Out With A Bang

Well, not really. What I'm trying to do is make the most of my "mini vacation" from work by getting organized (and by watching slash listening to random vlogbrothers on youtube). So I've finished my laundry (washer AND dryer both free and all hanging-to-dry clothes put away) and changed the sheets on my bed (ooh, so prettily made now! Not gonna sleep in it until tomorrow because I like to enjoy it for a day. Weird, I know). And I did a couple small things: took out the trash (it's amazing how much trash one can create by cleaning a room), put my "headboard" back (one of those large pieces of folded cardboard you use for sewing), made tea, and replaced the used up paper towels (I told you it was small). I also ate popcorn, which was delish.

I had a stack of papers to be filed away, which I managed to do. After I pulled my files out of the corner where I keep it (it should probably be kept elsewhere, considering how much I should use it and don't). I should probably put the wheels back on, too. That wasn't too big of a deal considering I had a stack of papers to file away already. I've even got all my receipts in boxes (I tried keeping them in my finance log book, but it made it way too thick).

The biggest thing I did was straighten up my "nightstand", which happens to be two black shipping trunks piled on top of each other (no, not the nifty ones like in old movies; black formed plastic ones. I had to put all my fabric back from my Christmas sewing, too, which involved moving the trunks. And the knick knacks I keep in front of the fabric on my shelves. In any case, my fabric is neatly put back where it belongs. And my nightstand is half way what I want it to be.

I spent a good part of last night (no, not tonight. It's still tonight because I have not gone to bed yet. I am speaking of the night of the 26th) getting myself organized for the new year. By myself, I mean getting my head-stuff on paper. Finances, mostly. Not my room slash surroundings. There is a lot I want to accomplish in the next year, and I have to be very disciplined. Which is kind of hard to do when you're depressed and all you want to do is sleep. And when you're not sleeping, you think of how long until you get to. But that's something I really want to work on.

I was going to make a separate "my new years resolutions" post, but why when I'm this much into it already? My first goal is financial: I want to pay my truck off. I am extremely close to doing just that. I could have done it by the end of this year, but I bought Christmas gifts instead. I have no regrets. I listed all my monthly payments and calculated what I have left over each month after making those. Realistically, I could have my truck payed off by the end of January. I am a shopaholic, so I know that it will be very hard to do. But I so desperately want to check it off my list.

Doing that would lead me to my second goal: paying off my small credit card. I am not going into detail with how much I make, how much I owe, and how much I spend. I will say that I handed my credit cards over to my mother so I cannot use them. I have not used them in a year. I know I am not where I wanted to be financially at this time, but I have successfully stopped spending more than I am bringing home.

I know my sister wants to become more financially responsible and we have talked a bit about it. To do this, we need to stop going on spending sprees. I have lots of places I love to go. And my guilty pleasure is books. I don't feel guilty about reading them, but I do spend a lot of money and not enough time reading them. I have plenty of alternatives to do other than shop. The obvious one being reading. Of course I have many crafts to try as well. And many TV shows on DVD to catch up on.

2009 has not been a bad year. Aside from having surgery and having Velma and Thistle pass, it went pretty well. I adopted a new dog, I got a new camera, I had a lot of time off work, I got close to the girls I work with, and I lost 30 pounds (ignore the fact I have put ten of it back on, because I'm still in the negative). Creatively, I did experience a slump. I wish I had created more, but I'm not going to dwell on it.

Etsy and Youtube are something I really want to get into in the new year. I want to sew and sell more aprons, because I love making them. I'd also like to see if I could sell a throw quilt or two, just to prove to myself that it can be done. My sister really wants to do a youtube thing, so I'd like to get into that with her. I've even started logging ideas.

I just realized this has taken me over an hour to write (mainly because I keep finding distractions) so I'm going to stop now.