Rambly Thoughts

I'm feeling quite rambly again.

I'm thinking and praying, still, for a dear friend in transit on the other side of the world.  Wondering if she made her connections, or if there were problems, and waiting to hear.

I'm thinking about my brother, J., who works for a local social services agency, in a home for severely challenged teenagers.  Kids with emotional and developmental difficulties.  I need to text him later today and find out if he's okay.  He had to physically restrain a girl yesterday and came out a little the worse for the wear.  It took three grown men to restrain her, and J. was bit and she spat in his eye.  Last I heard he was headed for a clinic and a lab to get the wound cleaned out, and get some blood work done.  If I know J., within a week, he'll have found a way to make it a hilarious story.  He's uniquely talented for the job - where I would see only the rules, he sees and enforces the rules, but still finds a way to see the kids.  I think he's headed back to his usual summer landscaping job within a few weeks, but last I heard he was hoping to return to this agency in the fall, and work for them through the school year.  So, I'll wait a while, and then I'll text him and find out how he's doing.

I'm debating evening plans.  There's a conference going on at a local church that I want to attend, but I'm not feeling highly motivated to go alone tonight.  I have friends to attend with the next several days, but not tonight.  I might go anyway.  Or I might go shopping.  I need a good pair of walking shoes.  I've been putting it off, but I need to take care of that soon.  Or maybe I'll just go home and have one more evening of rest before diving into the busy rest of the week.

I'm still laughing over last's night's cooking adventures.  I mentioned in yesterday's daily 5 that since my grandma was out for the evening, I took advantage of the quiet and did a whole bunch of cooking, knowing that the remainder of the week would be crazily busy, and I wouldn't have a chance to cook, and just barely time to eat.  However, her knives are less than useful (a dull paring knife with a 2" blade, and a 30 year old serrated bread knife) and though I searched high and low, I couldn't find a frying pan to save my life.  I did however manage to cook butter chicken with couscous, and italian pork chops with sweet baby bell peppers and roasted potatoes.  And it all tasted great.  I only had a bite of the butter chicken last night, just to try it, and then had pork chops and potatoes for supper.  I'm quite looking forward to my lunch of butter chicken today.

I'm thinking about banking, because I need to do some at lunch.

And about payday, because I need to hand out paystubs to our staff today, and how that nice sum of money will "magicly" appear in my account in the morning.

I'm thinking about praying with oatmeal and tea and lots of funny little reminders to pray.

I'm wishing my former roommate, L., was only a phone call away, because I think she'd be fun to laugh with, over some of the many funny adventures I've had lately.  Cooking at grandmas, the attack of the stupid little dog, J. being bitten by one of his charges.  And because I'd love to hear about the places she's exploring overseas, and how her new job is going.  I guess I'll have to email her soon.

And I'm thinking about the friends I've made, scattered around the blog world, and praying for them too - the ones I've met in person, and the ones I've corresponded with via emails and blog comments.  And about how cool it is to connect in this way, in this sharing of hearts over the internet.

And with that, I'd better dive into my busy day!

Daily 5 - Day 140

Today's Daily 5:

1. A really productive day
2. Discovering that I have good credit and being granted the line of credit I was hoping for
3. A really helpful, polite guy at the bank
4. Take out Chinese food
5. time with family
   

A Very Good Meeting

I had a very good meeting at the bank this afternoon.

Actually, I've had a very productive day all around.  I went to the bottle depot and returned the empties I'd collected from work and home and emerged about $9 richer.  I did the recycling.  I grocery shopped.  I bought supplies for George, and filled George's gas tank.  I bought hair styling product to help straighten my hair.  I updated my budget - twice.  I paid a bunch of bills.  I made jello, and bought Chinese take-out for lunch.  I put some important letters in the mail.  I got my daytimer/calendar for 2010 in useable, working order.  And I had the meeting at the bank.

Turns out that in spite of a decent amount of debt - the credit card debt I mentioned this morning, and government student loans, I have very good credit.  So good, in fact that the line of credit I applied for was immediately approved.  Apparently, according to the guy I met with, that's very rare.  And I have a credit score that's one of the highest he's seen.  Sweet! 

I was so thankful for the guy I met with.  While I appreciated the lady I met with at the beginning of the month to open my new accounts at this bank, she was a little bit demeaning in her manor, and not very patient with my infinite number of questions in an attempt to make sure I understood exactly what was happening with MY finances.  (I personally think it's fairly reasonable that I would want to understand that!)  The guy today was totally not like that.  He answered all of my questions quite patiently, showed me what I needed to see, and went above and beyond as far as I was concerned.  He was personable, and amiable, and generally didn't make me feel at all like I was stupid or an inconvenience for having questions.

So, in a couple of days, once a payment I made this morning (pre-line of credit) goes through on my credit card, and I have an exact balance, I'll be credit debt free!  Or at least credit card balance free.  Since I'll still owe the money and everything.  But hey, the line of credit is less than half of the interest rate I was paying on my credit cards, so that should be absolutely fantastic in terms of helping with my goal to get rid of all of that debt as soon as possible.  And for that, I'm also so incredibly grateful.

It's been a good day - the kind I'm always thankful for.  And I'm especially grateful that I have had this week off of work to catch up on these myriad of other tasks that would have eaten whole portions of much needed evenings and weekends otherwise.  It's nice to be able to accomplish all of these little things, but to do them at a pace that doesn't leave me feeling frantic or exhausted at the end of the day.

Congested with a Chance of Snow

I suppose it was inevitable.  At work, everyone was sick.  At Christmas, at least three or four relatives had ugly head colds, including two immediate family members.  And now, I seem to have caught it as well.

Thankfully, at the moment, it seems to be restraining itself to the mild annoyance sort of head cold, and I'm praying that it will limit itself to this, and not feel the need to really go for broke and make me feel sick and miserable for my last several days off.  To that end I've beefed up my already extensive vitamin routine, and, like I said, I'm hoping and praying for the best.

In other news, it's snowing.  Because the feet of the white stuff we've already had this winter wasn't enough.  Should make doing errands for a large portion of this day good fun.

My paycheque (after a bit of worrying and trepidation) actually made it via direct deposit into my new bank account overnight.  Which means that today I can do things I've been putting off, to make sure there remained enough money in my bank account to cover rent, just in case.  Things like buying a few groceries, getting a few supplies for maintaining George, and other super exciting moments.  Groceries, recycling, an auto parts shop, the bottle depot - all of these are definitely favorite locations of mine.

Oh, and the bank.  I have a meeting at the bank today, to inquire about loans or lines of credit.  Because, you see, after returning a few years back from my trip to Malta, I sort of relied on my credit cards to live for a while, until paycheques started coming regularly again.  And the credit card debt sort of spooled from there a bit, and now I'm paying huge interest as I budget and try to pay that debt off.  So I have a meeting at the bank today to see if I can get a line of credit or a loan, to reduce the interest percentage I'm paying, and hopefully get out of debt quite a bit faster.  Sweet.  Here's hoping it's someone personable that I meet with, and not someone who treats me a little bit like a fool for having credit debt in the first place, or for not being some incredibly financially savvy individual.  Because I've met a few of those types of people as I've been navigating some of these banking changes, and there's nothing quite as frustrating as being demeaned by a person you're sort of dependent on for service.

And after all those things, I'll be home again, tackling more items on the list for the week, and updating my budget.  I think I may have been a bit overzealous in my list making, so I'm trying to pick out the things that I really think are priorities.  The rest can be relegated to evenings and weekends in the coming month.  Especially since some of them are just things that I want to accomplish before the quite likely reality of moving again at the end of February.  Things like going through clothing and belongings and paring down a bit again.  And sorting through some grocery and snack food items that have sort of collected, so that they can be eaten before more are purchased.

And with that, I'm going to venture up and out and start doing things like online banking, and errands.  Or maybe I'll just start by crawling out of bed, where I've been sitting and eating my breakfast while writing this post.  Clothes instead of pajamas would be good - they'll probably help my chances of not being treated demeaningly at the bank later.  And brushing my hair, that'll also probably help.  And then I'll start doing things like online banking and budget updates and errands.

Daily 5 - Day 129

Today's Daily 5:

1. Finding what I needed at Michaels this morning after a bit of hunting.
2. George (after being sort of temperamental last night) worked well today.
3. No longer between banks. Down to just one. Old accounts closed. New one working.
4. Watching Julie and Julia while I puttered around the house this afternoon.
5. Filing done, though bedroom not quite cleaned up yet.
6. Making peanut butter puffed wheat - part of the Christmas "to be gifted" selection
7. Laughing with family tonight at the joint party for Mom and T's birthdays today and tomorrow
8. Good food - family dinners almost always have those
9. Thankful for a warm apartment, and no huge heating bills.
10. Thankful for a very productive day, that was still restful and quiet.
    

Saturday List

If you'll indulge me for a few minutes, it's early, I'm needing to clear the fog in my head, I love lists, and I'm going to make my list for the day here, since the laptop is handy, and a pad of paper and a pen aren't at the moment.

Today I need (and/or want) to:

• Go to Michaels. Return an item I bought earlier in the week that won't work for the Christmas gift I have in mind. Buy an item that will work.
• Go to old bank. Close out accounts. Get a bank draft for these amounts. Make sure that I can still have access to online banking for credit card that is still at this bank.
• Go to new bank. Deposit bank draft into new account. Hope and pray that the information I was given was accurate, and they will not put a hold on a bank draft, or I'm in big trouble. Deposit change rolls that have been collecting in my change jar (I think almost $20 now!). Deposit work reimbursement cheque. Withdraw cash for birthday gift for T. who turns 22 today. Book appointment for during time off to meet with someone about loan to reduce interest payments on debt - hopefully by half. Also to discuss a tax free savings account.
• Go to office supply shop - check price of a small legal size filing box. Buy one if it isn't too expensive.
• Go to Husky. Feed George. He could use the nourishment. He's been temperamental lately. (pray that he takes me to all these other places safely.)
  
• Home again, home again, jiggetty jig.
• Make peanut butter puffed wheat squares, and maybe another one of the sugar cookie recipes. If going to make one of the rolled out recipes, add a stop at mom's to borrow a rolling pin to the earlier list.
• Make Christmas gift mentioned in item one.
• Work on "Certificates" to be part of another Christmas gift.
• Write several Christmas cards for mailing in the next few days.
  
• Wrap birthday gift for mom (her birthday tomorrow) and write card.
• Put $$ for T. in birthday card. write card.
• Remember to rest and treat myself gently. Maybe do this by putting a clay mask on my face for a while.
• Watch the newly purchased "Julie & Julia" dvd while working on some of these projects.
  
• Clean bedroom. Especially do filing. This will be easier if filing box isn't too expensive.
• Wade through accumulation of emails.
• Do online banking, to ensure that newly deposited money is in right accounts and budget can be appropriately updated.
• Update budget.
• Show up here at least once more today to write a Daily 5 list.
  
• Attend joint birthday party for Mom and T tonight.

Oh my. That list is longer than I thought it was. And it starts with me crawling out of bed and having some breakfast. Guess that's what I'm off to do! Have a great last Saturday before Christmas everyone!