I've been remiss.  I was in Anchorage for a conference/training, and my big ole sinus infection reared its ugly head while my plane was descending into Anchorage.

I skipped the first few hours of my training to get seen at the doctor's office, and it was a good decision - OR SO I THOUGHT!

Turns out, the meds they gave me ended up causing me some drama since getting back home.  I FREAKED Nick out with my hallucinating and seizure-like incidents in the middle of the night.  Anyway, while I was feeling good I purchased my twelfth payday Kiva loan.

Here is Erlina.  She sells fish and that appeals to this Alaskan lady!

Shopping has been a success in the big city.

I got some great bargains -- yet exercised restraint!

I bought some cute clearance undies (cuz really, why not?).

I spent $5 and some change at Target (a record I think).

I bought NOTHING at Kohl's (it is sometimes hit or miss and luckily for my wallet, it was a miss this time).

And the big win goes to The Body Shop.  There was a Groupon for The Body Shop in A-town offered just this past week.  Knowing I was going to be here, I bought the thing so far my checking account didn't know what hit it.  It was a $20 for $40 Groupon with a little bonus: $45 worth if you used it before April 2nd.  I'm here 3/29-3/31 - DONE.

Not only was the Groupon fabuloso, but they were already having a buy 3, get 2 free sale.  I must have not really listened to her because I heard buy two get one free or buy three get one free . . . whatever.  I truck up to the counter with my goodies.  She put me in my place, it was buy 3 get 2 free - I need to pick another time.  "Oh really?  You gonna make me?"  Lol.  My Love Your Body thing is no longer active and since I don't live there anymore I decided not to pay the $10 to renew it to get 10% off.  So, all told, I paid the nice lady $5 today.  That means I spent $25 total for FIVE items from The Body Shop.

These goodies my dearies. 
Note, the one in the middle is a fragrance that sells for $26 for that alone.  So, I got a dollar off that and the rest of FREEEEE.  I feel like the smartest person ever.

So, here is a somewhat typical survey screener question . . . well, it SEEMED typical until I read ALL the choices.  Haha.  I just think that's too funny.  I'm sure some people will honestly answer that.

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When shopping for groceries people often use different methods of reducing the amount they owe at checkout. Please select the methods below that you have used in the past 30 days.

Thursday night my brain started hurting.  It hasn't let up -- and has, perhaps, gotten worse.  That's Friday, Saturday, Sunday and now Monday.

I am having to take Excedrin and DayQuil basically every 4-6 hours to be comfortable.  It sounds like this headache thing is going around, but I'm not sure if I'm doing enough for it.  I want it gone.

A)  I am leaving town tomorrow afternoon for Anchorage and it would be inconvenient to seek medical care there while I'm at a conference, etc.

B) I could try and get seen somewhere here today, but I really cannot afford it. 

I thought I had decent health care coverage, but it increasingly seems like I'm paying a ton out of pocket for it -- for all kinds of services.  I haven't gotten some claims from my women's health visits paid yet (despite turning in ALL the proper paperwork months ago, for services rendered back in November).  If those don't get paid sometime this month, my doctor's office is going to make me pay the nearly $500 while we continue to get it straightened out.

Now, I got notice of a new claim yesterday, for my chiropractor.  I recall seeing I had 12 visits per year.  I pay $11.60 for each visit directly to the chiro's office.  Well, the last two visits (Feb & March) show online that I have a patient responsibility of over $50 for each visit.  I want to call and figure this out today, before I keep going to appointments I can't pay for, but just thinking about that makes my brain hurt again.

*Sigh.*  It sometimes seems like having a full-time job with benefits really doesn't pay. 

So . . . I'm alive.  I'm alive, but I've been very distracted.  Being a part of buying a house will do that to you.  I knew it'd be tough, but it is really stressful.

I've been up and down this week, down more than I would like and have had some hearty cries because I've been sensitive to things that were said.  Let's just say I dislike DIY home improvement work.  That is the time I have the least amount of self-esteem in our relationship because I just can't seem to do anything right; to his satisfaction.  I don't want to do it if I'm going to get talked down to for not doing it right.  He thinks I should just KNOW what the right way is without telling me.  Friggin' frustrating.

Sigh.  But, the good thing is carpet will be ordered soon, re-inspection done soon, new address labels ordered, and we get the keys 3/31.  Well, boy will get the keys and sign the papers.  I'll be out of town for most of the day.

Sorry, this is really disconnected, but I just needed to vent a bit.  It wasn't fun crying at work today. :/

It's my eleventh loan as a part of my year long commitment to lend a new $25 to Kiva at least once a month.

This time, I lent to a group in the Dominican Republic that is focusing on buying bedding and bath linens.

Fun in Fairbanks!

Ice Alaska
 
 


UAF Nanooks games



My first snow machine riding!
 


It was remarkably good weather -- pretty spring-like for Fairbanks!

It's that time again . . .  but no time for colors and frills.

This pay period, the lucky recipient is a group in Mexico.  The primary lendee runs a stationary store.  Stationary and all things that come with it is close to my heart. Whee!

The princesas!

They still need $3100 towards their loan, so get to it!

So, it was our second day of games yesterday (but my first because I was out of town last weekend).  Not enough of our men showed up, so the first team we played we had to be down a whole person.  I don't quite understand those rules, but we lost.

The second team we played . . . we actually got SUPER close to winning the first game!  We had fun nonetheless and that's really all it's about!  I had some good saves and some good serves and seemingly earned us some points!

However, those sleeveless shirts we got for our team shirts - UGLY ON ME.  Sigh.

Though I made two other loans this week from my repaid money (it comes on the 15th usually) . . . this is the official 9th loan in my year long commitment.  I also love that it is the 3rd for this week!

His name is Chawki and he lives in Lebanon.