After the Storm

We are creeping into thunderstorm season here in Maine. Our area always seems to get pretty intense storms that come in from out of no where. One minute it will be sunny and the next the skies turn dark. The light after the storms pass is one of my favorites. Everything glows and eerie pink/orange color.

It was a bit of a stormy weekend here, both in reality and metaphorically. My body seems to be trying to tell me that I am doing a bit too much, and after a scare this weekend it is time to cut back on my cleaning jobs. Money will be tighter than it already is...but we'll get by.

Funk

I am stressed out....... I can't kick this cold I have, I am worried about our finances (whats new), and frustrated with my job. I haven't been sleeping well which is very unlike me. Yesterday I slammed my finger in the door and then today I smashed it between two logs when I was carrying firewood in. I have a big blood blister now and feel like my fingertip is going to burst. Tony has been working up north a lot lately and I feel like I barely get to spend anytime with him when he is home. One of our tenants moved out without even telling us, so now we are once again cleaning up an apartment and trying to get it rented.
Ok, rant over. We got over a foot of snow this weekend. I ready to start thinking about putting together a seed order.

Tony's car is pretty much dead. Here we go again.

A New Year

I wish I could say going into 2008 that this is going to be our year. While I am sure in many ways it will be great, we will also be facing some crappy situation with the apartment house; whether it be a shortsale or foreclosure. It seems for the past 3 years that I have been saying, 'this year will be better', and while perhaps there have been slight improvements with each new year, I am aching for a GOOD year.
The good news is come the end of January 2008, I will have paid off all of my medical bills and my car. I can only hope and pray that by freeing up the cash from these payments and snowballing them into my credit card debt that I will come out ahead. Unfortunately, $150 of that extra cash is already being eaten up by my student loans which come back out of deferment this month.

Anyways, my goals for 2008 are:

1. Get my butt in gear planning the wedding and make it happen no later then October 2008.

2. Reduce my current credit card debt by 50% (I'm not giving an actual figure because it is embarrassing) by the end of 2008.

3. Refinance our house.

4. Build our saving up to at least $1000 (30% there now).

5. Get some type of flooring down in the living room (sooner than later).

6. Finish the 2 classes I need for teaching.

7. Apply to nursing school.

Wazzup

About time you posted a comment about me not posting. Took you long enough. I have been busy, and not in the mood, and i didnt have any batteries for my camera and i dont like to post without pictures cause it is boring. and i like run on sentences can you tell?

So, let me tell you about a little thing people call luck. and the lack of it i have. every single time a little extra money comes my way, something happens that costs me money to fix. AND, once again, i have yet another car problem. This time my fan has died. The one that blows on your radiator or something like that to keep you car cool. The one that really comes in handy when you are driving in the middle of bum fuck maine cause your hick self has decided to go see some farms in the country cause it is Maine Open Farm Day. Ya, its that little fan that when it dies, some old marlboro man (thank god) comes to save the day while you sit sweltering in your car on the side of the road swearing at the damn AAA lady who is not helping you. He told me what the problem was, cut through the wire so that my fan which was still spinning but not in the compartment it should have been would not explode into pieces and fly into my engine (or something like that). So.... with this little fan gone, you car will potentially over heat, soooooooo...........you have to drive home with you heat on high in 80 degree weather.

Oh and once again, just like last time, this happened just before my interview with inland fisheries (yes i made it there regardless) . So, my car is in the shop, again. Here are some random pictures including some of the alpaca farms i went to .

Will work for work.

So, the job hunt continues. Here are the current stats:
1)Windham Study Hall Ed. Tech III-Didn't get the job but was rehired for my part time gig
2)Poland H.S. Science Teacher-never got a call
3)Poland M.S. Science Teacher-never got a call
4)Fryeburg Ed. Tech III-I have to call to see if they have started to review my app. yet
5)Raymond Library Ed. Tech- I have to call to see if they have started to review
6)Oxford Study Hall Ed Tech. II- I called, they havent started to review yet
7)Bridgton Library Assistant-Had 1st 2 interviews, waiting to hear back about a possible 3rd
8)Inland Fisheries Fish Culturist-received post card saying expect a call, still expecting
9)Casco Library Ed Tech- sending in application on Monday
10)Casco Elementary Ed Tech- sending out application on Monday

I feel like I have sent out a lot more than that, and probably have. Money is super tight this month so I really need to find something. Broke down the fish tank this morning to sell it off, deferred my school loans for a couple months (i qualified for economic hardship deferment), we are talking to a real estate agent about selling off the apartment building and may have to do a short sale, i canceled cable but they didn't do it right and our new bill went up .60 cents even though i turned in the cable box.
Something has to happen (hopefully good).

Even more bad news

Brought the subaru in to the dealer today...... it's gonna be another $1200. Called my insurance company.....they want to come look at it before I can do anything else. They will CALL me to tell me when they will be by to look at it in 2-3 BUSINESS days. And I have another migrane, shocker.

More Bad News

It's not just an alignment issue on my car. They were nice enough to tell me this after I paid $280 for them to FIX my alignment. The sterring wheel is straight now but I still can't drive my car for shit. The steering if all effed and it feels like the back end of the car is going to fishtale out from under me when i drive. So off to the dealer it goes today. Can you say cha-ching! Looks like I will have to fill an insurance claim after all.
I didn't get the Windham job. It took my boss 2 weeks to tell me and she told me in an email, and I quote, 'sorry for being so impersonal'. To sum it up she blamed it on my other boss, saying she was away on vacation or something and he made the decision to hire someone else while she wasnt there. But she said feel free to use the recommendation letter she wrote me in my appplications for another job. Gee, Thanks. Look what good it did me for this job.
Still no chickens and the kittens are learning to use a kitty litter box,,,, hence their is kitten shit on my rug now.

It Never Ends

Sooo...... I kinda broke my car today. Somehow I managed to bump into the metal poles that are at then end of the little islands at the gas station. I did it just right that my back tire kinda dragged along it and now my steering wheel is about 25 degrees tilted to the right when I am driving straight. I am hoping it is just the alignment and not an axel or something else that I cannot afford to fix. I shall find out tomorrow. Also in car news, I was driving home from work last week when from out of no where a sheet of that pink styrofoam insullation material came flying through the air just right to swipe my antenna off of my car. As if the radio reception out here wasn't bad enough already, now I get one station and it only comes in when my cell phone charger is not plugged in.

Update on the Groceries

Well, we have improved. I'm sure we can still do better, but we have gone from spending $419.56 on groceries in the month of January to $272.00 in February, and then down again to $251.23 in March. While I may be making more than the two trips a month I was originally alloting myself, I have been writing lists and trying to preplan meals. It seems to help. Now i just need to make sure I remember the lists and coupons next time I go to hannafords.

Groceries

Just came across this article.
Take a Bite out of Groceries

Another Reason We're Poor

I've taken to entering all of our income and expenses into an Excel spreadsheet so that we can look at our situation in graph form and gasp in horror.
In January alone we spent $419.56 in groceries . We are two people. Two none gluttonous people.... or so I thought.
I or we have decided that this is way too much so the new plan I have devised is as follows. Every 2 weeks I will construct a meal plan, list all the necessary ingredients, form a shopping list, and stick by the list. So thats it. No more twice a week visits to Hannafords. Two visits a month and i must only buy what is on the list. We'll see how long this lasts.