bojibridge

Quinn, happy birthday! I agree with Terri - super cool!

Terri - I like how you put quotes around "fun." Congrats on getting your degree, I know it's a lot of hard work! My sister finished up her PhD in civil engineering last year, and she thinks I'm crazy that after watching her go through all that, I still want to give it a shot. She may be right! I'm looking at doing research into the first structure in the universe, doing some computational work/simulations of the first black holes - we'll see! Of all the places I've visited, I think my favorite was Vienna, Austria. Beautiful cathedrals and also, I found a Starbucks there I know, it's terrible...

Cassie, best of luck to you. Lord knows that after a couple of stressful weeks, I'd probably be so far off the wagon, I'd never catch up! I know you've been at this a while so you probably know the drill, but it's certainly an inspiration to me to see that you can still plug away at this, even when it's uber tough.

wildbeanerz, yes, I'll be in State College - so thrilling! No, but I am excited about it.

Lizards13

Quinn, can I add my congrats on your birthday and also thanks for popping over to give me your very welcome words of support. I had intended to try joining you all here but missed Monday posting so maybe I can try next week, if that's ok

cjohnson728

More than okay, and if you like, you can go ahead and jump in mid-week this week as well. We're nothing if not flexible . Figuratively, at least.

But if you need a few days to get your goals in mind, that's okay, too, and we'll see you soon!

quinnesec

Thanks, Lizzie!

You don't have to wait until next week... join us now. There are some new faces that I bet would love to gain from the knowledge that you've acquired thus far on your journey. Any day of the week is fine... the more the merrier!

01gt4.6

A while back I was trying to make good deeds a goal of mine. Some of y'all may remember the story about the accidental death claim I was trying to get paid out, well that never panned out. I have yet to be able to reach the family since then, even though I made numerous attempts. I even got the forms for them, prefilled what I could and mailed them with a return envelope that I loaded down with stamps. I guess it maybe didn't go down quite like they sai and they got cold feet. Either way I tried.

I recently changed my business strategy and I've been targeting people that I know I can save them money, through various discounts. One that I write last week, for example her discount I applied to her home policy for getting auto insurance with us was $1732/yr, her auto costs $1364/yr. (she was paying ~$3000/yr for her current car ins, so her TOTAL savings is over $3300yr) Theoretically you could say that we are paying her to have insurance with us! How great is that? This has turned my business around. Not only am I helping clients by I've made as much in the past month as I have for the first 6 months of the year. This takes a lot of "research" but it's paying off. I'm no longer buying bogus leads and my closing ratio has gone through the roof! So for those of you that said that my good deeds would pay off, you were right, thanks!

I forgot to mention that these are clients that no longer have an agent so they are all so happy with me that they request for mento become the agent on their homeowner policies. I'll end up getting renewal commissions on those policies as well. The reason why the discounts are so big is b/c it's a percentage of the homeowners policy premium and h.o. Ins is outrageous in Louisiana.

If any of y'all have home and auto with 2 different companies, you may want to call your agent and have him/her ran a quote for combining them. It can't hurt and you may just save a couple nickles!

MAIN80

Part of the scatteredness goal is, reading the posts once and answering quickly, instead of letting it get late at night so!


Quinn, Happy birthday! Loved reading what you wrote, sounds like you are in an amazing place in life. My best wishes for this new stage in your life. Eat yummy at the italian place!

Hope, its so great to hear you are able to get away for a few days, even if it means not getting to read you

Mern, looks like you have gotten the hang of the sat fat deal. All the reading about the elliptical from last week had me dreaming about me in an elliptical and I was stalking someone, strange...

Cassie, how is your day going, I have been getting really frustrated about my scatteredness, in more than one aspect of my life. I found myself last week telling myself plenty of times "Just get it together!" So I am trying

Ashlie, great going yesterday, you had a really good goal day, it takes me FOREVER to clean out a closet!

Terri, good luck with the bathrooms. I think you won't need a workout after that! And I think leftover pizza does not count as eating out.

Lizzie, welcome anytime!

Mike, glad to hear your good deeds are paying off and that you are doing a little better today.

Kumochi

Okay Mike we will hold you to that 5 weeks starting July 25th. I shouldn`t be giving advise today. I went to my sailing lesson without dinner because it starts at 5 and takes me 40 minutes to get there. The chip wagon got me. My calories are okay as I had the chips and coke for dinner. Luckily they were worth the price. Chip wagon fries that disappoint break my heart! These didn`t. Mary

quinnesec

Thanks for all of the birthday wishes! It was an incredibly lovely day. Some of you may remember an "Off Topic" thread where we discussed gifts. In my family, we rarely buy each other gifts. Instead, we give something homemade, or go somewhere special.

As my gift this year, my husband came home from work at 3pm and said that he was going to "take me to my birthday present". I was scared to death, as I had no idea what he was up to. It turns out that he arranged a visit to my family home, the house that I spent most of my childhood in, with it's current owner. It's a town beauty. A 1901, 10 room home that was built for a local mining executive. I lived there from 3rd grade until I was 19. Through the years, I've told him a million times that I would love to walk through that home just one more time.

I hadn't stepped inside in 30 years. The owners bought it from my parents back then and have lovingly cared for it. They graciously welcomed us, let me reminisce, room by room and then generously had a chilled bottle of wine waiting for us on the porch. To my surprise, not a whole lot had changed... the integrity of the home was beautifully preserved.

I thanked my hosts and my husband profusely and I really had a wonderful time. But, I'm really confused by how I feel tonight. I'm kind of... well... heartbroken and confused. My husband thinks that he pulled off the best surprise ever, and I would never let him think differently. But, as lovely as it all was, the whole experience was kind of awful and I feel so guilty for feeling this way.

Maybe I was reminded of a childhood filled with people that are no longer with us... my brother and father in particular. Maybe it's the whole thing with my mom's current condition... no idea. I kind of wish that I had never gone. It kind of reminded me of how much I miss these people.

It was such a lovely gesture by so many which makes me feel all the worse. Sorry for the rambling post... I guess it's just my way to sort things out.

Overall, it was a wonderful day and I'm really blessed to have so many great people trying to find just the right gift for me.

On a positive note, there was lots of my favorite cake involved! Just may have to have one more taste before I go to bed.

Goodnight, all!

quinn

01gt4.6

Quinn, that sure sounds like an amazing present but I can understand the mixed emotions. I've had many dreams about the house I grew up in. I drive by it nearly every day, and it too is well kept (but no damn 10 br) I option want to stop by and see if I can check it out but who knows how I'd really feel about it.

MAIN80

Quinn, its understandable you feel that way, eventhough it was a sweet gesture, it must have been a load of memories and emotions for you. Don't feel guilty, not on your birthday.
Glad to hear about the cake!