Whoops...

I did something yesterday that could have gotten me in big trouble at work. I was very busy at the end of the day because I had procrastinated too much earlier in the day. I was rushing to get my work done (because it annoys me when I have to leave work in my basket for the next day - I feel like I'm starting off the day behind)... and... well, let me explain something first.

My boss signed up for this program where we buy Visa gift cards from a company. The company then gives us an extra 10% worth of cards each month. So, my boss buys $6500 worth of cards and they send us an extra $650. He and two of my coworkers buy cards from the office for a 10% discount. The cards that are leftover, we use for anything we need in the office - fuel, coffee, soda, food, etc.

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Somehow I got chosen to be in charge of the cards. I keep all of the receipts and once a card is empty, I turn the receipts into my supervisor. Once a card has been verified as empty, I shred it... I'm sure you can see where this is going...

We receive our cards in the amount $250. I gave two cards to my coworker yesterday when she left to go to the store to get coffee. One was almost empty and one was a new card. She emptied the one and used $19.91 on the second. Both cards were laying on my desk. I had put a small post-it note on the card with a balance so I could write how much was left on it... the empty card still had its post-it on it from the last time it was used. I grabbed, what I thought was, the empty card and took it to the shredder. When I got back to my desk, I saw that the card still laying there was the empty one. I checked, just to be sure, and my heart dropped when I realized I shredded the wrong card... the card I had just shredded still had a balance of $230.09.

It was 4:55 pm when this happened and I leave at 5. I quickly emailed my contact at the company we get the cards from and told her what had happened. Luckily, I keep track of all of the card numbers in case anything happens... so I had that... and it came in a batch of other cards with the same expiration date... so I had that... I did not, however, have the CCID code on the back of the card. Once I got home, I logged into my work email and found the customer service number for the company. I called them, hoping to speak to a live human being. Unfortunately their offices were closed...

So, I sat at home, half the night, worried about this. I mean, losing $230 of your company's money is a big mistake. I decided that when I told my boss, I'd offer to pay for it because it was my mistake. I get my tax return back this week, so I'd have the money to cover it, though I REALLY didn't want to...

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This morning, while I was getting ready for work, I had a genius thought... What if I got out the shredded pieces of card and could find the CCID number? Then we'd at least be able to use it for online purchases or something like that. When I got to work, I dug around in the trash and... SUCCESS!!! I found the CCID number... or so I thought. As soon as I got back to my desk with some other pieces of the card, I realized that the number I found was for the empty card. So, I went and dug around some more and, luckily, was able to find the correct CCID number. Whew!

I told my boss what had happened, since I knew we could still use the card at this point, and he told me that he wanted me to use that card soon... even if it was just to buy another gift card. At this point, I told him that I had called the customer service of the company and was expecting a call back telling me if there was anything they could do. Since then, they've called back, but they haven't given me an answer yet. So, now I wait... to see if they can issue another card. Haha... I'm so relieved.

Weekend Recap

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Friday after work, I met my friend Megan and we went out to eat. We went to Monical's which is a pizza joint mostly in the Midwest. We ate our pizza and then went back to my house and sat in her truck outside playing that new Facebook game "Guess the 90s". I went in and Megan left around 7:45 or so. I changed my clothes and fed the animals. My cat has a urinary tract infection at the moment. I had to keep watching her to make sure she didn't pee on the carpet anywhere. It's rather annoying cleaning up pee spots everywhere... I do feel sorry for her though because UTIs aren't pleasant. While keeping an eye on her, I started to clean my dishes. I had been insanely busy with planning my friend's baby shower and hadn't done my dishes in about a week... The photo I shared is only slightly worse than what my kitchen looked like. Taking frequent breaks to check on my kitty, it took me about two hours to do my dishes. Yikes. I'm not letting that happen again, that's for sure! It was absolutely horrible! I went to bed shortly after around 10:30.

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Saturday I woke up at 8 or so. I laid in bed until 8:30 and then hopped in the shower. Once I finished getting ready, I loaded up my car (in the pouring rain) to head to my parents' house. I had to run by the Dollar Tree to get some last minute things and some helium balloons. Then I went by McDonald's to get a quick breakfast and hit the road. I got to my parents' shortly before 11. I sat and talked to my mom for a while and then started decorating for Pam's baby shower. I decorated with all of the supplies I had and then made sandwiches for the guests to eat. Sarah (my co-host) arrived around 1:15. Pam and her family were already on their way, so Sarah and I rushed to get everything done. My mom's house looked adorable! I didn't take any pictures though... Sarah did. I hope she posts some on Facebook soon and I can steal a few. I was kind of disappointed with the turn out. Only half of the people who said they were coming did... the ones that did come are the ones that mattered most, but I'm sure it hurt Pam's feelings that only one of her friends came (other than the two who were hosting the party for her). Regardless, she got a lot of great gifts. The party was supposed to end at 4, but people stayed around until 6 or so. I helped my mom clean up and then left and went home around 7. I got home, relaxed for a little bit, and went to bed around 9:30. I was exhausted!!!

Yesterday I woke up around 8 or so. I laid in bed forever and finally got up. I worked on my new website for a while. I'm creating an entertainment-based website with news, reviews, previews, original articles, etc about anything entertainment-related. So far, my categories are novels, television, movies, music, video games, celebrities, etc. It's called Entertainment-Junkies.com and right now I'm accepting applications for authors for these articles. I'm not 100% sure of how the site is going to be set up right now, but I'm working on it. If you're interested in volunteering your time (right now I'm unable to pay for help, but will hopefully be able to do so in the future), please go to the site and apply. :)

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Around 3, I showered and left my house to go to my parents' for Super Bowl. My parents' Super Bowl party was so small (my parents, my sister and niece, my friend Jen, and me) that my mom decided to make Thanksgiving dinner instead of normal SB foods... We had turkey, mashed potatoes, homemade noodles, corn, sweet potatoes, dressing, rolls... the whole shebang. LOL It was delicious and unexpected.

The game, in my opinion, sucked. It didn't even seem like the Broncos showed up. The commercials were okay... I LOVED the halftime show though. I thought Bruno Mars and the Chili Peppers nailed it. Jen and I were talking about going to see Bruno Mars in concert when he comes to Chicago this summer. Tickets should be on sale right now. Haha.

I got home late and went straight to bed pretty much. I didn't sleep the greatest last night, but I'll survive. I am going to Curves tonight. I signed up for a gym pact. If I don't go to Curves three times this week, I'll owe $5 for each day I miss. Considering I can only go to Curves three days in a week (because of their hours), I HAVE to go tonight. My gym bag is packed and in my car. Once I get home, I'll make something for dinner, clean up my mess, watch a little TV, and go to bed early... Hopefully... That's my plan anyway. Haha.

Goals

So, I realize most people talk about their goals at the start of a new year. I didn't make any resolutions for this year really. I always fail so I thought I'd let myself get by without any this year... But here are some goals I'd like to achieve:

Money:
Have you heard of the 52 Week Money Saving Challenge? Basically each week, you deposit into your savings the same amount as whatever week it is. So the first week of the year, you deposit $1, the second you deposit $2, the third you deposit $3. This goes on until the last week when you deposit $52. Well, I get paid bi-weekly so I made my own Excel file with how much I should deposit each pay period. Now, the problem is that I always run out of money by the end of the year and start off the year with more money, so I did the Excel file in reverse as well:

I haven't started off the year with any money so there's nothing in my savings as of yet, however, I will be putting almost half of my tax return in savings once I get it back (by Friday). I've already done my taxes and they've already been accepted by the government with a deposited by date of the 6th. I'm also putting in a little extra because I would like to have $1500 in my savings by the end of the year and, with the extra from my tax return, that's where I would be. I've never had any money stay in my savings for an extended period of time because money tends to burn a hole in my pocket. This is going to be huge if I accomplish this. *fingers crossed*

Health:
I want to try to get myself on a healthy schedule of sleep and such. I want to go to bed from 9:30 pm to 6 am every day. This gives me half an hour to fall asleep… and if I sleep from 10 pm to 6 am every day, that’s 8 hours of sleep. I want to get up at 6 am instead of 7 so I’m not rushing around every morning. I want to maybe do a workout video in the mornings or go for a short walk with Rusty when the weather is nice. Then I want to get ready for work and have plenty of time to make breakfast and pack a lunch and snacks for the day. I want to go to Curves after work and then go home and make something for dinner, clean up my mess, and watch a couple of hours of TV before bed. I watch too much TV, I’m too lazy, and I’m tired of always feeling like my life is a big mess. We’ll see how this works, but that’s my new plan… starting ASAP.

It's back to Curves tomorrow, eating healthier, and being healthier in general. Let's do this!