A lot has been going on and my involvement in some "real world" programs is changing my schedule. I have a more difficult time than most people in adjusting to new schedules so please bear with me as I find my new routine! The daily check-ins may be on hold a bit, but I'll still be here with the meal plans. Speaking of, the spinach dip was really good - I'm actually making the pasta tonight, so we'll see how that goes!
Thank you for your patience! I'm excited to get started on the weekly product reviews as well as monthly Cooking with Jes blogs, so look for those to be starting soon!
Well, looks like I'm rejoining the daylighters! Kind of, anyway. I'll be sleeping from 4am to noon instead of 10am - 6pm. To effectively complete my household duties, as well as interact with the real world (and local new friends) I need to be awake during the daylight hours. Sunday's will be rough as I need to be awake around 8am, but that's alright!
I'm not going to a true day time schedule because I need time with Hubster out of the house to get chores done. This schedule gives me plenty of daytime as well as a good 5-6 hours to work on house stuff. Besides, I'm just SO much more of a night owl!
It kinda sucks not sleeping in bed with my husband, but it's alright. Besides, his snoring has gotten so bad I'm not sleeping anyway! Hahahaha!
Domo update
Domo is getting her stitches out tomorrow. Even better, she and Midna are getting along like nothing ever happened. It's been a stressful 2 weeks with them fighting and Domo being confined to the bedroom (that was so she wouldn't pull her stitches). All the animals are happy and healthy, and that makes me happy!
Blog and House Projects
I'm having difficulties in filming the product reviews. The camera is just requiring more light than I'm able to create with my current setup. I may end up doing some lower quality videos using the iPhone until I can invest in some good lighting for true HD videos. This really bothers me, but I think at this point it's more important to get some content up and running!
The house project is coming along slowly but surely! I ordered some hanging files and my label maker and I've been collecting all our important documents to put in our fire box safe. We have a small lockbox fire safe for objects like jewelry, keys, and photos and a larger safe for all our paper documents. After all those paper documents are collected and filed, I'll also be scanning them into my computer for cloud storage and on a thumb drive in the smaller lock box. If our house were ever on fire or something, we'd grab the smaller one as it will have digital copies of everything in case the other box doesn't survive the fire or other disaster. Is your family prepared for that kind of emergency? If not, I highly suggest you get that together. It's so easy to put off, but don't do it! That's why I made it at the top of my priority list for the house.
I've also cleared out our two three-drawer plastic things to make room for craft supplies, office supplies, computer electronics, bills/mailing supplies, writing utensils, etc. I definitely needed to get this part done so I can put things like my label maker away when I'm done with them. Otherwise, I'd just be replacing one mess with another!
The closet in the bathroom is also underway, but I decided I don't want to keep my towels in there. The shelves are very shallow and I'm not wanting to deal with them constantly falling. Instead, I'll be using some bins in conjunction with our Closetmaid Cubeicals just outside the bathroom door. Right now we have books in that space, but I just ordered two of the Closetmaid 6-shelf organizers that will go in the giant empty space behind the recliner in the living room. I'll move the books there, and I'll put the folded towels in the bins next to the bathroom door. I'm excited for this update, can't wait for the shelves to get here!
Now is a great time to finish up your indoor projects. Trust me, when all this snow melts you will not want to be inside filing paperwork!
My label maker came in today, and this fills me with so much happiness! The cats, however, are less than enthused. Of course, this means I didn't do any chores that didn't involve this wonderful gadget!
Today I: Made the labels for our fire safety box (it has hanging folders) and organized all the papers that had previously been stuffed in there. I haven't gathered all the papers I need yet, but it's getting there.
Made the labels for the entertainment unit, it's so pretty!
Spent way too much time doing my nails and whatnot, I'm working on product review videos right now.
Labeled the cats and Hubster. The cats actually had their labels on longer than the human!
Finished putting a bunch of stuff away in the kitchen/pantry. Took everything out of the other plastic drawers and cleaned the drawers. Sorted out all the stuff from those drawers. Cleaned up the bathroom. Ran the dishwasher. Did a load of laundry.
Put together a meal plan Put together shopping list for the weekly groceries and our monthly Sam's Club run. Research and decided how I'm going to organize my check freezer. Worked more on the decluttering/organization of paper documents. Dave and I managed to get all the shopping done before the worst of the winter storm hit. As we were driving home we saw 6 fresh accidents/cars in ditches. Absolutely insane up here. Also, THUNDERSNOW! It's totally real people, we know how to do weather in Michigan ;)
That's what I got, I'll post the actual meal plan now!
Fevers suck. But I did unload the dishwasher and start a new load going. And I cleaned my vacuum. Took off all removable parts (except the brush area) and really rinsed them out (the hose was SO gross). I did that before I went to bed. I did not work out because you shouldn't do that with a fever. The filter needs to sit out until it completely air dries, so no vacuuming tonight. Oh well, I'm so sad about that.
Other than that I'm just resting so I can beat this before Valentine's Day gets here! Hubster said his gift to me is seeing if he can get the weekend off and we'll stay in together. We could really use it, we always spend his weekends off with family/friends - we need some good solid us time :) And Red Lobster ALWAYS makes me happy :D
Soooo sick, so gross, blech. Sorry I didn't post yesterday, by the time we got home from church I just went to bed. The sicky-ness I had a few days ago came back full-force. I try to stay away from medications, but I gave in a few hours ago and took some generic day-quil. I did get SOME things done, just none house related.
Night before this night - I did laundry, woo! This night: I worked on a super secret project, yay! I also did the workout, even though I shouldn't have. I also did some major financial work and we've now consolidated our debt.
Debt Consolidation
All non-student loan debt will be gone in 10 months and we're saving over $1000 in interest (It's only a 6k debt) by consolidating. If you have a lot of "little" debts with high interest rates, you have a solid income, you have a great credit score, and you're wanting to put more than the minimum payment down - look into your options for consolidation. We went the peer-to-peer lending route and it's working out great. We're already fully funded, I just need to confirm the bank account and we're looking at a 12% APR compared to 21%. Bam! I like our lender because there's no pre-payment penalties and the "fee" was significantly less than other options such as balance transfers. Balance transfers wouldn't work for us because the cards we used are in my name, and the income is in my husbands (under new-ish lending laws, the individual NOT household income is used to determine credit eligibility, so I can't get a new CC). Balance transfers need to have the same named cardholder. Also, it wasn't a good option for us. Also, installment loans are a "higher quality" of credit and look better on credit scores than a CC.
Sorry for the totally crappy writing today, I'm just so sicky. BLARGH.
I completed our taxes. WOOHOO! We wanted to get ahead in the game so we can get our return faster and put it all on the house debt, yay. I miss the days when it meant shopping sprees for new seasonal clothing and house things. Adulthood sucks sometimes, guys.
I also did the dishes, which desperately needed doing.
I finalized the meal plan and drafted up the shopping list.
I'm heading to the bank after this and going grocery shopping.
I'm cooking up a bunch of chicken in the crock pot, some for tonight and some for freezing/later in the week.
I also held my cat, who unfortunately went into heat (her spay appointment is on the 12th). Poor thing is so uncomfortable. I held her like a baby in a computer chair rocking her back and forth until she fell asleep. Does this make a totally crazy cat lady? Wouldn't you want to comfort your pet? I'm questioning my sanity, but that's okay! Poor baby kitty.
Anyway, I need to get presentable for the real world now. Ciao!
Emptied all the trash cans for Hubster to take out. Read 1/3 of my book. Played with my kitties. Vacuumed everything. Picked up a bunny mess. Cuddled the bunnies. Went to edit my product review videos and realized I have to scrap all of them, ugh. So now I need to re-film those. Woohoo! Did my exercises. Guys, Triceps Dips are NOT okay.
How 'bout that Super Bowl, eh? I'm so mad the Seahawks let the Broncos score. I don't really care about either team, but a blow out in the Super Bowl would have been hilarious. Oh well.
We had nachos that were "okay." The cupcakes were Great! I did a load of dishes. I put away tons of laundry, but I'm not done yet. I took a nap, I've been super tired lately. I finished watching one of my fav mommy bloggers (now I'm all caught up!) And that's about it. Not super productive, but not horrible either ;)
Here's some pictures of my cupcakes! I need to do a post on how to make them.
Jes is a twenty-something wife and mother to four fur-babies and an angel in heaven. She's also pregnant with a rainbow baby! She likes to blog because it keeps her accountable and makes her feel like the English Ed. degree wasn't a total waste!