Baldies' Blog began originally in the UK by a 26 year old journalist with a blood cancer on a mission to inform the world about bone marrow donation.

He has since died, and I took on the cause of making cancer care more transparent for everybody.

Cancer is a disease that will touch everybody through diagnosis or affiliation: 1 in 2 men will be diagnosed and 1 in 3 woman will hear those words, "You Have Cancer."

I invite you to read how I feel along my journey and
how I am continuing to live a full life alongside my Hodgkin's lymphoma, with me controlling my cancer, not my cancer controlling me.

I hope that "Baldies' Blog" will prepare you to handle whatever life sends you, but especially if it's the message, "You Have Cancer."

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Friday, December 19, 2008

This Isolation Thing

This isolation thing has been good for me.
I think just about anyone has the ability to flip the switch and find the positive in something that, to an outsider, may look unbearable.
This is the life I got and I’m going to live it.
There are all sorts of these sayings. “Play the cards you’re dealt,” etc., etc., etc.
Anyway, J and I cut out our budget breaker, our only true vice, eating out.
We don’t really drink. We definitely don’t smoke. As far as shopping, we don’t do it for ourselves so often.
X requires a lot of “updating” since he grows like a monster.
I would buy from Kmart, J won’t allow it. I do buy second hand. Sssshhhh. Or I buy cheap pants and designer shirts on clearance. Who really notices the pants? Pants are ALWAYS available second hand.
As for shoes, my child will rip them apart in a week, no matter what brand. I buy, I pray they’ll last a week under his reign.
As for groceries, I always shopped generic, quickly, with a list.
I’d purposely not get a cart. I’d carrying whatever I could or I would get a basket.
You’d be surprised how much this cuts down on impulse buys.
I do really think I should block online shopping sites so I don’t have the ability to buy at three am on a sleepless night.
No more of that. Yes, a deal is a deal, but it is still spending money.
This is how I bridge the decorating gap with houses. I try to find the common ground between couples. I know how to stick to a budget, and make beautiful things.
The men are happy they get to deal with the man stuff with my father, and I can deal with a woman who wants to make the interior beautiful.
I like to make practical, eco-friendly decisions based on a set amount of money or BUDGET.
I carry my calculator from store to store. I take notes. I find the best sales person and get catered to.
If I don’t, you won’t be getting my business.
I LOVE my calculator. I feel like such a geek admitting this, but there are just so many options I can use with it.
As far as my notes, I am eyeing a LIVE SCRIBE for Christmas. This is a pen that takes your written notes and then transfers them to your computer and puts them into type for you!! I didn’t know this existed, but it screams “Hill needs to have it.”
Maybe, I’ll get back to eco-friendly design when I have the energy… or maybe I’ll find something else. I do redesign everywhere I go to improve several different aspects.
No space, no problem. I started doing this in NYC it’s all about repurposing the same place or object.
As far as eating out, DiGorno’s is just as good as take out. I love the supreme version. It’s also cheaper and doesn’t steal my gas.
I have breadsticks to stick in the oven. I also have mozzarella sticks. I have everything I would order out.
J and X have chicken tenders, fries, and onion rings. We do own a “fry-a-later.”
I know it’s unhealthy, but the food is sooooo good.
So if we paid $20 a week on pizza, we know pay $6 for pizza and $5 on three weeks worth of bread sticks. That’s about 1.67 a week.
We’ve saved $13.33 a week.
One hundred days of isolation = 14.29 weeks or a savings of $190.42.
Whoa. That adds up.
You feel me people? Isolation is okay, but it is good for the wallet.

1 comment:

emjay. said...

uuuh I'm coming over for your fryalator.