Wednesday, June 30, 2010

3rd payday this month

It doesn't happen often (about twice a year), but we had 3 paydays in June.


Todays Paycheck:
worked~68.73 hours
Take home pay~$255.53
$127.76 went into my savings account and as of today, I have about $325 saved in that account right now. Saving money sorta reminds me of the old tale "The Grasshopper & The Ant". The grasshopper would be someone who spends the whole paycheck on fun stuff or materialistic stuff and the ant would be the person trying to save as much as they can.

The state of NH is still taking money out for 3 kids, even though Kevin is now 18 and graduated from high school. It was supposed to be 40% for 3 kids before and now it should be 30% for 2 kids...but NH is not very good with math. Time to get my papers together to send to NH.

I've actually done ok, since they started taking money out. Course I don't go online shopping every week like I used to.
Maybe I will go to Jerome on July 10th with Brenda & Doris. I don't really need to shop but I sure will take tons of pictures. My manager, Adam, just came by and saw me looking up info about Jerome and told me some story about a ghost going bowling above his head in the Asylum hotel/Restaurant.

I finally contacted Qwest yesterday to have wi-fi in my room again. Figured wi-fi in my room would be better for me then a cell phone (at least for now). wi-fi in my room will cost about $25/month for the first 6 months...plus taxes/fees. After 6 months it will be $45/month.

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

to hot

Lately it has gotten to hot outside to satisfy me. There are thunderstorms in the forecast from today to Friday....and I'm hoping it pours "cats & dogs" out. Yup, now I want all that rain I had in NH during my vacation.

My way of dealing with this heat is a quick jump in the shower and then sit next to my fan...that I finally dragged out of the closet. Geez, starting to sweat in places I didn't think it was possible. Who in the hell wants to deal with clothes on days like this?

Saturday, June 26, 2010

Clothes~one thing at a time

I have a habit of making long to-do lists, and then getting to tired or bored to ever finish my lists. Actually my daughter used to say I make more lists then anyone she knows.

So this week I'm shortening the list. This week I will take care of all my clothes.
yes, a whole week to deal with clothes! Because I am that slow.
I washed a small load of laundry and put 3 shirts out on the free table today. By the end of the week, I want ALL the clothing thats scattered around to be washed, taken care of neatly in dresser or put out onto the free table.

I started making a list of what clothes I had that I wanted to keep:
6 pair of shorts
7 pair of pants
3 hoodies
3 sweaters
4 dresses/skirts
about 20-30 shirts (this is the hard one)

Now I don't even know if 20-30 shirts will fit in my dresser; and I am only keeping clothes that fit in my dresser. 30 would be a different shirt for every day of the month. I'm sure I have plenty of shirts I hardly ever wear and some shirts I wear for a few days straight. So why do I think I need 30?
I wear a uniform to work provided by the company and mostly the same 2 pair of pants on my days off; so I don't really need 7 pair of pants.

The hoodies and sweaters I might just keep in my suitcase under the bed (otherwise they are so bulky that they could take up a whole drawer all by themselves)and well maybe my winter hat, scarves, and gloves can get packed away in the suitcase too. Figure if the suitcase is going to take up room anyways, I might as well use it for storage.

My closet doesn't have a door on it and my desk is inside my closet, so I don't need or want clothes hanging in there.

Luckily most of my shorts, pants and hoodies are all dark colors so even if they all get dirty I can wash them all together when I do laundry :).
I have a couple bright colored t-shirts that I always seem to leave out of the laundry waiting forever for other bright colors to wash with them.

The main thing is with all my clothes:
I'm tired of trying to figure out what fits, whats clean, or where I put something.
I will need more socks to wear for work though...alot of my socks have holes in them.

Saturday, June 19, 2010

from Yaki point


This shot may not seem like much all by itself.~


I took this pictures while standing up above these people. I'm not exactly sure how they got down there and I didn't stay long enough to watch them climb back up...well I have a good idea where they found a pathway to get there.


Maybe another day I will try it myself and see if the view is actually better in that spot.














Now I had gone walking around Yaki Point area, and when I turned around toward the sun I could see 2 crazy nuts sitting out on rocks (click on arrow)

I really wish I had grabbed my zoom lens when I before I left my room.

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Paycheck update

I got the 40 hrs of vacation pay
just under 38 hrs of regular work time
8 hrs of holiday pay
------------------
total of almost 86 hrs.....
for about $352 take home pay after all the deductions

rent~$31.14 (for 2 weeks)
State of NH~$195.25
taxes~$85.06
--------------
total taken out is $311.14 WOW!



So far I spent about $46 from this paycheck for the Co-op food baskets that will be delivered this Saturday. I'll probably call a taxi to get the food all home...and I have the $6 cab fare in my pocket now.
I'm sure I will buy a newspaper this week and a few meals during lunch break at work, but I have the change for all that in my room without touching any money in the bank.

But other then that I'm pretty sure I won't really need anything before I get the next paycheck, which means all the rest of the check I got yesterday can just sit in the bank.

It's pretty cool to think that sometimes I work in this cafeteria just so I am able to live at the Grand Canyon National Park, because obviously I don't really need 1/2 the money I bring home.
And seeing as I have tomorrow off work, I'm gonna go out walking the rim trail & take pictures and enjoy the view of my backyard.

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Payday

I haven't gone into work to pick up a copy of paystub...but checked account online earlier and I got $350 as take-home pay. Course that doesn't tell me how much the state of NH took out.
The $350 gets divided so 1/2 goes in checking account & 1/2 goes into savings account. So at this moment I have $197 in savings account that I plan on leaving there.

Been listening to co-workers make comments all week about how they were in a hurry for payday. Had someone sound surprised when they saw me pull two $20 bills out of my pocket yesterday. It seems alot of my co-workers live paycheck-to-paycheck. Meaning they spend all of 1 paycheck days (or a week) before the next payday.

I can't figure out how some co-workers can call themself an adult when they have to call their parents for money every week just so the co-worker can pay their phone/internet bills or go clothes shopping. I always thought adults paid their own bills.
Course I have a bill from the clinic & an old court bill I ain't paid either but at least I ain't begging no family member to pay them for me.
Now "if" Xanterra puts $175 every payday, then all I would have to do is wait for 9 more paydays and the old court bill would be paid off. "IF" I decide to use the savings acct for that.

I found some clothes at the rec center today. (actually just a pair of jeans & a jumper) I have more clothes then I really need (or wear) already at home, so I will have to weed more clothes out and bring up a bag of stuff that I don't really wear on Saturday when I come up for the food Co-Op.

Now I wouldn't really be depriving myself of anything important by keeping 1/2 the paycheck in the bank. All I really "NEED" to buy is food & laundry supplies. Less clothes will mean less laundry and buying from the food co-op will mean better/ healthier food. I have almost everything I really need for day-to-day living because I have bought so much stuff in the past.

Even though I did buy a few books from amazon this week (lately I fall asleep with a book) and have been looking at different cell phones and trying to decide if I want to buy an iphone or a straight-talk tracphone. Different employees here at Grand Canyon have both phones so I know that they both work in this area, and both phones have internet & text messaging. Best thing about straight-talk is that there would be no 2 year contract with a phone company.

For whatever reason I have been reading blogs/websites on how different people make money with their blogging...Some people claim to make more money in a week then I do in 1 or 2 months at work.
so I might just stop writing for this blog and start a new one, when I figure it all out.

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Flagstaff Hostel & Lunch


Lunch today at "Biff's Bagels". I had them hold the olives on my sandwich. Today was the first day I ever tried greek yogurt...its really good.
I first found this place 3 yrs ago when I was on my way up to the canyon to start work and I have loved it ever since.

Common living area at the hostel...lady in the pic was originally from Canada, but said she came here from NY.

First time I ever stayed here and had the dorm room all to myself.

a few interesting people I shared breakfast with.
These 4 were from France & Holland.


The outside of the building don't look all the special...but its a great place to stay, and probably 1 of the cheapest places in town.
They even picked me up at the greyhound station the night before in the white van.
Which was really nice because I started my day off in Boston,MA and ended it in Flagstaff,AZ....so I was tired.


Monday, June 7, 2010

Kevin's graduation


Graduation ceremony had originally been planned to be an outdoors, but it was pouring outside with thunder earlier in the day so it got changed to an inside event. Course during the actual graduation it was nice out again.
Kevin marching into the building.

receiving his diploma



posing outside with
Candace & Garrett.

Saturday, June 5, 2010

Grandkids in NH


This was my first time meeting my youngest grand-daughter (she's in the pink dress)

my grandkids picking wild strawberries beside the road as we walked down to the swimming area. Wow, it's been years since I have had wild strawberries


Liz and I stopped at "Town Docks" for lunch. This was a view from where we sat.




Grandkids wanted ice cream. Christopher is already tired of my camera. Christopher got butterfin ger ice cream which wasn't to bad, but Brianna got lemon ice cream that was sour...who would want sour ice cream?
pretty flowers growing up at the parking area where the kids live.




Tuesday, June 1, 2010

PHX Airport

I got to the airport before 9pm and most of the shops in terminal 3 are closed. There is a little bakety/cafe open not to far from where I am typing this. I think its the only thing open in this terminal. But they must be closing soon too, cuz they put away all the table & chairs except the one I'm using.

There is a shop called "Curious Creations" diaginally across from me, I'll have to check it out in the morning if it opens early enough.

Geez, how many times do I have to hear the intercom speech about liquids being in 3oz containers and into a ziplock bag? They get picky about bringing shampoo, lotion & even perfume now, but I've seen 2 little dogs walking around inside this airport. They also have some recorded speech about having 1 bag plus 1 personal item. All I know is I will have a fit if they don't accept my 1 bag....cuz that is my 1 and only bag for this trip.

I'm waiting to take pics inside here cuz I don't want to bring the camera out, then fall asleep later and find camera missing when I wake up.

Ready for my trip

Yesterday at work, I would remind people on how many more hours I had left till I was officially on vacation. At the end of my shift, Barb (the kitchen manager) said I had been on vacation all day.

Well backpack is all packed and with the laptop & all the camera stuff it weighs under 20 pounds (I weighed it at backcountry office). In order to carry it on the plane with me, it had to weigh less then 35 pounds.

Liz was on facebook today and said she wants to pick me up in Boston and have me spend a night at her place....cool I guess I don't have to worry about spending the night and catching the bus the next morning.

ok, I'm sitting at Maswik Cafe now and I have another hour and a half to wait for shuttle. I leave here about 4:15 and get to PHX airport at 9pm.