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Archive for December, 2010

Working on some goals and Christmas

December 30th, 2010 at 04:18 am

Trying to work on some concrete goals for 2011. I told hubby, spend what you want until the end of the year because, come January, we are putting a stop to the non essential spending. Several things will be going up in the new year. Gas for one...our state will be having an increase in the gas tax starting Jan 1. Prices have already started to climb. Also, water/sewer bill will be increasing too.

We had a lovely Christmas. Hubby got me a Nook Color...expensive...yes. I think he wanted to "even" things out since I finally gave in and told him he could get an aquarium. He has been wanting one for years and I finally said yes. I purchased a few things for him for under the tree too. He also got me some of my favorite perfume and a coffee gift card. We each received $100 from my grandmother. She does this every year for Christmas and birthdays. MIL also gave us each $25 gc to Kohl's. My mom and dad got me some kitchen things that I have been needing and my brother and sil gave us a great basket full of food items (soup/cookie/bread mix) type stuff and cookbook too. Yummy! My sister decided not do a gift exchange this year due to finances. Dh' niece and hubby got u a movie gift card which I think we will use this weekend. Our sweet dd1 purchased small things for dh and I also.....dh a ball cap and his favorite candy...me a coffee gift card and my favorite candy. We do not exchange with dh's brother or sister. Bil due to finances and sil just because she chooses not too. She does buy for our girls though.

Our girls were happy with their haul as well.

Typing all of this makes me realize just how lucky we are. We are truly fortunate!

My next post will be about 2011 goals....both financial and personal.

One more day of work and then off for a long weekend....my third in a row. Yahoo!

Good News

December 20th, 2010 at 05:19 pm

At our annual Christmas potluck at work on Friday, I received my bonus.....$1400! $200 above last year so I was really happy. This is from the two doctors (husband/wife) that own the clinic. I also received a $300 prepaid mastercard from one of the other doc's in the clinic also. Aside from the husband/wife team, we have two other female doc's in our office who are actually their own business but all of the staff works for them also if that makes any sense...basically they have their own bank accounts an just pay an overhead every month to the two that own the clinic so we are all one big happy family Smile I don't expect anything from the 4th one though which is ok...she is struggling with some previous business stuff and is a bit overwhelmed. A simple thank you will be enough.

I also found out today that dh will be getting a bonus also....it will be equivalent to two weeks pay which we will receive Jan 7th. He will also receive a $750 prepaid visa some time in Jan for not using his sick time. If you go the entire year without calling in sick, you will receive this bonus. Years ago, the company used to just pay you back whatever you hadn't used out of the 80 hours you were allotted for your sick time. They tried changing it around a couple of times (like not giving you anything even if you called in one time) but quickly realized if they weren't going to offer something for not using it, they were going to have alot of people calling in sick even if they weren't!

My bonus went directly into the savings account. I am going to use part of my visa card to purchase myself a Wii Fit. I have wanted one for some time now and several co-workers have it and really enjoy it. Dh's bonus will go into the savings account also. When we receive the $750 card, that will go towards groceries and gas since we will have to actually use it instead of being able to put it into savings.

I am so grateful for all of these extra's!

Have a wonderful day fellow bloggers!

The past 2 1/2 weeks

December 16th, 2010 at 02:22 am

Have been super busy and crazy. 2 1/2 weeks ago, I found myself in the ER with dd2. She wasn't feeling well that day but nothing too bad. By the time she went to bed around 9:15, she was in agony....severe abdominal pain shooting up her right side, hard to breathe, couldn't walk (was doubled over). I figured if I would have called her doctor, they would have told us to go to the ER anyway so we did. After a battery of tests and a ct scan the doctor felt comfortable letting us go home as we finally had a diagnosis. I had to take her for another test and then follow up with a specialist. Luckily she is fine and will just have to be followed for this issue for a while. I am quite curious to see all of the final bills. This is the first time we have ever had a deductible on our plan. We have been so blessed to have excellent insurance (and still do) but the plan changed a bit this year where they added the deductible and co-insurance for out patient serivces. We still just have a co-pay for office visits. I am quite sure with all of the tests ect, we will meet our out of pocket. I am just so thankful for the insurance. I work in insurance billing so I have seen firsthand what medical bills can do to a family. Our older daughter needed orthotics for her shoes from an ankle injury of over a year ago that just hasn't healed. Some of that was applied to her deductible and the rest came off my FSA account which is now officially zero.

In Christmas news, doing pretty well on that....still have a few things to purchase but they should be easy......all gifts have been paid for in cash! I am not hosting this year on either side so I will just be bringing a side dish or two to both gatherings.

Work has been crazy busy and I have come home each day just mentally exhausted. Time to start working on some healthy goals for 2011.

And finally, made a payment to the suv loan....we are now at $14,000 and are going to hit it hard in 2011 to get it paid off (thanks for the motivation creditcard free)!