Winding Creek Circle

May 1st.
My resignation took effect yesterday. I left the office, for the last time, at 9PM. I left with a very heavy heart. It took a great deal of effort to convince myself NOT to cry.

It was all so bittersweet for me. That was my first job, and I lasted five years. What was supposed to be a temporary money solution while I work got extended because I need to get married, I got pregnant, then I needed to support the family. Then I got promoted and work became something I really loved.

I guess it’s also bittersweet in a way that this is totally life-changing for me. Im not dreading staying at home - Im so looking forward to it. Time with the kids. Focus on me. Good stuff.

But when you leave a job that has so much memories - it hurts.I grew up there. I had friends. Too many happy and sad memories.

Bittersweet.
That’s what April 30 meant.

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My Wordpress is now upgraded to 2.5. Done without any problems because my hosting rocks (Well, actually my hostess rocks!). Thanks Amore

Now to customize this blog some more with plugins and a spanking theme.

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I finally got the chance to drool for some gadgets today. Forget about my search for the perfect furniture and kitchen equipments for the new house. If money wasnt an issue, I’d have the latest gadgets known to man. That is one area where the husband and I really agree on - technology and over-all geekiness. With scrapbooking (digital) as a hobby, a camera, printer, scanner, laptop - all high quality of course - becomes a need. I already have the Canon Digital Rebel (EOS400d) and a pink Dell Inspiron 1525 (customized of course). The scanner we have is a Canon Lide Scanner (flatbed). So other than a few lenses I want for the Rebel - Ive been eyeing the macro lens, I need a printer.

The question is, shall I go Epson or HP? (Ive been pretty loyal to Canon all my life but scrapbookers have been recommending Epson a lot).

The Epson R800 printer is a very recommended printer among scrapbookers - the only setback I have is their ink is quite expensive. I might convince my husband to buy me that though. Note that Ive been trying to convince him for two months already. I think it is bad timing with the house move and expenses piling up (in addition to my resignation). I like having to window shop online at Mpire.com as they provide comparison on prices on different shops.

And for somebody who downloads GBs of stuff on the web (mp3s, korean dramas and scrapbooking kits), I need an external hard drive to serve as a back up of my stuff. I pretty much have decided on a Western Digital My Book™ Essential Edition 2.0 (1000 GB) 1 TB USB Hard Drive - just waiting for a sale and the big baby will be mine :). I think I will get a 500GB for a back of the back up too.

There goes my gadget needs. I hope extra money will come in so I can finally buy them.

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That is me after getting myself my me time (surfing the web for half a day without interruptions).

I feel like I have caught up with “everybody” (my online friends) and accomplished many things. I realized how much I depend on the internet to keep me connected to the world. Sounds scary to think about it.

Anyhow, Im now updated with the news, my daily dose of Korean dramas, Hollywood pap, nursing forums, toddler center stories and surfed the web with possible scrapbooking layouts.

Im good.

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After 10 days, me time - minus the kidlets - at last.

Im now at the office trying to tie up loose ends before my resignation takes effect by tomorrow. My officemates are treating me out to lunch today and tomorrow and I plan to eat all the food I will have a hard time looking for once I retire to the ‘burbs again. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t regret resigning from my job - it’s just being a mommy without a nanny, taking care of two kids - I need a day off too.

So now, Im enjoying a bit of uninterrupted time of surfing the world wide web before I finally buckle down to work.

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Today is the day we are going to go broke.

We are supposed to buy a ref for the house and fans (we have three rooms and a living room with only one fan - how sad). And we are also supposed to have my eldest tested for his entrance exams in two schools we have narrowed down for him. I dont know if all this would push through though. I have a lot to do today - one of them to apply for internet and cable connection at the house and change all mailing addresses for our bills to our new one.

I think the list is endless. *sigh*.

Today is also the day I will try to convince a close family friend to submit himself to rehab. He has been hooked on alcohol for the longest time and we were all in denial that he is addicted and getting himself more hooked than ever - he was able to maintain his job and wasn’t really violent. However, things are spiralling down as the drinking spree has become nightly and he can gulp down one bottle of brandy in one night. He has been really depressed and alcohol was his way of coping. So he really needs to undergo alcohol rehab. I think we will be doing this the medical way and make sure he gets alcohol detox before we start on counselling and therapy. I dont know why he would be depressed as he has a very happy family but I guess you will never know what really goes in inside of him, right? It can be childhood issues, job pressures, identity problems - we really do not know. I just know being addicted to alcohol is like drug addiction as well.

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I have been talking about credit reports and how to take care of it, right? Well, when I last talked about it, I said I found a company that can erase bad credit report standings. What if it cant be erases? Tough luck, right?

Well, I did my research and it seems there is still hope. Even if you have bad credit report standings, it doesnt mean you will never get approved for a loan or mortgage application. You still can! You can still go to BadCreditOffers.com - it is a free consumer resource especially made for those who have less-than-perfect credit rating.

You can compare credit cards offers, home loans, auto loans, personal loans, debt relief programs and credit repair programs. You can browse by category, compare features side-by-side and with your choice made, apply online!

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Appetizer

Name something you would categorize as weird.
I find it weird that my daughter can eat butter alone - in fact, if Id let her, she can eat a whole box of it (can you say yuck as well? LOL)

Soup

What color was the last piece of food you ate?
Brown - I ate brownies.

Salad

On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being highest, how much do you enjoy being alone?
8 - when I want to work efficiently.
3 - when I need company Im a social butterfly when it comes to needing the company of family.

Main Course

Fill in the blank: I will _________ vote for ___________ in _______.
I dont vote in my country. I dont plan ever.

Dessert

Describe your sleeping habits.
Weird. I can function with 3 hours of sleep a day but can sleep 14 hours if I really want to.

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I learn something new each day. That is because I got the shock of my life the other day.

My financial loan got disapproved. Me, who has an above-average income with offers of pre-approved credit cards, got disapproved. How embarrassing. Actually, it was for a credit card application. I wanted to get that credit card because it gives triple reward points to a grocery I frequent so I figured why not use the reward points for mileage points (I so want to go to Cebu next year).

It was really baffling why I got disapproved when I have such a nice credit limit on a better card. So I asked around. It turns out they base it on the credit reports financial institutions (banks and credit card companies) give. Treat it like your report card on how-efficient-you-pay. I was late in making payments for two months in the last six months so I got a bad credit rating. Too bad there are no credit repair services here in the country.

Did you know in the US there are laws for Credit Reporting? There are two acts, the FCRA (Fair Credit Reporting Act) which was recently revised into the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACT Act), and the FDCPA (Fair Debts Collections Practices Act). These two acts were set up to protect your credit rights. In summary, all the reports financial institutions report needs to be backed up and proven, which is where you can take advantage.

If you want to repair credit reports (which are bad), you need to get a company that can handle it. They would ask you for your three credit reports and any bad report posted on it, they will dispute.Now, once they dispute it, the financial institutions need to answer or else the report will be nullified or disproved. Hence, your bad credit report will be gone. Usually, financial institutions dont even waste time proving the bad credit.

Credit Repair basically works like this: ” Any information on your credit report that contains inaccurate and negative information is noted, and then it will be removed.” Such is the beauty of companies who do the dirty work and research for you.

Now if only they have a company that works like that here.
It seems so unfair to get a bad credit rating for missing two payments when I pay in full everytime I can.

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One of the sites I usually go to when I NEED inspiration and thoughful insights in Zen Habits. I just like how he makes everything so simple and uncomplicated and make everything seem DO-ABLE.

This post did me in.

“Habit is habit, and not to be flung out of the window by any man, but coaxed downstairs a step at a time.” - Mark Twain

“Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.” - Jim Ryun

13 Things to Avoid When Changing Habits:

1. Taking on two or more habits at once. We’ve all done this. I want to learn to wake early, and to start running, and to eat healthier, and to be more organized, and to write every day … all at once! But no matter how much enthusiasm we have for all of these goals, taking on even just two habits at once is setting ourselves up for failure. I’ve tried it. Many times. It’s certainly possible, but it’s not for those of us who have difficulty changing habits (I think that’s nearly all of us). I would estimate that you triple or even quadruple your chances of success if you focus on one habit at a time, for one month at a time. Devote all of your energy to that habit change, and once it’s on autopilot, move on to the next one. Knock ‘em down one at a time. Continue Reading »

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