it pays to be dumb sometimes
I had a bit of good luck today, even if it was because of my own stupidity I’m pretty freaking happy about it!
So I’ve been feeling pretty guilty about spending the money to go to BlogHer. Especially the part that costs the most – the plane tickets. Last time I checked it was going to cost me $370 round trip. Ouch. Even though I have my conference ticket and the hotel room booked I just hadn’t been able to bring myself to get the flight taken care of. I don’t know what I was waiting for – but I’m really glad I did.
We do our best here to not use any credit cards. We definitely have debt, but little on our cards. We consolidated all our extraneous debt awhile ago into a home equity loan and resolved not to pay for anything with credit cards. That’s worked pretty well so far, but I knew I couldn’t pay for the plane ticket with cash and I think the idea of putting on credit was what was making me insane bothering me.
Anyway, I digress. So this morning I was upset with myself when I realized that I was late making a payment on the little bit I owe on the one card we use for emergencies. Somehow I missed that they changed the due date from around the 22nd to the 15th. Can I just say WTH? I hate it when they do that! I was unhappy with Bank of America mostly for the attitude they gave me on the phone. I won’t blame them for me not paying attention to my due date, however, I do blame them for being nasty about it.
That awful conversation spurred me to call Citibank, with whom we’ve had a card for 14 years but haven’t used in awhile. I wanted to find out what the interest on purchases was and so I could use that as my emergency card instead of BoA. In the course of the conversation with a very nice woman at Citicards, she not only lowered my rate below BoA’s, (here’s the important part!) she reminded me about my points and that I should use them before they expire.
Wha??
I don’t have points accruing on that card….
Oh. Yes, apparently I do.
Well. When hubby opened that card back in college it didn’t have points, but somewhere along the way they started giving them to us. AND WE DIDN’T FREAKING KNOW IT!!
Yeah, dumb.
But apparently to my advantage.
Because guess what I did with those points?!!
Yep. I was able to buy my tickets to Chicago directly through Citibank’s point redemption network! I had enough points to get non-stop flights at the times I wanted! Woohoo!! (And I even had a few points leftover!)
No more guilt! No more whining! Yay! Almost half my trip is paid for without going into more debt! I seriously could cry I am so happy about it. I could bawl just thinking about it.
I think the moral of the story is – check your credit cards for points programs. Except everyone already knew that but me. Duh.
Filed Under blogging, life Tagged BlogHer, crazy, credit cards, life, money
it’s gonna be HOT
I don’t know about you all, but when I’m trying to lose weight I like to focus on short term goals. I don’t want to look at my final goal weight right now because that seems so very far away. My healthy weight should be in the 130s-140s. Uh. Yeah. Okay. That’s kinda funny, seeing as I haven’t been that since, oh, about 8th grade.
One of my short term goals is that I gave up chocolate for Lent. Oh. Yes. I. Did. Not even mocha in my coffee. ::crying::
Also, my friends and I started a weight loss group that is working toward a deadline of June 1st. Winner gets the pot of $260. Yep. We each paid $20 to the pot and person with the highest percentage of weight loss takes all. I need to win that $$!!
You know why I need that $$?? Yep, because of this:
You all know I’m going, and you’re probably sick of me mentioning it. Um, tough. Heh. I’ve got a great roomie to help me cut down on the hotel expenses! Yay! But I still have a lot to pay for. (And frankly, no hope of getting a sponsor.)
The ONLY thing that makes me nervous about going to BlogHer, besides the cost, is, you guessed it, my weight. I’d like for first impressions to be about my smile, my eyes, my hair, my shoes, my laugh, my hugs, anything, anything but my big butt or big…you know…any other obvious body parts.
So I have another goal beyond June 1st and that is to be…HOT BY BLOGHER!!!
Christina from A Mommy Story just went live with her new site to help motivate us all to reach our goals by BlogHer, whatever those goals may be. You don’t even have to be going to BlogHer to join in – if you have a goal to meet – you have the support.
My goal is to lose an additional 35 pounds, (minimum!!) by BlogHer, that’s in addition to the 15 I’ve lost in the last 2 months.
I’ll do that by watching my calories, eating only nutritious food, and exercising a minimum of 30 minutes a day – using my Wii Fit, my mini trampoline, and my stair stepper.
I’m in – who’s in with me??
just bullets again
Monday is always a good day for bullets. There are too many random thoughts in my head today for one coherent post!
- I had a great weekend, and I did what I wanted, when I wanted. If that isn’t great, I don’t know what is anymore!
- On Saturday I mostly puttered about and watched whatever movies were on tv. Castaway still makes me cry every time I see it!
- I left the house as little as possible – it was wonderful not to have to run any errands. Well, not that I didn’t have to, I just didn’t do any!
- I baked bread! It’s the first time I did it where I was even vaguely successful. I’m trying to perfect a half white-half wheat bread. I didn’t realize the wheat flour would cause it to rise less than with white so it was a little dense. It was also a little overcooked – I forgot my oven tends to run hot! But it’s still yummy, toasted with a little peanut butter. I’ll do better next time.
- On Sunday I cleaned our hazardous waste dump of a family room and rearranged the furniture. Again. It’s a very looong room and the layout made it seem more so. The new way is cozier, but will take some getting used to.
- I finished two Christmas presents, and started another. My homemade holidays are kicking off to a great start. I just need to keep at it! I have a whole post about what I’m doing in the works for those of you interested in crafting. And for the rest of you? Well tough! I’m lacking in things to write about, so crafting it will be!
- The boy has a bit of a cold. I thought I was getting one too, but I killed it off with lots of Airborne. I’m telling you, that stuff really works! I haven’t had a full blown cold in at least 6 months. Knock on wood.
- BlogHer 09 conference date and location was announced today. I need to start saving my pennies. And my nickels, and dimes, and quarters if I have any hope of going! Anyone else thinking about it? If you’ve been before, I need to know – how do you handle finding a compatible roommate?
BlogHer is what happens in the hallways
I promise this is my last post about BlogHer Boston, but I really wanted to give a shout out to everyone I met and/or got a business card from. Some people I spent lots of time with, and others only briefly, but everyone I met was completely amazing! I think I lost some business cards so I am winging it a bit. If I missed your name, please (!) leave me a comment so I can visit your site.
Kristy – This chick rocks the conference planning!
Megin – I’m so glad she decided to come at the last minute!
Velma – We are way too much alike!
Tempting Mama – I adore her, and her sweet baby too.
Double Agent Girl – We’re stalking each other now.
Karen Sugarpants – Dude. She makes me laugh, and I love to laugh.
Elisa Camahort – She’s a sweetheart, and gave me some great advice.
Chicky Chicky Baby – she’s a pro with the baby wearing, and as sweet as can be.
Motherbumper – Oh, the funny! And so cute I wanted to put her in my pocket and take her home.
Her Bad Mother – I didn’t think this was possible, but I admire her even more now that I’ve met her.
Dawniemom – She was hurt and she still came!
Jane Porricelli - Why yes I did get to meet all three Moms Generations women!
Sharon Couto – I was lucky enough to have breakfast with her and we really hit it off.
Audrey McClelland – Omg Henry! I loved meeting these ladies.
Sherry Pardy – I found her on twitter the day before and I’m so glad I did!
Liz Henry – I wish I could have spent more time picking her brain!
The MomCentral ladies, Kara and Abbey
Of course the sponsors were awesome too, GM, Yahoo, Leapfrog, Life’s Good, Springpadit, Hooked on Phonics, Playtex Baby, and more that I can’t think of!
I really had a great time, and I would highly recommend going to one if you’re at all thinking about it. I can’t wait for BlogHer 09, wherever it is!
here’s what I learned at BlogHer
I’m sitting in the hotel restaurant looking like a fool typing on my computer while I eat, but I feel like I need to get this down while I’m still here.
I had grand plans to live blog some of my sessions yesterday, one of which was on Information Overload. Yeah. Just being here is information overload. It’s awesome though, and I’ve met some amazing people. What a FOOL I was to think I’d have time for posting at all!
I laughed until my face hurt, and talked until my voice was hoarse.
I don’t know how to even start telling you about the people here. This conference, and BlogHer are not just about the sessions, it’s about us. Our community. Every session boils down to the same thing. Write well, find your community, have conversations. The rest will come. You want traffic? Do those three things. You want comments? Do those three things. You want more opportunity? Do those three things. Write well, find your community, and have conversations. Put yourself out there (does the word twitter ring a bell?) and the rest will come.
Okay. I’m done eating and will probably get dirty looks from the waitress soon. When I get home I’ll post my pics up on Flickr, and give some linky love to everyone whose business card I have in my pocket!
Updated: I only took a few decent photos, but I just posted them to Flickr. I really could kick myself for not taking more. D’oh. Luckily lots of other Bloghers took more than I! Check out the BlogHer flickr group.
Filed Under blogging, friends Tagged blogging, BlogHer, conference, flickr
one more day to blogher
Today is a much better day! No headache and a decent night’s sleep do wonders for the psyche.
I’m mostly ready for tomorrow. I have adorable (and comfy) new shoes, and a huge new laptop bag. Both on sale – so it wasn’t a huge splurge. I really really needed the laptop bag, the shoes – well you know, they’re shoes!
I’m also happy: 1. because I got my BlogHer ad code today – yay! and 2. because DH fixed the pictures on my blog!
Since I need to test uploading images, let’s show you my lovely new purchases!
See how cute?! The bag is pink inside! Uh. Don’t look at the table though. I swear those are watermarks, not fingerprints!
So what do you think is holding that bag upright? Why it’s the giant pink can of coffee I won in Mamaspohr’s contest in honor or Breast Cancer Awareness Month!
It’s like the Godzilla of coffee cans! Thank you Mamaspohr. 
I think that’s more than enough coffee to wake me up tomorrow morning. At least I only have a 45 minute drive, but I still have to be up WAY too early. I’ll try to post something from there during the day, hopefully some pics and maybe even liveblog one of the sessions for fun, but I can’t promise anything!
Well you know what I’m doing, and probably thoroughly sick of hearing about it, so tell me, what are you doing for the weekend?
headache bullets
Top causes of today’s headache:
- The never ending pile of work.
- The dirty dishes that spontaneously reproduce baby dirty dishes in the sink.
- The clean dishes in the dishwasher that need to be put away. Again.
- The boy’s constant craft projects, the cutting! the painting! the taping! all scattered about the room!
- The laundry.
- The packing for BlogHer Boston (!)
- The pictures on this my blog that are still not working. And I don’t have the first clue how to fix them.
- The meals I need to plan and make between now and when I leave on Saturday at 7am.
- The sinuses.
- The cat puke in the upstairs hall.
- The fact that I forgot to make coffee this morning. And now it’s too late if I want to sleep tonight.
- The lack of sleep. Went to bed early last night, but was wide awake at 3am.
- The eyestrain from my crappy glasses.
- The boy who never stops talking and/or singing.
Can someone stop over and take a look at my ears? I think there’s brain matter leaking out of them.
a little envious
Hey, if you didn’t notice already, Chapter 3 of Foodie is up at ChapterBytes! Go ahead and read it, I’ll wait here so we can have a chat when you get back.
Okay, did you like it? That chapter was written by Schumtzie, one of my favorite bloggy reads. If you’ve never read her before, I suggest you go do that now.
Next up will be the lovely Flutter. How I love Flutter’s writing. Oh, I wish I were going to BlogHer if only to meet her!
Did I mention I have BlogHer envy. No? I must have only mentioned it on twitter. Yes, my friends, I have a bad case. There are so many bloggers are talking about it right now, gearing up to go, and I am soooo jealous.
This is incredibly dorky of me, but I love conferences. I love hanging out with like minded people, making new friends, sharing a hotel room, and even *gasp* attending the sessions. Yep. Really dorky. I just missed a work related conference last month, but it was in a land far far away, you know, like Phoenix. Really far away, just like BlogHer is in San Francisco. Dude, I can’t afford to go that far from the sticks of New Hampshire! That’s one heck of an expensive plane ride!
How am I going to overcome my deadly sin? (Well, the envy at least. I have some others I still need to work on.) First, I just have to hope next year’s big BlogHer conference is on the East Coast but in the meantime I’ve signed up for the BlogHer Boston Outreach Tour! It’s a one day event on October 11…I can’t believe I have to wait that long. Now I just have to decide if I’m staying over one or two nights! So my New England bloggy friends, who’s with me?