A New Movement

My sisters and I have realized that we lack a certain amount of financial responsibility. Though some of us are getting better than we used to be, there is still much room for improvement.

To assist us in this quest, we have started a new blog: Poor Hite.

Please follow our search for self-reliance and financial freedom.

To start this movement, I am stealing an idea from my friend, B. It is a Financial Fast. It is how I plan to save some money and see how much I frivolously spend...which I am sure is a lot.

The rules:
Spend no money...other than the necessities, of course. Necessities are defined as the following:
- rent/mortgage
- loan/car payments
- utilities/insurance
- gasoline
- groceries and personal necessities (i.e.-deodorant, tampons, Tucks pads, and Preparation-H)
THAT IS IT!!!!

No restaurants. No shopping. No stops at the 7-11. No movies. Nothing extra.

Now, there are some who say that is unrealistic. There may be a need to have a set amount of flex-cash for entertainment, etc.

I am kind of a purest and think that a true financial fast should be done without the flex cash.

I would like to start the Financial Fast as soon as possible. Any takers?

Blog Roll!

I have been noticing that I have a lot of visitors from all over the world. I have no idea what would make my blog so interesting to someone in Antalya (where ever that is?!?) come for a visit. I am sure that I do know some of these people, but I don't know who you are.

So here's the drill. If you are reading this, leave a post telling me who you are, where you are and what you are doing here.

Can't wait to see who you are!!

Names, Names!!

I am totally procrastinating the correcting of papers...

1. Your real name:
Malia Laureen Hite

2. Witness Protection Name: (father's & mother's middle name):
Anthony (Toni) Barney

3. NASCAR Name: (first name of your mother's dad and father's dad):
Orvin Delford

4. Star Wars Name: (first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first name):
Hitma

5. Spy Name: (favorite color & favorite animal):
Red Koala

6. Soap Opera Name: (middle name and town you were born):
Laureen Augusta

7. Superhero name (2nd fav color, fav drink and add "THE" to the beginning):
The Yellow Lemonade (I hope my super power does not have to do with urination...)

8. Fly Name: (first 2 letters of 1st name and last 2 letters of last name):
Mate (I think I like the Argentinian pronunciation of Mah-tay)

9. Street Name: (fav ice cream, fav cookie):
Coney Island Cone - Snickerdoodle

10. Porn Name (pets name and street you live):
Ebony Alex

11. Your gangsta name; (first 3 letters of name plus izzle):
Malizzle

12. Your Iraqi Name: (2nd letter of your first name, 3rd letter of your last name, first two letters of your middle name, last two letters of your first name and the last three letters of your last name):
Atlaiaite

13. Your goth name: (black and the name of one of your pets):
Black Ebony.

I MOVED!!!

I just moved to these lovely apartments in Hillsboro, OR. They are VERY nice and I look out on a park from all of my windows.

EXCELLENT!

This was by far the easiest move I have ever made. I was super prepared and had everything boxed ready to go when the elders quorum swooped in and load the truck in under an hour. Then when I got to the new apartment the high priests group (the elders were watching their children while the wives were at women's conference) unloaded the truck in under an hour. **Please note there were no wheelchairs or talk of Kolob during the unloading of the truck.

SPEEDY!!

My new apartment is fantastically nice and big. I had no problem at all finding places to put all of my kitchen accouterments and towels.

SUPERB!!!

Pictures to follow once I dig myself out of the boxes.

New Addy:
-give me a shout out and I'll share it-
phone the same.

Tip of the Day Returns!

I once emailed a daily tip out to anyone who subscribed to the service. These tips varied in topic from household cleaning to make-up application. One man's tip was another's useless information. however, the tradition continued until I became to busy to do it on a regular schedule.

Many said I should write a book containing all of my tips, and should I ever really write it I could make millions. But since I'm a Hite, "and very proud to be one," I have copyrighted all of my ideas and will write the book when I have more drive, ambition, time, and/or energy.

Today, I give you the tip from January 13, 2003:

What do you do when you want to write in a book but you can't because you want to retain the value so you aren't fined, or you can sell it back? This solution is simple. You can either NOT write in the book and fail the class(which would suck in an exceedingly great manner), or you can take a trip to Office Depot. What magical product am I in search of? Why, a No. 1 pencil of course! Pencil leads are numbered according to their softness, one being the softest and three being the hardest. Number 2 pencils are required on standardized tests because they leave enough lead on the scantron to be read by the machine. A No. 3 pencil would not leave a dark enough mark. A No. 1 pencil would leave a darker mark than the No. 2 pencil would. So then if I am trying to keep the value of a book by not marking in it, why am I going to use a pencil that will make a darker marker? Because the pencil lead is softer one can write without having to press hard. Thus not distressing the pages of the book. The other joy of soft lead is that it erases extremely well. Any eraser (though I would recommend a plastic eraser) will take off those marks with ease. Try it. It WILL work!!! Happy Monday!

Number 1 Pencils : http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/116921/Mirado-Pencils-No-1-Soft-Lead/

I would also like to amend this tip by saying this is also a great pencil choice for marking on music.

My favorite time of year.

I love American Idol. I love the music, the celebrations, the small people making it big, the train wrecks, the judges (I heart Simon.), Ryan Seacrest, the new judge Kara, the stories, everything...I LOVE IT!!! It is finally back and for the next 5 and a half months I will be busy on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings. I can't wait to make the elimination board, a poster with the names and pictures of the top 12 finalists. Each week I get to cross off the finalist who is voted off the show.

This year, my American Idol experience is heightened as I am one of the judges at "Southridge Idol," the school-sponsored version of the former. Students compete to be the Southridge Idol; the winner gets an iPod. Tomorrow is the beginning of auditions. We are auditioning for three days and then there will be a final show. It should be a good time.

Must go, have to wipe tears from touching back story and loverly singing.

Also, if you call on Tuesday or Wednesday evening I may not answer the phone...I still love you.

Happy Hanukkah!

Well, this has been a Christmas break of unexpected wonders. It started a whole week early as we had the beginnings of Arctic Blast 2008 and missed an entire week of school to snow days. Yes! (This was particularly enjoyable as my teaming partner is in Australia with family and I was making plans for the both of us.)

Luckily, I was iced/snowed in at my friend Penny’s house in Hillsboro, about 25 minutes from my house. I became “Aunt Alice” and started baking and cleaning and diagnosing and nannying and counseling and chauffeuring and imposing massive quantities of mommy-guilt. It was awesome!

During this week off, Penny’s son, Luke, Gabi and I made the world’s most awesome gingerbread house complete with rock garden, solar panels and smoke coming out the chimney. It was an energy conscious home. It is the year 2008 after all.

Saturday, I took my car in to get the alignment done and they reported that my car was not align-able and, in fact, not drive-able. Aaaah!!! So my dear friend, Penny Lou, drove me through the driving snow to my house where we cleaned my room, folded laundry and packed up for the upcoming trip to California for Christmas. The plan was to be stranded at Penny’s and then get to the airport on Monday for our flight.

Monday came, most of the flights were cancelled, but by some miracle ours was not. It was nearly time to leave on the trek to the airport (a two-hour tour since all public transportation was no longer working) when the flight was delayed slightly…by 20 minutes. Alright, we are packed, ready to go, better print the boarding passes so we do not have to check a bag or stand in the lines. There’s my flight….CANCELLED!!!

I had already called the airline and the earliest we could get to ANY location in Southern California was Friday night…the day AFTER Christmas.

BAH HUMBUG!!!

So it’s Christmas in the Northwest! We will hang with the Thornbrues. We love them and they love us! This is fortunate as we are in very close quarters and surrounded by piles of snow. We have at least 14 inches so far and are expected to get at least 2-4 inches more in the next day. The cold weather may have frozen some of our brains though. If you look closely, you will find that Ellie (Penny’s 11 year old daughter) and Gabi (my college-attending daughter) stuck their tongues to a light pole. The younger generation needs to watch and learn the lessons of A Christmas Story…I guess they’ll never win the major award.

This Christmas I am blessed to have wonderful friends who will house me, feed me, tote me, and most importantly love me. I hope you are all equally blessed this holiday season.

A Fun New Face...well, kinda new.

A couple of months ago I began a weight loss regimen. The effects were very good in the beginning, but then Costco began selling pumpkin pie. Nevertheless, I did lose nearly 30 pounds. And since the insipid and delectable arrival of the aforementioned holiday pastry, I have maintained. Below you will find a before and after pic of my face. The before was at Zach and Danielle's wedding in July the after was last weekend. Hurrah!

We Are The Champions!!!!

The Southridge Skyhawks are the Oregon 6A Football Champions for 2008!!

What an exciting game it was! I went down with my doppelganger, Chanel, to the game in Corvallis. The Skyhawks soundly beat the #1 ranked Lake Oswego Lakers 35 to 21. It was a spectacular comeback; the Hawks started down 14 to 0. Perhaps it was my spirited outfit? In our last play of the game, we were intending to kick the point after a touchdown, but the hold was fumbled and so the kicker threw the ball in for a two point conversion. FANTASTIC!!!! GO HAWKS!!!!!!!

An Apostle Dies

A once towering football star is greeted by the prophet, President Thomas S. Monson.

Elder Joseph Bitner Wirthlin died Monday night of old age. He was 91 years old. I met this special witness of Christ while I was in the Missionary Training Center at the beginning of my mission. I loved this dear man and his unshakable testimony of the Savior and His gospel.

I will never forget the address he gave at last October's General Conference. The talk was about charity. While he gave the talk he began to shake (apparently his knees had locked and his muscles were trying to hold him up). Elder Nelson, also an Apostle, stood beside him while he finished his remarks. There was nothing that could remove him from finishing his talk. The testimony that was shared seemed much stronger than usual that time. It was remarkable to see an act of charity as Elder Wirthlin testified of its importance in our lives.

I will miss his stories at General Conference. I will miss his testimony. But I look forward to getting to know a new Apostle of the Lord when he is called next April.