Sunday, January 6, 2013

Adventures: Trip to NY

Jan. 3 - 9 am

One of the first things I wanted to do while I was off from work was go visit my family in NY.  Since hubby is off this week we decided that it would be easier for me to go to NY now than in a couple of weeks (when I would bring the pups with me).

The drive up was LONG.  It's not as fun as in the past, but Pandora did me well and didn't play that many commercials - I think I heard less than 5 on the 6 hour trip!

You know when things happen for a reason?  Well, Bro needs a ride to chemo this morning.  I am happy that I am here to help out. :) 

January 5 - 9 am (Obviously, this is the quiet time in the house hence the blogging!)
The last couple of days have been relaxing and great just hanging out with the family.  Yesterday, my best friend growing up stopped by to chat and catch up.  It was so good to see Karen - I miss my extended family here in NY.  I think it did my brother some good to see someone besides family and get to see Karen's dog, Skip.

January 6 - 8 pm
The drive back was fine - no major traffic or weather issues.

Last night was great - we all went out to Friendly's for dinner and watched "Dreamgirls" afterwards.

I also asked the "kids" to take a picture together like we used to do.

I brought our snow dog back some snow - she liked it!  Zed licked it, but that was it.  Esa was really eating it & played catch the snowball with Daddy-o.  Picture is mid-catch hence the blurry head!


Saturday, January 5, 2013

Savings Summary Saturday - January 5, 2013

I'll be getting back into the swing of this next week!

Items sent for:
Grocery Shopping (and other savings) this week:
  • Great savings at Harris Teeter this week!
    • Saturday only specials (on Dec. 29)
      • Edy's ice cream - $1.97 each & had a $1/2 coupon!
      • Coke - $1.97 12 pack!
    • Freschetta BOGO ($7.49 each) plus had a $1/1 coupon
  • Stopped at McDonald's for lunch on the trip up to NY.  Used my $5 gift card that I got from Mycokerewards & got a free "retro" McDonald's glass.
    Gas Savings:
    •  Used the Exxon credit card which gives us money back on Upromise.com

    Income (Starting to post again to Ebay & Yardsellr & Listia. My goal is to post at least one item a day.):
    • n/a this week since I'm not home
    Things we got in the mail:
    • ??? since I'm not home!
    Rewards programs:
    MyPoints- 14820 points (personal account) - 13905 points -last week)
    MyPoints 4527 points (coupon account) - 3787 points-last week)
    Swagbucks - 3375 points (3085  points-last week)
    Listia - 41,396 credits (41246  credits last week) $0 paid out for shipping (when buying credits it is 1 cent/credit)
    Postpoints - 3,245 points (3155  points last week)
    mycokerewards - 6468 points (6038  points-last week)
    Bondrewards - $27.16 ($26.86 - last week)
    Upromise - $20.99 ($18.63 last week) available for transfer
    Capital One Rewards - 8341 (6346 miles-last week)
    Thanks Again - 1075 points (1075 points last week)
    Viggle - 50,089 points (59645 points - last week) - redeemed 10K points for a $5 CVS gift card
    NCP - do not have the account # with me (42950 points last week)
    Daily Feats - 1694 points (1694 points last week)
    ExpoTV - 70 points

    2012 New Year, New Goals - to continue in 2013!
    • Use rewards programs to get gifts and daily stuff -
      • redeemed 10K points on Viggle for a $5 CVS gift card
    • Use Restaurant.com coupons -
    • Set up an Estate -
    • Monthly Review/Net Worth 

    Thursday, January 3, 2013

    2013 - The Year of Change

    2012 was FULL of emotions when it came to work.  Are we going to win the contract, what do I do if we lose the contract, sitting around with nothing to do because we couldn't start anything, closing everything up, emptying out the office, etc.  Things that I never thought I would need to go through.

    Everything happens for a reason.  As of today, I am unemployed.  I chose not to even apply for the incoming company.  It would have been a "given" job.  Nothing wrong with that, but I have been at the same company for 14 years and have done EVERYTHING.  If I took the job with the incoming company, yes it would be a new challenge, but I've been there, done that.  This is my opportunity to concentrate on me and figure out what I want to do next.

    So while I'm looking for a job, I will be concentrating on (not in any particular order, except finding a job is number 1):
    • organizing & taking care of the house
    • taking care of hubby & the pups
    • taking care of ME!
    • hobbies (scrapbooking, family tree, blogging, etc)
    This leads to some new blog titles!  2013 will include the usual - Adventures, Becoming Betty Crocker, Saturday Savings Summary, Taking Advantage of - but will have the following new titles:
    • D.I.N.K (double income no kids) to O.I.N.K (one income no kids)
      • how we are cutting back expenses & saving money
    • The Housewife Tour 2013
      • the "tour" of the house - cleaning, organizing & maybe some DIY projects
      • taking care of hubby & the pups
      • hobbies updates (maybe daily blog entries???)
    • It's all about me
      • job search, taking care of me, etc
    And there it is - 2013 - let's see how this goes.....