Today's prompt is "What are you sentimental about?" Photos, books, baby stuff, and Army stuff.
It is now 2:58 a.m. here. I am awake because I got too warm. Yesterday Caleb had his occupational therapy appointment. Looks like he will be graduating from that in early January. After his appointment, we went to Lowe's Foods to see if I could buy spices and herbs cheaper there. I wanted to be able to make more simmer pots, and it requires the addition of new spices everyday to keep the scent strong. I found some of what I was looking for in their new line of spices and herbs packaged in bags. It's cheaper than buying them in the bottle. I found a type of holiday candy that I have not seen since I was a child, and I bought some for Caleb. They had their fresh sausages on sale buy one get one free, so I bought some to cook at a later time.
I made ham, potatoes, green beans, and onions in the crockpot for dinner. It was a labor of love. The vegetables were fresh so they required care in prepping. The ham had to be cut to fit in the crockpot. It was not boneless, so it was a task. I put the bone and half the meat in the crockpot, and half the meat in the freezer for later. It turned out deliciously.
I had my follow up call with Shawn Martin from credit9 about my consolidation loan application at 4:30 p.m. He called on time. He told me he was able to get me approved. I did not get excited. I was waiting to hear the whole story. He proceeded to give me details on what he found on my credit report that he could "help" me with. I'm thinking, wait, what? He then goes on to say how he can "save" me money. He was trying to sell me into a debt relief program disguised as a consolidation loan. He never said I was not approved for the consolidation loan. When he finally got through his schpeel, and asked me if I had any questions, I told him very sternly and louder than my normal voice that this did not sound like a consolidation loan, and if it is not the consolidation loan that I applied for, I don't want it. Then he began to correct himself, having been caught. Well, no, you were not approved for the consolidation loan. I could have hung up then, but I didn't. He said but this is what we can do that will "Save" you money. I had a very loud discussion with him about how I have already been through the same process with Freedom Debt Relief and it hurt me more than it helped me. He wanted to know how and/or why. I told him about how I was pushed into a program not knowing that my credit score would drop to the 400's because they would direct me to stop making payments, to "make negotiations easier with the credit card companies." Not only would I lose all my credit cards in the process that were covered by the program, I lost the credit cards that were not covered in the program. 12 months into the program, I get an offer from the sister company of Freedom Debt Relief for a loan to make the debt payment process "quicker." I took the loan because I wanted out of the program with Freedom Debt Relief. They were going to have me pay them fees for "negotiating" a settlement for each credit card. I have negotiated settlements with credit card companies before. I could have done that myself and avoided the fees! The loan was a high interest bearing loan. I got myself into a position where I could refinance my house, and paid the loan off with the cash out. I could have saved myself the trouble of all of that work trying to get my credit score back up after that bullshit and the fees and interest. I would have done better doing what I was doing paying the credit card companies directly for all that time. I will never do that shit again. As a matter of fact there are now class action lawsuits against companies like Freedom Debt Relief in North Carolina for their deceitful practices.
I didn't give him all that information, but I should have educated him. I was too mad about him trying to pull the wool over my eyes. My face got bright red and started to burn. I was calm, but upset.
So, in short, I did not get the consolidation loan I was secretly hoping to get, but that's ok too. I can manage to get out of this debt hole. It will just take longer than it would have if I could have reduced the interest rate.
Today I have to go to Walmart to get some groceries to make the meals I have planned complete. I also am going to bring Donna her gift bag that I forgot to bring with me to Caleb's appointment. I am going to drive the Volvo (finally) to deliver her gift bag. She lives a distance away, so it will be good for the Volvo. I also want to stop by a jewelry store in Southport to have my Jack Storms ring fixed. The stone keeps falling out of the prongs. While I am there, I have to get my ring size to give to Aunt Lisa. I think she said she is going to have a one of Grandma's rings sized for me.
Today is Friday, and I have made it through another week. Time is flying by, and I have to make sure the things I want to mail out get sent in time for pre-Christmas delivery.
Overall, it has been a good week. I managed to get alot done. We have shelf stable food in the house, as well as fresh food, the bills have been paid, and we are spreading Christmas cheer early.
Bella is asleep on my bed. Caleb is asleep on the couch in the living room. Caleb has been preparing my bed for me at night, and tucking me in. It's really sweet of him to do. He told me out of the blue the other morning, "Mom, I love you." He asks for hugs, and I am teaching him that he can not demand hugs because I have the right to say no.
This weekend I am going to try to stay at home, so I want to do my running around tomorrow. I need to be at home to get cleaning done and work on the laundry. Besides, I am able to recharge when I am at home, and I have the simmer pot! The simmer pot helps me relax. It smells good, but doesn't make me hungry. I think it might actually be keeping me from eating as much. I drink it too. It's full of spicy, herbal, and fruit goodness. Yesterday I added 2 more cinnamon sticks because Caleb took the originals out, whole allspice, whole cloves, ground nutmeg, and almond extract in the morning. After we came back home, I added bay leaves, whole star anise, whole nutmeg, and whole cloves that I bought from Lowe's Foods.
I bought a women's whole food multi-vitamin from Swanson Vitamins. I like shopping there. I trust their products, and I usually can get what I need on sale. I also bought a blood sugar control supplement. So this is what I plan on doing: I am going to take the multi-vitamin, the blood sugar control supplement, one of the multi-ingredient weight control supplements, the Moringa supplement, maybe one or two of the single ingredient weight control supplements (for appetite suppression), and the supplements I take daily for fibromyalgia symptom relief, arthritis relief, and back pain relief. I am going to continue to take my prescribed medications. I am going to start adding bay leaves to most of my meals, as I have done with ginger root. I might start making tea from bay leaves or buy a bay leaf supplement. I don't know yet. I do know that I bought alot of weight control supplements and I can not maintain taking all of them at the same time because that is too many pills 3 times a day. So, that's my solution to that. When one runs out, I will use another. If I can take notes, I can find what works best for me.
I have not yet spread the remnants of the roses I bought for grandpa's memorial ceremony that I did at home. I would like to do that soon.
Caleb made his first ornament for his tiny tabletop Christmas tree today while at his occupational therapy appointment. I need to get out the art supplies so he can make more.
I guess I will start addressing these Christmas cards. I have run out of things to report. LOL
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