WTF Wednesday- Spending Habits

I've been out of work for 2 months and wow my spending habits are very different now compared to when I was making money.  We are down to 1 income.  That alone is stressful but we had to do some changes to our lifestyle too!

Eating Out: Before quitting my job we went out to eat 2-3 times a week now maybe 1 time.  If we do go out its not at the cool family restaurant we used to dine at its like McDonald's or KFC now.  Just wrong.  This past weekend we felt like going out to breakfast and guess where we went, Denny's EWWW!  The kids liked it but I'm a bit picky and like my sausage to taste like sausage not mystery meat. It will be a long time before we do that again.

Grocery Shopping: I used to buy whatever was on sale and work around that.  Nope I need a list and what is on the list is what I buy.  If there is something on sale I might get it but it has to be a damn good sale.  My weekly budget is $100- try feeding 4 people on that but it works and we all have to stuck it up we don't have the abundance of food in the pantry.  You have to work with what you got.  I don't spend on frivolous things anymore.  I tend to put stuff back too! 

Treats:  I used to get a latte/mocha pretty much every day and now its like one every 2 weeks when I have a little spending change.  When I say change I mean quarters, dimes, nickels man I saved up for that white chocolate mocha and yes on the whip cream!  Also the kids don't get that weekly ice cream treat anymore.  I make ice pops out of juice now. 

Shoes/Clothes:  We haven't bought any summer clothes and we need them so next week I'm taking $100 and going to a consignment store to see what I can find.  Kids will be fine with used gear they don't need to know what store, right.  But I am having purse withdraws but as my kids have pointed out many times....Mom you have way too many purses!  Ugh! 

Entertainment:  What is that?  Going to the movies is what we enjoyed a lot.  Nope none of that going on anymore. We have Netflix and we enjoy that so it's all good.  We might pick up a bootleg movie at the flea market next time.  Reading is a great source of entertainment and we have been some reading fools with the library right up the street and its FREE! 

I make light of my spending these days but it was also a BIG EYE OPENER on just how much money I was wasting.  We have been finding free stuff to do and we are just FINE! 

Now if I can just get my hubby to stop stressing we might make it through this hard bump in the road. 

Twitter Tuesday~ What Tools Do You Like?

I've been playing around with Twitter lately and its growing on me.  I can never keep up with all my followers but I do find COOL articles, a lot of sweeps, free items but also a lot of great information. 

Tool I use: 

HootSuite:  I really LIKE this site because I can post to several different pages at one time.  Plus schedule tweets.  There is so many things you can do! 

TweetDeck:  This is similar to HootSuite.  I say give both of them a try and see which one you like the best. 

TwitPic:  You can post photos or videos to TwitPic from your phone, from the site, or through email. I use this one for my hubby's airbrush business.  I post pics of his artwork and also can see how many views and people can comment on them. 

TweetMeme: Retweet cool stuff you come across.  The TweetMeme retweet button is for websites and blog publishers who want to encourage their audience to tweet their content on Twitter. The button shows a live count of the number of times your webpage or blog post has been tweeted.

Twellow: A search directory of people by area of expertise, profession or other attribute listed in personal profiles on Twitter.  I call this the YELLOW PAGES of Twitter!

WeFollow: Another SEARCH directory like Twellow. 

TwitterGrader: I got 98.2 out of 100- not bad!  This is a cool site that gives you some info to help you do better on twitter.  Can't believe I signed up for Twitter 3 years ago- WOW! 

Tweeparties: LOVE LOVE this site!  You can see a calendar of twitter parties and also start a twitter party.  If you don't know what a twitter party~ well is a fast virtual party on Twitter that uses #hashtags to keep track of the conversation.  Most are held at night and sometimes they even give away prizes.  I've done a couple and I got a lot of followers through the party.  Most of the time a Brand/Company will be the one hosting but anyone can throw a PARTY!

What about you any COOL Twitter sites/tools/apps you use and want to SHARE?

We Need a LOCK on the Fridge!

Guess what it isn't for me either!  It is for my 9 year old son.  Dude has been eating us out of the house.  I can't keep up with it.

Yesterdays Menu:

Breakfast:
Bowl of Cereal
Bagel w/cream cheese

Snack:
Banana
crackers

Lunch:
2 Sandwiches
Apple
Rice Cake Chips
BBQ Chips
Fruit Snacks

Snack:
Orange
crackers

Dinner:
Full plate of Chinese Food

Dessert:
3 Popsicles (only had permission for 1)

That what I know of!!!  I tell him to cool down because we can't go thru food this fast but he keeps telling me he is hungry.  What DO I DO?  If he keeps this up I might have to go on a hunger diet because we can't afford to feed him like this everyday.

Is this NORMAL for a 9 year old??  He isn't overweight but he isn't a skinny mini either.  I don't want to put any weight issues on him but is he in training for becoming a football player?

HSN Arcade- PLAY WATCH SHOP

HSN Arcade...a new casual gaming and digital commerce portal from multichannel retailer HSN.

• In an unprecedented move to combine casual gaming with the ecommerce experience, HSN Arcade allows people to play their favorite games online while they simultaneously watch HSN streaming live in HD, view the item currently on-air and quickly shop the last 15 items aired…all on one screen.
• HSN Arcade integrates with Facebook® to allow players to easily share their scores and achievements with their Facebook friends.
• HSN Arcade hosts 25 games, including the exclusive Today’s Special Jigsaw Puzzle, Lights! Camera! Subtraction! (featuring HSN’s celebrities), Crossword Puzzles, Word Search, Mahjongg, Dimensions, Sudoku, Treasure Hunt, BlackJack and more.
• Celebrities like Wolfgang Puck, Colin Cowie, Lisa Price and Wei Briant among others will play a role in some of the games.
• The games are FREE to play.
• Players can win prizes, including the Today's Special product or a gift card, by being the fastest to complete the daily “Today’s Special Jigsaw Puzzle” and receiving the best score.
• People can participate in tournaments with HSN’s celebrity guests, hosts and other players for the opportunity to win other prizes, such as gift cards and products.
• Winners can be announced via TV, online and mobile.

I played a couple of the games and had a blast then the kids wanted to play too! Mom can't have any fun. 
Also make sure you enter the The $150,000 More to Celebrate Giveaway

PS:  I did not receive any compensation for this post. Just Spreading the INFO!

Whiner Wednesday

Why...well because I'm having a hard time dealing with damn HOT weather.  I know nothing to really gripe about but it makes me so uncomfortable.  Whine Whine Whine :)

I've lived in the Bay Area now for 12 years so you would think by now I could deal with the handful of HOT weather days we get a year, lol!  I'm a redhead so it's not like I can go in the sun and enjoy.  I need to goop the sunscreen on every where (my head too), sweat - ewww hate to sweat, hurts my eyes, and I get light headed.  Maybe I'm vampire or maybe I just need to stop the b*tching and just enjoy!  HAHA!

This worst part of this weather is I can't sleep!  I can have a fan on but then the noise bothers me so I go into other rooms in the house to lay down and sometimes that work but its like sleeping at someone elses house because your not in your comfy bed so I tend to wake up all night long.

Geez I'm a big whiner today LOL!  Whiner Wednesday!

My Little Reader

I love to see my kids reading.  I'm a big reader so it warms my heart knowing I have kids who enjoy books. 

Exercise- I did it!

I jumped right into it today...Monday morning on my TO DO list was exercise.  Now that's been on my TO DO list pretty much every week and every week I don't do it!  So much for following a TO DO list huh, lol! 

This weekend I was trying to find something on the TV and I stumbled on the FREE section and guess what they have Fitness Videos..who knew (not me)! There is a lot to choose from beginner to advanced.  I was so excited and made my plan last night.

• 14 minutes of Yoga Stretching
• 12 minutes of Hip Hop
• 12 minutes of Abs
• 20 minutes of Walking 

Just short of an hour but I did my damn thing!  I was huffing and puffing but to be honest I did feel better after doing it.  I plan to do this every day M-F for 3 weeks straight.  I will post my accomplishments and lets see if I can firm up before I leave on vacation on July 8th. 

I feel good that I actually did it!  It's been bothering me a lot that I'm not exercising.  So looking forward to tomorrow (did I just say that..lol)!  Motivation Motivation!!

Happy Father's Day

We had a low key celebration but I know my hubby loved it this way so it's all good! 

Hubby went fishing last night for catfish (ewww) but didn't catch anything to bring home.  He loves fishing but we have to get him out of this night time fishing because he never comes home with a fish, lol! When I first met him I was like your going fishing at night WTF??  But to be honest I think its all about what you do while your fishing.  Like for example.. drinking beer, smack talking to each other, no wives/gf bossing them around, and being one with nature.  He does come home stinking like the fire pit and fishing bait so I know he is fishing somewhere :)

Today he walked in the door and I just finished cooking breakfast so that was some great timing.  He ate, showered then took a nap.  I took the kids to a friend's garage sale, to a park, home for a rest, woke daddy up, went and got Subway sandwiches then back to the park for a picnic with dad.  Rest of the time he has been on the deck drinking his beer, soaking in the sun and reading his book.  He is chillin!  I'm making him meatloaf, mac n cheese, and green beans for dinner.  Dessert is Chocolate Chip Cookies made by Lil Mama and myself.  I think overall he had a GREAT DAY! Oh yeah I got him a Artist Easel for $5 at the garage sale- so that is a big WOOHOO! 

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY! 

Organizing Facebook "Likes"

I have over 1000 Facebook "likes"- from products, blogging friends, social media, stuff I want, kid pages, and so on...you get the picture.  I have a hard time keeping up with all the daily posts because there is a lot of posts going on through out the day...and who can spend all their time on FB is beyond me!   So I got this brilliant (lol) idea to organize the fan pages I like.  Facebook is very hard to understand or even maneuver around- or maybe it is just me.  But TODAY I figured it out and my life on Facebook is going to be so much easier.
Since I'm not a computer guru I won't have diagrams for you but I'll try my best to write out the instructions the best I can.
Create a LIST:

• Go to Account (right hand corner)
• Click on Edit Friends
• Click on Create a List- I called mine "Fan Pages"
• Click on all of your "Likes" (they are listed after your friends)- it will turn blue when you click on it- check

Need to ADD to a LIST:

• Click on your LIST (mine was called Fan Pages)
• Click on button "Add Multiple" 
• Click on whoever you want to add to the list

Each friend/like can be on multiple lists so now I'm going to organize my Fan Page list into sub categories like: Mom Bloggers, Social Media, Kid Stuff, Deals, and Misc.   

Now for the BEST PART....when I just want to look at ONLY my Fan Pages all I need to do is go to News Feed page click on "Fan Pages" and boom all my LIKES are in one page.  It usually says Top News - Most Recent...click on arrow by Most Recent and it gives you several options on what to look at!  I can look at only My Family posts if I want to.  Love it!!

I hope this helps someone organize their Facebook daily experience!  I know it will for me :)

My Spare Tire- where did it come from?

Yes, I've been chubby pretty much my whole life but from my chest to my belly button has always been fine (except for when I was pregnant LOL).  Not anymore I now have a spare tire that has been getting bigger and bigger or maybe I'm just now noticing it!

Anyhoo, no matter when it arrived I need to get rid of it!  How do you get someone who hates to exercise to exercise???  I totally get that I need to that, that's not the problem the problem is getting my big ass to commit to actual working out.  You can call my lazy but I'm not!  I'm on the move a lot but do you think I can fit in a workout for the life of me...better watch what I say!

Motivation to exercise is no where to be found and I'm not sure where to find it!  Just Do It....Right, I know huh and stop talking about it...yes I get all that but I'm not that type of person.  It is like I'm battling with myself to be healthy and that's just sick!

I was the girl in gym that was always on the sidelines bitching/moaning about doing this or that.  I used to lie about having my periods/cramps to the PE Teacher (men coaches bought more than the women coaches) to get out of at least a week. My mom and dad were both heavy into softball and I know they wanted me to play too but please that was way too much for me.  Plus the sweating ewwww, hated that even more.  Gross!  I feel like I'm back in school fighting the coach about running. 

I need to find my motivation and I'm being honest here people.  I HATE working out.  But I can no longer avoid such a serious issue or I'm going to have some major health problems soon. 

I'm up for any suggestions.  Thanks for reading!  Want to know what's really bad...I did spell check and exercise was a word I spelled wrong 3 times- see I can't even spell the word right! 

Weekend Cleaning- The Good and The Ugly!

Last weekend we worked real hard getting our house inside/outside in order so we can ENJOY the summer.  I know we have a lot more to do but we were able to check off at least 10 things off our TO DO LIST.  

The GOOD 

Saturday we cleaned the kids room and everytime I walk by them I go "awwww" because I love seeing a clean room.  Wish my kids felt the same way. I now have boxes full of stuff for the Garage Sale we are going to have on Sunday...yep Father's Day.  It feels good to get all that crap out that we are not using or don't need!  Wait until next Saturday when I really go through stuff to put in the garage sale, I might not stop LOL!

Sunday we worked out in the yard.  Pulling, cutting, pruning everything!  Weeds are not my friend that is for sure and damn they grow back fast.  Or maybe I'm just slow pulling them out- which is probably the truth.  I had to wear a bandanna around my face because I'm allergic to something out there that causes my throat to close up and that's not a good feeling.  It worked okay but I took many water breaks.  The backyard looked awesome and a place where I want to hang out.

The UGLY

But guess what.....the WASPS are all crazy now and they are mad at us.  Not sure what we did to piss them off but I swear if they see us outside anytime after 10am they do everything in their power to torment us.  Lovely huh!  If anyone know a NATURAL way to get rid of them please let me know.  We would like to enjoy our backyard that we worked really hard on!

Well on to research on how to get rid of Wasps- Bees creep me out!

Kids' Clutter Driving You Crazy? FREE teleclass TONIGHT

Just got this email today- woohoo because what I'm doing this weekend- yep cleaning the kids rooms.  I wish I could wave a magical wand and that it would be all done for me but that's NOT REALITY, right!

But then I also wish THEY would clean their own rooms, which I give them credit they TRY but does it ever stand up to my standards, NOPE!  So it's mommy to the rescue this weekend.  Hoping it rains all weekend so I don't feel bad being held up in the house cleaning.  But then I also need to work out in the yard so maybe just rain 1 day, ok! 

Now back to the Kid Clutter click on link if interested in the  FREE KID CLUTTER TELECLASS !  It is TONIGHT but if you have something planned you still can sign up and they will send you and audio version- I say something is better than nothing.  I need help and so I'm reaching out to get that help, LOL! 

Need more tips/tricks: http://www.clutterdiet.com/

This week the kids have came home with BAGS of paperwork and I look at it of course but do I want to keep it all...heck no!  If they come home with more junk I'm going to SCREAM! 

(now I need to a class on messy husband and I'll be all good- oh sorry hubby if see this but just saying that side of the bed is scary looking) Wink Wink :)

Kids- Last Week of School!

Last week of school!  They have been doing the countdown .  My son will be going into the 4th grade and my daughter into the 2nd grade....wow when did they start growing up! 

Lil Man well this year has been a breeze for him because he had a teacher he loved! He did very well this year, that's what his teacher says at least.  My son loves to help his teacher out (kind of reminds me of myself- teachers pet some years LOL) and he has found the love of reading.  Woohoo!  Now if I can find that same love for him to take showers.  I have to fight him every day to take a shower.  Oh and the lip smacking and talking back has given me many teeth clutching episodes.  He doesn't get to play his video games that much these days. 

Lil Mama well she exceeds what I expected out of her this year.  I'm not going to brag too much...lol but she is doing her thing in school and I'm a proud mama.  She needs to work on getting along with others though!  She doesn't like people around her, she would be happy at a table all by herself.  Her social skills are needing some TLC.  She was at home with me until Kindergarten so she never got "lets play and have fun" experience.  She also is a big helper around the school.  She would rather help the teachers out than go outside and play.  Something I should be worried about or let her work through what she needs too.  We will see!  I want her to be social like her mama but I'm not sure if that will happen.  At least she won't get kicked out of sewing class in high school for talking too much- like I did! 

I'm proud of them and so excited for them to start a new school year! 

Menopause....REALLY!

I've been fighting this battle within myself of NOT GROWING OLD.  In my head I'm still 25 but my body is saying "no way in hell" your 25 anymore girl so please let go! 
This past month I've been going through some weird stuff and I finally called my mom to whine about what is happening.  She says "Sounds like your going through menopause"  well she just busted my bubble and all that is in my head is DAMN PAM YOUR GETTING OLD!  Don't get me wrong I'm not saying everyone who is going through menopause is old BUT to me that is how I felt! 

I did a bit more research because I need my mom to be wrong but guess what I think she is RIGHT ON and I just need to accept the fact I'm getting older (every time I read these sentence I rolled my eyes, hehehe).

I have 26 of the 34 below symptoms....I'm going to say that's not good!  Ok so making my dr appointment next week, its always better safe than sorry right.  This getting old crap is not fun and I know I have many many years to dealing with falling apart, hope my family is ready to take care of me...LOL!

What I need to do now is start taking better care of myself.  Exercise and Food is my next project, love how I call it a PROJECT. I know I'm silly- just trying to psych myself out that is something I want to do than something I need to do.

Common Symptoms
1. Hot Flashes
2. Night Sweats
3. Irregular Periods
4. Loss of Libido
5. Vaginal Dryness
6. Mood Swings

Changes
7. Fatigue
8. Hair Loss
9. Sleep Disorders
10. Difficult Concentrating
11. Memory Lapses
12. Dizziness
13. Weight Gain
14. Incontinence
15. Bloating
16. Allergies
17. Brittle Nails

18. Changes in Odor
19. Irregular Heartbeat
20. Depression
21. Anxiety
22. Irritability
23. Panic Disorder

Pains
24. Breast Pain
25. Headaches
26. Joint Pain
27. Burning Tongue
28. Electric Shocks
29. Digestive Problems
30. Gum Problems
31. Muscle Tension
32. Itchy Skin
33. Tingling Extremities

Others
34. Osteoporosis

 

Got this list from http://www.34-menopause-symptoms.com/

Summer Reading Sale

I love EBooks and so I'm always stalking Amazon for FREE or great deals!  They are running a sweet deal now so I just had to share!  Now it doesn't mater if you don't have an e-reader (nook, kindle) because all you need is a computer to read these books.

Get APP: Read Anywhere from Amazon's Free Reading App
 I have it on my PC, my android phone, and my iPad!  I love this feature and use it on a weekly basis.  Plus its FREE! 

.99 Book Sale

$1.99 Book Sale

$2.99 Book Sale

Check out all the books on SALE

Top FREE Books

Have fun READING this summer, I know I am! 

Summer Time Plans- 1 more week of school

The kids will be in camp for June, with Grandma in Wash for July, and with me in August. Okay that's the plan, wow that wasn't so hard huh! 

June will be fun for them because they still get to hangout with their close school buds and doing fun stuff!  They are looking forward to that and so am I!  I will actually have a full day to do my work and other projects- NO SCHOOL STUFF!

July will be a busy month but very FUN!  We leave on July 8th to take a trip w/the kids to WA to see my family.  We are driving up there but not rushing we plan to stop and enjoy.  My hubby and I will stay up there for a week with the kids visiting family and then we will head back to Cali w/o the kids- woohoo!!!  My mom will take the kids for 2 weeks and then meet us in Oregon to go camping for a couple days.  Then we head back w/the kids July 30th. 

August well I hope to go on a couple day trips, if nice out swimming of course, and just chillin at the house.  We will all enjoy sleeping in and spending quality time with each other.  Looking forward to that. 

How to control EMAILS???

5052 emails is what I have!  Really.....I'm on email overload!  What my problem is I look at the emails on my phone and then NO FOLLOW through.  I need to get a handle on this or else I say F**K it and delete it all and start over and what if I delete something VERY IMPORTANT (which I usually do)!

Doing a little research on how to control my emails I came across some great tips!

Delete it:  (ha I have a lot to delete and then unsubscribe)

• Does the message relate to a meaningful objective you're currently working on? If not, you can probably delete it. Why keep information that doesn't relate to your main focus?
• Does the message contain information you can find elsewhere? If so, delete it.
• Does the message contain information that you will refer to within the next six months? If not, delete it.
• Does the message contain information that you're required to keep? If not, delete it.  

Do it : (wouldn't that be nice right than and there- will I do that though? See that is my problem right there, lol)

• If you can't delete the email messages, ask yourself, "What specific action do I need to take?" and "Can I do it in less than two minutes?" If you can, just do it.

Delegate it: (wish I had some one to delegate too)

• If you can't delete it or do it in two minutes or less, can you forward the email to an appropriate team member who can take care of the task?

Defer it: (really need to do the follow thru on this)

• If you cannot delete it, do it in less than two minutes, or delegate it, the action required is something that only you can accomplish and that will take more than two minutes. Because this is your dedicated email processing time, you need to defer it and deal with it after you are done processing your email. You’ll probably find that about 20 percent of your email messages have to be deferred.

This is from http://www.microsoft.com/atwork/productivity/email.aspx  awesome tools in Outlook!

Some other tips that I read about:

• Use 2 email address...one for personal and one for business (blogging in my case).  I will create a Pinkmama email today!
• Unsubscribe to newsletters you don't read daily- this might clear up a lot!
• Unsubscribe to marketers emails- I don't even open these unless the title catches my eye like 90% off! I'm broke these days so I don't need 20 emails letting me know whats on SALE, right??
• Folders...I do have these but do I use them?  Ugh maybe I should!

Next thing I'm going to look into is....GMAIL tips!

Do you have any great tips to help me with this EMAIL OVERLOAD I'm going thru! 

Very simple right!  HA who are we kidding that takes time! 

 

Goldfish DIED

Lil Mama goes to feed the fish a minute before her ride is here for school and guess what....yep we have a floater.  UGH!  The tears and I couldn't comfort her the way I wanted too because we hear the HONK HONK of her ride to school.  She got in the car with tears and my heart was hurting for her.  I texted her teacher to give her the HEADS UP on the tears.  I really hope she will be okay.  We have had them for almost 2 months.  Well let's hope she can get thru the day and see what she wants to do...bury or flush?

Wednesday Blog Hop- Who in the World?

Welcome to "Who in the World? Wednesday" Blog hop. Your host are Chronicles of a crazy mom, The Coupon Cutie and Mommy Does.  Head on over to one of those blogs and enter your name and lets HOP!