I feel amazing!

I went to the chiropractor for my first adjustment yesterday. Prior to that she did an assessment of my spine and sent me off for some X-rays. Looking at the X-rays you could see how majorly not right my back is. I have 2 scoliosis, the curve in my neck is going to wrong way (mega bad), and my coccyx sticks out way too much. Also you could very markedly see spinal deterioration. Even to my untrained eye the severe subluxations were very obvious.

So after much talk she did the adjustment, and sent me on my merry way. It was so weird as I stepped out of her office onto the street I felt totally elated, a big stupid smile crossed my face and I felt totally on top of the world. The next sensation was that of being able to breath. It was like for the last few years I'd been doing it wrong, or there was some kind of blockage that prevented me from breathing deeply. Even now as I take a deep breath it is deeper, more satisfying, more cleansing and just generally makes me feel mega super dooper turbo fantabulous!

I'll be going quite regularly for a few weeks, and I am looking forward to getting my spine into permanent good alignment and health. Due to the frequency and cost of these procedures it has also prompted me to finally get some private health insurance. I've set us up with NIB which looks pretty good to me. The interesting part I found was that to have private care for birth and pregnancy you have to have had the cover for 2 years! So considering it might just be 2 years (who knows?) I thought now is a good time to join with that specific cover.

Finances

Today both Tony and I got a letter in the mail to say the interest rate on our personal loans has gone up by 0.25% to 14.17%. It got me thinking about how we can be paying less on these loans and therefore pay them off faster. I vaguely remembered a friend from work talking about a good deal citibank has going at the moment on balance transfers even if it's from personal loans.

So I checked it out and it's going to save us about $4000 over the next 5 years! So we will be paying 6.9% instead! What is the catch I hear you say. Well the 6.9% is on the balance transfer only, but it is for the life of the transfer. The catch is this, it's basically a credit card, so what you pay back you can re-use, but it costs you 13.75%. So I guess they figure Joe Spend-a-lot will keep re-using the credit and never really pay it off. We however have no need for an extra line of credit and so will instead simply use it as if it is a personal loan that we can not re-draw on. So you can basically consolidate credit cards, personal loans and store cards all into this 'personal credit' as they call it.

We have a pretty wicked credit card set up with a new St George vertigo mastercard, so we will only do the personal loans. We get 6 months intrest free on the St George credit transfers. So in that 6 months the money I would normally put towards paying back the credit card goes into my ING savings maxamiser which pays about 6.65% (sometimes higher) interest. So I make some interest while I'm not paying any interest. Genius! If my plans go correctly, by the time the 6 months is up we'll almost be able to pay off the whole thing. I'll be sooo happy when that is gone because then we can start thinking about houses and weddings.

Changing banks, credit card providers and loan providers is a pain in the ass I will admit, but it is worth it for the savings you can get. There are so many financial products out there on the market right now it seems silly to stick with the old fashioned 18-20% interest rate credit card and the clunky old personal loan. Websites like Credit Card 4 U are great and take all the guess work out of finding something that suits your needs. So seriously people, take some time and re-look at your finances, it's amaing how many thousands you can save yourself by shopping around.

Oh the irony

Today I saw an ad on a bus stop for Cornetto icecreams. In the ad there was an icecream surrounded by calves with the tag line of 'real dairy'. Yes that's right people, cow milk is for baby cows, not people.

Next week

Is my last week of working for IAG. My last week of the West Perth commute. It might sounds silly but I think I'm more scared of not getting to my new job on time or WAYYY too early than I am of the actual job!

Next week is going to be fun though. My sister Jane will be starting with IAG and basically taking my position! I'm looking forward to showing her the ropes and seeing her in a job and with a company that she will get some joy from. I've seen her totally miserable in her centrelink job for the last 5 years, so it will be nice for her not to dread going to work every day.

This weeks obsession

Not the best video clip, but I am really drawn to the song. I think Tony is sick of hearing it.

Also the winner of weirdest band name 'Joan as Police Woman' - Eternal Flame.

I am sooo excited!!

My favourite all time musician (who is alive) is coming to Perth and I just bought tickets!! I have been captivated by Patty Griffin for the last 5 years or so. Her songs have such a magical story telling quality to them.

She produces the kind of music you never get sick of listening to. It's on March 18th and I just can't wait to hear her in person. Most people would have never heard of her, but she is responsible for writing quite a few songs the dixie chicks have performed such as 'song bird'.

So excited, so excited, so excited!!!!!!

I got the job

Out of hundreds apparently! Go me!!

Warning this is a rant

As most of you know I am back on my skin medication. I don't think any of you knew me when I had bad skin. It was awful, my face was always red and blotchy and I'd get terribly painful cyst like pimples under the surface of my skin. It made me very self concious, I had low self esteem and just generally felt like the ugliest person on the planet. So that's some back story for you.

The first time around I didn't have too many problems, a couple of difficult days, but most of the time I forgot I was even taking the stuff. The results were nothing short of miraculous, and it felt like that was the best thing I'd done for myself in years. My self confidance sored, I felt good about myself, I didn't feel the need to always wear makeup, and I didn't feel the need to hide my face in case I scared any small children.

A year and a half on and the medication had worn off, so back to the dermatologist for round two. I knew it only lasted so long, and as I done it before I wasn't concerned about all the 'scary' side effects I'd been hearing about, I knew I'd be fine.

WRONG!!!

I'm at home today as my eyes are ridiculously sensative to the light. My computer screen is turned down low, I'm wearing sunglasses in the dark and still I am squinting. My skin is like paper, every time I knock something I get a cut or graze. My eczema is flaring up and the worst I have ever seen it. My lips need constatant lip balm or I fear they will shrivle up and drop off. I am an emotional wreck 1 out of every 3 days, and just generally not myself. My imune system isn't at it's robust best either.

The eye thing is driving me insane, but I think the worst is the emotional stuff. I constantly get confused as to whether I am really upset and hurt by something, or if I am just reacting badly because I am on an emotional low. I find it very hard to talk about stuff because I don't know if what I feel is real waranted anxiety, or I'm just being a nut case. I don't like being touched, and generally want to be ignored and invisible when I am feeling agetated.

I'm sure you are all thinking that I should stop taking this stuff immediatly, but I won't. To me a few months more of putting up with this is worth the years of not loking like a freak, and feeling like I don't deserve a happy life. It's amazing how deeply your perception of your own looks can effect your self worth.

So if I'm acting weird, I just ask that you give me some space, and try to understand.

over and out

Today I sent flowers...

...to Tony Polony Macaroni. My intent was to be romantic, put a smile on his face and brighten his day. Instead I think I managed to embaress him horribly, make him the centre of attention and fodder for gossip, all things Tony hates. Oops, sorry!

Steps towards the future

I got an e-mail the other day from my friend Meicha, she had my job before me and now works for a broker called Zeniths. It was just a general catch up e-mail, and then she mentioned that there is a position like hers going at her work and the first person she thought of was me.

My first reaction was 'that would be nice, but I can't leave my new job so soon'. I went home for the weekend and the idea kept going over in my mind. I came to the realisation that sometimes you have to be ruthless and no one else is going to help you get ahead but yourself. I'm a smart girl, and I deserve to get ahead in life. As much as I like working for IAG the reality is I'm never going to get a high paying job there, and the most I can ever get when we have our remuneration review is 4%.

Today I decided to go for it, so I e-mailed Meicha and asked her to tell me more. She put me onto the advert via seek.com, and according to the discription I am more than qualified. So if I were to get it I'd be making about $10,000 more a year. Meicha was also telling me that they are very generous with bonuses and she is expecting a $10,000 pay rise in a month and she's only been there for about 6 months! So with a wedding to save for, a house to buy and debt to still get rid of, this could make a massive diference to us.


Probably the only down side I can see is that it is in Osbourne Park, so a bit of a drive. Also I think it would be more hectic than my current position, but I'm ok with that. So next step is doing my resume. I can't find the last one I did, so I have to start from scratch! Probably doesn't hurt to have a total re-do.