Sunday, October 7, 2012

Jealousy

In today's society, there are many ways to cheat, flirt or act inappropriate towards another person that is not their significant other. People acting suspicious when they should be trustworthy. They may feel its completely harmless, when in actual fact, it's destroying the other person and making things worse.

People are naturally jealous. And it can be about a NUMBER of things.
Skinnier
Better job
Children
Relationships
Significant others

And many more.

But it doesn't help when people blatantly hide things to "protect" someone, because it just makes you seem more suspicious. Being jealous from time to time is normal...
So how do you deal with the jealous feelings you are experiencing daily?
What are the causes of jealousy?

Lets start with the causes.

The most common is your insecurity about yourself.
Another is suspicion.
and Finally, negative thinking.

So how do you deal with these jealous feelings?
First talk about your insecurities, and why you feel the way you do.
        Make sure you remain calm and continue to talk about your feelings and not attacking the person for how they are behaving. This results in fights, and unnecessary arguments that could have been avoided.

Second, try to think about things in a more positive way. Instead of going straight for "I will never lose weight" or "He's cheating on me" Come up with a more positive alternative. "If I exercise 3 times a week, it will take a while to see results, but I will feel better about myself."

Finally, Gain more information. This is hard and can either be a positive thing or a negative thing. The negative would be how you get the information. You could end up causing an even bigger fight, than just talking to a person calmly. So keep in mind, when obtaining more information, how it will effect things long term and if you'd like someone doing that to you.




$20 challenge:  I was working a lot this weekend and studying for a test... so sometimes life gets in the way.
October 6: 1.37 in Inbox Dollars
                  2.34 in App Trailers
                
October 7 (So far) 1.50 in Inbox dollars
                 .38 in Jing it
                 Total so far: 5.59. OUCH! Lowest yet... but I'll get back on the ball tomorrow! Maybe its time to head to ebay! :)

Friday, October 5, 2012

Biggest Challenge...

The biggest challenge anyone really faces is Change.
A friend of mine posted the other night about a lot of changes coming up in her life which started to make me think.
Everyone deals with changes on a regular basis. Some are minor, like a change of hours, some effect your overall life as a whole.
In the coming months I will also be experiencing many changes and with it, the challenges that lye ahead.
We are moving.
Bringing a new baby into our home.
Upgrading my daughter from the crib to a twin bed.
And quite a few others.
It's all about how you handle these situations that can make or break you. Obviously moving and bringing home a baby are stressful. I've moved enough times in my life and it does not get easier. And babies are just tough overall unless you have the best baby on earth. But if you continuously stress on these events, it is unhealthy. If you embrace the change, accept the challenge and hit it straight on, you can accomplish anything.
Over the last few years, I have learned this multiple times and even when you don't see a light at the end of that tunnel... there is one. It may be a tealight candle, but it will eventually turn into a big ball of fire.


$20 Challenge:
October 4th: $1.30 in App Trailer (use bonus name amoggio for 100 points for anyone who downloads it)
                    $30.53 in returned merchandise to target.
                 Total: 31.83
October 5th: SO FAR: $3.24 in App Trailer
                                   $0.03 in Google AdSense  
                                   $10.31 in inbox dollars.
          Use http://www.inboxdollars.com/?r=ref12471172 for a referrel to receive $5 instantly during sign up.
                                   Total: $13.58

Total Since October 1st: 83.11
Currently down 16.89 from my goal of $20 a day. To catch up I need to make the 16 by tonight or 36.89 by tomorrow night.



Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Budgeting

I am a extreme couponer. With us moving at the end of the month, EVERY cent counts.
So left in our budget after bills is 50 for groceries for a family of 3... with myself being pregnant (Before I was pregnant it was $40), 20 for eating out and $100 for gas for 2 cars a week. I certainly try to stay under these numbers. So total: 170.

We do budgets Thursday- Wednesdays (we both get paid Thursdays) I usually do my food shopping on Wednesdays because the deals are out for the next week and I can see whos is better.

Today I spent 41.54 on groceries after coupons and sales, and 107 on gas (filled both cars for the week possibly 2 weeks), and we had a groupon to our local restaurant yesterday that we used and had to pay tip for. So that was $8. Total spent this week was: 156.54

Total left: 13.46 :-)

That extra money will be put aside to help with our move at the end of the month.

For those who don't know, we are moving at the end of the month to a place thats almost 3 times the size of our apartment now! We're moving to a duplex about 10 minutes down the road. Just in time for baby! I have to say, I'm a little excited that I can actually do a nursery since this is our last child!

As promised, here's a $20 Challenge update!:
October 1st: $0
October 2nd: $0
October 3rd: $2.40 in returned bottles
                     $29.50 in selling my stockpile
                     $5.80 for an amazon gift card (these count only because it is money I can then use for                necessary products.)
                     Total for October 3rd: 37.70
So far I'm down 22.30, maybe I can try to make up for it tomorrow! 44.30 tomorrow? Lets hope!!

Please also sign up to do surveys (you dont HAVE to do them, but I'll get the referrel ;) haha)
http://www.surveysavvy.com/?m=5420424


If anyone is interested in learning how I coupon and can manage a grocery bill of $40-$50 a week, I can tell you how! Please comment with an email address, or email me directly. Or you can even shoot me a message on Facebook.
For those who think its ALL junk food. Today I bought:
4 Packs of Chicken
3 Steamfresh Bag meals
3 Personal Celeste Pizzas
28 oz box of Bisquick
2 Loaves of Bread
Pack of Tortilla Shells
Bottle of Juice
Package of Baby Carrots
3 lb bag of Apples
Bag of Peas
5 Bananas
2 packages of Oreos
Gallon of water
5 bottles of Propel Water
4 Bottles of Gaterade
6 Boxes of Cereal (Honey Nut cheerios, Cinnamon toast Crunch)
5 lb bag of potatoes
Package of Cookie Mix
2 Gallons of Milk
Curry Powder
I believe I'm missing a few things... But as you can see IT'S POSSIBLE TO BUY HEALTHY! (couldn't help the oreos on sale WITH a coupon! Double savings!)

Also, found this really cute shirt which I enclosed a picture of below! Thinking about buying it! haha



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Monday, October 1, 2012

Birthday Party!

Today starts my first day as part of the $20 a day challenge. So far not so good. But I do have a couple people interested in my stockpile, which is nice. So we'll see how that turns out.

We're moving at the end of the month to a place thats almost triple the size of our location here. I had been worried about where I was going to have my almost 4 year olds birthday party. Now I can have it at the new house!

We're doing a Brave and Tangled main theme because she wants to be Rapunzel for Halloween. But will have other princess items and crafts. I truly am excited to see how all of this will come together. The movie comes out on November 13th and her birthday party is the 18th, so it'll work out perfect.

I have a board on pinterest with some ideas of what I'm going to do, there will be a post when the time comes of pictures and ways to put a Princess party together.

I also had Grand Jury today, we go once a week or every other week. If it wasn't a waste of my time, its actually pretty cool! Real life Law & Order!

Well that is all for today.




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Sunday, September 30, 2012

$20 a day challege

Tomorrow (October 1st) I will be starting 2 challenges.
The first is I want to challenge myself for 30 days to make at least $20 a day. Whether thats surveys, selling inventory, teaching people how to coupon, or blogging with my Google AdSense, I'd like to make $20.
If anyone has any ideas, that would be surely appreciated!

Next is blogging daily, if not every other day.

I used to enjoy blogging a lot, and I have a lot to write about. Sometimes it will be stories, other times it will be posts about children, and even the occasional (ok, so maybe not so occasional... more like often ;) haha) rant. I love going off on rants and starting debates. So we'll see how this works out.

Well off to start looking up more ways to make $20 a day. Thank you for reading my blog!

)

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Lesson of the day: Never forget your angels.

I have been avoiding this subject since I started blogging.

After jumping on to baby center to check an article about my 2 year old and to jump on the community board for Nov 2008 group, a recent post to the August 2011 group caught my eye. It was official birth announcements. Now I once belonged to this group and since February have not logged back in to it. So I was a little curious as to why there were birthing stories already...and it was only May? So I read, and read, and started to cry.

Back in April of 2007 I found out I was pregnant with the baby due in February. It was a very stressful time, and we were told many things "youre too young" "you're not fit to be parents" and many more hurtful words (mind you both of us were over the age of 18 graduated from highschool and one class away from being done with a community college) My HCG levels were all sorts of screwed up and the baby was measuring really small (like 3-4 in stead of 6-7). So they told me it would be closer to March 3rd before I had the baby.
On August 23rd we went for an Ultrasound hoping to find out the gender and instead received a lot of bad news. We found out that I had miscarried the baby. But that there was another baby there, about 7 weeks and 6 days. We also found out that the heart beat was about 15 Beats per minute, instead of over 100. And there wasnt much amniotic fluid around the baby and to not hold our hopes up. We were scheduled for another ultrasound wednesday...the 29th. We went, and found out the babys heart stopped. We scheduled a D&C the 31st. I wrote something that day....

Disclaimer: These are my thoughts and feelings. They may be blunt. They may make you cry. Just prepare yourself. They are how I feel. I do not wish to be lectured on my feelings, so please, if you dont like it, please dont comment. Again they are my thoughts and feelings..and I just need to let out what I am thinking and feeling right now.
Through my entire pregnancy I have been worried...knowing I am doing something wrong...like not eating enough, not drinking enough. Not taking my pills everyday, but like 5 or 6 days a week. I feel like I somehow killed the baby. That its my fault. I feel like J is blaming me even though he isnt and he tells me its not my fault. But I feel like I need to be blamed because they were living inside me. I was supposed to take care of them and I didnt. I didnt just lose one, I lost two, in the matter of 16 weeks. I know that it is not my fault and miscarriages are more common than most people think, but I still hurt, I still feel like its my fault.
I am jealous looking into the eyes of a baby, or a child, and think, that could have been mine. I look at them and think why couldnt you have been mine? Why did I have to lose mine and they were able to have a happy healthy baby. One who they were able to see the gender at 16/17 weeks. They were able to feel it move around in their belly, and laugh when it kicked and show others. Have the baby shower and feel relieved and happy when they first hear the baby cry. I am jealous of those who can do that. Who yell at their children for eating too much candy, or not going to bed or listening. Who are teaching them how to write and read, and manners.
I am mad at those who just neglect their child and dont want them because I do. I want that child. I want to feel the love that they are not giving. I want to care. I want to hold and feel. But I cannot.
Babies are a precious thing. Something to cherish...something to hold dear in your heart. Even though I cant have the baby. I can have the memory of the first 16 weeks. The first 16 weeks sadness, happiness, and the coming together of family. Of saying to friends and family "im pregnant! i cant wait!"
I remember telling J how worried i was...because i knew he didnt want children, and that i would leave him so that he didnt have to make a commitment he didnt want, and i love the words that ring in my ear "im here to stay, so deal with it."
I cherish the memory of being told that my hCG levels are low, and that I need to be careful...that im producing two eggs, and that my body isnt completely registering im pregnant...then I have those few days of pure morning sickness, where I feel so bad that I dont want to get outta bed, and I know the baby is alright...
then im told i dont have to see the doctor again for a month because the baby is okay...only to find out...there was 2, thats why my hCG went up.
I even cherish the nurses words..."im so sorry".
In that last week I worked hard, hoping that I could change it, even though the doctor said nothing I would do is going to help...still I drank over 180 oz. of water instead of 64...still...i ate like a horse hoping it would help...even though I knew in my heart it wouldnt...but i had to think positive...i had to feel i did all that i could...for my self...for J, and for the baby. I tried all i could to save Hope. Even though it didnt work, atleast i know i tried. That helps with the feeling of it being my fault. It feels as though my life is falling apart. Like I dont know who i am anymore...and i need to get back on my feet. Im starting school, so that will help. Im going to get my associates degree. Im gonna come back from vacation and get a full time job. As well as work at the Wok. I am going to do it, because it is who I am. I am going to lose weight. get finantially stable..and maybe, j and I will get engaged when WE are ready. or maybe well try again to have a baby, and it will be okay. And WE will be ready.
I feel like ive been through so much, seen so much at the age of 20, a lot of which people do not know. Like 3 or 4 years ago, and the events that lead up to the feeling of today. The truth behind why I was scared to take that medication and did the D&C instead. Information that I am not yet ready to disclose with the rest of my friends...and keep it close to only a rare few.

We called those babies Hope, as a signal of the hope we had.

March 3rd 2008 (The day our baby was due), I had a very rough weekend, I had been drinking and I also found out a very dear friend of mines father passed away. So I thought I was very sick from the events that occured. I had gone to the doctor who took a pregnancy test and found out that I was indeed only 3 weeks pregnant. She was slightly confused at how I figured it out, and I told her "I got sick off chocolate chip pancakes" The doctor laughed and scheduled me for an ultrasound March 27th.
We found out there were two babies, but one wasnt developing. But the other one was fine with a beautiful HB of 119. They wanted to continuously moniter me and the second baby, so we had another ultrasound the 2nd of April. Heartbeat was over 164, and the other sac was not being reabsorbed or anything and they were worried theyd need to do surgery or I'd be delivering both. We had more U/S's, April 25th, and May 9th.
I had lost 8 pounds but the baby was measuring ahead of schedule and everything was hunky dory! The twin was also reabsorbed by V. My pregnancy was healthy, but my labor....a nightmare.
I was in ACTIVE labor for 41 hours. Before I had gone in I was in the hospital the week before she was born (day before she was due) and was having conrtactions 2-3 minutes long and 1-1 1/2 minutes apart...and I didn't feel a thing. Nov 18th, I felt EVERYTHING starting at 4am. We got to the hospital around 12, and my water broke at 1230 when she checked my cervix which had been 3cm dilated and 75% effaced for almost a month already.
I did it all natural for 36 hours, had 4 IVs, 2 internal and 2 external moniters, and 5 nurses, 2 drs, my mum and fiancee all telling me to do the epidural. 4 hours later, I finally needed to push. V slept the whole time! 9:02pm on the 19th, my beautiful little girl was born. But that wasnt the end. My placenta wouldnt deliver and the umbilical cord detached from the placenta. They had to physically go get it.

December 22nd 2010. I had been talking with my dear friend (same one as above) about her the similarity of symptoms she had and I had (she was due in April) I had been sick for like a week and was even sent home from work. It was weird that I could be pregnant though because I was on my period (finished that day) and I was also on birth control. But to ease my mind, I took a pregnancy test which came back positive. So I called the doctor, went in and like flying colors, a positive popped up.
They asked "when was your last period" which i replied "yesterday". So they flew me down to U/S and I found out I was 6 weeks and 5 days. But the tech wouldnt stop the U/S...then after 20 minutes, we finally found out what was wrong, the sac was too long for comfort...and she found it...A TWIN! Both heart beats were 108 and 106. Little low on the scale but for almost 7 weeks, not much lower than V. We also found out they were mono mono twins. (Completely 100% identical...and THE RAREST form of twins, that you can barely get pregnant with even with fertility).
So here I am freaking out, possibility of twin fusion and umbilical cords wrapping around the neck, being told I could have them as early as May 15th for the smallest chance of survival but definetely having them by June 15th. (Due 8/14). Work telling me to quit before they fire me for absence and to come back on a better note, and NO doctor talking to me because I had to be transferred to a safer hospital with a NICU.
January 25th...I had a feeling something was terribly wrong and I was scheduled for a preliminary and an U/S... I was about 12 weeks. It was the day where there was over a foot of snow.
"Theyre gone, arent they?"
"I'm so sorry"
"Both or just one. V survived mum."
"I'm so sorry... both"
I laid there, just looking at the screen. Hoping one of the heartbeats would just start beating. All the stress and pain I'd been in, it all ended but began all over again. The tears, the guilt, the confusion, the anger. It was like a swarm of bees. And no one had an answer, and still don't. February 2nd, I had a D+C. Today I still tell people I'm ok, and that its happened before, when really I'm dieing inside. I'd rather not be able to get pregnant than know, I will keep losing them.
To this day and even as I type this, I cry. Not for the most recent two, but for all.

Always remember your angels <3  I have 5 beautiful ones looking down on me.

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Seems things may be turning around....

I had my interview yesterday morning. It was for a wedding consultant for a limo service. 20 hours a week, but still, It's one step closer to my dream! Got hired on the spot and started today. It was AWESOME :) Didn't do a lot, kinda learned the ropes. But I love it :) Im even cool enough to get my own office with a phone with caller ID. lol.
I'm in school right now to be a Wedding and Event Planner. It's an online school, U.S. Career Institute of Technology (if you see anything that interests you, let them know I referred you.) It really is an easy to do school. Everythings online and I can do what I want, when I want. I've been in school since Oct 09, and I've learned a lot, but I'm still no where close to being done. I've done a little less than half the work.
I'm also getting my Tastefully Simple business off to a great start! We have this challenge that I've already completed part 1, but part 2 is a bit harder. I need to sell $600 more and get 6 more bookings by March 25th to be held by May 22nd. So we'll see...I'd really like too, right now I've already got 250 free business cards.

Hubs car broke down today, kept restarting...it was almost like stalling out every couple hundred feet. So thats not at the shop, so were down to my lovely little (big) minivan which guzzles gas. But it uses about the same as my little Rio, so I guess it's really not using much. It was recalled for the engine and if thats not the problem then its not free. If it is the problem, its free. Oh boy...lets see how expensive this gets.
V didn't nap today either. It was a long afternoon and she didn't go to bed until normal bed time either. We had a very late lunch (4pm) and so for "dinner" we had grapes and strawberries.

It's been BEAUTIFUL out! In the mid 60's. Windy as all today though. Almost knocked FIL hat off. I still haven't been able to get V outside though. Since I won't have a car tomorrow, maybe I'll take her to the play ground. Get her some fresh air while it's nice out. If anyone knows New England at all, it will probably be snowing by Monday.

Starting tomorrow, I'll start organizing this a little better. Do a daily reporting and then pick a topic, or story to write. How about it?
OH! You'll soon find out I'm a huge Disney fan, well I totally found this on amazon today!

YUMMY!


 Bought this               Need to buy this

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Starting a new....

I've been thinking about starting a blog for quite some time. I used to want to be in journalism and did an internship. I slowly learned that I did NOT want to be under someone else and I wanted to write about what I liked and not what someone was forcing me. From taking journalism classes I knew blogging would probably be where I ended up. No one to tell you what you can and can't write, debates come up, and of course the freedom knowing no one knows who you truly are.
I will probably blog about daily things or stories I've written, past events of my past in general. Some posts may be boring, others will make you cry, and some, will allow you to laugh with me. But its a journey we will take, together.


So here I am, sitting here while my daughter watches Aristo Cats. It's one of my favorite Disney movies, that of many. How can you not love the Disney movies? And how is it that Disney owns Marvel now. I wonder what's going to happen with the upcoming movies coming out. Like Captain America in July of this year.
Seems to me that there's going to be an uproar soon...
Anyone with a two year old knows how interesting life can be. My life is never one that gets easier. I love my life don't get me wrong. My daughter and fiancee are the two best people anyone could have asked to come into their life.
I actually just finished my daughters room this weekend, pretty exciting for me since I've been thinking about it for 7 months! V (her name is not V, but we do call her V) loves Tinkerbell. Everything about it! She loves tinkerbell more than the princesses. She knows all the names, has a coloring book, everything. So I figured I'd do up her room. Now we're not allowed to paint in our apt, which is common, so i had to think outside the box. So I got her a bedding set, curtains, pictures to hang, wall clings and strung mini white christmas lights on her ceiling. I did a few other things, but this is the jist of it. The lights and the purple curtains actually make her walls LOOK purple! Awesome interior decorating on my part. V comes in the room and spins around and says "its bootiful! so bootiful!" and touches the curtains telling me how pretty and soft they are. Even though shes only two, it put a smile on my face to know she loves it, even if it only lasts a year or so!
Some of the items I bought were:
















Well I believe thats all for tonight. I have a job interview tomorrow. Wish me luck!