While we are making travel plans for the holidays and figuring out our budget and how much it’s going to cost us to travel, I somewhat drifted off to my past financial issues.  It use to be really bad.  I would always pay the bills late and then have the late fees, etc. etc. etc.  I was a mess that’s for sure.  I had debt collection agencies calling all the time and it was a true nightmare.

Once I got married my wife straightened all that out and now it’s in the past, at least I hope.  Getting out of debt is pretty tough these days.

The holidays seem to be approaching pretty fast these days and it’s time to figure out what to do.  The last two years of holidays, Leslie and I have not been able to make it back to Seattle to spend it with my family.  So as the planning process is taking place, I think this year we are actually going to make it.

I hope we can fly non-stop, even if it costs more.  The non-stop version cuts a few hours of the total travel time.  Not to mention that when we fly back to Texas we lose 2 hours just in the time change alone.

Speaking of trips.  One of these days I would love to go see the East Coast.  Never been.  Maybe check out the Outer Banks close to the ocean and just hang out and relax..  Although the opposite way (west), Hawaii sounds awesome just like our honeymoon..!!!

I know it’s early but any of you out there making holiday travel plans? or just staying around home?

Sometimes I wish I had a Corvette.

The car is simply amazing with tons of horsepower and awesome looks.  I found this site with a huge amount of Corvette accessories. They have pretty much anything you would want to add to your Corvette.  One of the first things I would do is to add these awesome glow gauges.  They look so cool.  Then I would follow it up with some special corvette seat covers and a complete car cover.

They have so many accessories it’s unreal.  Everything from floor mats, front end bra’s to custom head lights or tail lights.  Need better exhaust or some new wheels? Check them out and boost up your Corvette.  Want some flair?  They have some really awesome body kits you can add, or just stylize yourself with some Corvette apparel.

Like I said, if I owned a Corvette this is the site I would frequent and I’m sure they would get all my money to trick out my Corvette.

I couldn’t imagine living with or taking care of someone that has Alzheimer’s.  I’m sure it’s a tough road to go down.  Here are a couple quick facts:

• Every 71 seconds, someone is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.

• Alzheimer’s is the 6th leading cause of death in the U.S.

Wow every 71 seconds that is just crazy to me.  And by the time I finish talking about this more people will have been diagnosed.

Do you know of someone that has this disease?
Have you ever known a friend or family member who has taken care of someone with this disease?

If not, that’s why I’m talking today about The Alzheimer’s Memory Walk.

Here is an overview:
The Alzheimer’s Memory Walk® is the nation’s largest event to raise awareness and funds for Alzheimer care, support and research – and it calls on volunteers of all ages to become champions in the fight against Alzheimer’s. There are walks in more than 600 communities. A typical Memory Walk is a 2-3 mile walk held on a weekend morning in the fall.

By teaming up with the Alzheimer’s Association, you can walk with a purpose – and move us closer to a world without Alzheimer’s. Together, we can MOVE a nation.

After looking over the site I found a local walk in my city coming this October. It’s a couple miles and a couple hours of your time to raise money to fight this disease. I encourage everyone to sign up and raise some money for this great cause.

Together we can move a nation! Sign up to be a team captain today.

Lately we have been pushing to get out of debt.  Interest rates are always changing and sometimes they get out of control.  And then our monthly payment goes up and up and I truthfully believe nothing is ever guaranteed.  A couple things we usually do is a balance transfer credit card.  Most often you can get 0% interest for 12 to 16 months then after that time period you get to start off with a low interest rate.  In fact we have one about 8 months into a balance transfer.  It helps us to keep from paying an extra year’s interest rates to these card companies.

Hopefully in a few years most of our cards will be paid off and we wont have to worry about making the monthly payments on them.  Now it’s time to get back to working on paying off other debts..

The other day I was talking to my cousin who lives in Vegas (She moved there for a teacher job) and we talked about how fun it would be to fly out there and visit her.  If we are lucky we only get to see each other maybe 1 time per year.  However the drawback is the cost of the flights.  We thought about just staying with her in her apartment but Leslie never really has experienced Vegas like I have.  So if we go I think we will check out the new las vegas hotels.

The last time I was there was years ago, probably at least 8 I would say, except to connect at the airport (where I won $100, lol).  There have been quite a few new hotels that have popped up since then and I would love to go check them out.  And it is such a huge place we better take some walking shoes too.  I think I will start planning a little trip maybe this winter or spring.

I love movies.  As far back as I can remember I have loved watching movies.  Over time though movies have changed and so have the prices. (lol)  As I have grown in age and watching the technology change over the years, I have been wanting to put in a home theater.  Now a number of years ago (uh before I was married) I bought a surround sound system, a dual DVD player and a (at the time) nice 32″ TV for my 1 bedroom apartment.  It was great even though it wasn’t technically a home theater but it sure sounded like it.  I would spend most of the weekends sitting around and watching movies.

Well I have really never lost that dream of one day owning a home theater.  Now of course our current home has a room that could possibly work but it’s not really designed for a home theater.  I always mention it to Leslie but in reality home theaters are expensive.  So it might be some *time* years before I get an official room to use, but I’m not letting it stop my dreams and my love for watching movies!

While I was doing some filing in the home office I ran across some quarterly reports that talked about my wife’s retirement.  After reading over the statement I came to a realization that we are technically losing money in this 403-B account that she has.  This is pretty much our only fund that we have money in.  Well I take that back.  We do have a teacher retirement account from Washington State when she worked up there and that still makes some money every month.  I do not have any 401K accounts of stock accounts.

We have thought about talking to someone we met at one of our community groups who is a financial planner and trying to straighten out some things and find out how we can make more instead of losing (like we have done the past 3-6 months).  Maybe we need to check out stocks? Mutual Funds? maybe we need to talk to a futures broker.  I don’t really know.  But we probably shouldn’t put this decision off to much longer as by the time we retire we probably won’t have social security.  lol

Another on the list of many different diet pills, etc. that I have been talking about recently is Lipovox.  Some would ask “does Lipovox work“  Others may not care.

After doing some reading, Lipovox states that it contains 14 ingredients that target weight, skin and complexion.  They say the 14 ingredients are superfoods and they act in different ways to help your life.

Looking through the 14 ingredients I surely could not have this as I have Celiac Disease and this contains buckwheat and barley juice.  Wow I would be so sick.  On the other hand, it states that it is all natural ingredients and does not contain any harmful stimulants.

So here are a few questions for you!

1. Have you tried Lipovox?
2. Would you try it? (It has all natural ingredients)
3. Do you think you would benefit from this?
4. Would you rather use something else?

Do some research and check out all the 14 superfood ingredients!

We have had our house now about 3 years and although not quite ready to do a major remodel but there are some things around the house that could be upgraded. Yeah that’s it.

A couple things off the top of the list would be to replace this vinyl floors in the kitchen and bathrooms and throw down some ceramic tile. The carpet is still in really good shape so no need to replace that. Oh and speaking of the bathrooms, I would love to change out the faucets and maybe upgrade them to some nice Delta faucets. I think the shower heads need to be replaced also. Now on to the other parts of the house.

We still have never painted, so I think this might be the cheaper solution to make the biggest impact. We already started the front landscaping, except we haven’t finished it, lol..!!! I think those are a few of the major things we want to start on.

Now we just have to get started getting some things done!