I run or atleast I run when I am told I have to run. HaHa

Well I have an MP3 player that I use for running and like to have songs in there that are upbeat and catchy.

Well lately I have been thinking about how nice it would be to have a running playlist, a cool down playlist and of course a just chillin and listening to my favorite tunes playlist.

So I was thinking of biting the bullet and buying an ipod. Well about a week and a half ago I created a folder on my MP3 player. I was hoping that folders would equal playlists. Well I turned on my MP3 player and nothing was different. The song that was in the seperate folder was in my list so figured nope folders dont mean anything.

Well I was messing with the MP3 player today and realized that I infact do have an option to play folders. So now I am NOT going to by an ipod ($123.54 at Wal-Mart) was going to buy it at Staples and pricematch Wal-Marts price so I could use my staples rewards check which would basically cover the tax on the ipod.

:0)

So my Workout Buddy is planning to go to Vegas in August, he parents and uncles/aunts were going to go and meet some radio personality and him and his brother were going to go relax and maybe do a little skydiving.

BUT He has not locked anything in yet. He was planning the end of August and asked if I might be interested in tagging along; but that would not work for me since Mid August school starts. I told him if it was sooner I might be convinced to join him.

Well his answer was that the trip was not in stone yet and if earlier would workout better, an earlier trip could be arranged. How Sweet is that.

Okay so my Workout buddy has many friends in the airline business, so he can get buddy passes, we just have to get to Denver. So I need to start saving for the trip that I want to take; that he said he could arrange buddy passes for.

My plan is July-August (Workout daily, watch food intake, increase water intake) Goal Be down to my 143 pound goal fitting into my favorite swim suit.

Reward: Vegas 3 day trip early August

Sept 18th: Run 1st 5K race

Get a Passport!

Reward for 5K race, Getting fit and trim and My Birthday (Nov): Trip to cancun (buddy ticket) in November which he says would be the best time to go as it is not during spring break and that time of year it is more people our age on vacationing there.

I need to look into the price of tickets to vegas...We have super cheap flights to vegas from my city as we have one airline that just does vegas so I am thinking $100-$150. I then will need $ for food. I am thinking either I will be crashing on the couch in their room (unless the brother is claiming the couch) or will crash on the floor. After all the carpeted floor will probubly be softer than a rocky ground you would get camping.

As for my Birthday trip:
I need a passport
I need Ticket to Denver
I need Hotel $
I need Food $
He has been to cancun 4 times so I am going to find out from him the average he usually spends on food and hotel so I can ball park the savings I will need.

***
Disclaimer:
I am not looking for a romantic relationship. We are friends! And if it were to get serious I would require a 2 year dating time line before a 2 year engagement time. With my Ex if I would have done this I would have known we did not make a good couple. Also IF I was ever talk about get married I would make sure it was a church wedding with both of us attending the required pre-marriage classes and us attending a dave ramsey course before wedding planning.

I have been in a marriage that basically was two people sharing living space for at least 5 years so I guess in my mind I dont feel the need for 100% 24/7 Me Only time. Also we are friends, we chit chat and he understands that; we were talking about something and he said "if we were to date in the future" so I know he gets that I am not looking for anything more than a Workout Buddy and a good friend at this time.

Okay this is not money related, might be able to toss in a few money things but mostly this is just an attempt to purge my brain.

I AM Divorced!! And for the past 8 years I have given and given and got nothing in return (besides my son - so I would do it all over in a heart beat).

I have often been told while I was married that my now ex had no clue what he had in a wife and there are so many guys that would love to have me as there girl/woman and would love my son as their own.

***
Well my ego is really being boosted. The big work weeks are here and the part timers are working full time and there is alot of round the clock projects going on. Well the Big NEWS is that I am now single. Seems to be the Thing to talk about.

In the last week I have been contacted by an old guy friend, and have meet two new guy friends. One of the new friends has had a crush for like 2 years now BUT being he is a true gentleman he has NOT acted on it. Well now that the big news is that I am single he has asked me to spend time with him. We are going to go to a movie here soon just not sure when. I would like to see Killers, and Letters to Juliet. I think I might have talked him into either taking me or renting letter to juliet later. We desided on Killers.

Truthfully I was being really judgemental about the guy who is going to take me to the movie and almost was like nah not going there, but as I get to know him more I am finding more and more I like about him.

He is taking a mini-vacation in the end of august and asked me to go with. I said maybe another time because school will be starting then and I cant miss the first days of school.

I have never been on a real vacation. I am really overdue for a mini-vacation or a vacation, so I am thinking it would be nice to go. Even if we are just going as friends. We have alot in common and I think we both could help the other improve/better oneself.

I am really excited for the prospect of going on a fun vacation with friends.

I am thinking about joining a gym. Which means a monthly added cost to my budget.

The thing is I found a workout buddy, If I workout with them I either need a membership where they have one or pay $7 per visit to the YMCA. So far I canceled once with them (did not want to pay $7) and once I suggested a walk (see below) after they had completed their YMCA workout.

I am not really liking the YMCAs hours for Daycare as workout buddy needs to workout before or after work and so before work would be fine ( my work will give me the time to workout during my shift) but after work would be a problem as the daycare ends at 7:30pm on Mon-Thurs and is not available Fri-Sun, and they do not work out until 9pm if they workout after.

I was thinking of a second or third option...Option 3 allows 1 guest per visit so I could get the membership and it would cost my workout partner nothing. I need to check into their daycare times though. The only downside is that they have not pool.

WE walked 10 Miles yesterday together and I walked 3 miles by myself while they were at the YMCA, I also took 2 loads of boxes out of storage. I was very happy with the scale this morning as a result. 168.8!!!! I am back under 170. Only 25 pounds to go to goal.

My workout buddy MIGHT run the 5K with me in September. It depends because they cringed when I told them there was a $25 -$30 entry fee if they registered before the end of the month. Also not sure if they will want to run with me or run at their top speed. So maybe I will just see them at the finish line as they run at a faster pace then I do.

****
My XH was suppose to go to the cities to look at an apartment yesterday but desided to go camping instead. He is now planning on going this weekend. I have to work saturday so I hope he plans to take our son with him as I will not be availble to watch DS.

Some time this week I NEED to get my ducks in a row and get the quit claim completed. I need to deposit more money into the account that I am going to be using to cut the check to XH.

****
I was reminded that I really need to set up an appointment with the dentist and my girly doctor. So I might have another monthly bill to add to my budget. I am not sure if that type of prescription is covered at the 100% rate or if I am going to have the the $3 or $13 per 3 months mail-order-pharmacy rate.

****
Tonight, right after work I am planning on having subway for dinner with my workout Buddy, then going for another walk but only 6.4 miles this time.

It is funny because I have told people I walked for 13 miles last night and they are all like NO WAY. But once I tell them the 10 miles took 3 hours then they are like okay I can see that.

Yesterday I spoke with XH and he agree to let me buy him out of the house.

My XH is very self centered and a instant gratification kind of person. (Truthfully he was hoping to list and have an offer in the first week) Even though our house is over the average price for a home in city (169K).

So....I have refinanced the house in my name only. I was approved to refinance anyway. Now I am waiting for the company to Fed-Ex me the paperwork which I will review and sign and return and then THE CLOSER will call me. Due to back log I am told this can take 5 days. But I am locked in on the new rate and it is 1.5% LESS than what I am at now so my total payments will go down $150 per month. Also I will not have an escrow anymore (I will be doing a self-escrow).

Once the house is refianced then I will be paying my XH 10K which is what he would have gotten had we sold the house at the REAL VALUE price AFTER the realtor fees and the portion to Myself and to DSs college fund. We will be doing a Quit Claim Deed to transfer all ownership to myself and to BUY him out. Actually the 10K is $1,500 or 7% more than he should be getting BUT it is what his "I need this amount to move on was".

I would have liked this as an option before we divorced so we could have gotten it taken care of with that instead of having to do a quit claim deed NOW but my XH usually has to be given time to come to realize that I am right.

See he thought our house was worth 260K NO way I was going to pay him 50% of equity of that. I knew it was closer to 206K well we met with a RE Agent and the house is listed at 214 (Big difference in Equity from his minds idea)....NO bites no nibbles. So house is not selling and people complaining about this that and the red neck neighbor with 10 cars three which are parked on the grass and he FINALLY realizes we are going to have to be at a break even point NOT a huge flip that house profit (finished the basement) to sell the house.

So basically we are now both at a house value point that is REAL and because he understands that if we sold to split the profit we would have to pay a realter so that is going to be factored OUT of the equity for both of us. I feel bad that he thinks he should get more than what the market is going to bring him. BUT on the other hand when I called back and told him that I got approved he was releaved. He told me all day after that it was like a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders.

The funny thing is there is still some work for me to iron out, so at times there is still a little stress on my plate. But last night I played outside with my son, we rode his scooter and he rode his bike and then would take a turn on his scooter. It was great and it was all possible because FINALLY I am done spending all my spare time keeping the house OCD clean.

This morning I took a shower in the Master Bathroom. The Main floor bathrooms have been off limits for a while now since I super cleaned them and put out NEW towels and rugs. Last Night I BBQed But if I had wanted to I could have used the kitchen again. We were limiting cooking and doing alot of take out so that we could reduce the cleaning required. SOOOOOO Nice.

Met with the stagers today. $4000 to stage the house and they said about $150 per month since we would need to rent a livingroom set for upstairs..

So following that I....

Sat down with XH to show him how much he would net IF he went with his bottom line that he agreed to before going to the concert. He thought man we definately have to pay to stage now because that is not enough. To which my answer was even if we pay to stage there is NO garentee we will sell and what price we will get.

So after that I asked "How much do you NEED to be able to move on?" Well it turns out it would be 47% of his bottome price.

*****
I am on hold!!!!!

I am looking to refinance our home and then buying him out with a quit clam deed. That EF over there is going to take a nose dive though since I do not want to finance the buy out into the mortgage. I think it is best for everyone.

Little Guy and me get to stay in the family home and XH gets the $ he needs to move out of state. If I refinance #1 I no longer need to have the taxes and insurance in escrow so I will make interest on the money for the escrow that I will keep in a seperate savings account. #2 because of the refiniance my payments will drop by $150 per month. They will drop by $410 per month if you remove the escrow. The NEW total price means the house is only going to cost me about $100-$200 per month more than I was looking to spend for an apartment. Also my mortgage will stay the same instead of changing yearly based on taxes and insurance amounts.

I have my fingers crossed.

So XH got back from his out of town party with friends.

He of course gets upset right away when I ask him to make sure his feet are clean before walking on the NEW carpet. The old carpet was dirty and that is why we had to spend $500 to replace it so people would stop complaining about the carpet.

Well before the trip I was working on the rock border and he was painting the upstiars. Well while he was gone I finished the rock border. I have a stiff neck, sunburned arms, and 4 days I will never get back to show for it BUT it is done.

Today when he called me at work to find out if I called the realtor I mentioned the painting. He still needs to paint the hallway and the two bathrooms. (The bedrooms should also be done but they are not BAD). His answer was to swear at me then hang up the phone. I really dont get the sell it two months ago attitude but yet I am doing all the work to get it ready to show.

I have called the realtor so far today twice. I will talk to her today BEFORE 9pm. I want to find out about the comments during the last open house. I also plan to reduce the price we are asking.

It is costing me 1500.00 in housing payments for each additional month we are on the market because XH has not money and now he is getting hystrical because in a month he will not have enough to pay his child support in full. (Humm maybe he should work instead of taking vacations or get a fulltime job).

We are talking of dropping our list price. I am thinking about 10K but it might be 15K just to get a QUICK bite. XH wants to drop it to 200K but then in the same sentence he says he wants a small amount of money so he can move and start living his life. We might end up at the 15K drop which would be 199K but It scares me a bit because then the offers are going to be below that price and I know XH is going to be a pain in the BUTT when he doesnt have much to move forward.

***
I talked to the realtor and off course now a third realtor has repeated that our house is great but it is not selling. Now the word is the house is COLD. The new homes we are up against are staged and painted a warm browny/tan and we have near white walls.

The realtor knows some stagers and hopefully they can come over tomorrow to look at the house. Of course I knew this needed to be done and any painting suggested is going to have to be hired out (XH is lazy but at end of rope). When I told him the house might need to be painted a warmer color he flipped out and said he cant afford any more house expenses. I am really getting sick of him saying that because I am the one footing all the bills.

Oh well how much is my sanity worth, is it worth dropping my house price by 15K and paying out of pocket 1K for painting and ??? 1K for furnature and decorations to warm up the place.

***
Sadly I just wish we would have priced the house lower to start with. I was thinking based on pricing that would should have been at 206K to start. If we would have started there then took of 5K for the deck allowance we might have sold faster and it would not be JUNE and still not sold the house.