Paid off bills, losing weight, my book and volunteering

Tonight I went to Weight Watchers and lost half a pound. That's good since I ate half a leg of a gigantic gingerbread man! Man, that was good! That comes to 7 1/2 pounds now. Next week I'll need to purchase another monthly pass. It's all working out well. I'm thinking of going to the town of Arthur for meetings, it is a little closer and Arthur is an Amish town, very small town, I think I would like that better. Eating tons of fruits, vegetables, oatmeal, egg white omelets and yogurt. Lots of casseroles for both the weight watchers and the budget.

Today we paid off Sears and Lowes. We took some money out of our savings to do it. And also today Bob closed a mutual fund and we will get that money back to pay off our debts. If all goes according to plan we will be out of debt including my student loan in a little less than 24 months. Then we will start our six month emergency fund and start paying off the house.

When we paid off Sears and Lowes we were paying $360 a month on those two bills just to whittle them down. We will now roll those over and pay off the loan for dental work, it is the third smallest debt we owe.

Still haven't cancelled satellite tv since we had an entire month left on our account, but we are looking forward to not having the tv in the living room. I watch too much of the news and it is depressing. The best we can do is stay abreast of the goings on in the world through the internet and Bob will bring home the paper from work everyday so we can see that and get the coupons from the inserts.

The livingroom is getting back to "normal" the tree has been gone for a week or so, and I am just putting away the rest of the Christmas decorations. For a centerpiece for our dining room table I put one of our kerosene lamps and need to get some fuel for it. We have about five of these lamps and are going to keep them filled in case of emergency.

I'm trying to think of more ways in which we are saving money. I have been going to the library quite a bit, getting books on CD for when I'm driving or working around the house. I've "read" several books that way. We will start shopping from our "envelopes" one for food for each week, one for miscellaneous.

Speaking of books...I got copies of my book, "The Visitors of Pompadour" preview edition copied and stapled ready to send to book publishers. I am sending it first to Boyd's Mills Press..aka, Front Street Press, Calkins Creek, wordsong, and Lemniscaat publishers. They accept unsolicited manuscripts from first time authors and respond within three months. I have joined an online literary agency search and will be looking for an agent, so even though I am not bringing in tons of money, hopefully this book will be printed one day and it will be successful. I am working on Two others, one a novel and one a "documentary-type" book. But for now my focus is on Pompadour.

More on money later.

One thing Bob and I have decided to do is volunteer to teach adults how to read. One hour a week. There is a waiting list of 48 people. I may end up volunteering more often than once a week. Tomorrow I have an appointment with Voc. Rehab in helping me get a job with my disability. A general checkup and then having missionaries over for dinner. Tomorrow will be a busy day.

Have a great day!