New Stuff and Not As New Stuff

Had my yearly check-up last week which included blood work and all sorts of other fun stuff. Yesterday my doctor's nurse calls with the results of all the random tests... turns out I'm anemic... and hyperthyroid. Go figure. I had to go in today to get more blood work done so they can make sure about the thyroid. I also have to have an ultrasound on my thyroid. Woo. Hoo. So now I'm taking a multi-vitamin with 100% of my daily iron. Apparently normal iron levels are supposed to be 12 or higher, mine was 10. 10 of what, I'm not sure, but I know enough to know that it's uber low. This explains why I've been so tired lately, though. It's nice to know that I should start getting my energy back soon.

In other news, my vacation to Disney was pretty awesome. Exhausting, but awesome. We did so much, and I got to do a bunch of stuff that I've always wanted to do at Disney. The trip helped me to mark off some stuff on my long term to do list, and now I get to start working on new stuff. Next up are my trips to New Hampshire in April next year, then the opening of Harry Potter World at Universal Studios sometime next year, then England in 2011 for the premiere of the final Harry Potter film. The England trip was originally planned for the next Harry Potter film, but we decided that it'd be easier to save for if we had more time, plus the weather will be nicer, and I think it'll be more fun to be there for the final movie instead of the second to last movie. Also, this way, it makes it way easier on me to afford going to NH and HP World. Right now, the NH trip is my top priority. It's been far too long since I was there last and I miss it so much. My dad was there last week and was showing me some pictures he took while he was there... it was really hard for me to not start crying. So New Hampshire, here I come!

As for right now, I'm enrolled in Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University. I had my first official class on Sunday (it's only one class, once a week, for 13 weeks) and it was pretty awesome. We watch a DVD of Dave Ramsey teaching, then discuss the lesson for a while. We even have homework. This week is reading and creating a basic budget. The budget is proving to be a little more difficult than I anticipated, because my hours can vary week to week. I'm really excited about this class. I'm even more excited about getting out of debt. I have big plans for being debt free. I will now proceed to list some of them:

- Buying a new/used car (hopefully a Mazda Tribute Hybrid)

- Buying a townhouse (or a house if it's cheap enough) here in PTC

- SCUBA lessons (including getting SCUBA certified)

- Traveling more (all over Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, the west coast of the US)

- Going back to school and getting a degree of some sort (travel agent, sports management, forensic science... one of those)

If all goes according to plan, I'll have saved up enough to pay cash for everything except for the townhouse, so the only debt I'll have is a mortgage, which is even acceptable to Dave Ramsey. I'm really excited about the direction my life is headed in and I'm determined to not let it get derailed again. I trust God and my faith is in him entirely. I know that with his help, I can stay on the right path.

Cheers!