Back to Blogging

I know I have been bad about blogging for a while, I blame Mafia Wars - a game on Facebook and MySpace. Whenever I had a spare few minutes I'd play that instead of blogging. Shame on me... But I have deleted that program so hopefully I will be more consistant with the blogging.

Just to catch up, I think everybody knows about my belly swelling to the point I thought I was 4 months pregnant. Turns out it wasn't but I don't know what exactly happened because my ob/gyn didn't tell me (as he only communicated with me by leaving voicemail messages). All I know is that my tests are all normal. But my belly has started going down since I got my monthly a couple weeks ago.

I am having my wages garnished for the next couple of months due to an old student loan from about 20 years ago. But since I am not taking martial arts for a few months - the money I save there will compensate for the garnishment. So I guess it's not so bad. Though it's not a particularly great thing to go through.

Jazzmin will be going to public school next year. I've finally come to the conclusion that the education she gets at Holy Rosary is no better then public school. Additionally, I don't like most of the teachers at Holy Rosary and don't have confidence in their ability to teach effectively. Most seem a bit off between the ears. It took a while for me to decide that public school was just as good because Jazzmin did have some good teachers in the begining. I liked her kindergarten and 2nd grade teacher - Jazz and I had decided maybe it's that she gets a good teacher every other year. But then 3rd, 4th and 5th grade teachers have not impressed me or were just bad. I don't need to pay for crazy - I can get that in public school for free. I checked out the state testing of the public school in my area and they do moderately well in english and above average in math. So they're at least as good as Holy Rosary - maybe better.

I feel like a prisoner waiting to get out of jail when it comes to Jazzmin finishing this school year. I will be happy to not have to take a train to her bus stop anymore. We'll get to leave the apt. later in the morning as a result. When I come home her after school is at taekwondo - so it's a 5 min walk from home. Instead of taking 2 buses to get home with approx 20-30 min travel time. And by going to taekwondo 5 days a week she'll go up in the ranks faster then she has going once a week. Plus Jazzmin always has this extra energy to burn after school - so being in taekwondo will tire her out and I'll pick up a mellow version of my daughter.

And let's not forget the fiscal liberation as a result of Jazzmin being in public school. I plan to pay off all my bills while also saving money to go to Korea the summer of 2010. I will also put more money into my 401K. But all this has to wait until the end of June. Sigh.

OK, that's it for now - I'm all blogged out.

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Se7en's Music Video Featuring Lil Kim

This is the first English MV by a Korean artist named Se7en. He's wildly popular in Korea - winning about 9 Korean grammys to date. It's a really good song - I hope his album does well. Maybe if he succeeds some of the other great Korean artists can cross over (TaeYang, Big Bang).

Se7en Girls Music Video Ft. Lil Kim

Jazzmin's Basketball Playoffs.

Saturday Jazzmin had her first "play off" game in basketball. Oddly enough - even though her team lost a majority of their games, they are the winningest team in their division.

It was a good game - even better is the fact that they won by 10 points. They were in the lead the entire game. The other team had issues getting the ball to their basket and when they did - the baskets didn't go in.

Her next playoff game is this Friday - thankfully it's not on a Saturday so she doesn't have to miss dance class again. Her grandmother will be taking her to the game on Friday, but I'll be sure to keep you updated on how her team is doing!

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Michael Stuart - Younitenow

Michael Stuart's tribute song to Barack Obama...

Jazzmin

Jazzmin's last basketball game was this past Saturday. The defense was snoozing on her team and they lost as a result. Her Grandma Simon came to watch - we were surprised she came! Nice of her to come to the last game. It turns out they won enough games to make it to the playoffs. Who knows when that will be - hopefully I get the info. soon. Hard to believe they made it to the playoffs since they lost 80% of their games. Oh well.

Jazzmin started participating in gumdo and she's really enjoying it. She got her very own wooden sword (mukgum) last night while waiting for me to get out of class. She's very excited to use it this Saturday when she has her gumdo class.

I am going to be taking her out of her catholic school starting next year. I don't think that this school is giving her a better education then a moderately performing public school. In fact, the public schools might be a step up from what she has now. I don't have faith in most of the teachers as educators there - it seems like they're just there to collect a pay check. If the public school is comparable to her catholic school and it's problems - at least this way I won't be paying tuition every month for it. I went down to the dept. of ed. enrollment office today to get the ball rolling on this. At first the lady told me that Jazzmin had to be there to enroll. Then she went in to the office and spoke with somebody and I was told all I have to do was have Jazzmin's school fill out the form she gave me and drop it off. And I didn't have to have Jazzmin with me to drop it off. I like 2 of the schools available and the other 2.... not so much. Am really hoping I get the school I want. I will get a letter in the mail in May letting me know which school she got into. Either way - she's guaranteed to get into one of the schools. I had gone down to a charter school yesterday to apply - the school is excellent, but I don't know how I am going to be able to pick her up from there even if they have an after school program. Most places want you to pick kids up at 6-6:30pm and I wouldn't be able to get there until 7pm at the earliest. It's not near any train station - you have to take a bus. So I am not sure if she can go there, but I would like her to.

Well, that's it for now re: my Jazzmin update.
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Affect or Effect?

Remember last year's science fair project where you guys were very vocal about how I should've put Effect instead of Affect on her triptych? Well this year I made sure to put Effect and not Affect but Jazzmin's TEACHER made her change it to Affect with an A.

I asked Jazzmin if she wanted me to write a note to the teacher letting her know that Jazz had it correct the first time, Jazz really doesn't want me to do that.

It doesn't matter so much anyway, she got above a 90 on the grade and was one of the 3 chosen to actually participate in the science fair. The teacher made everybody do a project for the science fair but only chose the best to participate.
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Last Friday I became the victim of fraud for the first time in a long time (last time was in 1991 I think). My e-mail is connected to my cell phone so when I get an e-mail, I am notified. As I typically do, I checked the e-mail on my phone in the morning as I watched the morning news. I noticed I got 3 e-mails alerting me to 3 charges made via PayPal. The total of the 3 charges was approximately $550. I was stressing out - as you can imagine. I was able to change the password to my paypal account via my cell phone before I got into work.

When I got to work I checked my bank account and much to my surprise, the money hadn't been deducted from my account yet. Paypal's delayed processing of charges really worked in my favor. I called the vendor that was sent a payment and left several messages - but they are on west coast time so I had to wait to speak with them. Next I called paypal and they started an investigation. Then I called my bank - I had my bank card canceled and asked for a new one sent. As I took my bank card info off the paypal account I noticed that my bank account number was also linked to paypal. So I called the bank back and asked what I could do to safeguard myself from the charges going through and he suggested I freeze the account. The vendor finally called me back and was very cooperative about refunding the fraudulent charges. Phew. I decided to keep the freeze on my bank account until Monday - figuring the refund would be reflected in my paypal account by then and I'd be safe.

Thank God I kept my checking account frozen because on Monday the fraudulent charges were presented to my bank and declined. I was surprised because I thought I had taken steps on Friday that would've avoided the charges getting to that point. I know I'd have gotten the money back regardless but waiting for paypal to get the charges reversed is time I don't have.

I feel so fortunate that I caught these charges so quickly and was able to take action fast enough to avoid major issues. It's unfortunate that the criminal likely got away with the crime. He/she purchased online music so he/she already got the merchandise. I don't know how they'd even go about catching the person.
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Snuggies are Stupid

That's right, I said it - I think Snuggies are stupid. It seems as though I am in the minority regarding this, when I start to mention my annoyance with it people's eyes light up as if they're anticipating I'm going to say something nice about it and they're eagerly awaiting to agree.

They look stupid and has anybody ever heard of a BATHROBE?? I guess what really bothers me about the snuggie is the commercials act like they solved this major problem. As if they created this new and major invention when all it is is a long, backward bathrobe. You don't have to wear a Snuggie and look like a strangely dressed monk in order to be warm. Like the Snuggie - a bathrobe doesn't fall off when you want to read, answer the phone or get up from your seat. Amazing how that works out, isn't it? Every time I see the commercial for these I just think it's ridiculous. Wear bathrobes people, BATHROBES!
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Flight Deck

The Argyle Sweater

The Argyle Sweater

Hillary - Dad's twin

This is a photo, courtesy of Vallerie's facebook profile, of Mom and Dad at Uncle Bruce's wedding. Could Hillary look ANYMORE like Dad? Wow! Practically twins.

Sign of Weightloss!

I ordered a couple of stretch pants online - but was concerned as to whether they'd fit. I'm a size 10(ish) and these pants are the combo size of 8/10. But since they were stretch pants I thought I had a shot of fitting. I am happy to report that they FIT! Granted it'd be nice if I lost an inch around the mid-section, but oh well.

I am happy about this because I'm taking this as a sign of my weight loss progression. Hopefully I will soon lose even more weight! Really, if I could just lose my belly I'd be a happy girl - regardless of what clothing size that puts me in.
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Malcolm X

I was speaking with another mother from Jazzmin's school about how the only thing they teach about the civil rights movement is Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rosa Parks. Ignoring all the other things that happened during that time and the people involved. It came up because for about the 4th time in their career at this school they have to write about MLK once again. Never learning anything new - just re-hashing the same facts they already knew about MLK.

Malcolm X is a hero of mine - probably the only person in history I look up to. Which is not to say I don't appreciate all the other great heroes in history - but he is the only person who evokes my sincere reaction of admiration. So today I bought a children's book for Jazzmin so she can read about Malcolm X, since I'm sure her school won't. Here is a video of Malcolm X below.


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Finding A Way Out of Debt

An idea occurred to me over the holiday break re: how I can get myself out of debt. I've opted to take money out of my 401K, once I pay off my bills with that I will increase the amount taken out of my check going toward 401K. I will put an additional $100 a month in my 401K and with my company's matching program my job will also put an extra $100 a month in. So basically my job will be helping me pay myself back for the money I took out to pay my bills. Not only will doing this rid me of the hastle of paying bills every month but I won't be paying their APR rates.

With my bills paid off I will have a decent amount of money to live off of and there will be no temptation to charge on the cards I paid off. My desire to not have to pay a bunch of vendors ever payday far outweighs my potential desire to buy things. And now I am in a good place in my life where I have a decent amount of clothing that I actually like - so no temptation to clothes shop when I don't have the money available. I've got my apartment decordated and to the point where I really have to stop no matter what I want because then it's going to start to look 'over' decorated. So no temptation there - and those are my primary temptations.

There's an old SNL skit where the mother bought this new financial budgeting book that is one page long. All it says is - don't spend money you don't have. Everytime a family member wonders aloud whether to take a loan out for a boat or whatever they refer to the one page book, "don't spend money you don't have". OK, not the most funny skit you ever saw but it's extremely sound financial advice - advice I plan to take.

Most of miy debt was really incurred when I was broke and not necessarily because I couldn't resist the urge to shop. But having my bills all paid off - I won't be broke and thus, I won't need to go into debt and have to pay off credit/store cards again. In a way I feel guilty about withdrawing money from my 401k account but on the other hand I have also made plans to pay myself back. So as long as I stay on the plan of paying myself back it will be all good!
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