summer days

Almost over! Thankfully--I can honestly say that summer is my most hated season. If I lived in New Hampshire I wouldn't mind it too much, but here where everything is burned to death and it's dry and lifeless, it's awful! Anyway, it looks like rain today! I love rain. I like walking in the rain, driving in the rain (during the day), and just sitting on my patio and watching the rain. And yes, I like singing in the rain too. :-P
Yesterday I finally got the courage to bite the bullet and spend yet another chunk of my disappearing money and buy insurance for both cars. Sean wanted to do it monthly, but I told him the last thing I wanted was another bill to have to worry about paying. When I did have monthly insurance, it was such a hassle to replace the insurance cards every month and worry about keeping up with it. For the past 6 months we've had insurance we paid in full for 6 months and it's been so much better. Plus then I can use scotch tape and fake laminate the cards so they're all pretty. :-) Now we are totally living paycheck to paycheck this month, but I worked it out and by next month we should be on our feet again. Of course, car registration is due next month on the Kia...but I can't think of too many wierd expenses. This month/last month have just been awful and filled with disasterous money expenses, but we can make it. It makes me happy, because I know a lot of unexpected expenses will come up with Matt, and knowing that we can financially survive is comforting. I need some advise in money management though--because I don't have life insurance I can pull money out of in extreme emergencies, or a 401k (which actually I have no idea what that is but I know rich people have them), or even a savings account that generates interest. Plus next time I go looking for savings accounts it will be one for Matt. I'm thinking about, if possible, one that deposits a dollar into his savings every time I use my debit card. It will come out of my account into his, but it'll be really convienant and seeing as I know I use it hundreds of times a year, by the time he is 18 he'll have a pretty hefty savings built up. If I have another kid it'll split the dollar between them. But that sort of thing probably doesn't exist. And I'd rather have that then a set amount transferred every month because some months I may not be able to afford that. When I first had my Washington Mutual accounts, they set it up for an automatic transfer, but I was so poor I would just pull it out of savings as soon as it got there. I'm not at that point anymore, but one can never tell in the future! As long as Matt never goes hungry, then anything is okay as long as he is. But, ideally, I'd love to be rich. :-)
So today is my last day until my long working streak. I'm not used to having two days off IN A ROW! Being full-time rocks. Plus I got paid time and a half for working monday. AND I have vacation time! Yay! And I get a raise!
So Joey and I want to go do something today, even though we don't have a lot of money. But what to do? Everything is so expensive! We'll figure it out. We may go see Snakes on a Plane tonight. It doesn't look that great to me, but I've been outvoted by Joey and Sean. Okay, well it's raining now! So I am going to go..walk thew dogs.

LAME

I tried to update my profile, and they cut out TONS of my favorite books!!! GRRR...I guess I read too much. I should use the whole entire profile space for the books I love, I could care less about movies!!! Stupid, stupid Blogger. Well...LAME!!!! Sorry, it irks me, they could have cut out ANYTHING else!!! Anyway, my day is just getting started, I'll post more later. I had my breakfast of champions-diet pepsi and cranberry sauce. Yumm...

brush off the ol' blog...

Jeez, it's been a while since I posted something! I guess because everything is so busy. I moved, completed grooming school and got a car all within a month! Yikes! We couldn't really afford a car, but my mother in law was taking my brother-in-law's truck back because he was too stupid to cash the loan check we gave him and now wants us to pay the amount--OVER A YEAR SINCE WE HAVE HAD THE VEHICLE!!! People amaze me sometimes about how selfish they can be--especially people who supposedly want to help you out. Anyway the amount she was going to make us pay for the horrible, constantly broken truck was about the rate we'd pay for a new or new-ish car so we gave it back. We had to demolish the rest of our savings and take out another loan >:-( but we got a 2002 Kia Rio. Well, I guess it's good in the long run, because we weren't going to keep the truck for much longer anyway. It's awful on gas, something is always wrong with it, and it's not safe for the baby. We would've just rather done it on our own time and had the option to shop around. Oh well. So, I graduated grooming school today! Nothing special, we went to a chinese buffet and ate until we were at bursting point. (Of course I was STARVING 2 hours later, go figure). Sean, my teacher, said I wasn't going to have a problem because I just jump in and do it and figure things out myself, and I only ask for help when I'm finished or I REALLY need it. There are some students who need thier hands held through everything. I don't know if that's because they haven't been in grooming that long or if that's just the way they are, but fortunately I've been around grooming for a while so I had a pretty good idea of how to do things. I get this weekend off, then go back to work at my regular salon full-time until I do my 100 dogs and can start commission. Just hourly alone will bring me over $300/week before taxes. (laugh away, but it's a heck of a lot better than $150 per week!!!) Then commission.... That's like $700/week!!! Hopefully I can recover my savings enough so I can afford to take my 6 weeks leave after I give birth. If not...oh well! I heal fast and I'm sure I will after delivery too, if everything goes well. Some women go back after a week! I have my friend living here who has tons of experience with babies, so I won't have to worry about daycare. Anyway, hopefully it won't come to that and I can stay for the whole 6 weeks, and use my other 6 weeks (maybe 5 weeks if I take time off the last week of my pregnancy) to have shortened work days for the first month or two after going back to work. Anyway, everything will work out. I'm not worried. :-) Oh yeah, did I mention I have to buy insurance for both cars this month too?
REALLY cool--my Aunt Hillary got me a whole bunch of totally awesome stuff for Matt!!! She got a BUNCH of clothes, a walker (I KNOW they've been recalled because of stair injuries but I don't have any stairs!), a doorway jumper, a play mat with cool mobiles above it, a wheelie thing for him to push when he can stand and walk with support, baby carriers, blankets, toys and bottles!!! Oh yeah and a side sleeper. ^_^ I swear, without all the help I'm getting, poor Matt would be sleeping with Sean and I until he graduated high school and his favorite toy would be a bottle cap. :-)
Okay well I've rambled on...and on...enough for one night. I am officialy in my 6th month, I'm HUGE, and he is kicking like mad! My next doctor's appointment is on the 5th, and they'll do the usual (protien test, weight, listen to heartbeat), and go over in detail the amniocentesis results. Make sure he's REALLY a boy..well..genetically. He definatly has something between his legs and all the doctors in the room confirmed it was a boy...heck I saw it myself. Apparantly ultrasounds excite him. Anyway, going to browse obsessively through AmericanBaby.com now!