Wanting what you have vs. having what you want......

I have spent many hours at the computer lately searching for a home for my husband and I. Homes are HUGE these days and HUGE translates easily into EXPENSIVE. Our first apartment together was less than 400 sq feet. We've upgraded to a rental that runs about 900 sq feet but we still don't have any air. Our longterm goal is to be debt free....not so shocking in todays economy but something we have been working on for a while.

I've read many articles on living debt free and living without credit cards and nothing annoys me more than when the article focuses on a family earning 125K/ a year who 'saves thousands' by downgradding cable and cell phone bills. I haven't paid for cable in years. We threw out our cell phones over three years ago. We share a car and its paid off.

I've been out there searching for different ways to save money and I am starting to think most of the advice out there is bunk and we've managed to get things down to a science. Now that we are planning on hopefully buying a home (the only debt we are willing to take on) I'm starting to focus on living more with even less. Less material stuff. We've amassed so many things over the years. I swore I'd never have storage but I do have a ton of stuff packed up at my moms house.

I think its good to store some things, christmas items and winter vs summer clothes. Utilizing some storage is just smart to save money long term. But you should not have so much that it requires to buy a bigger home. My goal is to start focusing on multi-use furniture, home items and ways of living.

I haven't scrap booked in years. I don't have the room to do it. All if it is packed up in a storage bin. Why? I say if I buy a tiny little home I'll carve up corner just for my crafts...well maybe I'll never get there so I'm going to start getting rid of stuff and find my corner somewhere......

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

I was at the flea market recently and picked up The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. There are two Flea markets nearby and each sells used paperback and hardback books. The one on the Southside (Myrtle Beach Flea Market) sells books for $1 a piece and the one on the north side sells them for 2-3$ a piece.  This is by far the best book I have read in a while. It has a great story line, the characters are very well developed and it is well told. I was extremely excited to see the add for the movie coming out and Salandar on the front. The character they created in the movie looks exactly as I would have imagined Lisbeth to look. I'm excited to go see the movie.

Lisbeth Salandar is one badass chick. She has tattoos, doesn't take crap from anyone and rides a motorcycle. How awesome. She is also wicked smart with computers. She is strong, confident, and also childishly stubborn and insolent. She is a great character.

I am going to get the next book very soon. If I return this one to the where I bought it on (NMB Flea Market)  I get a credit towards a new book!

Penelope Garcia is totally my hero

I watch A LOT of Criminal Minds reruns. I can work from home sometimes so I often have reruns playing in the background. Penelope Garcia is the techie analyst on the show and she totally and utterly rocks.She is smart, rocks the most awesome of clothes and as I've read several times today totally lets her "Freak flag fly". I like that. My freak flag is hidden under my gray business suit. Blech.

Just playin around with some old pics I took.

Cloud bouncing - Sky Jump Las Vegas

Anyone want to cloud bounce? Have you seen the 'ride' in Vegas where you jump off the roof of a building? Its like bungee jumping without the bounce. I would love to try that. I may have to take a trip to Vegas jut for that!







Click here to getImages &
Clouds Pictures - Pictures

Zombie vs Unicorns

I picked up this book at the store last week and flipped through it. I didn't buy it but I do plan to return and purchase it. I haven't decided what team I'm on. Zombies totally rock. Have you seen the Walking Dead? Zombies just rock they are awesome, they crawl they creep they take over...on the other hand they are smelly and gross. Unicorns are totally awesome they are lively and sweet and pure. Plus, they can have rainbow colored tails (well if WANT them too, right?).

Plus you can RIDE a unicorn!! I guess you can ride a Zombie but that seems like a bad idea since they are kinda sticky.

Hmmm, leaning towards Unicorns..........

Sweet Little Flower Mush

Sweet Little Flower Mush, a photo by Stumbelina on Flickr.

Walk in the park

When I go through these phases I fancy myself a photographer. We went for a good hike this weekend and I got some great photos of this flowering mushroom. I'll try to post them tonight. They are just so pretty. It was great being out in the woods, walking, climbing trees like kids. I need that more often. I got a whole (mostly) Saturday to myself. I had to work on some paperwork for a few hours Saturday night but it wasn't so bad since I'd actually gotten to go out and explore a bit during the day.

Worn out

I had a very long trying day today. I'm worn out. On the upside I got a follower to my "I See A Douche" blog. My ipod touch also crapped out on me again today. It keeps giving me a 1600 error. I have no idea what this means and I can't get it working! Blech.

It was beautiful outside today which made it difficult to stay indoors and work. I worked though till 8pm. It was a looong day. Today would have been a great day to go hiking or biking. Now it is dark out and it is late and I'm worn out - off to shower the day away.

Peace & Love,

Stumbelina

My Heart Skips A Beat

Just stumbled across this video...this is great..

I See A Douche!

I've been joking around with my husband for months that I'm going to start a "Douche" website and load it up with photos and things I see that are the obvious result of douchiness (made-up word score 1 point!).

I decided to go ahead and do that today. I started a second blog, check it out and email me any pics you see of utter douchiness.
 I See A Douche!

Mondayitis

Well I'm back at work which is only confirming my deep dark feeling that this is just not right.....I love my co-workers they are a lot of fun but this is not how I want to spend my life....surrounded by stacks of paper and folders and highlighters and things that are "URGENT". Blech.

I once had a client stalk my voice mail.  It was one of those awful days that has you running around and I was with other clients and had a huge presentation due and could not get to my voicemail. I checked my voicemail to find no less than 4 messages telling me it was urgent I return her call, each message getting more frantic. I thought the sky was falling in and I felt horribly that I had been so busy. I called her back only to have her say " I just wanted to tell you I was going out of town."....WTF! That seriously could have been left on one of the four voice-mails.

What is the worse "non-emergency" emergency a client has brought you?

Starting..........

Hello!


I haven't exactly decided what I plan to accomplish with this blog. I may not accomplish anything other than sharing my random thoughts with you but for some reason today I felt the need to get on here and do this. I've been away from work the last few days (finally decided to take a real weekend for myself) and the longer I'm away the more I realize I truly don't want to return. Now, honestly, I have a great job and a great boss but its stressful beyond belief. As Myrtle Beach is a relatively small local community I'll keep identifying information to myself. I'm grateful to be employed so I can't complain about having  a job but I'm exhausted day in and day out and spend so much time and energy worrying about how things are going in other peoples (clients) lives that I'm not getting to spend the time and energy I want in my OWN life.

I periodically go through fits where I fancy myself an artist but really I have yet to find any one thing I'm truly skilled at. I've dabbled in photography, greeting cards, blanket making.... This weekend I've been dreaming of being a hippy selling blankets and brownies and floating around on a cloud.....anyone else feel they are slowly dying inside their office?

Well, for now, this is the end of my first Myrle Bitchin' blog...hopefully I will find some friends willing to join me in my random musings and that will help my dreadful weeks go by a bit better or possibly help me find something that allows me to focus on me and my family a bit more.

Peace & Love,

Stumbelina