Happy New Year

Welcome 2019!

I am still working on my goals - I’ve been sick since Christmas Day.  On the 27th I had a PET Stress Test Scan and had trouble with my sinuses and the coughing.

On Friday I went to the local urgent care with coughing and a sore throat only to be told I had a virus and it would go away in a few days.

Nope.  By Friday night, my throat was on fire and the coughing was getting more intense.

Now, it’s Tuesday and I spent the weekend using a bunch of different medications plus some hot herbal tea to keep me going over the weekend.

On Monday I called my primary care physician’s office and they were very kind in getting me in yesterday morning.  Particularly after I told them that my throat was so sore I was having a lot of trouble swallowing.  That was no joke.

The doctor took a look at my throat and indicated that it looked very painful.  Yep.

Now I’m on the antibiotics and steroids that I need.  

The doctor also said that the mucus from my sinus passages was seeping out through the tear ducts in my eyes.  So he also prescribed some eye drops for me to start after I’ve been on the other meds for a couple of days.

I got home and made a few phone calls and posts, then I went to an appointment to have a psychiatric evaluation done.  I’ve decided, with everything that has happened over the last 18 months, and the feeling of being emotionally drained and checked out, that I need to get some help for the depression and anxiety.  We decided we would start with therapy and see how that goes before any medication needs are looked into.

This is definitely going to be a new and different year.

Why I Did Not Vote For Donald Trump

I thought Donald Trump was as glittery as he appeared on Lifestyles of The Rich And Famous in the 1980’s, but the truth about him is not so shiny.

From Democracy Now!

Creating Goals

Merry Christmas

All In - A New Podcast To Listen To

I just got an email and found out about a new podcast from LDS Living (Deseret Book) called All In.  Episode 7 caught my eye and it’s fantastic.

All In

Did I Follow The Baby Steps?

The short answer in this is:  no.

There are a few reasons for this, but first let me break down (without exact numbers) the debts that I had in 2013.

I owed the IRS in back taxes for withdrawing from my IRA - roughly around $4,000 including the interest

I had a car loan which was around $10,000

I had a credit card that was maxed out at around $14,000

When I had several rounds of dental work in 2014, I ended up with around $11,000 in bills to Care Credit. 

I paid off the IRS first, with the help of a CPA.  The reason that was first?  They can garnish wages.  There were no settlements on this debt, it was paid in full.

The car loan was next to get paid off early.  The reason for this was I was also the caregiver for my Mother and there were instances when I was driving her to doctor’s appointments as well as to the emergency room on a few occasions.  I wanted to make sure the car was mine.

The Care Credit free term expired with about $4,000 still on the bill, costing me around 23% interest, so, while it took longer to pay that off with that much interest, I got it paid off.  I swore to never go through them again, and so far I’ve been able to keep that promise.

The final debt was my credit card through the financial institution I go through.  It was in the process of getting paid off when Mom passed and I was able to make the minimums while bankrolling the expenses for the monthly bills on her home and the probate costs, until I could be paid back from her estate.  That enabled me to pay off the card.

Unfortunately, that meant that the Emergency Savings account was at $15,000, but with the medical bills I got hit with this year that balance is now back down to $1,000.  The credit card balance is at around $4,000 with a Pet Scan and a Doctor’s appointment before year end, plus a dental appointment to get the implant tooth ordered the first week of January, which will cost around $1,500.00.

I using roughly 50% of my monthly pay at this point to pay that card off as quickly as I possibly can.  Thankfully, with Christmas almost behind me, that should make it easier.

So, did I follow Dave Ramsey’s Baby Step 2 as he prescribes?  No, but I had some specific reasons as to why I didn’t and, up until all of the medical bills this year (so far totaling over $20,000 for the year), I had succeeded.  My hope and prayer is that 2019 will see me getting back out of debt.

New Find On YouTube: No Buy Year

The month to month check in videos are fascinating.

Free Christmas Gift Ideas

Prepare to laugh; this is hilarious.

Books To Read

Did you know Bill Gates has a website devoted to reading books and his recommendations?  

https://www.gatesnotes.com

Preparing For The New Year

Here are some things to keep in mind while setting your 2019 goals.

They Still Need Our Help

Remember Sicko?

Unfortunately, Congress is still having to be shamed into providing care for the first responders who answered the call to serve at the site of the twin towers.

Productive Day!

My eyes are tired, but a quick post before I go to bed.

I got a call on Monday that there was a water leak being found in my downstairs neighbors house.

During that time:  I called the plumber I go through, they couldn’t show up until the next morning.  The next morning turned into 5:30 in the evening after I told the receptionist at 12:30 that waiting three hours isn’t going to work for me, considering I was trying to get back to work.  They came and found the house appeared dry.  I notified the contractor working on the condo downstairs from me.  Turns out the neighbor is going to be selling his condo and is having it fixed and some remodeling done to get a better price on it.  That would explain the days of banging and thuds, as well as coming home to find the water sputtering out of the faucet because it had been turned off earlier.  I had pretty much figured the neighbor downstairs was having renovations done, but it would have been nice to hear about it before experiencing it.  

The plumber came this morning so we could see what was the problem was, and yes, my incoming cold water pipe was leaking, however it was under the concrete, so that would explain why nothing showed up in my condo.  The plumber was indicating he night not be able to get to it, and wanted $450 for the job.  He said this to me in front of the neighbor and the contractor.  After we both left (the man left for his next gig and I left to go back to work), I got a call from the contractor:  the job shouldn’t cost any more than $175 and I was being taken for a ride.  He offered to do it, and indicated the neighbor wasn’t sure he wanted someone who didn’t want to do the job anyway, so I called the plumber’s office and told them the neighbor wanted his contractor to make the fix instead and they agreed after talking to the plumber who came.

A lot of stress, anxiety but a much better outcome.  Since then, I’ve started putting some of the stuff from the area affected back where it belongs in the living room, going through some grocery purchases from Monday night, taking a load of cans and plastics to the recycling center, running a load of dishes, and a load of laundry.

I think I’m finally tired enough to sleep, now.  LOL.

Have a great evening.

Decluttering December

I’m a little late starting at this, but at the same time, I’m not.    As you can see I’ve done some, but I have more to do.  I’ll be updating this as much as I can during the month.  So far this month:

December:

1 - 1 pencil box gifted to a student.

2 - 2 red ink pens gifted to a student.

3 - 3 journals purchased at Costco, also gifted to a student.

4 - 4 YouTube Channels unsubscribed from

5 - 5 - pack of hilighters, gifted to a student

6 - 6 retail chain email lists unsubscribed from

7 - 7 apps removed from my iPad

8 - 8 glasses (2 sets of four matching glasses), gifted to the grandparent of a student

9 - 9 empty cardboard rolls put in the recycling box

10 - 10 pack of black pens, also a 10 pack of blue pens, gifted to a student

11 - 

12 = 

13 = 

14 - 

15 - 

16 - 16 books (Digital copies have been purchased to replace these)

17 - 

18 - 

19 - 

20 - 

21 - 

22 - 

23 - 

24 - 

25 - 

26 - 

27 - 

28 - 

29 - 

30 - 

31 - 

Modern Day Leonardo Da Vinci

If you’ve never watched Paul Elkins’ channel on YouTube, you’ve missed out.  I’m not that good with tools or I would be using his plans to build stuff.

We Had A Blackout Last Night...

Thankfully it only lasted a few hours, however I’m also thankful to have purchased the solar LED bulbs demonstrated by Prepper Princess on YouTube.  I was able to hang them up and turn them on.  I also had my Luci Lights already out and charged up.

Luci Lights:

And if the blackout was prolonged, I would also have the means of cooking and baking food, plus boiling water:

I still need to purchase a generator, and the solar panels to go with it, I’m hoping I can wait until next year for that, as I’m figuring it will be at least $4,000.00 for the entire system I’m planning on buying.

On This Very Christmas Night...

This is from the video, “The Ghosts of Christmas Eve” by Trans-Siberian Orchestra

Merry Christmas!

The Annual Christmas Devotional for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has just ended.  What a wonderful program, ending with Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus.

This is in conjunction with the Church’s Christmas Campaign called Light The World, intended to encourage a worldwide effort of charitable giving.

Let’s not forget the reason for the season.

Happy Hanukkah!

Tonight begins Chanukah (Hanukkah), celebrating the rededication of the Holy Temple.  It is known as the Festival of Lights.

A better (and more complete) explanation on this can be found at Chabad.org.

What A Week!

This past week has been a full and crazy week!

I had the oral “surgery” on Tuesday morning - only it turned out to not be surgery.  I was told there would be a small incision and 1 or 2 stitches.  But because of my dental care regimen, the area was opened up from the teeth brushing, so all that was required was topical numbing gel and putting some pressure to switch the tip of the implant to the tip that will allow the implant to go in.  No cutting, no stitches.

That’s okay, I’m enjoying the food anyway.

While I was out, I went ahead and gassed up the car at Costco and picked up a few items.  I also took out a large amount of recycling.  Then I took a three hours nap.  I needed it after an apprehensive night’s sleep.

Wednesday we had a big meeting at work to talk about some of the upcoming work we will be doing and also the plans for the family our department is sponsoring for Christmas.  I had mentioned that I should probably see about getting another one of the rolling trunks so that the goodies can be delivered in it.  That evening after going home, I checked my email and found that the Container Store had them on sale for a 1 day only Cyber Week sale.  I went ahead and ordered it to pick it up at my favorite store Thursday evening.  And since I had already purchased stuff totaling over $100 previously, I had a $20 credit on my Pop account, so between the sale price and the $20 discount, I purchased a $40 trunk for $13.

Thursday I picked it up, along with the bags for the gifts.  I drew two gifts, because as it turns out, two of the angels on the tree asked for items I already had at home.  That Costco trip on Tuesday?  I picked up a package of journal books - which ended up being one of the angel requests.  The other was for a set of glasses, which I had back in the closet from a wedding gift from 20 years ago.  I had two 4 packs of glasses that are now in the bag purchased for the family.

Friday, after work, I stopped by Changing Hands bookstore to pick up a dictionary and thesaurus for the journal writer and found a book I was thinking about ordering for myself on sale.  So I picked that up and the two books for the student.  At checkout I realized I still had my frequent customer stamped cards - with one of them filled up already - so I saved $10.00 on my purchase, cutting the amount to almost half of what I was paying.

Today I started gathering everything so I could wrap it all in the bags - I got the glasses out and pulled out one of my extra pencil boxes (I stock up on them every year at back to school time at Walmart) and got some unopened packages of pens and highlighters I had in my own stash and put them in the pencil box for the journal writer.  No charge for those, either!

AND it helps to declutter my home!

Progress!

The Next Cell Phone I Buy...

This is coming from a reliable source - a man who repairs phones as part of his living.  Yeah, he’s going to know phones.