death & dieting

Yesterday I did something I've never done before.  I met face to face with my insurance agent, Scott.  Now.  I've had insurance (car, life, renter's and now homeowner's) since I bought my first car when I was 20.  But I've never actually met face to face with an agent since I first signed up for car insurance with State Farm in the little building in American Fork, UT behind the pet store and Seagull Book that my mom took me too in 2002.  Wow.  Was it really 10 years ago??

When I called my agent last week regarding my cracked windshield he wanted to set up an appointment to go over my policies.  I set up the appointment, figuring it was going to be an hour of him trying to talk me into buying different or additional coverage, and steeled myself to be strong and "just say no!"  But, it was actually a very good and enlightening meeting.  And Scott is a really nice guy.

We went over my policies, found a few inconsistencies that need to be corrected, and talked about what kind of coverage I needed to take care of my estate (P.S. who knew I even HAD an "estate"??) when/if I die.  Not a very pleasant topic (especially since I'm dreading turning 30 and being officially old enough as it is already) but it was interesting.  Basically we figured out that I need to carry a life insurance policy, or policies, of about $158,000.  That would settle all the debts I currently have including my house, car, credit cards, student loan, and take care of burial and funeral expenses and not leave anything for Mom and Dad (since they are my beneficiaries at the moment) with any outstanding amounts.  Kind of morbid, I know, but it's good to know this kind of stuff I'm figuring out.  Right now I have $150,000 between a personal life insurance policy I took out 10 years ago, and a policy through work.  We also talked briefly about getting a will set up.  But I'm not sure I'm ready to tackle that yet.

Sigh.  I guess since I AM turning 30 next month and there really is no way to avoid it, it's time to get serious about more of this "adult" stuff I've been putting off and avoiding.  I need to be more involved in my retirement and savings plans and make sure I am covered in case anything does happen to me so I'm not leaving a mess behind me.

I just wish I didn't have to do it all alone.  Being single is lonely and right now I'm feeling particularly so.

On top of feeling lonely, I'm also starting to get a little discouraged with this whole losing weight thing.  I haven't lost any weight the last week and a half.  I fact, I've gained a few pounds back.  I know that weight fluctuations are caused by lots of different things and it's normal to go up and down, but I've been trying really hard to stick right to the plan and only eat the allotted food points each day.  Yet every time I get on the scale and see that it either hasn't changed, or it's gone up a little bit I feel like Bob Wiley from "What About Bob" and I have a little tantrum in the bathroom.

"I'm baby-steppin', I'm doin' the work, I'm not a slacker!  Check it out I'm in really bad shape!  Gimme, gimme gimme--I need, I need, I need, gimme, gimme gimme..."

But my scale just sits there.  Looking at me.  With judgey eyes.

Maybe it's my scale that should think about writing a will and taking out a life insurance policy.  It's existence here on Earth may soon prove to be a LOT shorter than mine...