Ummm HELLO MAY. Yeah. Where did April go? Well, it was full of studying for a whopping three tests for Microbiology, working on my "Unknown" lab project, preparing for my final and working A LOT. But yesh, May is here and it's warm and glorious and I went to the beach and I STARTED NURSING SCHOOL and my car got scraped up this morning (NOT by me). First - the beach. M and I went to The Outer Banks for a week with my parents. Yes, with them. And we slept in the room above my parents...in bolted-to-the-floor twin beds. But it was still glorious. One whole week of no e-mail, phone messages, waiting tables, Microbiology or nursing theory. It was SO glorious that when we were practicing meditation on the first day of Nursing orientation (umm, yeah.), I visualized sitting on the beach at The Outer Banks. Beautiful.
But, POOR widdle Deacon! My bestie S looked in on him twice while we were gone...but he wasn't very nice to her. By the time we got home, he was shedding uncontrollably. Liiiiiiike, I brushed him for a solid 15 minutes. Poor baby.
Anyway, nursing school! Ummmm, well it's just orientation this week, BUT I've decided that it will be fun regaling you with stories of STUPID questions and crazy expectations. Because my first quiz is on Monday. HA. And that is the least of my worries - I am very worried about the fact that I only have two tries to take correct vitals (in a testing situation), or I fail out of Nursing 1000. Or, that an 80 is passing. That is right - 79 = fail.
No pressure!
More on that in a later post, including my favorite question of the day.
Lastly, I got down to my car this morning with my hands full of coffee, toast, purse and ginormous bag-o-books. I was greeted with a Post-it note asking me to call one of my neighbors... and I freaked out. I was sure I did something to someone to piss them off. It turns out that my neighbor scratched the crap out of my bumper when he was pulling out of his adjacent spot this morning. (see below)
Now, my car is well over 15 years old. And, it has it's fair share of scrapes ... so I feel slightly bad telling this guy he needs to pay for it. But there is quite a bit of damage! So yeah. Awesome.
Well. This is a lot for one post, so I'll stop. BUT there will be much more to come about cars and school and May funness! woot!
Hi.
I feel AWFUL about not posting until now, but there has been a lot going on in my life and in my head. I had to come to terms with some money things – mostly that I am more than a little OCD when it comes to money and I need to chill out – or risk hurting my relationship with M.
Not cool.
So, I took a little time off from blogging so I wouldn’t obsess. Because when I blog I’m usually obsessing over SOMETHING. Ya know? BUT I feel like I am in a better place now, and can blog without obsession – at least today. =)
Here’s a money tidbit I’ve learned over the last week:
Planning parties can be expensive – I know this is a no-brainer, but throwing parties are usually expensive. AND I am throwing a “Sex and the City” party tonight, in honor of the movie’s release. But, I tried to cut costs by using stuff I already had and making the theme (and the invitees) the fun focus of the evening. It also helps that M’s friend knows the best kind of bargain vodka (cheap, yet no hangover). He’s my personal vodka expert! We’ll see how it works out.
On another note, my car is back from the shop and ready to roll! I was hoping they could, ahem, spray the front of the car to get rid of the yellow and black scrapes I’m currently sporting, but alas they didn’t. That’s ok though – the bill was still close to $600! However, I’m NOT panicking. Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa and their decision to give me savings bonds every birthday and Christmas, I have the cash to pay for my car repairs AND my impending wisdom teeth removal.
Now, I decided to trade in all my bonds, even though some of them weren’t fully matured. But…life goes on. I need the money and I would rather take this extra source of cash and put it toward these expenses, then take the money out of our emergency fund. It’s a choice I’m comfortable with, so there. So THANK YOU Grandma. I seriously appreciate the free car repairs and surgery.
Anyway, I have a TON to do – apartment to clean, present to finish (I’ll talk about that after Mothers’ Day), party to have, places to go, bridal showers to attend, bachelorette parties to attend, old friends to see and mothers to celebrate. WHEW.
Everyone have a great weekend!
OH and a PS to my last [GRUMPY] post…I miscalculated. I miscalculated and I nearly went nuts. It’s a really good thing I’m not an accountant because I would have been fired. So we’re fine. Very fine. And, M got a raise! =)
D is a very grumpy girl. I just did my type-A subtract-all-the-bills-from-the-current-amount-residing-in-the-checking-account thing…and came up with a NEGATIVE number!!! HOW did this happen? (I should say, how will this happen…since I am looking into the future.) Sigh. I know how it happened…both M and I were over our allotted amount on credit cards this month (and I didn’t bring my lunch today – BOO!).
On top of that, we have our new monthly car insurance bill, plus I threw $200 at our outstanding credit card bill, plus the quarterly bill we get from our Alma Mater came. This doesn’t include the tuition for the class I just registered for (Yay! At least I got my online Anatomy class!!)
GRUMPY.
Yes, I know – we have an emergency fund for these items. Actually, the car insurance would have come out of that fund anyway…if we were on the 6-month plan. So. I transferred some cash over from the emergency account, and I’ll try to bunker down and chill out for another 2 weeks. But it’s just so hard. I try and keep myself from wishing away the days, but I’m really so bored at work that I can’t help it. I have a test tonight and a test Thursday…I really just want it to be next Friday so M will get his second paycheck!
I like putting money in our happy accounts – not throwing it down the drain to various credit/loan institutions. We have about $1,000 per month going to loans and credit stuff every month – and when you break it down like that I get kinda nauseous. That number doesn’t include our monthly credit card bills either! That is just car loan + school loans + paying off big credit card. Booooo. I can’t WAIT until we have paid off that credit card – it’ll free up some cash!! Then we can start chipping away at one of M’s school loans that has ridiculously high interest.
Anyway. I better go find something to do – I do have that annual review coming up…Anyone else having a downtrodden Tuesday?
So. I was freaking out about two hours ago - about my car, about the insurance, about a ridiculously high credit card bill that just showed up. But...I talked to a reputable Honda guy, who says he can fix the car for $450 (after I drive home to see him). Insurance is obnoxious...but I think we'll survive this. I just need to yell at some people to fix everything. As for the credit card bill - M put his real estate classes on there (and work is supposed to be paying him back), which were more than $600.So. We WILL be fine. I just need to breathe.And, some great things have recently happened that I need to be grateful for:- Our State and Federal returns are already in our checking account- Our kitty got a clean bill of health at the Vet on Saturday- I bought a shirt on sale for $19.95 (down from $88!!!) on Saturday- We finally opened our online savings account- I saw my mom, dad and brother on Sunday- my annual review is in one month! (Hopefully this means a RAISE)- I'm (hopefully) seeing a couple AMAZING college friends this weekendThat last one is a a bit iffy at this point. I was all about the trip to Charleston, SC - until my car decided to poop out on me. Now I'm thinking of taking it up to my parent's house so it can go in the shop.I don't know... Anyway. The point it - I'm fine. M is fine. Kitty is fine. I just need to breathe, and it'll work out.
I just got off the phone with Goodyear – they were just supposed to do a much-overdue oil change…and just called with news that my 1992 Honda needs more than $900 in maintenance repairs. This fact, plus the fact that my car will need a new timing belt next year (which is more than $500) make me want to cry. My car is only worth about $2,000…and I Just can’t afford this. But, we can’t afford a car payment either. Actually we could, if we weren’t paying $470 a month for M’s car. Yes. $470. My mom is calling our old friend that looks after our Hondas, to have him call the Goodyear and see if it’ll really cost that much or if they’re just BSing a 20-something woman. UGH!!! OMG. I JUST said this weekend how I love my car and I don’t want a new one. But I don’t want to pay more than $900 either.
Looks like our tax rebate check might have to go toward a car instead of M’s credit card bill…at least we have that money coming in. That’s a blessing.
I can’t help but be really angry at M. I don’t have a car payment, but I help him with his. The $470 a month plus the $900 every 6 month for insurance is UNBELIEVABLE. And now I don’t think we can afford a car for me because his costs so much. That isn’t fair. I have never had a ticket or an accident…and I have driven my old, beat-up Honda for more than 8 years now. Sigh. I’m just upset.
Auto insurance is another issue we’ve being dealing with. My insurance company decided that since I was married, M’s points from his accident last year should be on my policy as well – a way to strong-arm us into getting on the same policy. It doesn’t matter to them that M has his own policy that we pay on. SO UNFAIR.
So, I am pretty pissed about cars right now. I’m thinking I should just not get my car fixed, let it sit at our apartment complex and take the frakkin light rail every day.
Sigh.
