"Perhaps I'm old and tired, but I always think that the chances of finding out what really is going on are so absurdly remote that the only thing to do is to say hang the sense of it and just keep yourself occupied." -Douglas Adams
So as I picked up an additional 48 boxes of Girl Scout cookies to go along with the 1020 boxes I had just picked up an hour before, my new gym called to ask how my experience with them had been so far.
Hmm…
I feel like I haven’t had a moment to breathe since returning from the cruise. It was definitely one of those “land and hit the ground running” things. Almost literally, we returned home at 1am Monday the 9th and my first class started at 10am that day. Last night was the first night without work, kids, meetings to go to, etc in 10 days. I thought, oh I’ll finally get the tree down, Girl Scouts registered (uh yeah, still putting that off), and something else I’ve forgotten because I don’t have my To Do list handy. And then a friend who I haven’t seen in forever invited me over for dinner (because I’m never free) so I said yes, of course! And so nothing got done last night after all.
Girl Scout cookie orders are due Saturday. I already have 5 of the 9 so I’m off to a good start.
It snowed today, like 3 inches while we were doing orientation at the women’s hospital for OB. Which meant babies! Eeeeee! They were so cute! It should be an interesting semester. I’m still not sure what kind of nursing I’d like to do after I graduate but OB might be good. Looking at cute babies all day makes me so not thrilled to go take care of grumpy old men tonight at work though.
Quote of the Day: “Babies are such a nice way to start people.” -Don Herrold
I don’t generally do these since I tend to have a running list of goals (which hmm, I haven’t done any recently) but I have a big one for 2012:
Get my budget under control.
This generally means no attempts at a $3000 trip to Ireland (last year) or $200 monthly dance lessons (the year before that). I mean, really, I didn’t have a job, what the hell was I thinking putting unnecessary stuff like that on my credit cards? Oh well, live and learn. A minor side goal is “To not have any utilities turned off for the year”. You’d think that would be an easy one but looking back over 2011, I managed to let the gas be shut off once and the electricity twice. And also, “Do not leave the fridge door open”. Sucks losing a fridge/freezer worth of food. Which surprisingly enough, did not happen during the two electricity shut-offs. Another is “Do not overdraw the checking account and pay $200 in fees”. That was last June. So basically my goal is:
Don’t be so stupid with money.
LYC gave me his super duper awesome budget excel worksheet (without deleting his info, oh lord, to be a bachelor with a good paying job and no credit card debt or kids) and I’ve spent the last three weeks working on my budget and making sure I’m not being too unrealistic. Which is proving a hell of a lot harder than it sounds. My monthly expenses nearly equal my income IF I don’t spend any money on “extras”. Like health & beauty, eating out, clothing, kids’ activities, etc. So of course this month alone, I’ve already spent $200 on that stuff. DOH! This is mostly why I have crappy “at the limit” credit cards.
The scariest part is in October 2012, my alimony is over (limited to 3 years by state law). It’s like $600 a month which isn’t a lot to some people but hell, that’s a lot when working with my “thin as ice” monthly cash flow. I’ll still be in nursing school too and only able to work part-time. That’s a loss of $5400 in income from Oct to June 2013 (I’m giving myself over a month to pass the NCLEX and find a RN job). I guess it’s good to know this ahead of time so I can try to attempt to find a solution. Which is, ummmm? The Mayan calendar saving me from all my overdue bills because the world ends in Dec 2012?
I should add that not all hope is lost. My current budget plan has me paying at least $50 over the monthly “minimum” payment on all 3 of my credit cards WITHOUT putting any additional charges or monthly expenses on them anymore. Honestly I’ve done that a lot: send in the minimum payment and then immediately charge that amount of TV/internet/cell phone/car insurance/what-have-you back on that card. It’s not pretty accounting by any stretch but it has kept me and the kids at a decent standard of living. So after several months of actually paying down the cards and not hanging around barely below the maximum limits, I should have some room on the credit cards to go back to that for a few months if necessary.
The other trick up my sleeve is that in the spreadsheet I didn’t increase my income during the summer months from the baseline of hours I can work during the school year. Going from 20 hours to around 36 hours a week is a decent bump (about $350 a paycheck) that I should be able to sock away into savings. Worse comes to worse, I cancel the TV/internet/what-have-you for the remainder of my nursing school time too.
Now if only I could take back that $200 I already goofed up in the budget for this month…
Christmas went well if not sleepy. I worked, then went straight to open gifts with the kids, then a half hour nap, then dinner at a friend’s. Merry Christmas!
The last week of 2011 was a blur, there was Christmas in Southern Indiana, then some more work, then I think there was some sleep. New Year’s Eve, LYC and I had dinner with Sarah and Steve and that was it. On New Year’s Day, we went to the baptism of one of LYC’s friend’s baby. That was very nice, I like little snuggly newborns.
AND THEN!!! LYC and I went on a cruise around the Caribbean! We left Monday morning as the temperature dropped to 10 degrees in cloudy Indiana to sunny Florida where it was 72 degrees. It was sooo awesome! We slept and ate and laid out in the sun and swam in the ocean (with sting rays, eep!) It was a wonderful vacation and it was really hard to come home Sunday evening.
This last Monday, nursing school started again. I’m in 3 classes this semester: maternity, pediatrics, and a psych class. It sounds easier than my usual 4 or 5 classes but now I’m in the hospital twice a week instead of one time. At least the subject matter can’t be that hard, I just need to do the time. 16 weeks til summer break but who’s counting? hehe
The kids are here this week so I’ve been busy catching up on them plus the house, school, etc. There’s always someone who need something… And that’s about it, life as usual.
I’m not dead. Just super busy. I don’t even remember where I left off.
I’ll be back once I figure that out. :-)
Our Christmas tree and our gingerbread house village (eaten in 2.6 seconds after the picture was taken). I keep forgetting to try to fix the star on the tree (it wouldn’t light up, it’s 14 years old so it’s lived a good long life). I need to remember to take a picture of our outdoor lights later, Zach and I hung a couple of strands around our porch. Other decorations include cinnamon scented pinecones (Zach’s favorite) in red ceramic bowls around the house and a Christmas wreath on the front door. We’re missing one handknit Christmas stocking. I’m kinda irked by this and so at the moment, there are no stockings hung by the fireplace. I’d like to decorate more but at the moment, money is an issue (as usual).
Speaking of money, I’m practically sitting on my hands to keep from buying “one more present”. Some great ideas have popped up recently but since I’m both broke and “done” with shopping, I’m trying my hardest NOT to buy anything. And also to NOT drive myself insane by trying to find those “one more presents” in a local store since I refuse to pay $15 in upgraded shipping to get the items here by Christmas. So NOT buying anything. I’m writing the ideas down though, eventually I’ll have money and birthdays to buy for.
Other Christmas stuff… I bought Christmas cards and stamps but I don’t think I’m going to get them mailed any time soon. The problem is that I bought cards that need a picture and then no one could agree on an already taken picture and I didn’t have the time to arrange a photo shoot for a new picture. Maybe next week. I figure no one minds receiving Christmas cards late anyways.
As a general rule, I don’t do any Christmas baking but later today, the kids and I are making snickerdoodle cookies to drop off at the vet’s office that took care of Chopper. Maybe if we don’t eat the extras, I’ll bring some into work.
Speaking of work, I’m doing 3 twelves in a row starting Thursday evening. Which means I am working Saturday night into Sunday morning. I don’t have the kids (G always has the 24th, I always has the 26th, we trade the 25th every year) so it’s not a big deal. Around 8:30am on the 25th (and with a lot of coffee), LYC and I are going over to G’s to watch the kids open gifts and then I’m probably sleeping til the 26th. Which is when the whole lot of us will go down to Southern Indiana to hang out with my family, yay!
Oh Christmas wrapping isn’t done yet. Usually I wrap everything overnight before Christmas but since I’m working, I need to do something different. Plus the gifts, wrapping paper, and tape are all at LYC’s (best hiding place I’ve had in years!) So I’m thinking I’ll wrap gifts between naps at LYC’s before work on the 24th. He’s graciously offered to help wrap too.
And I think that’s it. It’s not the most traditional of Christmas’s but it (mostly) works.
What was I suppose to be doing again?
So I ended up with 3 B’s and a B+ in my 4 classes.*** And so it’s done. Moving on to the next semester (Jan 9th!)
Work is going well, I’m getting some decent hours in.
The kids are here and are out of school already. The local school district must hate me. I hate vacation time that starts way before Christmas because the kids don’t have any new stuff to play with yet and they are all wild and crazy because “Christmas! Soon! Freak out!” If I didn’t mention it before, the kids’ custody schedule for the month was a little goofy due to G’s work schedule so I pretty much have the kids during the week (or about 4 days) and he has them on the weekends (or about 3 days). That just makes it all weird too.
So I’m just kinda out of my routine, discombobulated, turned upside down and spun around. I’m sure there’s something I should be doing but beyond “feed kids, pick up after kids, go to bed, wash, rinse, repeat”, for the life of me, I can’t think of it.
Hmm…
*** Edit to add: My psych prof bumped my grade up from a B+ to an A- for good attendance. Woot!