These are my confessions

I can't wait to get these off my chest, so here goes...

1. I always have something stuck in my head. A verse, a tune, a rhyme. Lately it's, "peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old." For no good reason other than I'm like five? 

2. You know when you're at work and you get an email that you dread reading? You're skimming through it and just seconds after finishing you get a phone call from the same person who just sent the email. And imagine that! They're calling to talk to you about their email! Ugh, what gives? Like could you just calm down and wait for my reply? KThanksBye.

3. I feel like I'm about as lucky as a hang nail. That doesn't really make much sense but if you knew how unlucky I am it sort of does. However, in mid-January, while painting an iridescent snowflake at Saratoga Paint & Sip with my mom and Shen, my brother's girlfriend, I won a free seat at another one of their classes! I am super excited and I already signed up for the next one. I can't wait to see how terrible creative it turns out.

I totally stole all of Shen's ideas in my painting - but copying is the best form of flattery, right?

4. I feel like I have the best and worst address ever. It's really easy to visualize it, but when I rattle it off, every single person who listens doesn't understand. That and because I live across the street from a post office. It never fails that on the day I just want to park in front of my house, the post office is crazy busy. And instead of customers just parking in the freaking parking lot, they park on the street in front of my house. I want to slash each and every one of their tires. Especially those of folks who park directly in front the steps. Really?! You couldn't just back the frig up?

Sometimes I try to wait out the person so that I can yell at them to use the parking lot, but Ryan is always quick to shoo me inside. Probably for my own good.

5. To top it off, I am a customer service rep's worst nightmare. I am that person. The one who raises their voice. The one who may drop the "eff" bomb. That person who is impatient, demanding, and otherwise a pain in your ass. I feel sorry for anyone who I get on the other line. But I have to say, I get shit done. 

Most recently, UPS tried to declare my house a business that's not open on public holidays. I called, bitched, was asked when I would like to pick up my package, and then asked to wait for a call back from a local branch. When I did get that call back, after a brief discussion the very nice woman  who called informed me that the driver thought my address was the post office, you know the one that's across the street, but that my package would be delivered that night and apologized for the delay.

It was totally worth being a pain for what came in the package though.

I feel so much better now! Tell me you understand. Tell me I'm not crazy. Please? What's got you murderous wanting to confess this month?

Another One Bites the Dust

Student loans can kiss it, because I just realized I've paid off a $12,000 loan.

Yep, $12,000. I feel like it's my birthday. Except it's in January. And I'm not getting any money.

Now, I've talked about student loans a few times, here, here, and here. But in case you forgot, Ryan and I started our marriage with a whopping $140,000 worth of student debt. That's the damage after scholarships, grants, and course fee waivers. What a joy it's been, investing in our future. 

But what an investment! I have two bachelor's degrees and a master's in business administration and Ryan's working towards getting his doctorate.

So in general, we use my paycheck to pay for our normal expenses, which include normal monthly student loan payments. To pay off our student debt ASAP, Ryan and I funnel his checks into paying off loans. Now, you may think that graduate students are very handsomely paid but I can assure you, they're not. In the least bit. 

In my very little free time, I like to recalculate the pay off dates for each of our remaining loans. The loan we're currently targeting is technically two loans and they are scheduled to be paid off on February 20^th. But since I'm all over managing our debt like white on rice, I went in today and saw this little gem!

One of the loans in the account is paid in full! I can't even begin to describe this feeling. It's superb.

Now, if only I could fast forward three years. That's when all of it but $28,000 in subsidized loans are left. Talk about a weight off my chest.

What are you looking forward to? Are you working on your debt?

Top Five Friday: Words

I'm not sure about your week, but I'd just like to say that I'm super glad this one is almost over.

Like so happy. That picture could be of me celebrating this week being over. Glitter and everything.

It's been a challenging week with my job. It's been tough getting used to the more difficult activities at physical therapy. And I've nearly been downright murderous trying to track my calories, sleep, and steps.

For now, I'm going to take a deep breath in and breathe out. Here's my top five things that have kept me going this week.

1. Something to make me smile.

2. Something to move me.

3. Something to inspire me.

4. Something to ground me.

5. Something to calm me.

What's been keeping you sane this week?

2015's Recipe Quest: Update 2

I'm sad to say that there's been a death in the LaBarge household. A true companion for the last two years, this hard worker finally broke.

It's my favorite cutting board and I couldn't bear to throw it away. I'm going to use my crafting skills to bring it back to a new life. Sort of like a phoenix, minus the burning.

While I mourn the lose of the best little cutting board that can't anymore, here's a list of what we dished up:

1. Sandwich Bread

I literally want to kiss the woman who posted this recipe. After two and a half years of trying, I made a fluffy white loaf of bread. To be fair, I gave up after the first year and have been too scared to try again. After reading the recipe was no knead, the part where I think my other breads broke down, I was on this like white on rice and thought about it for days. And heavens to Betsy it freaking worked. I'm making more this weekend. I'm going to experiment with adding some butter or sugar because it's a little "eh." Here's to not screwing it up!

2. Chicken Pesto Sandwich

Inspired by the picture accompanying this recipe, I made my own version of a chicken parm sandwich. One which involved the bread I freaking made, pesto, thick slices of tomato, and a mix of mozzarella and cheddar cheese surrounding a freshly cooked chicken cutlet. It tasted like heaven but would be an even better grilled on a panini press. I'm going to try that next time.

3. Spicy Coleslaw

I'm going to call this recipe a bust. I wasn't brave enough to try it and Ryan said it was pretty terrible by itself. He suggested adding it on top of a pulled pork sandwich but I'm not so sure. I still have tons of cabbage. What the eff am I going to do with it.

I was going to try one more recipe this week but a lack of parchment paper set me back. Total new recipes for 2015 is up to seven. Here's how the new ones shape up:

Keepers

- Nada - 

Keeping but Tweaking

Sandwich Bread
Chicken Pesto Sandwich

Weepers 

Spicy Coleslaw

Eat. Sleep. Work. Exercise. Repeat.

I found this list somewhere and I'm trying.

I'm trying to get more sleep. I'm keeping up with my water intake. I'm working out six days a week. I'm trying to read for fun. 

Damn, though, if it isn't exhausting. What do you think? Here's what I've got going on:

Monday: Work. PT. Eat. Sleep.

Tuesday: Work. Swim. Eat. Sleep.

Wednesday: Work. PT. Eat. Sleep.

Thursday: Work. Workout. Swim. Eat. Sleep.

Friday: Work. Bike. Eat. Sleep.

Saturday: Workout. Swim. Farmer's Market. Errands. Eat. Sleep. 

Sunday: Relax. 

Add in some nights when there's more work after exercising and it's just a blast. That list up there? Yeah, not everything gets done. But I'm checking off the boxes most important to me. 

So my house might have a little dust; my desk might be a little cluttered. Life's about setting priorities and making yourself happy. Right now, for me, my free time is exercising. Some days I might feel the urge to switch it up. But I make those calls and I do what's best for me. 

In the end, you can't be all things. In the end, all you can do is try your best. It's all we can ask of ourselves, right?

What's on your list? What are you working on this year?

Top Five Friday: Free Fonts

I'm really super excited to share these with you. I love fonts and really love using different ones to create printables for myself and to give away as gifts. It's super cheap and totally customizable. Total win-win!

Here's some of my favorite "dot" fonts. The best part? They're all free!

KB Fun House | Peggy Font | Janda Sparkle and Shine | The Classy Dots | Connected

What are some of your favorite fonts? Any you recommend?

These are my confessions

Let's get right to the thick of things.

1. Just about my favorite part of the whole movie theater experience are the previews. I get more and more excited as each new one plays. It's weird.

2. I thought Taylor Swift was singing about "Starbucks lovers" rather than a "long list of ex-lovers."

3. I think I'm lactose intolerant and I'm going to deny it hardcore. That smoothie I mentioned? Two hours later my stomach felt like a geyser ready to burst. Now that I think of it, that sounds gross. But it wasn't like that! I promise. It was just all this gargling. Today, I had cereal for breakfast and two hours later the same thing happened. Seriously though, I can't be. I will live with the terrible uncomfortableness for hours in order to eat and drink dairy. Let's see if I can go three for three tomorrow!

4. You know how some people are really great with movie quotes? I'm really great with Disney quotes. Like I can repeat the whole Lion King movie verbatim. I'll often say quotes from the movie under my breath in conversations. It may come off as crazy but eh, my friends love me.

5. Growing up, I taught myself how to use the Microsoft Office Suite. I spent hours just dicking around on it. It came in super handy at college and I'm like the Excel guru at the office. That's pretty cool, but I think about all the time I wasted invested. It feels kinda cool though when everyone comes to you with questions. It just sucks when you have eleven million things to do.

I feel like I was a little too "I'm wicked awesome!" in that last one. So tell me. What do you rock at? Anything you wanna confess to?