Spoiled Myself

I have been mystery shopping for about 18 months now and using my laptop for input. It has been a good little machine. It has a 14 inch screen and was easy to use. However, I started wishing for a larger screen. I checked into laptops but the biggest screen you can get is 17 inches, so I decided I  needed a desktop. I started putting $10 away each week and saved the birthday money that I got. I found a 24 inch screen on sale for $139 and bought it a few weeks ago. I then found an HP 6 GB of RAM 1 TB of memory for the hard drive for $359.99. Well I didn't quite have all of the money saved up, but decided to get it. It was just too good a deal to pass up.

I am now typing to you on my desktop computer with the 24 inch screen. I have done a few shop inputs on this one, and find it quite fast and so much more convenient with the larger screen. The printers that I have, plus the scanner on one of those, installed quite nicely. I remember the days of having to have the disk for every component. Both printers installed quickly and easily. I also bought MS Office 2010 and got it installed last night. I got all of my websites favorited on Google Chrome for my mystery shops and the programs I use to rename and resize pictures.

I bought a new power strip off of Amazon and am waiting for it. I need to plug in my external hard drive to get all of my documents and pictures onto this new one, or at least have access to them on from this computer.

Four more days of school and then I really start hitting the shops, but I won't be doing as many as last summer!

Summer is Coming

Summer is coming and this is the time of year that I can do even more shops than usual. Of course, being off most of the summer is the reason why! I do have a few things to do with my teaching job over the summer. I have a three day workshop in June and a trip to Houston for the Statewide Conference at the end of July. Last year I worked quite a bit during the summer, but I have promised myself and my partner....well and the kids, that I wouldn't work as hard this summer. I printed a calendar for June and have it quite filled up with shops, but I also have at least ten days blocked off NOT to do shops.  I am even going to visit my mom in Marshall at some point!

I enjoy doing the shops and making some extra money. It allows me to buy things the boys need as well as take them off for fun activities. It also helps pay the bills. I work weekends during the school year and over school holidays. However, what is the point of making extra money if you don't enjoy life a bit! This is another reason for slowing down a bit. My exhusband got a full time job and I am receiving child support again and that changes things for me too. Of course, if I could just win the lottery then I wouldn't have to work at all!

Pay Attention!

I did two gas stations yesterday that required photos. I have had two long weeks at school and was very tired when I came home! I threw some dinner in the oven and sat down to try to get at least one shop done. I downloaded all the pictures I needed for both shops and resized them. I then put them into folders...one folder for each shop. Well, some where along the way I mixed up some photos. I realized it after reporting on the first shop. I reported the second shop and woke up today to an email stating that I had loaded the same photo for each shop and I needed to fix it. I am STILL waiting for the company to open up the shops online so I can fix the situation.

Lesson learned here:
1) Don't rush when trying to do a shop
2) If you are tired, wait and at least eat dinner before trying to report the shop
3) if possible, don't do two of the same shop on the same day and if you do, PAY ATTENTION to the pictures

I am off to see if the shops are open on the website...I sure hope so!