Mishmash Musings

I snapped a bracket right off of one of my lower teeth this morning!! I was eating leftover pizza (cold and a little hard), and just as I bit into the crust, I felt the bracket come loose.

This being Sunday and all, I tried putting orthodontic wax over the loose bracket to see if that would prevent it from cutting my lip or bothering me. It seemed to work as far as protecting me, but it was still annoying to have that thing sliding all over the place on the archwire.

With this being the holidays, I figured I’d have to wait until the middle of the week (at the earliest) before getting an appointment to have the bracket replaced. However, I decided to call my ortho’s answering service just for the heck of it.

It turns out that he go back in touch with me within an hour, and said he would come in and open up the office just for me — as long as I could make it there right away.

I couldn’t believe that he’d do that, but of course I jumped at the chance. I went there, sat in the chair for 20 minutes as he replaced the bracket, dutifully listened to him chastise me about eating carefully, and went on my way. He didn’t even charge me for his time!!!

What a stand-up guy, huh? I never expect that kind of service from people anymore, so I was extremely surprised and pleased to have things work out like this. Wow!

With just a couple days left in 2007, I’m already thinking about the resolutions I want to make for the new year. It seems that I always have the same goals year after year — mostly because I end up not reaching those milestones! So I’m going to make some adjustments this year, maybe lower the bar just a bit to make my resolutions achievable.

In addition, I’m going to move away from money/work-oriented goals and work hard towards improving myself as a person. I’ve done a lot of soul-searching in the past few months, and I’m definitely not happy with where I’m at in life. I need to change some habits now, be more productive with my time, and start accomplishing things.

Also, putting the past behind me once and for all will be something that I’m going to address big-time in 2008.

I look forward to the new year!

I’ve been having several problems with my home computer network in recent months, and have finally decided that I’m losing too much time (not to mention productivity) dealing with the same issues over and over again. It’s time to bite the bullet and replace some hardware so I can get back on track with my home business.

Anyway, I don’t have a lot of money to spend here, so I’m thinking of buying used computer hardware instead of new. I’ve never done this before, but have heard that there are great deals to be had out there.

For example, buying a used cisco or refurbished router instead of a new one could save me anywhere from 50 to 75 percent or more, depending on where I get it from.

With the post-holiday budget crunch we’re going through right now, that kind of deal is just too good to pass up!

First we had Paris, Lindsay, and Nicole; now you can add Mischa Barton to the list of Hollywood starlets who have been arrested for DUI.

I just read an AP report that the former star of The O.C. was arrested earlier this morning for “investigation of driving under the influence of alcohol, driving without a license, possessing a controlled substance and possessing marijuana.”

The actress is scheduled to appear in court on February 28.

Hmm, it seems like life really does imitate art here, as Barton’s O.C. character, Marisa Cooper, had major alcohol problems of her own on the teen drama.

What’s going on with all these young women???

I just wanted to pop in and wish everyone a very Merry Christmas! I had a wonderful dinner with my extended family yesterday, and a quieter, more relaxing day with my immediate family today. My son has been playing with his new toys all morning long, and is finally ready to take a bit of a nap, so I’ve found a few moments to get on the Internet and check things out in the blogging world. Later, my mom is coming over to babysit so my husband and I can go catch a movie.

It has been an amazing holiday for us — stress-free and perfect. I couldn’t ask for anything more!!

So, what do you like to give as stocking stuffers? Different families have different traditions about how to fill their Christmas stockings, which I think is interesting. For example, some parents put fruit, nuts, and/or other snacks into their kids’ stockings. Others fill it with necessities like toiletries, socks, or underwear.

In my family, everyone hangs a stocking (no matter how old they are), and we fill the stockings with more fun stuff like small toys, games, or whatever. So little Johnny isn’t going to find a toothbrush in his stocking and Gramps isn’t going to find his filled with adult pads. Instead, they might get new headphones for their iPods, a video game cartridge, a CD, or even a watch.

I firmly believe in giving fun stuff for Christmas, and as long as I can afford to do so, I won’t use this time to give my son things that he actually needs, such as clothing. This is a time for extras, and I feel blessed that we’re in a position to handle the holiday this way!

I want to take a moment to send birthday wishes to my old friend CM. We were best friends in high school, and though we’ve drifted apart since then, I still remember the good times and wish her all the best. Our correspondence has dwindled down to a couple of emails per year, but that’s ok. The fact that we’re still a part of each other’s lives in some small way is what really matters here.

Wow, 34 years old now…. Did we ever think this day would come? (Obligatory obnoxious b-day gif to follow):

The nationwide mortgage crisis continues to become increasingly worse as the months roll by. Adjustable mortgage rates are rising, which is making it impossible for tens of thousands of people to pay their monthly bill.

Now I just read a news article about how people in what was once a solidly middle-class area in Southern California have pretty much thrown in the towel. They’ve taken their camping gear and set up a tent city with over 200 residents.

A tent city? Like during the Great Depression? Yes.

How horrible is that?

Plus, there are other effects of the mortgage crisis that I never even thought about before. For example, in some neighborhoods where an estimated 60-70 percent of the homes are boarded up, gang members and other criminals are squatting in the vacant houses. This brings down the entire area and endangers the few homeowners left behind. Crime rates are up, as there aren’t enough police officers to handle the load.

I can’t believe how bad things have gotten. It’s high time for the government to step in and provide some sort of relief for struggling homeowners so things don’t get any worse than they already are!

Every night before I go to bed, I make a task list of things I need to get done the next day. I include nearly everything on this list, from writing assignments to exercise sessions to TV programs that I’m going to watch. On any given day, my list could have 10-15 tasks on it.

I used to be good about knocking everything off the list every day, but for the past couple of weeks, I’ve been letting things slide. I don’t know if it’s just the season or what, but I haven’t been nearly as productive on a day-to-day basis as I’d like.

However, since I’m still getting the absolute minimum done, I’m not going to beat myself up over this too much. I’ll just take it easy for the rest of the year and then come back strong in 2008!

Remember my post from two weeks ago about how I was going to use my Nintendo Wii as a fitness aid? Well, I thought today would be a good time for an update on how that whole plan is going.

I’ve been playing for 30 minutes every day for two weeks now, but unfortunately I have yet to see any weight loss from this endeavor. As I said in my original post, I’m not doing anything else differently. I haven’t been taking any Miracle burn or other supplements, haven’t been going to the gym or counting calories. I’m still eating the same things and exercising the same amount as before; the only change is adding 30 minutes of Wii Sports to my daily routine.

I figured the Wii weight loss thing sounded too good to be true. I’m going to give it a couple more weeks, but if I don’t see any improvement, I’ll probably just abandon this experiment.

On the bright side, I’m getting pretty darn good at Wii Bowling and Tennis!

I just read that Netflix and Blockbuster combine for a total of more than 10 million online subscribers who order their DVDs over the Internet and get them delivered in the mail. This number is mind-boggling to me, as I didn’t like either service when I tried them out. When I’m in the mood to rent a movie, I want to watch it NOW; I don’t want to have to queue it up and then wait a couple of days for it to get delivered.

I do realize that depending on the plan you have, you can save money by doing this online thing. But it still seems like far too much of a hassle for me. I would rather go down to Blockbuster (or Hollywood Video), browse through the aisles, grab my movies and snacks, and then go home to settle in for the night.

Online shopping is one thing, renting DVDs online is something completely different. I can’t get used to it!

My husband received word not too long ago that his overtime hours at work will be drastically reduced in 2008. I know they say you can’t count on overtime pay when calculating your household budget, but when the hours have been there for more than 3 years, it’s hard not to start depending on that extra money. Needless to say, this is going to be a major blow to our finances, so we’re going to have to start cutting back wherever we can.

I’ve already looked into the usual ways of saving money. From this point forward, we’re going to spend less on entertainment, restaurants, clothes, cable, and our cell phones. That will get us much closer to where we need to be in terms of monthly spending, but I’d be a lot more comfortable if we had some extra breathing room. That’s why I’ve decided to look into refinancing my car.

A couple of my friends have talked about auto refinancing, so that’s how I knew it was a possibility. I started checking around on the Internet, and found a company called FinanceGenius that offers advice and tips about the various Bad Credit Car Refinance services out there.

FinanceGenius has very useful articles on their website that helped me understand exactly what would happen during the refinancing process. I learned some valuable information, including the fact that even refinancing for a nominal 1% difference could save big money over the life of my auto loan.

I spent some time looking around the rest of the FinanceGenius website and saw that they have the same types of insightful articles about how to save on mortgages, student loans, and insurance, as well as tips for improving bad credit. In other words, this is an excellent resource for people who are trying to get their household finances under control.

If you want to start the new year on solid financial ground, then I recommend visiting FinanceGenius.com today. I’m sure you’ll find the site as useful as I did!