Officially, it’s an ‘I’m frazzled’ friday.

A morning where I surge out of bed and dismally announce to the world: I’m feeling frazzled.

M: (rolls eyes)

Lexi:  ::sounds a baby makes:: (grabs at booby)

I’m grateful for how seriously they take me.

Source: The Cat Woman

It’s a frazzled tale where;

Mysteriously, my favorite Winnie-the-Pooh coffee mug disappears. For twenty minutes this morning, I frantically swing cupboards open, clamber on gnarled knees to squirm beneath salt-y dusted tables and pepper spattered chairs, remove our basil plant, cacti and succulents to peek around their perch, I even elevate the cat food dish as if that’s where a runaway cup ought to be found, only to, at some point during this nonsense, open the fridge and discover my beloved mug loyally perched on the top shelf, next to the gooseberries and currants, where I had placed it days ago — it even generously offers a shot of stale, three-day old coffee.

My baby sucks on pebbles from the bamboo plant, and I spend the next half-hour scooping handfuls of pebbles out from her gaping maw. (Coupled with a crinkly, dried-up orchid petal.)

The cat’s pissed. And then pitches a chunky hairball all over our shaggy black rug. Fucking cat.

Where. The page is.
blank.

Where I can’t get more than two sentences down on paper before another crisis erupts, and I’m exceedingly behind in my writing because, after three hours, this is what fills my page:

(scribble)

There lived a fruit fly named Pete. He liked to live on our street. One day he fell down while shuffling to town, and then his tiny crown got beat.

(/scribble) <insert smushed corpse dangling from page. Poor Pete.>

And then Lexi crawls over and jostles my arm, which causes me to tap a key and delete a paragraph, all while I am still in mid eye-blink. Stuck in the frazzleds, that’s me.

However, I am wise enough to recognize the frazzlies signify something might be a-miss. Sometimes it’s just pure chaos here at our humble city-apartment dwelling, but when I’m feeling this much frazzledness, it’s my red flag. My trumpet of forewarning.

Something is awry and needs to be modified, somehow. So this is where I shall undauntedly begin to pen down a few weekly goals in the hopes of nipping away this sensation…

Goals for 6/20

To get un-frazzled.

Add $300.00 to my emergency savings fund, which is my online Discover Savings account @ .90% APY. DONE

Yoga. Daily.

Broke-Ass Mommy has officially joined the Yakezie Challenge. Add badge widget and Alexa stats to website. DONE

Outline some (rough) story ideas / character sketches I have quivering about. I don’t know what my characters are supposed to be doing exactly, I just know they’ve been stuck in my head and need to be extracted.

Other website tinker-y to-do’s:

Install Pac-Man plugin on WordPress (for fun).
Work on ‘About’ page.

Anticipated weekend expenses:

A wedding. A pair of glitzy new shoes. And some fresh coffee.

To conclude with this blathering on; maybe there’s just too much ‘to-do’ and not enough ‘get-done’. And this shall pass. Maybe I just need to accept that my cat will puke wherever she pleases, and continue to do whatever she wants. Because she’s a cat, you see.

Thoughts on any of this? Do you ever experience the frazzles?

=^..^=

Some mid-week photography:

Related articles on photography that may tickle your pickle:

• Seeking Splendor in the Morning Glint
• Airport Lounging

There is a ‘twenty random things‘ meme circulating through the blogosphere and I compiled my own list this morning. Just thought I’d share.

So, how’s your Monday?

#2. My favorite band is Marah.

#3. I’ve swam with hundreds of wild dolphins in the ocean while four months pregnant. Apparently, their echo location can sense two heartbeats in one body, so the dolphins –instinctively protective– hovered nearby. Surreal.

#4. We used a hydrophone to eavesdrop on humpback whales hauntingly serenading each other during mating rituals, within a two-mile radius of our boat. I also caught a uku (grey snapper) while deep bottom fishing, and puked off the starboard twenty-seven times.

#5. The following morning, I stepped on an octopus.

#6. I lived in Copenhagen, Denmark from 1999 until 2004…

Copenhagen, Denmark

#7. … and studied in the International Culturale Studiet program at Roskilde University in Denmark for one year.

#8. While at Roskilde, I worked closely with human-rights violation workers and other students, to write a 379-page in-depth research report, which spanned two semesters, on illegal female circumcision being performed on young Somali girls in Sweden.

#9. Some of my treks: London, Paris, Belgium, Germany, Greece, Sweden, Canada. In the U.S; NYC, Hawaii and Los Angeles. Tennessee and Texas. North Carolina, and the Great Smoky Mountains.

#10. I yearn for a clunky antique typewriter.

#11. I am fluent in Danish, and semi-fluent in French, Swedish and Norwegian.

#12. The mysterious, the esoteric and the obscure fascinates me; ancient Egypt, Freemasonry, aliens, genetic manipulation. The truth is out there.

#13. Usually while participating on community boards, I browse with my iPod because I am also nursing my daughter.

#14. I started playing the piano when I was five years old.

#15. I have an impeccably snobbish fetish for single malt scotches.

#16. I was once sued for credit card debt (that wasn’t mine).

#17. My most traumatic memory; giving birth to my daughter.

#18. My most euphoric memory; giving birth to my daughter.

#19. Secretly, I browse the Purse Forum, and elusively post in the Money Talks section now and then.

#20. I shan’t tell you.

But I do cordially invite you to share your random twenty. Run to it, my friends.

=^..^=

Once every few months I peek at my finances to crunch some numbers and receive an overview of my financial well-being, and I’m tickled pink to share with you.

(When I talk about financial stuff with my significant other, his eyes glaze over. This is what he hears: blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.)

Hmph.

Soo, ready? Here’s how my July numbers are shaking out…

Credit Card / Car Loan / Student Loan Debt:

$0

I paid off my car in three years on a five-year loan and have no revolving credit card debt balance or lingering student loan debt. This was all aggressively paid off in 2009.

Credit Cards I use:

American Express Gold Card (my primary card)

My American Express credit card is used for our daily household expenses — but I pay the balance off in full each month. In fact, I’m notorious for immediately paying the bill after returning home that evening, rather than waiting for the billing statement to even arrive in the mail.

Discover Card (my secondary card) — although I love the cashback program and customer service offered by Discover, it has been shuffled to the rear of the pile since I opened an Amex account. (I tend to funnel all my purchases through one card to maximize rewards.) I do, however, still have an online savings account with Discover.

So, why American Express, you may ask, when there is a burly $125 annual fee attached?

Here’s my reasoning:

When Amex invited me into their Gold card program, they waived the first-year annual fee, so initially my intention was to give the card a try and cancel before the promotional period ended. However, something changed my mind in the process.

When M. (my significant other) and I flew to Honolulu, Hawaii to visit his sister in 2011, we rented a car to travel around the island of Oahu, and — based on card perks — saved almost $400 on car rental insurance by booking through Amex. This is just one instance where the gold card has provided astounding value, and the card, essentially, has paid for itself for the next three years. I do feel it’s an invaluable card to have in one’s traveling arsenal.

Without using the travel perks, however, the annual fee wouldn’t be justified.

Personal Checking Account: $3,000.00
My checking account is set up at a local community bank.

Personal Online Savings Account: $565.00
My Discover online savings account has a minimum balance requirement of $500 @ .90% APY — however, this rate may not be available to newer customers. (I haven’t checked rates in a while since they all tend to be paltry right now.)

Soo, why do I keep more in my checking account than in savings?

Depreciation and liquidity.

Interest rates are simply not attractive right now so I like to keep cash handy while I’m out scouring estate sales and other local events for undervalued, appreciating items (ie, rare items, antiques, numismatics, precious metals).

M. and I also have a joint savings account at a local credit union.

Our Joint Savings: $5,000.00

My Other Investments: $23,088.00

Various conservative investments which can be liquidated if necessary in the near term.

Current Net Worth in 2012: $31, 653

M. is a computer engineer with a steady income but substantial student loan debt. We’ve avoided a mortgage due to this, and currently rent in the city, so one of my financial goals is to save for a starter income property, such as a duplex.

There is a rough rendering of my finances. Your financial goals so far? Do tell.

=^..^=

Because, who doesn’t love a Broke-Ass Monday? Enjoy some of this fun free stuff circulating around the web.

•  Win a Kindle Touch from Love Home Swap (US & Canada, ends July 9)
• For fellow drifters and vagabonds, win the NY Times ’36 Hours Travel’ book from Addicted2Etsy (US, ends July 4)

Credit: The Persuasive Pineapple

• Weee, our favorite dancing banana! Win a $100 Banana Republic Gift Card at the Persuasive Pineapple (US & Canada, ends July 14)
• Shutterbugs, you can win a Nikon D3100 14.2MP Digital SLR Camera, valued at $749.99 from Cuckoo For Coupon Deals (worldwide, ends July 11)
• Share your favorite lyric with MUSICDosage and one lucky follower will win a $50 iTunes email gift certificate (ends August 1)
• John Cave Osborne has an opportunity to win a free large Big Green Egg Grill ($800 retail), which he will give to one lucky reader who shares a grilling tip with him! (ends July 8)

Good luck to all participants. See you for the next Broke-Ass Monday!

=^..^=

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
[Even the longest journey must begin where you stand.]

Lao-tzu, The Way of Lao-tzu
Chinese philosopher (604 BC – 531 BC)

~¤~¤~

Last week while analyzing my finances, I decided to come up with a financial challenge to raise $1,000, somehow. These financial challenges are designed to motivate me and slap myself out of financial complacency.

My June progress is encouraging; a client contacted me yesterday regarding a writing piece I’d worked on years ago, and then, suddenly, 80 bucks was buoyantly zipping its way to me through cyberspace.

This is exciting. I’ve now taken my first baby step toward achieving my financial challenge goal — I am eight percent of the way there. Woo-hoo!

=^..^=

What is your personal financial challenge for the summer? Whether it’s saving a few hundred bucks, paying down debt, or setting aside a fund for a home re-construction project, I’d love to hear it.

Why not share your financial challenge for the summer in the comments below and we can hold each other accountable?

Imagine me – the ‘not-too-savvy with tech-y computer-y stuff’ lady — switching web hosting yesterday. Ohh boy. Hopefully nothing was flubbed during the transition. If you notice any site inconsistencies, please let me know.

Ok, now a confession.

My productivity this week has been horrendous.

My daughter Lexi has just started with separation anxiety. Meaning, every time I leave her line of sight for more than a moment, an explosive barrage of tears and snot ensues, which unfolds something like this:

“Yes, baby, we can do another round of Itsy Bitsy Spider. We’ve done it five times now, but, hey, you seem to dig it. Ok, ready?”

(A giggle, hands clap in delight; I’m offered a cherubic smile, with some blubbering and drool.)

So far, so good.

“Uh oh, baby. Mommy’s got to sneak away to the bathroom real quick first. Here, let’s put you in your play yard for a moment, sweetheart. I’ll be right back.”

As soon as Lexi realizes I’m tip toeing away from her toward the door: cue the outrageous, piercing howls.

(thump thump thump thump) — jumping up and down in the play yard, violently rattling the side — Mehmeh! Mehmeh! MEHH MEHHH!! MEHMEHMEHMEHMEHMEEEEEEH!!!

(‘Mehmeh’ is me, I’ve come to realize.)

My delicate, angelic baby transitions into a frenzied, hysterical devil, complete with beastly head spins and wailing until she barfs.

Due to this current phase of clinginess, it’s difficult to focus on and finish tasks throughout the day. Or eat.

Or sleep.

Oh god, I’m so hungry.

So what does one do all day with a baby velcroed to one’s leg, constantly demanding attention?

My pint-sized shadow and I just returned from a mailbox stroll — it took some persuasion to pry my envelope from chubby, snot-filled fists, but I did manage to slip the letter (mostly) unscathed into the slot … just a tad soggy, with a teeny nibble in the right corner.

As I type this, she’s bouncing on my lap, engaged in jolly chitter-chatter, while manipulating open the desk drawer and vigorously chucking everything from said drawer onto the hardwood floor.

What a hoot, there goes the stapler.

I’m exhausted. And so, so in love. Oh god, so tired…

And did she just poo all over my lap???

Satan, herself.

=^..^=

What I’m currently viewing:

Sometimes, you’ve got to get mad!

This is such a great snippet that resonated strongly with me, especially for debt enslavement, compulsive consumerism, and the general status quo.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_qgVn-Op7Q

“All I know is that first, you’ve got to get mad … you’ve got to say, ‘I’m a HUMAN BEING, god damn it, my life has value!’ … I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore!”

=^..^=

Here I am at the keyboard, chomping on a black bean burrito and swilling it down with a Long Trail IPA, determined to jot down a sentence or two — after all, the whole purpose of starting this site is to plant butt cheek firmly to chair and actually start, you know, writing again, when:

(insert letter of choosing)

a) A rave suddenly spawns from my keyboard;
b) I realize I’m being prepped for sacrifice by trans-humanist aliens;
c) and/or I’m getting whipped while being forced to suck on a lime.

It’s not my fault writers are so infamously distractible.

=^..^=

I am certainly no stranger to debt and chronicled my financial journey paying off $15,000 worth of debt over at Broke-Ass Student.

Debt can feel suffocating and excruciatingly overwhelming, but now, three years later, I am so proud to have killed off that nasty beast and accumulate a healthy personal savings; in fact, I’d be able to modestly survive for an extended period of time (think, more than a year here) without  income, before eating through the bulk of my savings.

So, what has been my secret?

Whenever I encountered money, I saved aggressively and I saved before anything else. I treat all income as spotty, as sporadically pouring in. And I saved my little fanny off.

(My current dilemma, as a stay at home mom, is how to creatively generate further income for savings / investment purposes without dipping into my current nest egg.)

Debt is now the dirty, four-letter word that I avoid like the plague unless it enables income-generating assets, such as income property or a business. A vehicle, unfortunately, does not fall into this category, and yet almost all of my peers and former colleagues are sinking their money into fancy car loans and leases, expensive housing, and glittering trinkets. They are not financially prepared for a catastrophic job loss for a job they believe they will never lose.

The kind that think a house is savings.
The kind that think retirement is for tomorrow, so why worry today?

I’m curious what percentage of Americans struggle to save any portion of their income in 2012.

I can’t help but wonder, how deep in debt denial is our society?

=^..^=

~¤~¤~

What I’m currently reading:

Washington Post, June 11, 2012: Americans saw wealth plummet 40 percent from 2007 to 2010, Federal Reserve says.

CNNMoney, May 10, 2012:49% of Americans saving zilch for retirement

Ten and a half months into my stay-at-home mommy gig, and I’m stuck in a financial rut.

Here’s my dilemma.

I’ve decided to stay home with my daughter during her first years. Right now she requires huge chunks of my time, which means a part-time job isn’t feasible. While my significant other is away being the primary breadwinner, I’d still love to find small ways to financially contribute toward our household. Sooo, I’m hoping for motivation/inspiration with raising money while being a stay-at-home (broke) mommy.

Here’s the goal:

To build family savings to the point of excess for investment purposes, with the ultimate goal of creating passive income streams that will regularly flow in (such as with dividends, interest, profits from business, etc.) — theoretically, this will force myself to think creatively and ‘outside the box’ more.

The obstacles:

An adorable, hell-raising, roguish toddler, who endearingly consumes huge hunks of time.

The solution:

With a bit of brainstorming and creativity, I can tackle financial goals and track this progress through writing, for incentive, clarity and focus.

My starting financial goal is: to raise $1,000.
Somehow.

So how can I raise money without a reliable income stream? Let the brainstorming commence.

=^..^=

My morning will be doused with: laundry, and a fresh cup of coffee from a sleek french press, pilfered from Craigslist for six bucks.