Turkey and Savings

Well, it's that time of year again; the obligatory "What am I thankful for?" blog post.

This year it is very hard to find reasons to be thankful. I mean, I am thankful for my two cats (well, most of the time...although if it weren't for them, I probably wouldn't be here to type this.....) and I'm very thankful for my boyfriend who puts up with me. Poor guy.

As far as health goes, that has been a mess. I know I should be grateful I don't have something worse, but at this point, maybe something worse wouldn't be so bad if it either ended my suffering, or was treatable so I could enjoy life again instead of just existing most days. Don't get me wrong, there are fun, happy days where I feel slightly better than my "normal"...but they are few and far between.

I lost my job that I loved. I was finally in a good district. I loved the buses, and the kids, and my coworkers were generally ok. But my health caught up to me and ended it. Now, I can't even sit up at a desk for more than a few minutes without a lot of pain. I tried, and failed. Driving was what I really enjoyed, but even a non-commercial job isn't an option because there are too many days I would not be safe, and the last thing I ever want to do is hurt someone.

So I sit here. I am slowly selling off my possessions on eBay to be able to afford just to keep my car insured, but it's going to need tires, and at over $100 a piece...ouch. Why do I always pick vehicles with stupid tire sizes?

My Black Friday this year, usually my favorite day of the year, involves finding the best deal for toilet paper, batteries, and cat litter. Exciting.  :-( I would much rather be shopping for fun things, like a new wifi DVD/BluRay Player, or a sound bar, or a new laptop, or plastic ponies... cause there are certainly some nice deals out there. But nope. Boring household products is it. Ugh. Oh yeah, we need a new microwave too. Because I guess a year and a half is old enough for them to just die suddenly.

I guess at least a tree hasn't come through the house yet like last year....

Temporary Hiatus

I'm sorry I haven't been posting much. Unfortunately, all this medical stuff is catching up with me and making even everyday tasks challenging. I have been on what seems to be a steady decline for the past year or so.

Turns out I have a bulging disc in my neck, which makes is very painful to sit for more than a short time (like 15 minutes...) especially to type on a computer, so blogging regularly has been kind of out of the question. I attempted physical therapy, but even they are at a loss of what to do with me. The medications the doctors tried seem to have no effect, I get better results from a combo of Tylenol/Advil. Unfortunately, my insurance doesn't like to cover medications either, so it really limits what the doctors are able to do for me.

It just sucks being "30" and being unable to do much of anything. I hate being a burden. I hate not having the energy to do even normal activities. I try to do things, but it just wipes me out so much it takes the next day to recover. I hate being broke all the time. This is not the sort of life I imagined myself living.

Everybody hurts, don't they?

I'm talking physical pain here, not mental anguish or anything like that. 

Seriously, up until a couple weeks ago, I thought that it was completely normal to wake up in the morning stiff and sore and with at least one body part hurting. I can't blame my mattress, I have one of those fancy memory foam ones that is supposed to take away pain, not cause it. It's not a cheap one either.

For as long as I can remember, I have physically hurt in some way or another. I wake up with a lot of muscle soreness and often a feeling of weakness, like when you overdo it or do something that uses new muscles, yet I don't do anything different usually to cause it. Getting out of bed I am like a Rice Krispie, snap, crackle, pop!

I always thought pain was just a part of life, that everybody hurts on a daily basis. That everybody hurts when they have to stand for more than a few minutes, regardless of their shoe style. That everyone hurts sitting at a desk. But I guess I was tragically mistaken.

I recently found out that it is not normal for everyone to hurt all the time, or while doing daily activities of life. Really? I would love to know what that feels like, to not be in pain. Right now as I type this, there is a pulling pain in my neck, my hips are sore from sitting (I've been on the reclining sofa for about 1/2 hour),  my eyes are itchy, and I'm struggling to keep my eyes open...this is completely normal for me. Everyday is like this. No matter what I do. God forbid I do something different like go to an event with a lot of walking, demo ride a motorcycle, or go horseback riding or anything like that I may enjoy, by bedtime I am so incredibly stiff I can't move a muscle without pain! The next morning, forget about it, I am in near agony. I still try and do things I enjoy even though I will pay for it later as I don't want to miss out on too much of life.

Over the years, I tried to ignore it, putting it off as normal aches and pains of living. Once in a while something would be unusually sore, but there was often a reasonable explanation, like doing a new activity that may use different muscles. But recently, things have been unusually sore without a reasonable explanation. I just wake up hurting. There is a legitimate cause for the neck/shoulder/upper back pain due to a bulging disc in my cervical spine. However, the rest remains a mystery. There is no reason for me to be sore and hurting daily. I'm only 30 for goodness sake!

I haven't even mentioned the sudden, random, stabbing pain that comes out of no where and can strike any part of my body. It is a sharp burning radiating sort of pain that lasts anywhere from seconds to minutes. Then it goes away just as quickly as it came.

I guess my epiphany came when I asked my boyfriend, who is several (well, a few more than several) years older than me about how he feels on a daily basis. He is a very hard working diesel mechanic who is always on his feet on a concrete floor, and he does not have any pain from it. If I visit him and stand on that floor for a few minutes, the pain and pressure in my feet and legs is extremely uncomfortable, I always find a place to sit down. I can wear sneakers, work boots, Toms, doesn't matter, same results.

I just wish I could know what it feels like to wake up refreshed, pain free, and ready to start the day.

Unplugged

Purple Dot is about where we live, 

Blue Dot is Pittsburg.

I was very lucky to be able to getaway for a perfect, unplugged 4th of July weekend. Yes, I realize it is now 10 days later....but better late than never I guess?

My boyfriend and I literally got away from it all. We went up to Pittsburg, NH. For those of you not familiar with New Hampshire, Pittsburg it at the very top of the state, about 200 miles from where we live, and right at the Canadian border.

There is almost no cell service, and very few wifi spots. I was worried about that at first, as I am ALWAYS on either Facebook or Instagram if I am not doing anything else. But you know what? I didn't miss it. Not even for a minute. Spending time with the one I love was so much more fun!

We stayed at a cute little motel/cabin place called The Buck Rub Pub. The room was very nice, loved the country cabin look! My only complaint was the awful water, they definitely needed a water softener!   The restaurant was delicious too and excellent, friendly staff! So nice to have that right there within walking distance, plus you got a discount off food if you were staying in the cabins.

Rouger trail, so fun!

So what do you do to spend your days in the middle of no where? Drive around! Well, there are TONS of ATV trails, and hiking, and the lakes; we don't have ATVs, I can't hike very long, and it was chilly to be in the water! We went exploring. There are tons of very well kept dirt logging roads (which were actually smoother than many paved back roads....). The scenic vistas you come across are absolutely breathtaking! The one in the panoramic image is called "Top of the World" and you literally felt like that standing there. The picture doesn't do the beauty justice.

My favorite part of of the trip was seeing a moose!!!! My boyfriend's son has a camper in Pittsburg and he told us that he would often see moose around 2-5 in the afternoon, so we headed up Moose Alley. Before we got too far, we saw a car pulled over on the side of the road in front of an opening. And there it was. A GORGEOUS moose in the flesh! I took a ton of photos!

You can see an entire album with more scenic vistas, moose pics, etc here.

The sandpit.
A sturdy backstop is important

Another fun activity to do is go shooting. Yes, as in a real gun. There are these amazing sand pits where everyone goes to shoot. The best one was taken, of course, but this one worked fine. I had never been before. I have always been afraid of the recoil and the noise. But I decided to suck it up and try. My boyfriend is a nearly 20 year veteran of teaching hunter safety in NH, so he is the perfect instructor. He brought a .22 caliber rifle which is just the right size to learn on. To me it's the right size period lol. Even that comparatively "tiny" bullet has deadly force, so why do I need anything more? I couldn't believe how heavy it was, although I probably should say I can't believe how weak I am...5 shots was about my limit before taking a break!  I started with paper targets, but then we quickly moved on to the fun stuff! I had been saving water and soda bottles which I then filled with water. It was fun shooting at the bottles. I did ok, I actually hit them, as you can see in the pic I posted. )

Bullet hole and festive nails!

After we were done, we were responsible adults and picked up all of our trash. Luckily it seems most people do, but I did see the remnants of a laptop...how fun would that be? Go all Office Space on an old computer?! The cleanup would totally be worth the satisfaction of murdering technology!

Speaking of technology, the only time I bothered to even look on my phone was while he was in the shower as we had just enough 3G signal. It felt so good to be unplugged.

 Oh yeah, on the way home, we saw ANOTHER MOOSE!!!!!!!! The perfect ending to a perfect trip!

Stress, stress, and more stress

Due to losing my job for medical reasons I'm having a very hard time finding something that I can safely commit to as far as a new job. Ideally, I need a work at home job, or a very part time office job very close to home.  Although I am trying to work with vocational rehab (helps people who can no longer work in their field of expertise find new work), it is an extremely slow process. I have to have a neuropsych evaluation to see what I can actually do, but that was over a month wait to get an appointment. Ugh.

I am not usually the type of person to stress out. Stressing out really doesn't accomplish anything except making you feel worse. But when it comes to finances, I stress. Big time. I have contacted my credit card companies to try and work with them as far as attempting to pay my bills, however because I don't have a steady source of income, they won't talk or do anything to help. It's awful. I have worked so hard to always pay my bills on time, and now, that is physically impossible. I am literally draining my accounts to be able to keep my car one more month. I am so lost as to what to do. The fact the banks won't even accept partial payment is beyond me! They want all or nothing. It's ridiculous! I hate how everything has turned into huge corporations with no heart. I'm sure if it was a small local establishment, they would see my history of excellent, timely payments and understand that things happen.

On a happier note, I get to go on a mini vacation with my boyfriend. Nothing fancy, but it will be a welcome break from all this. For once, I will be unplugged from social media for a few days and focusing on enjoying quality time with my boyfriend and exploring this beautiful state we live in. Hopefully I can forget about my troubles and just enjoy life for a few days.

So What if I'm an Adult?

My First Breyers

If you follow me on any form of social media you've noticed I've been posting A LOT about Breyer Model Horses.

Traditional and Classic Sized
Collection

What is a Breyer Model Horse? To most people, they are expensive plastic horses, ranging from $3 to  thousands depending on the rarity, size, collectibility etc. I am not sure what drew me to Breyer. I was given a Desert Arabian Family from my parents when I was 7 or so as a gift (pictured to the left). My collection has expanded since then; currently I have 220. Oops. Just calculated that number from my spreadsheet that contains every model. Only thing it is missing is pictures, as I haven't gotten around to that yet.

Stablemate Collection

As you can see my collection is quite extensive. The scary thing is I got rid of over 50 models in May when I attended my first model horse show. I had never been to one before and was curious what was involved. It was a cool experience, but I don't think it's for me. I just don't have the time or money to invest in it.

Examples of my props

Breyer hosts an annual event called Breyerfest at the Kentucky Horse Park, and it is on my bucket list to attend. Ever since I found out about it as a child, I have wanted to go. Each year has a different theme, and there are special events, special run models, guest real horses, performances, plus it takes place at the Kentucky Horse park. It sounds like heaven. I guess it is like "nerds" and Comic Cons. Just my nerdy thing is plastic horses!

However, I have gotten into making scale model horse props. Jumps, stable accessories, custom blankets, and whatever else I can come up with. I design for both Breyers and Schleich. It is fun and I have learned a lot of new things, like woodworking. In a perfect world, I would be able to turn it into a little business. As work seems to elude me, and my health has been questionable of late, being able to stay home and do things at my own pace that I enjoy sounds like a dream. If I am having a bad day, I don't have to do anything. If I'm having a good day, let the creative juices flow!

I dunno what it is about these painted plastic ponies, but I just really enjoy them. So what if I'm an adult.

Day in the Life: Idiopathic Hypersomnia and Dizziness

I wanted to share with you what it is like to try and live with Idiopathic Hypersomnia and dizziness during a typical weekday day for me. Right now, I am unemployed and trying to figure out my future. I do have some medical evaluations that I am desperately hoping will help determine why the heck I am so dizzy, and determine exactly how severe my daily life is affected. 

How I describe what it feels like to have IH is to compare it to taking a sleeping pill or drowsy medication or stay up for over 24 hours and try to function. Add in the fact I often feel like the room is tipping to one side or the other, or often when I stand up I get lightheaded, often to the point of "blacking out" and losing my vision for a second, or just to the brink of that point. If I look around too much or at things that are moving, things start tipping. Although my heart has checked out ok so far, I have a rapid resting heart rate, and it skyrockets easily and often feels like it is pounding.  

More days than not I am dizzy. Sometimes lightheaded (like feeling like you are going to pass out), sometimes vertigo. I try to still get things done. Most days I don't want to drive. Unless I have an appointment I have to attend, I get nervous about driving just because I am dizzy or I just can't keep my eyes open anymore, at the same time I have struggled for years, so I know I am not actually a danger, and in my own car I can easily pull over. It's to the point 1/2 hour is intimidating, and an hour is very nerve-wracking. I just don't want to make a bad choice and hurt someone. Even going to the store has become a problem, just looking around shopping will make my dizziness intensify. Looking around makes me feel like the world is spinning very fast. I can easily become unbalanced and feel like I will tip over. I avoid aisles with fragile items, especially in antique shops. Forget about stair cases, especially ones that are open in a tight space. But if I am out and about, I try to get everything done in that one trip so I won't have to go at another time. 

Somedays, like today, I even have trouble focusing, not only my eyes focusing on the page, but my brain focusing on the task at hand. I forget why I went into a room, so I leave, remember,  go back to the room only to forget again!! I'll look up the date, sign a paper, then have to look the date up again for next sheet! From what I have read, it is called "brain fog" and is part of having IH. As I said, you can describe IH as how you feel if you stay up 24-48 hours in a row. I have never been drunk, but the slowed reaction times and forgetfulness and all can probably be compared to that as well. 

MY DAY

Between 7:00AM and 8:00AM- "Wake up" well, that's what is supposed to happen for most people. My eyes will open and I will be in a semi alert state. I sync my Fitbit Charge HR to see how I slept. Sometimes, I end up falling back asleep while it is doing that. Then I check my Timehop, Instagram feed, email, and Facebook, once again, sometimes falling back asleep. It is incredibly hard to keep my eyes open.  I am just as tired, if not moreso in the morning after a decent night's sleep as I am when I go to bed. I have absolutely no idea what it feels like to be refreshed when I wake up. It has never happened in my entire life. Ever. 

I have had two overnight sleep studies, both showing absolutely no reason for me to not be rested. No apnea, no excessive movement. Nothing. Just a basically normal sleep pattern. 

9:00AM- To try and stay in a "healthy" routine, I force myself out of bed. I get up, make my iced coffee and take my medicine, which is a handful of vitamins, one I am deficient in, and several others that are supposed to help with energy and two prescriptions, one to try and make me happy, one to try and keep me awake for the day. Usually I sit down on the computer. Do a little job searching, follow up with any email, things like that while I have my coffee and let the wake-up meds kick in. 

10:00AM- Noon- I try to get on with the day and do something productive.   A couple weeks ago I was full out making model horse props in preparation for my first vendor experience (I will go into more detail in another post about that hobby of mine I'm trying to turn into a successful "business".) Yesterday I worked on a commission T-Shirt design for a friend (which btw came out great!). Somedays it's just chores around the house. I'm very slowly learning how to be a better housemate. Sadly, it took making a chore chart for myself and forcing myself to pay more attention to my surroundings. I have an awful tendency to not notice things until they become glaringly obvious, like chunks of cat fur on the carpet...or the strainer full of clean, dry dishes. 

Noonish: Lunch time. Usually a short text conversation with the boyfriend. The hardest thing is trying to decide what to eat. These days as I don't do a whole lot, I'm usually not hungry, but if I don't eat I will feel even worse. I will either turn into a super mega crazy bitch or become extremely weak and dizzy. 

1:00-4:00PM - I try to continue to do something productive, chores, work on my Etsy shop inventory,  do something, anything. My thought is if I can try to stay busy then maybe my symptoms won't be so noticeable. Nope. No such luck. Sometimes I just can't, especially when the dizziness is bad. I have to give up and sit on the couch and try to watch TV. By 3:00PM I am usually struggling to keep my eyes open. I try not to give in as if I were to take a nap, I just feel worse afterwards. Other times, I just have to close my eyes if I have any hope of continuing the day. I can at least reset the severe desire to close my eyes. 

4:00PM - 6:00PM - By now, the boyfriend is usually home. I am trying to be more open to leaving the house and going for a motorcycle ride (as a passenger!) or doing basically anything besides sitting on the couch and watching mindless TV. He is just not that kind of guy, and I don't blame him. But I have to struggle to do anything. At this point, all I feel like doing is laying down and sleeping. I am trying though, and I notice we are closer and happier. He shouldn't have to suffer from my condition as well and miss out on living. Luckily he does understand I have no control over how I am feeling, and has been really great as the severity has increased in the past year. 

6:00 to 8:00 PM - Usually my best time if I get to have a break from my symptoms. Happens maybe twice a week. The dizziness will subside, and I won't be falling asleep. It doesn't last long or happen too often, so it's a nice break. I guess it is closer to how a "normal" person feels? 

8:00-10:00 PM- Right back to the normal dizzy/sleepy feeling. Watching TV then it's bedtime. I usually have no trouble falling right to sleep. 

Then it's morning and the whole cycle of misery starts over again. 

This Whole NFL Deflategate Debacle

Let me start out by saying I am not a fan of professional sports (unless they are equestrian related). I hate baseball and basketball. I can tolerate football, but only NFL, and only because of the video game Madden 64 for teaching me how the game works. I live in NH, so the "home team" is the New England Patriots. 

As you all know at this point unless you have been living under a rock as it is all over the news, the Patriots were involved in a "scandal" about using deflated footballs in the playoffs. Supposedly, less air makes the ball easier to grip, I'm not sure, I know there were scientific studies done, because there aren;t more important things like cancer research that could be done...</sarcasm>. 

I was hoping it wasn't true, that a team as big and popular as the Patriots would not be cheaters. As it turns out, they were and the quarterback was aware of it. The quarterback that women seem to worship for some reason, I just don't see it, but whatever. To each their own. I know he is a very talented quarterback, and the fact that he cheated is despicable, when he has proven to have the skills to get the job done the right way. 

From my understanding of recent events, he was suspended without pay (boo hoo, not like he doesn't already have millions) for 4 games. Ok. That actually seems like a fitting punishment. He cheated, he was aware of the cheating, he deserves to be punished. I honestly would make him sit out the season, but that's just me. 

There is the graphic I posted to the left that shows other football players and their criminal charges. I realize in the grand scheme of things that cheating compared to physically hurting someone is a lot less severe in the grand scheme of things, but it is still wrong! Cheaters never win, well except in this case when they get some bragging rights, a pretty ring and a trophy...but as far as I know, the actual Super Bowl was played by the rules and was a good game. Had they not cheated in the playoffs, who knows? But they are a very talented team with skilled players, so they likely would have made it there anyways. 

My issue comes with where people are crying about how it's not fair that Brady was punished for cheating. HE CHEATED!

As for these other criminal players who have physically hurt another person or animal, they should not be allowed back into the NFL.

 I was driving the bus one day and the elementary kids were talking about football, there were only a couple left at the end of the route. One boy said that he thought Michael Vick was an awesome player. First, I had to ask if Michael Vick was currently playing, because I couldn't believe he would be allowed back after hurting those poor dogs. Then,  I had to put my two cents in and asked the boy if he knew what Michael Vick had done. I explained in a very simple sense that he had hurt dogs (this is elementary school mind you, so I didn't want to say too much). The boy said that was in the past and he thought that Michael Vick had a lot of skill on the football field, so I agreed to that, he may be a very talented player, but he is not a good person. Anyways, I was completely disgusted that Michael Vick was playing football again, making millions of dollars again after causing so much pain and suffering to those precious dogs. He should be in jail and never allowed in the NFL again. Sorry, that is just how I feel. He hurt helpless animals. 

The NFL needs to get their act together. So many young people look up to these "superhero" sports professionals as role models. They need to make sure that the punishment fits the crime. If a NFL player is convicted of any crime against a human or animal, they should never set foot on the field as a member of a team again. If they cheat, like Tom Brady did, then they should get a significant suspension, one that will hit them where it hurts, in their bank accounts. They should also have to talk to students about why what they did was a mistake. 

Let's hope some good comes from all this. 

Mobile Home Living: One Year Later

A year ago we moved into a delightful little mobile home in a wonderful community (no, seriously, this place is awesome).

Overall, when we moved in the house was in good condition. It didn't need any repairs. Everything we have done has been primarily cosmetic, as the previous owner(s) had "interesting" taste. Pink floral wallpaper is not my idea of good design choices.

Our first major project was simple. Paint the living room. It had already been primed, so it was just a case of taping off the trim and picking a color! We went for a nice light-medium slate blue.

The second project was the bathroom. It started as an awful striped pink floral wallpaper. *shudders at the memory* We found a lovely medium green color (and one shade lighter for the bedroom when we get around to it). As I am a hater of faux gold, the knobs on the cabinets were quickly replaced.

In between project, we were able to replace the old, inefficient washer and dryer with a brand new washer and dryer (yay early Black Friday deal), as well as a new refrigerator we got a huge deal on as it was a floor model ($400 instead of $750!)

Our third project was to replace ALL the gold cabinet hardware throughout the house (see my post about 99centknobs.com and my post about how we got rid of the gold.). I told you, I really really really hate that fake gold! The new hardware made a huge difference in the kitchen.

Right now we are working on the spare bedroom, which is our hobby room (and the room the tree came through on Thanksgiving). It was painted a bright paleish yellow color, with a yellow and light blue wallpaper border. I found the exact grey color I was wanting on the mismatch shelf at Home Depot for $10! It was better than the paint chip sample I had selected. What I am looking forward to most is finally being able to bring home my 200+ Breyer model horses that I have collected since childhood. After the walls are painted, I'm going to get shelving put up around the perimeter of the room, about a foot from the ceiling to display my collection.

I'm looking forward to the warmer weather and seeing what grows in the garden. I planted some bulbs in the fall and it seems some are starting to grow. It'll be nice to see what comes up as I can't remember what I planted! We spent an entire day raking the storm debris and years of built up pine needles from the previous owner. Forty five bags later, we were almost done!

After a year, I am thrilled to be living here. I love our little mobile home!

Missing in Action

Sorry I have been a bit scarce around these parts lately. As I am between jobs at the moment, I thought I would take the opportunity to take a free 3 week class at my local community college to better my skills as an employee. The course is called WorkReady NH and it focuses on developing soft skills such as communication. It also gives you the opportunity to receive a National Career Readiness Certificate that shows your skills in Reading, Mathematics, and Locating Information. Both of these programs are designed to boost your resume.

The class takes up much of my day between the actual classroom hours and the minimum 5 hours I have to spend online a week preparing for the Certificate test at the end of the course.

In my now-limited spare time I am trying to restart my Hobo Cat Creations Etsy Store. I will be branching out from the cat toys I started with and including polymer clay figurines and hopefully Breyer and Schleich model horse tack and accessories. There is a good chance I may get to participate in my first craft show in June, so I definitely need to build up an inventory.

I have a couple blog entries in the works about getting "stuff" for free, and about life in the mobile home after a year and the improvements that we have made.

Stay tuned....class ends on the 27th so hopefully things will be back to normal and I will be back to having too much free time!

Review: 99centknobs.com

I LOVE Pinterest. Whoever came up with that site is an absolute genius! I have spent countless hours dreaming and planning. Being able to save all those ideas in one easy, organized area is perfect.

A couple weeks ago, a pin came across my board for 99centknobs.com. It was like Pinterest was reading my mind!. I have been trying to get rid of the fake gold that was all over the house for the past year. The cabinets were a large source of it. Between the old, discolored, broken hinges and those hideous gold and white cabinet pulls, it was time to update.  I had no idea how I was going to afford the replacements though. Then 99centknobs.com came into my life. Now, my kitchen, and all the other cabinets in the house are beautiful!

I was skeptical at first. What is the catch? How can they sell knobs for $0.99 when they are usually $2 to $5 a piece at the hardware stores? Are the knobs super cheaply made? Are the hinges going to fall apart in the first use? I tried to research reviews of 99centknobs.com with minimal success. Their BBB rating was good. There were no product reviews on their site, so it was a gamble. The only "expensive" part of my order was the shipping. They have flat rate shipping of $13.95, so if you only need a couple items, it's not really worth it, however if you need to order 27 pairs of hinges, 9 pulls, and 1 knob, then it is completely worth it. Those items are heavy!! (On a side note, I did order 20 pulls from Lowe's for the main part of the kitchen because I completely fell in love with the design, more about that in a future post.)

As I received some birthday money from my Grandma, I decided to use some of it to make this purchase. I was defiantly nervous as there was no information about this company. However, I was pleasantly surprised when 2 days later, my shipment arrived on my doorstep!

The pulls were very nice. They are slightly more grey in real life, but they are nice, solid and sturdy. I understand that computer monitors are not accurate in displaying colors. They did not include the screws, but I just reused the existing ones, so no big deal. Online, the hinges were listed as being manufactured by Liberty, and I found the identical product at Home Depot for three times the price (literally, listed for $2.98 per pair). I was very pleased to see that was the same product that I received. Everything was new in package.

I am thrilled with my purchase and would definitely recommend 99centknobs.com for large quantity knob, pull, and hinge purchases.

Sorry for the bad pic, but you get the idea!

(For the record, I did not receive anything in exchange for my review. I simply want to share this great company with you!
)

Tutorial: Scarf/Belt hanger

As I have been going through the entire house eliminating clutter and unnecessary items, I decided I wanted to make my closet just a little bit neater with a scarf/belt hanger. Money is tight, and while there are some very nice store bought options, I thought I would use some items I already had laying around the house.

SUPPLIES:
Hangers
Shower Curtain  Rings (cheap plastic ones are perfect)
Electrical Tape

Optional:
Yarn
Crochet Hook recommended on yarn
Yarn Needle


INSTRUCTIONS:

Step 1: Lay out the shower curtain hooks inside the hanger.


Step 2: Tape the Rings to the hanger and to each other. I found bring the tape up from underneath worked the best.

Optional:

Step 3: Single crochet around the outside perimeter of the hanger, going inside the rings when you get to them.  Don't crochet around all the rings in the center.

Step 4: Wrap yarn around the center rings. When you reach a section you have already wrapped, use your yarn needle to "tunnel" through it to the other side, then continue wrapping.

I made the crochet one for my belts. I felt that the yarn would help keep them from slipping.

For my scarves and pantyhose, I just used tape as I needed the items to slide and I did not want fibers from the yarn getting on my scarves.

On a side note, I used a belt hanger I had but didn't care for as a belt hanger to organize my tank tops. I am not much of a tank top person, but I have a few for layering. By using the belt hanger, I was able to free up precious space in my drawers.

I'll cry if I want to...

Some say turning 30 is a big deal. It's the start of a new decade of your life. You have officially been an adult for 10 years. I fail to see the significance. Age is just a number to me. It means nothing. Supposedly these are the best years of my life.

Part of my life is going great. I have an amazing boyfriend who always makes me laugh even when I don't want to and has been extremely supportive throughout this awful time in my life. We have a beautiful little mobile home that we are slowly making our own. I wouldn't trade him or our life together for anything.

The rest of my life is not, and runs the risk of jeopardizing the only thing going well. He deserves so much better, someone who can keep up.

Ninety nine point nine percent of mornings when I wake up, I feel like crap. The Idiopathic Hypersomnia causes me to never feel rested, no matter how I much or how long I sleep. I get dizzy randomly for no apparent reason. Don't even get me started with my digestive system. If I don't eat regularly, I get either crazy angry or weak and shaky. Everyone else I know has no problem if they skip a meal once in a while. Of course, when I go to the doctor, all my test results are normal. I even made a real effort to start exercising. No improvement. On paper I am technically healthy, so why the *explicative* don't I feel it?

I am terrified as I feel so awful all the time that I will never be able to enjoy life; that feeling so awful day in and day out will never improve. I was hoping finally getting a diagnosis would help get me back on track, but the medication causes just as many problems as it solves. Is it better to be tired and sleepy all the time or dizzy and anxious?  I can't live with either of those. I want to function.

I'm trying to find a job. I want to be able to pay off my debt, contribute my share to the household, and be a productive member of society. I don't want to be a leech. The job search is going awful. There are plenty of local jobs I've applied to, but they always want someone with experience. Who's going to hire someone who used to drive a school bus and had to stop because they have a medical condition?

I just want to have more days where I feel good than days I feel bad. Is that really too much to ask? I can't keep going on like this. I don't know what to do anymore. Lately all I feel like doing is crying, but that won't solve anything either.

:'(

Spring Cleaning Purge #2: Clothing and Accessories

The next area of the house I tackled was my clothing. My side of the closet was overflowing. My dresser was stuffed to the point of breaking, and under the bed was 3 of the large underbed plastic storage containers full of clothing. That is just too much to handle. My boyfriend has a small dresser and a smaller section of closet, yet has everything he needs. I want to have less.

So out everything came from all of its hiding places; the bedroom closet, the spare closet, under the bed, the dresser drawers. I made a HUGE pile in the bedroom. The pic doesn't even do it justice as the whole queen size bed was covered, plus stuff was still inside the plastic bins.

I tackled the hanging clothes first. I had already pared down a good amount of those when we moved a year ago, so I decided not to get rid of anything. As my career future is up in the air, I am hanging onto a lot of dressier clothes that I rarely wear, but would be perfect for an office job. If it turns out I can't work, then I can go through them again. As for the rest, I tried on a lot of my wardrobe. If it didn't fit or I didn't like the fit, it went away, easy as that.

I had a lot of duplicates or extremely similar items. Somehow I acquired over 10 blankets (including 2 snuggies). He also has his blankets he likes. As we live in NH and the winters can get cold, and we don't have a generator, we do need a few more blankets than the average household, but more than 10 is a bit excessive. I got rid of 6 of them (including the 2 snuggles).

After all was said and done, I had 3 big garbage bags full, 2 medium garbage bags, and a small bag of winter accessories to donate. I also had 2 out of 3 underbed plastic storage bins completely empty, as well as a large stack of shoebox sized plastic storage empty. Freedom!

I used to keep many seasonal clothes under the bed as there was no longer room in my dresser drawers, but between getting rid of items I never wore or didn't like, I was able to put all except my middle of summer clothes in the drawers!

As part of the Konmari method mentioned in a previous post, folding is an important part of the organizational process. Now, when I open my drawers, I can see everything I have in that drawer at a glance. It's great! I know exactly what I have and I won't just grab one of the same couple of shirts from the top of the pile.

Let's hope that I can keep it this way!

Spring Cleaning Purge #1: Health and Beauty Products

I have been on a weird, pre-spring cleaning rampage in my house lately. Even though we only moved in a year ago, I still had too much stuff laying around. One of my major areas to tackle was the bathroom. Over the years I have amassed a huge number of travel sized, sample sized products. I pared them down when I moved, but still kept a large number, thinking well if we ever have guests over unexpectedly, I will be prepared. Yeah, ok. I think his son has been over once at Christmastime. I am just not the entertaining sort.

So with all this free time on my hands, it was time to purge. I took everything out of both bathrooms and placed it in a huge mess on the bedroom floor. I also dug out all of my old Ipsy pouches. Scary mess huh?

When I first sat down to start I was like "What the heck, where do I even begin?" I started with my makeup (which you can't see in this pic, it's to the side in front of the cute grey kitty on a mission) I have a 8 drawer plastic organizer and a drawer in the bathroom that was full of makeup. If you know me in real life, you would be like WTF? as I am rarely seen wearing makeup. Don't ask. It was a phase.



Between coupon savings, my subscription to Ipsy (which btw is an awesome monthly makeup subscription box if you are looking for one!), and winning contests I had quite a bit of new, unopened unused makeup. Now what to do with it all? I dug through, saving items I had used or enjoy using. Everything else...gone. What to do with it? I didn't really feel right about selling it, so I thought I should donate it to a women's shelter! These women have often been through a lot, and a little makeup may help brighten their day.

I went through all my travel size shampoo, deodorant, lotions etc which once again were nearly all free samples. I kept a few as my boyfriend and I are hopefully going on a motorcycle trip this summer, but the rest are going. Once again, I felt a women's shelter would be a perfect place to donate these too. I used my old Ipsy pouches to make up little kits with shampoo, conditioner, lotion, and body wash. All the extras will be donated as well.

As for the dreaded time of the month products, I had a huge supply of tampons (which I never use) that were all free samples. Once again, great thing to donate!

How did I get so many free samples? I will go into detail on another post (and link it here) but a quick summary is websites that specialize in samples, Facebook, and on-product packaging promotions.

Spring Cleaning: Preparing for the Purge

As I have so much free time on my hands, and I am sick of every storage in the house overflowing, I have decided to do a whole house purge, one category at a time.

I thought it might be fun to do a mini-series of blog posts. I figure I will start with my tips and methods of purging.

For me, getting rid of things is difficult. I seem to have a tendency towards hoarding-like behaviors. The hardest thing for me is seeing that I spent money on an object that I will either sell for a huge loss on an online yard sale (see my post about that), donate, or just simply throw away. I hate wasting money. I have never been well off financially, always struggling paycheck to paycheck. I mistakingly ran up some credit card debt. I see items I'm getting rid of that I am technically still paying for. Lesson learned. I am much, much more careful about what I buy.

After a brief bit of research on organizational techniques, something that stood out to me was the Konmari method of organizing. Let me say I did not read the book, although it does look very interesting. I simply googled the method and used pieces of it to help me organize my possessions.

The Sleepy Cat Organizational/Decluttering Method:

1. Pick ONE group of items to organize (Clothing, Health and Beauty, Toys, Craft Supplies, etc)
2. Gather all the items of the same group together in a common place. The center of a room works well
3. Pick up each and every item and look at it. Try it on if necessary. Ask yourself the following questions
1. Do you like this item? Or Do You Need this Item?
2. Have I used this item recently? Or Can I realistically see myself using this item? Seriously, be realistic. It doesn't help if it's a maybe if a certain situation arises that hasn't arisen in the past year....
4. Make FOUR Piles (Keep, Sell, Donate, Trash)
1. Keep - Self explanatory
2. Sell - Items in excellent condition
3. Donate - Items definitely useable, maybe not brand name or not worth much
4. Trash- Destroyed items, Unsanitary items
5. Put everything away. Everything should have a home now. If you use the item, put it back where it belongs to keep the clutter down. 

One thing I really liked about the Konmari method is to put everything together in one place to sort it. Take all the items out of the drawers, boxes, closets etc and put them in one central place. It seems overwhelming at first, seeing a huge pile of stuff you have to go through, but it is worth it. That way you don't miss anything and you can see if you have duplicates or even more of the same item. It also makes it really nice to put your newly discovered items into empty places. A complete fresh start.

The main idea of the Konmari method is to ask yourself "Does this item bring you joy?" If the answer is no, then away it goes. While I think this concept is awesome, it was a little bit hard to do for me right now. I am in limbo as far as what my career path is going to bring. I have to keep enough office clothes and casual clothes until I get my work life figured out.

Follow along as I make our house more organized and less cluttered!

Idiopathic Hypersomnia: Journey to a Diagnosis

I had been a school bus driver for the past 7 years. On Friday, I was informed by my boss and human resources that I was to resign my position due to my recent diagnosis of Idiopathic Hypersomnia (IH) and my admitting to symptoms that could be dangerous; mainly the excessive daytime sleepiness. I was shocked and devastated. I knew my time as a bus driver was coming to an end, I needed more steady/stable hours, and the long days were really taxing on me. It was a daily struggle.  That day I was devastated. I had lost my job. Due to the reasons I had to resign my other bus driving job at the local city bus company. My DOT medical card was no longer valid without my neurologist signing off. I spent a lot of time thinking, and talking to my wonderful, supportive boyfriend, and came to the decision that maybe this wasn't such a bad thing to happen. I could not have lived with myself if I had ever hurt someone else because I was too sleepy to be driving a bus.

So what is this condition that ruined my career? Idiopathic Hypersomnia. Two big words that basically mean no matter how much sleep I get overnight, I do not feel rested or refreshed, and I can be insanely sleepy during the day. As far back as I can remember, I have been a tired person. This past summer, things really started to deteriorate. I was falling asleep as a passenger on a motorcycle. Not a good situation. It was time to dig into why I am 29 years old and completely exhausted all the time no matter how much sleep I got at night.

I went to my primary care doctor. They tested my blood, they tested my brain, they tested just about everything there is to test non-invasively. I had low Vitamin D levels. Even after a supplement and recheck, there was no change in my symptoms. I was finally referred to a sleep neurologist who ordered an overnight sleep study. All those wires later and an uncomfortable night in a comfortable Sleep Number bed (totally check those out, I would get one if I didn't have my awesome memory foam bed!) I got more normal test results. At this point when I hear "Everything came back normal" I want to cry. Something had to be causing my exhaustion. I had even tried going to a endocrinologist. She was awesome, she did in depth thyroid testing, adrenal and pituitary testing as well. Normal. I think I did cry after those results.

The sleep neurologist decided to redo my sleep study and follow it with a Multiple Sleep Latency Test (MSLT). More strange medical words. The MSLT follows an overnight sleep study so they can make sure you get a decent amount of sleep the night before. You are then left in a room all day (I had wifi and cable TV), given a nap opportunity every 2 hours for a total of 5 naps. The time it takes you to fall asleep and the level of sleep you reach in the timeframe is what helps determine your diagnosis. I fell asleep in all of the naps in an average of 6 minutes, after a "normal" night's sleep. See, I am not actually crazy, well at least in that aspect, I am THAT tired. Could you sleep a full night then fall sleep 5x during the day?

Eventually, I got my diagnosis of Idiopathic Hypersomnia because they ruled out basically everything else that could cause me to be so tired and unrefreshed. I did not have sleep apnea, I did not have narcolepsy. I did not have any "common" sleep disorders. I am just plain exhausted for no reason the doctor can find. There is no cure and no FDA approved medications. There are medications that I can be prescribed to promote daytime wakefulness. I am now trying a second one as the first one did not work and actually made me feel worse than just sleepy.

Now I am a state of limbo. I have applied for nearly 20 jobs and the only thing I ever hear is someone else was selected. I'm waiting to find out if I get unemployment, which I hate to do, but I have to have something for income, I have bills. Everyday now I sit home, filling with anxiety about those bills and not having the income or the savings to pay for them. I have decent credit, I don't want to ruin it. I am so lost, so hopeless. Right now it feels like I am completely and permanently screwed. When I apply to jobs I have to put down why I left my previous job, if I put down financial gain, why would I quit before I had anything else? If I put down medical, they will automatically think I am sick all the time and miss work (which I don't do).

Idiopathic Hypersomnia sucks.

DIY Oops Turned Out Awesome!

I had been looking for a jewelry box for a while now, you would not believe how hard it is to find one in stores! One day, while waiting to meet someone to sell one of my Online Yard Sale items, I wandered into my local Kmart. They had a huge clearance on jewelry boxes and I found this black and silver one. It wasn't my style as far as colors, but I liked all the drawers and the cute little top compartment. Originally it was priced at $100, but it was on a shelf marked 75% off. Twenty five dollars later, it was mine.

When I got home, I decided to paint it brown. I taped off the felt and handles, sanded and cleaned the black veneer and started painting with some acrylic craft paint and a foam brush.  The paint wasn't sticking very well. I figured several light coats and I'd be good to go. It would be a solid brown color. Well.....it didn't quite work out that way. I did a few more coats of paint. Still streaky. Huh. But then I started looking at it. The way the black was showing in lines through the brown paint looked like woodgrain. Interesting. So I decided to go with it.

I painted all the visible surfaces with the foam brush, ensuring the "streaks" were all going the same way and were consistent. I untaped the felt and the handles and did a bit of touch up work. The silver handles weren't really working for me and the look I was going for, so out came the sandpaper to rough them up and then the black nail polish.

As the acrylic paint dried to a very matte finish, I used a satin finish spray clear coat to bring up the shine and protect the paintwork.

Who would have thought a mistake would have turned out so lovely?

Extra Spending Money

Money has always been tight for me. I am in the process of finding a new job/career as my diagnosis of Idiopathic Hypersomnia has ended my ability to drive buses. I have had to be creative in ways to make some extra spending money.

Through a lot of trail and error and research, I have narrowed down what I think are the five best Online Survey sites. These sites have a high likelihood of qualifying and pay "well". I will forwarn you that you will not get rich, as I said, this is a way to earn some extra spending money. Personally, I will complete surveys throughout the year and cash out in November, in time to do my Christmas shopping. Most of the links provided are referral links, I will get credit if you sign up for the sites and complete at least one survey!

5 Best Online Survey Sites

1. Epoll  This site has a minimal time commitment. You only get maybe one survey a week, but you will always qualify and be rewarded for your answers. The surveys don't take a lot of your time to complete, and the points add up fast. You can cash out for PayPal or various popular gift card options.

2. Opinion Outpost  My favorite thing about this site is how quickly you can earn. You get multiple survey invites each week, and if you don't qualify to complete the survey, you get to enter to win either points or sweepstakes entries. You can cash out for Paypal or other gift options.

3. Valued Opinions I find I have excellent success getting into the surveys for this site, and they pay excellent, at least $1 per survey, often more! You can cash out for Visa and Amazon gift cards as well as other sites.

4. SurveySavvy Survey Savvy is hit or miss. They give you many opportunities to qualify but it's less than half the time that I actually do. When you do qualify, they pay decent. They will send you a check.

5. Opinion Square I am relatively new to this site, but so far I enjoy it. If you don't qualify for a survey, you earn tokens to play whatever game of the season they have, right now it's a slot game. You always win points, and not always the minimum. They offer a lot of redemption items from actual products to gift cards.

Honorable Mentions

American Consumer Opinion  A decent site that rewards you for completing the pre-screeners.
MySurvey So many survey opportunities, however it seems hard to actually qualify.
Ipsos iSay Lots of opportunities, but I tend to run into fustrating technical difficulties. You may have better success on a Windows computer.


Cashback

Another awesome way to earn some extra money on online purchases you are making anyways! I am a HUGE fan of Ebates. You may have seen it advertised on TV and went yeah right....sounds too good to be true. Well, I'm here to tell you that it isn't. And they aren't even paying/rewarding me to say that!

There are two ways to get your cash back,  first is to go to Ebates and pick the store you are shopping at and it will automatically add your cash back shortly after you complete your transaction. The other way is to add the toolbar, that way you will never have to worry about missing cash back from your favorite store.

The picture to the right is an actual screen shot of my account info, and I honestly have earned that much money on purchases I was making anyway! You would be surprised how quickly even 2% cash back can add up. Every little bit helps. Each quarter, they will either send a check or make a PayPal deposit.

Hopefully these sites can help you earn a little extra!