Goal Update

Financial:
1. I have set up my 401 (k) deductions to max out by (almost) my next-to-last paycheck of 2009. I could have averaged it out for all 24 checks (we get paid on a twice-monthly system) but figured I’d rather have 1-2 paycheck buffers in case of several scenarios that include my taking several weeks of unpaid vacation this Summer.
2. I have set up the Vanguard account for the Hubs & I with an initial deposit but we haven’t finished selecting which Mutual Funds we want to contribute towards. That should happen when Hubs is back in this weekend.
3. I’ve made the Refinance call. Now just waiting for the paperwork to finalize. I stuck with Wells Fargo for several reasons including Zero Closing Costs. Given that my mortgage amount is relatively small – its now in the 5 figures all the other banks I approached were adding on 1% over & above the going average rate. Talk about Zero Advantage Loans…
4. We’re getting the documents together for our Dallas home refinance. Hopefully we should be able to accomplish this by end Feb.
5. The Budget is an on-going task. While I have been fairly good about putting receipts into the envelope I haven’t figured out how to account for last month’s Utilities and Bills. And lets just say that this weekend there was a nasty incident between me and my card. MC insisted on purchasing way too much food for the Super Bowl party. I tried to fight it but lost. The result ~ a bunch of unhealthy food in the refrigerator. I plan on bringing it into work this week & making my coworkers eat some... Spread The Fat I say :)

Health:
6. I had my Health Exam last week and Dental exam by the end of Feb. Vision should be ok for now since I went for my eye Exam back in November. A little bit of a shock with the Health Exam was my Bone Density Test. In this you basically lie on a bed while a scanner passes over your body analyzing the density of your bones. While I am within ‘normal’ parameters for the moment the graph trend indicates that I’m likely to develop osteoporosis in my mid 60s if I do not take action. Luckily age is on my side so if I start stepping up my Calcium and Vitamin D intake I should be fine. Plus, the Doc suggested I do weight training and increase my Cardio to help build stronger bones. Great ~ just what I need ~ the Doc joining my exercise bandwagon!! I’ll post my Health check-up numbers if there are any surprises once I get the results.
7. I LOVE MULTI-VITAMINS!! Actually, not really but I have been taking them. I’m one of those people who HATE taking medicines of any kind (one of the reasons I intensely dislike getting sick) and Vitamins usually come in fairly large capsules. I recently switched to the Nature Made brand however and with smaller size tablets they’re a little easier pill to swallow…

Losing Weight:
8 thru 11 - I have to admit this is one area in which I’ve been slacking off a fair bit. I have been (mostly) keeping my Food Diary though updating on the weekends is hard since I tend to munch too much and then feel guilty about it and then munch some more and then forget what I’ve eaten since I occasionally ‘forget’ to bring the Diary home from work… it’s a vicious cycle!! I have been hydrating a lot – too often sometimes – and mostly getting 7 hours of sleep a night. The exercise on the other hand has been hard. Since my Trainer quit on me I haven’t looked for a new taskmaster as I thought I’d see if I could go it alone…. No such luck yet. Apparently I really need someone to kick my butt!! I have finally unearthed my workout DVDs though. So I plan to give it another week. If I haven’t done some form of exercise at least 3 times this week then I will try & find another ass-kicker…. The good news though ~ despite my exercising (or lack thereof) I’m down 1.8 pounds for the month. Just another 10 to go….

P.S. So all my bloodwork came back great to normal. Cholesterol levels are all within the Good to Excellent range, no diabetes risk, no Thyroid problems. So now it’s just me against the Scale….. Round One Begins *Ding!*