Birthday Presence

As usual, I found all sorts of ways to treat myself for my birthday, and then totted up the dollar signs with pained amusement. I find there is always a reason to treat myself. Tax return? New shoes! Crappy board meeting? An hour on eBay. Christmas? Change of season? Gift card? All of these occurrences spur "a little something."

My friends take loving care of me also. Karen got me TWO of these:

It was there a second ago . . .

And Carol got me these beauties:

Sparkly!

But seriously, my best present every year is a copy of my credit report. My credit score rose another 40 points this year, from "there's hope" to "adequate". I think that next year it will rise again into "not bad!" My current dilemma is that most of my accounts are closed, so they show only debt with no available credit. Next year, when everything is paid off, this change should reflect well on me, as I will have a couple of cards with decent credit limits and no/low balances. Another questionable influence is my lack of mortgage or other current installment loan (like a car) which drags the score down a bit too. Rent is not generally reported, although there apparently is a way for property managers to do so. My guess is that applies for multi-unit buildings and such.

I hesitate to take on a loan to improve my credit - that sounds like perpetual motion snake oil to me - but if the hike is not significant next May, I'll consider it.

Also, I recently wore this and got lots of compliments:

I added a dotty scarf that conveniently highlighted the tights:

Much better, yes?

We had a spot of cool weather, and I realized I didn't wear these fun spots all winter!

Camera on wrong setting = grainy.