Archive January 24, 2014

Few people have the courage to seek out change. It’s for. the Total Money Makeover”. I am working on debt free. This is because I thought I had all the bases covered when I left teaching and could not teach anymore. I had all the doctors in agreement with my disability and my brain injury. I didn’t realize it was tied up in workmanship comp negotiations. I went for a years with no money coming in and $800 a month in health insurance payments going out. Not good. So now I rebuild and I pay off debt. I would have been better off I ha the house paid off once, but four years ago it flooded with the rest of the state. Every time I went to fix something, I couldn’t just fix it, I had to fix it and bring it up to code from the 1950s and as one thing got done another cropped up. What a mess and a new mortgage on the house…….luckily with help I never was in danger of losing the house. I had the payments payed up six months in advance. A little preplanning luck.
I didn’t seek out this change but a lot of things in the duplex go updated, and yes I had insurance even extra insurance. It paid nothing. So change is good even if it’s not sought out.

The rocking chair I made my grand niece Abby

I find things in all sorts of places that inspire me or assist me in moving one. When I find those things I am going to start posting them here under ” daily inspirations ” look for this heading if you need to think, moray, meditate, or inspire yourself. I will try to tell you where I found it but some are so,d old the source is unknown.
This one came from Weight Watchers Magazine 2014
Apply the 98% rule.
When it comes to putting shame in its place, a slight shift in focus can make a huge difference. “It’s human nature to obsess about the 2% of things in life that go wrong” says Albers. instead focus on the 98 percent that are truly worthy of celebration. Make a list of positive things in your life and revisit it often. Fight the shame game.
My list
I have a great support system in my friends.
I have a great immediate family who loves me.
I have a wonderful though challenging house rescued animals.
I have a roof over my head, food in the house, and I am not behind on any bills.
I am working on being debt free.
When I ask for help someone will always be there, but I have to ask. No shame in being dependent.

My yellow garden chair

Even though I get tired and have to rest a lot, I keep trying to go on, keep busy, stay active….but sometimes it is so hard…..

I am in the process of giving way my children’s library. I loved every book in it, I really did. It makes me sad. I kept some of my favorites…..sometimes it leaves this big empty hole.

My royal blue chair

I took the old metal cabinets and painted them too. They were done with one of those old fake staining kits. I couldn’t clean them anymore so I painted them. I also did the counters with one of those counter transformation kits. It’s didn’t turn out as nice as I had hoped. Since I did it the counter has yellowed in places and I should have sanded it more. But it looks ok. Then I painted the brick backslash.

I had to figure out what to do with the kitchen. It needed new flooring. So being on a major budget and being that I stick with “a coat of paint goes a long way” I went to the hardware store and bought floor paint. Then I had them mix paint to match the cabinets I painted. (the cabinets were old metal cabinets from the 50’s). The only thing I would do different is I would make the floor darker. I used a French vanilla and when I polyurethaned over it yellowed in spots. A darker color wouldn’t show the yellowing so much.

I had a pipe clogged and water would not come out of the tub faucet. To fix it the plumber has to cut a whole in the wall. This is beyond my fixing ability, but he put the pieces back as much as possible. One thing I learned when I bought this house, you can cover anything with wallpaper. I cannot even tell you what I found when I peeled the wallpaper the summer after Dad died. So I papered over it. When the budget is stable again it will get fixed right but until then the living room does not have a hole in the wall you can see. Lifelong learning. I am a teacher, always learning something

I started a photo site from shutterfly. I love Shutterfly. I spend money there, making books on photo books. I always have a coupon. If I don’t I go to The website ” retain me not” and find one. My life is zero spending and coupons coupons coupons. Even the heated outside cat house was bought with Kohls Cas! If you are interested are here my books and my photos.  teacherwendysclassroom.shutterfly.com

I have been slowly getting rid of my teaching possessions. It’s hard. I used to decorate the school on a monthly basis, do all the family activities, be the parenting and drug free schools liaison and a zillion other things. So I had crafts and decorations stored all over. That, besides my students, is the thing I miss the most. Today for instance I watered plants……I can’t even water the plants without making a mess…..dirt, pots…..FLYING.  With my brain injury came ataxia. I lose my balance, I do t know where my hands and feet are. We worked on this in physical therapy but it comes and goes.

The best way to work on projects with an injury is. Work and rest and work and rest and repeat until the project is done. Resting I have found out is important or I make silly mistakes. Napping is also important to renew energy. So when doing a project build that into a timeline. Saves a lot of discomfort and a lot of mistakes and the people around you are a lot happier.

I have been a teacher forever. Teachers never have much home time. That was a mistake I see I made a long time ago. Not having more of a life outside of work. The house has been neglected, the cleaning has been neglected and I have neglected myself. They say teacher have 10 weeks off every year. Well if you add teaching or working summer school, trying to cram everything in you have neglected for nine months of school and any classes you have to take to update your license and on top of that…..getting ready for the upcoming school year. That is an impossible schedule. Mine was impossible.

I guess now that I can look at my career In hind-sight, I wish I had put me and one of those important items in my life. Right now it’s looking kind of empty.

Oh well why cry over spilt milk, good question. Pick myself off brush myself off….and move on.

As I learn new things about what I can afford to do with the house, I will post that in my home classroom. Like I said, you always are learning something….

So my fiancé moved everything home to my garage and I started the long task of healing, being unemployed, having no money and feeling helpless.
Resale shopping and couponing. I am getting so good at these two things. Sometimes I find the weirdest items. I have no idea what they were once used for and I find lots of chairs to give a new life too.