave the driveway without the number for roadside assistance close at hand, because the battery kept dying on me. But we put a new alternator and belt on it, and it seemed to be doing much better. The battery died while it was sitting, but I would say that had a lot to do with the analog clock in it, as well as the simple fact of sitting there for months without being started.

We’re hoping to get my truck fixed soon, too. I’m not sure how soon, but hopefully it won’t be too long. I need something with 4-wheel drive to get me around in the winter.

Going Nuts Over Nut Money

Pumpkin is in Girl Scouts, and every fall they sell nuts and candy to raise money. She got her sales materials a couple of weeks ago, on a night when I had to help Hubby clean up some brush and couldn’t stay for the meeting. So I dropped her off and came back to get her.

This time around, they sold magazines too. I didn’t make any sales there, but I did fill up the little booklet for addresses to send distant family members a brochure so that she could get her bracelet and badge. And we sold several items from the nut and candy brochure.

For the past two years, we haven’t had to take up money until the order came back. So I didn’t do it this time, either. Then a few days ago, the troop leader called and said we needed to turn our orders in the following evening… along with the money. Apparently, she had announced that in my absence.

I told her that I hadn’t been collecting the money, and she said I could turn what I was able to in the next day and bring the rest by the end of the week. Well, the end of the week is almost here, and it’s not looking good. I’ve collected from one person, there’s a check in the mail from my mom, and it doesn’t look like the rest are going to be able to pay. So I’ll probably have to pay the rest out of pocket until they’re able to pay me back. Crap.

I’ve got the money to do it, but only barely. Too bad we don’t have a used RV for sale. A friend of ours has been looking for one, and if we happened to have one, I could strike a deal with him and not have to worry about it.

Good thing Hubby gets paid this week. If it weren’t for that, I’d be in full-blown panic mode.

Windows 7 Is Here!

The big day is finally here: the final version of Windows 7 is available for sale!

I don’t usually get excited about operating systems, but this is the exception. I suppose it has a little to do with getting a free copy two weeks before the public release, but that’s not the whole story. You see, I really, really like Windows 7 so far.

I’m not one of the Vista-haters crowd, either. I got it after it had been out for a while and had most of the bugs worked out, so I didn’t experience the frustration that early adopters did with it. In fact, I think I had more trouble out of XP than Vista. But Windows 7 has lots of great new features, and so far I have had no trouble with it whatsoever. And from all I’ve heard, for a new release from Microsoft, that’s saying a lot.

They didn’t reinvent the wheel here. Vista users will be able to get around the interface with no problem. But they added some really useful features. There aren’t a lot of bells and whistles, but the ones that are there are very nice. I particularly like the desktop background that you can set to automatically change after a specified amount of time. Now I won’t have to spend time changing my background because I’m bored with it. I’ll just add my new wallpapers to the rotation!

I had planned to do a full review of the OS today (or before today), but I’ve got a lot on my plate, so there’s a good chance that won’t happen. Maybe in a week or two. But in case you’re wondering, in my humble opinion, Windows 7 truly rocks!

Losing Weight Can Be Expensive

I’ve been looking into weight loss options lately. I’m not obsessed with my weight or anything, but I would like to lose some to reduce certain health risks. You know, diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure and so on.

The thing is, most of the weight loss products out there aren’t even remotely cheap. And there’s no guarantee that they will work. I just can’t afford to try a bunch of stuff that doesn’t work, you know? At least there are diet pill reviews online that you can read and see what’s worked for other people. I suppose that could be rather helpful.

And then there are those meal plans, like NutriSystem. My mom did that for a while, and she actually did lose weight. But I’m afraid I would have trouble sticking to something like that.

The whole healthy eating thing is rather difficult for me, because Hubby and Pumpkin are such picky eaters. I try not to feed them total junk, but most of the foods they will eat are not particularly conducive to weight loss. And it’s rather tiresome (and not very cost-effective) cooking different things for me and them. So what’s a girl to do?

So far, I haven’t really done much of anything. But that’s going to have to change. I really believe that I would feel better if I weighed less, and that I might even have more energy.

A Sigh of Relief

It’s been a long couple of weeks. That flu really knocked me for a loop. Actually it wasn’t as bad as it usually is when I get the flu, but it was bad enough to keep me from getting much of anything done until I was feeling better.

I wouldn’t have gotten so far behind if it hadn’t been for being all stressed out. You see, Hubby had the flu too, and he was out of work without pay. And he had been out of work without pay for a different illness a couple of weeks before that. All told, he missed about 6 or 7 days. And when you’re living paycheck to paycheck, that’s not something you can really afford.

Had I been able to get all of my work done on schedule, I would have made almost enough to completely make up for the work he missed. But I just totally cracked under pressure. I tried so hard to get my work done, but I had this huge mental block that wouldn’t let up. I ended up turning almost everything in late. It’s a good thing that the clients were so understanding about the whole ordeal.

I’m finally all caught up. Well, almost. There’s still one thing I need to finish up that was due several weeks ago, but the client needs to fix something in their system before I can get it done. I’m feeling pretty relieved right about now.

I took the day off yesterday in hopes of regrouping. It was nice to get out of the house for a while (even if it was mostly to run errands), and to spend some time with the family. It would be even nicer to take one of those all-out Orlando vacations, but I can’t go that far right now. Not only do I not have the money, but I need to get back to work so that I don’t fall behind again!

I just hope this month is much better than last. I’m not sure I could handle two months like that in a row.

Fixing the Floor

I’m ready for a change in the living room. Several changes, actually. For one thing, I want that cheap tile off of the ceiling and sheet rock put up. I’d also like to put up sheet rock for the walls to replace that horrible paneling, but I would settle for painting it or putting wallpaper over it. And last but not least, I would love to get the carpet off of the floor and put down hardwood, or at least laminate.

The floor thing is going to be rather tricky. Our living room floor is extremely uneven, so it looks rather odd even with carpet on it. Hardwood probably isn’t an option, unless we can get it straightened out really well. We’d also have to do some work before putting down laminate, but I think it would be doable.

A friend gave us enough laminate to do about a third of the living room. If we can get more of the same kind, that would save us quite a bit of money. I’d love to put it down and get a nice area rug to put in the center of the room, and maybe a runner to go back toward our bedroom.

I wish we could do all of that with our tax refund next year, but there’s no way we’ll get enough back. Maybe we can at least do part of it, though. A girl can hope.