Early start

Well, I decided to stay up this AM after putting oldest on the bus instead of heading back to bed.  So, it looks like I am getting an early start on my day.  I don't have a TON to do, but I would like to get a few things done if possible.  Thankfully, the calendar is clear of reminders, so I am spending most of this rainy day indoors.  Even if there were things to do, I'd almost consider rescheduling because it's not just a drizzle -- it's one of those soaking rains that just drenches every inch of you.  It was fun putting oldest on the bus... I hope he's not too wet.  Thank goodness for that huge golf umbrella!  Between that and the type of windbreaker pants he has on, I hope he dries out pretty quick if he did get his legs a bit wet.  Next time, I may just get youngest up and take him to school.  But with my SUV being all jacked up, well, I don't want to drive it anymore than I have to.  My hubby worked on it yesterday to just keep it up and going and he discovered that not only did I have a busted gasket, but also another leak, my frame bumpers were worn down, and some bolt was broken.  He replaced the gasket, fixed the leak, and put a reminder in to get new bumpers.  But he can't find the bolts.  Going to have to call Dodge and see if they have it.  I think it's nuts you can't just pick it up at Advance or Autozone!  If it was a Ford we could!  UGH.

You know, on second thought I may actually get out here in a couple of hours.  I may try to go by the dent place and just ask how much it's going to be to get some of these dents popped out and see if it would be worth it to get those repaired. I also may call the glass place and get a better estimate for my windshield.  I do worry that my car is close to messing up, but unless I could find a new one soon, I may be in trouble.  And a friend of ours who works in the industry said that the reason why this particular car is hard to find is because it was a highly leased vehicle.  So, right now and in the next couple of months is when they would start becoming available and the price will drop a bit.  He's probably right.  And waiting until the end of the year (just another month or so) or even the first of the year would give us more options.  Not to mention it would give us a few more months to save up some money and pay down our B of A card more so that it would be even less of a worry.  We got a great rate on using that for our home equity line rather than a traditional equity line, but I am ready to have that paid off.  Once we are done with that, I would really like to up what we are paying on our 2nd line home loan.  We have an 80/20 that was popular before the economy took a dump.  Right now when we pay we pay a bit over, but not enough to really make a dent.  I want to make a dent and have more built in equity.  The value of our house has dropped (like everyone else's!) so it would help to pay that down.  Especially when we need to move.  Other than the large repairs we did when we first moved in, those accounts have laid dormant.  If we get approved through the credit union to refinance, we may do that since the refi would be cheaper to combine the two loans.  But for now, we are focusing on one debt at a time.  So far, so good.  Hmmm... maybe it's time to check our credit reports... I don't think we've checked since the first of the year...

OK, on to the focus of this blog!  My weight this AM was 195 but I completely expected that.  I had the leftover Chinese last night.  I didn't come close to finishing it, but I'm sure the sodium was high!  But I just felt so bad throwing that amount of food away.  Not to mention, our fridge is stuffed with leftovers so we made the decision to eat those instead of cooking up more food only to have more leftovers.  I'm going to continue the theme today.  And while I'm doing that, I'm going to check everything and if anything is bad, throw it out or close to bad, give it to the dogs.  Most of our leftovers are meat and veg, so the doggies love it.  And in the last few months since we started doing that, our obese dog has actually lost weight.  Makes me think that the dog food that we get has too many fillers.  But we get some that is soy free due to their itchy skin.  It's the only thing that stopped the non-stop itching.  But giving them leftovers seems to have helped my little chunky monkey thin down.  She's always been full figured, but it seems like she has really thinned out.  I bet they will be surprised at her next vet visit!

Another reason I am sure my weight is up is I was working like a rabid animal yesterday!  The day wasn't very productive at first, but once I talked to my friend (her blog is Gaining Confidence), I got to feeling MUCH better and got up off my tushy to do some work.  I got outside and got to cleaning up all the trash from the yard and flower beds from where the roofers had been here.  I keep finding more and more!  Then I weeded.  After that, I was going to clip the bushes, but somehow my clippers got rusted!  So, I am going to spray them down with some CLR and then file the blades before I need them again.  So, I ended up dragged a 16ft. board from around back and fixing my flower borders.  They run the length of the house, so I needed a really long board!  That doesn't sound like much but that board was SO heavy!  Then I had to pull up the concrete edge pieces, go down through there and remove all the weeds and put them back.  But my beds look GREAT now and only need to have the pine needles put down after I clip the bushes!  I may move some of the rocks around just to make it look better since all of the rain has dragged the smaller rocks further down when the gutters weren't working right.  On top of the yard work, I also put up and folded some laundry and cleaned my kitchen.  Plus picked up the rest of the house the best I could!  Busy busy!  All in all, a good and productive day.  But I think that being outside and sweating like a hog for a few hours probably made me swell a bit.  Lots of water today!

Well, that's about it folks.  Just trying to get on top of things and get'er done!  I don't always make it far, but at least I'm doing something.  I'm trying hard not to be lazy.  :)  The last thing I want to say is a thank you to you ladies for the recent comments.  It really helps to perk me up!  I'm going to keep going and try not to let things get to me!  :D