$3.17/Gallon

That is how much I paid for gas tonight and I was beyond giddy! I just hope it sticks around for a while!

The munchkin had another soccer game this afternoon and he played great. They won!! His coach cracks me up, because he gets so riled up! He is just a kid himself...maybe 19...but has a lot of passion for the game, which is great for the boys.

After the game we headed up to Sam's Club and did a little shopping. I'm not sure what all we really purchased, but my bill was over $200. That always blows my mind! How can a cart, not full, reach $200, let alone go over that amount?! Well, we did buy 2 movies and a book too, but seriously?! How much does cereal, fruit by the foot, tons of mac 'n cheese, pizza rolls, soap, and frozen PB&J sandwiches really cost?! Oh well...it is what it is and we just keep paying the bills and moving forward. Some day I will figure out a way to save some money...

Never My Intention

It was never my intention to blog on August 1st and not to return until 13 days later, but I've been crazy busy and pretty exhausted. My apologies to the few readers I have left. Hope you will bear with me while I continue to work through this whole new phase in my life! It will get better. I promise!

For the last five years or so I've been blessed or should I say spoiled by being able to have someone come and clean our home. Well, those good times have came to an end. I can no longer afford it nor can I justify it. So tonight I embarked on this new adventure of cleaning my own house. I'm not finished and I move really slow. Probably since I hate it so much, I'm sure. Plus I end up taking a lot of breaks. Once I put the clean sheets on my bed and vacuum I will be done with our 2 bedrooms, the munchkin's playroom and our one and only hallway, leaving the 2 bathrooms, the living room and the kitchen. Of course the last room that I will tackle is my bathroom, because it just grosses me out to clean it. Blah!!

I'm sure this whole cleaning process would be easier in my life if I would have learned how to clean when I was younger. When I was growing up my mom did not work outside of the house the majority of the time, so she did all of our cleaning while we were at school and our dad was at work. So I never even had the opportunity to watch how she cleaned or to do it with her either. We also never had chores assigned to us either, so outside of cleaning my bedroom because I was anal even as a child I did not learn how to clean and manage a home until after I was married and in my 20's and after taking a five-year break I feel like I'm having to learn it all over again.

Since this is posting close to 2am Saturday night/Sunday morning, please don't think I've been trying cleaning all day and night. I didn't even start this process until after 10:00pm tonight and I've also watched some TV in between too! LOL I multi-task during cleaning, but probably not in the best way.

Where Does It All Go?

Money that is...

How is it possible that I get paid on Thursday and by Sunday after writing out bills due during this pay period I am broke?! And I don't mean like I only have a hundred dollars broke...I mean as in my account balance is in the negative already and that doesn't account for gas for the next two weeks or any of the appointments the munchkin and I have in the next two weeks.

Needless to say I don't pray for strength these two weeks, I'm praying for some cash!

This Would Be Why I'm Eating Chips & Dips Tonight...

So last night as I was going to bed I realized that my toilet has sprung a leak. This after I listened to my washer make a weird noise all day. Just great!!

Of course this would happen! I haven't worked or gotten a paycheck in over a month. Due to my wonderful work screwing me on not being able to take out my 401K and the IRS making it impossible to file my taxes until mid-February, even if I had my W-2's which I of course I don't~thanks again work!~, I'm totally living...er mooching off my aunt!! I've taken her last 2 checks from her, she's paid my two credit card bills and likely will pay my cellphone/internet bill, and all I have left in my checking account is $150.

Now I get to call two different repair people tomorrow and try to mooch off my other aunt and uncle. FML!

Consider it done: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16

Just getting started: 17, 18

Needs attention: 10, 11

Last night was just crazy. I guess it really started yesterday afternoon. I headed up to see my guy with sunglasses on and no snow in the air. About 30 minutes later...maybe not even that long...I drove into the craziest little snow storm. It was a little unbelievable. But what was more unbelievable was the fact that the car in front of me apparently was taking a stand against driving with their lights on prior to evening hours, because they refused to flip them on. At one point it was snowing so hard that I couldn't even tell if the guy was still in front of me until he actually did hit his brakes. He is lucky I was paying attention!

Of course, as always, there were two cars driving by complete and total jack-holes that thought they could dive in and out amongst the bumper-to-bumper traffic in the midst of this snow storm. I don't get this mentality! If you are behind me and there are tons of cars to my right and in front of me where do you suppose you want me to go when you climb up on my bumper? Do you think I want to be doing 40 on an expressway? It goes against the whole idea of an "express"-way, but I certainly cannot make the cars around me move any faster! And in the future please be warned that if you constantly do that I will be forced to hit my brakes a little sharper than usual and you will fish tail. If you don't believe me, please ask your buddy in the burgundy sports car with the illegally tinted windows...

After our visit I headed back home with a stop by Biggby's for my free super double-dark, sugar-free, reduced-calorie, fat-free hot chocolate with whipped, of course! I love the power of getting that free #13 off from my card. :) hehehe Of course since I have another card that I've been saving up the next one is free too. Yay me!! Then it was off to make my weekly trip to the grocery store. Of course I went to two last night. I guess I didn't feel I had spent enough money at the first one and thought the second one deserved some of my money too... I went to Wal-marts first, because I had a couple speciality items on my list that I knew were cheaper there and I knew that they would have the stuff I needed. As I was leaving there I decided to hit up Meijer in hopes that they would have restocked the fat-free gravy I like, which of course they hadn't. Before I could get out of the parking lot of Wal-marts my car was almost totaled.

Driving along at a snail's pace I was traversing by the rows and some bitch in a little white sedan who failed to realize she needed to clean off the newly accumulated snow from her side windows literally pulled into the side of me. I was over almost halfway through what would be the makeshift intersection there when she pulled out. How I did not hit her or her hit me I will never know. It had to have been either due to my extremely supendious driving ability or the grace of God! I followed that bitch down the lane and hoped and prayed that we would be side to side when we got out to the road to turn our separate ways and I hoped and prayed we would have a red light to wait at, because the closer I got to that light the angrier I got and I had made up my mind I was going to put my window down and tell her, "Bitch, you cut me off again like that again next time I will cut you." (Yes, I was channeling my inner Legally Fabulous! ) Of course we weren't next to one another and of course there was only a green light so she went right with me cussing and swearing while I turned left.

I hit Meijer a few minutes later and was in and out of there in a flash. While loading my two little bags into the backend of my Escape I heard a man's voice. This older gentlemen needed some assistance. After him explaining that I looked like a nice young woman and he had hoped I could help him out and I was the third person he asked before he went into the store and made a complete and total fool of himself he thought he would ask me for help. There may have been "pretty" and "professional looking" tossed in during his little monologue, but I can't remember. I indeed helped the man out (nothing big...just $10 to get 3 gallons of gas) and I did follow him over to the Meijer gas station to make sure he got gas and didn't go in and buy a fifth of booze. He had offered to send me the money on Monday if I gave him a number or an address to get it back to me at, but since I'd rather just be an easy mark for gas money versus a victim in my own home due to some psycho-stranger I just told him to pay it forward. With tears in his eyes and a hand shake to boot, he thanked me.

All in all I figured that my karma scale was tipped in my favor last night when I finally headed home since I didn't actually cut a bitch and I did actually help a stranger out.

Consider it done: 1, 2, 3, 9, 12

Just getting started: 4, 5, 6, 13, 16, 17, 18

Needs attention: 7, 8, 10, 11, 14, 15

Week #10 This Semester Is In The Bag

Last night when I got home if I wouldn't have just spent $21 on dinner I would have immediately crawled into bed. Yes, it was only 8pm. Yes I have tons to do every night, but I was just feeling totally exhausted. Of course I didn't do it. Instead I ate my yummy Mexican take-out and got a few things done instead. Of course at midnight I was really wishing I would have went to bed 4 hours earlier and come morning...definitely wishing I would have just went to bed!

Obviously I have tons to do this weekend and one of those things is to relax a little. My stress level is really high these days. I have so much swirling around in my head, so many things going on and am usually either feeling like I can't breathe or like I want to make someone else not breathe. I fear that this is only going to get worse as time goes on...

My Friday To-Do List:

1. Drop off my Externship time sheet

2. Pick up Monday's day sheet

3. Go & see my guy

4. Write out my shopping list

5. Go shopping

6. Pick up the house

7. Do laundry

8. Do all of my MBE homework

9. Do all of my SBM Essay homework

10. Do all of my Externship homework

11. Write out my bills

12. Balance my checkbook

13. File my papers

14. Write my guy

15. Get my allergy shot

16. Get my massage

17. Catch up on my TIVO

18. Catch up on my emails

19. Workout

20. Pick up my dry cleaning

21. Pick up our pictures

22. Continue cleaning out our closets and drawers

23. Take the munchkin trick-or-treating

24. Request my time off to study for my last final exams in law school

25. Make an appointment for the squeal in my car

26. Call my handyman to do some work on my porch

27. Look for the munchkin's math test that his teacher forgot to record

28. Call for my eye appointment

29. Copy last week's notes for my LSBFF

30. Write out the munchkin's school & soccer pictures

31. Try to reschedule my December dentist appointment

32. Try to reschedule my next Ortho appointment

33. Follow-up on my leave paperwork for The Bar

34. Get re-motivated

35. Get refocused for next week

36. Continue to commit to my healthy living

37. Plan our my week

38. Get organized

39. Get my shit together

40. Relax!

$1,200 Later...

...my two sinks are replaced, the toilet "guts" are replaced, my trees are trimmed, my dryer vent is replaced, my shutters are all repainted along with the design emblem on the front of my house plus my address numbers are all repainted and what cost the most is all of the skirting around my house has been replaced too! So much for underspending this month's budget...

I also got a great workout in today! Woo-hoo...

Tomorrow is a busy day...work, allergy shot, voting in our state primaries and then home to study for the MPRE.

Consider it done: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 20, 21, 22, 23

Just getting started: 11, 19, 24, 25

Needs attention: 17

Family, Finances & Emotions~~Not Always A Pretty Picture

I've been pretty emotional this weekend. It started last night when I was driving home from seeing my guy. I picked up a voice mail from my friend, Captain, and I felt teary eyed listening to it. She didn't say anything in particular in the voice mail, but it hit me just right.

This morning I wanted to go to the local hardware store, because I'm having plumbing issues. I have two facets leaking and a toilet that won't quit running. Part of me thought I would put them off till my guy got out in December, but now that that isn't happening I decided to attempt to tackle these on my own. So I took the tips of the facets off and when I couldn't remove the flapper (yes, that is a technical term) I took a picture of it and off I went. Well, the guys couldn't help me and told me that I would have to take the facets apart and take a piece of of them and bring those in and I would have to remove the flapper and bring it in too. Having struck out I left the store and as I was driving to the grocery store I started thinking of my Papa. He would so have helped me and he would be ashamed of the "men" in my family who won't step up and help me with this.

Feeling dejected, thinking of my Papa and missing him I became teary eyed, again. I spent the rest of the day emotional. I have declared the men in my family as weak and self-centered. These are the things that make me even sadder over the fact that my guy isn't here to help right now, because the crap would have been fixed in a flash!! So after feeling down and pissed off I did what I do so often...I ate my feelings! I swung by Arby's and picked up lunch and came home. I then proceeded to call the plumber I've used in the past. He will be here Monday at 8am to take a look at all of the things I need help with and give me a quote. Of course now I have to pay for someone to come in my home and do what my dad, my uncle & my bro could do. So this got me to thinking about my finances...

My Finances...

Obviously I have a spending problem. My outgoing totals always exceed my incoming totals. I've been tracking my expenses since the beginning of the year. I've gotten rid of three of my expenses so far this year by paying off two credit cards (they were uber small though) and getting rid of my home phone. I haven't put any additional charges on my other two credit cards and actually the last few months I've been paying the amount that would have them paid off in 3 years. I also reduced my monthly car insurance by $19.47. I'm happy with the little progress I've been making.

Of course there are some upcoming bumps in my financial road, which are totally freaking me out!! I have to figure out to live without student loans supplementing my monthly "income" plus pay for PMBR, Bar/Bri & the fees associated with taking the bar in addition to the fact that I will have no income for at least two months while studying for the bar. On top of all of this, I'm also reducing my monthly income by reducing my hours worked by 8 a week in order to do my externship.

Then I started to think...so when I'm an attorney and they ask for my help should I not help and make them hire another attorney like I am having to do with my home repairs?!?

Consider it done: 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 13, 14, 15, 18

Just getting started: 4, 7, 12, 19, 20

Needs attention: 10, 11, 16, 17, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25

Amazing

Well, it has been a whirlwind of a weekend thus far! Friday night was overall fantastic!! I wasn't sure how it was going to go when I developed a horrific headache that morning, but I tried to remain positive since I had gotten up at a decent time in order to get ready and look half-way decent! Finally about noon after taking a huge dose of Motrin I figured I would grab lunch out, which has been my MO for the week, and see if that made my head feel better. It actually worked so I was able to get a few things done during the afternoon at work and then before I realized it, it was time to meet up with the family at school and attend the Book Awards!

I don't know if Book Awards are given at every school or if they are called something else, but at my law school they are given out to the top people in each class for the last year's semester and also given to the students that a professor wants to recognize! I thought I was receiving two, but was surprised and only received one. Hey, one is better than none! Of course by the time I went up to be greeted by the Dean he says to me, "First Book Award?" I guess he noticed he had never seen me around these parts before! Of course I responded and said, in typical j'lynn fashion, "Yes and it only took me 4 years to get it!"

The ceremony was over in a blur, I have very little memory of it and couldn't tell you what anyone else received except for two other people~~a friend of mine, RedBull, from class who shocked the shit out of everyone when he received one for Trial Practice (he took it last year) because he is not the type of guy you would expect to win that! When I told MyMormanGirl about it she asked me if he had attended every class session drunk, because that is the only time he is animated! The other guy I recall from the ceremony was the freak who was awarded 6 Book Awards! I was going to say to Holly-Hobby sitting next to me (from my TP class) 'you know that dude isn't getting laid while in school' but then I remembered I'm not either so I left it alone! But as my aunt said afterwards, "That guy who got 6 of them looked like he was all business." No shit! LOL

So after the ceremony, we went across the way to the school for the little reception. That was a bust and we left like 15 minutes after pictures with my LSBFF! On to dinner we went! We went to the top of the city for dinner. It was fantastic. The food was to die for delicious. My steak practically melted in my mouth! We had lobster corn dogs and a lobster/brie dip to start. OMG...the lobster corn dogs were to die for delicious! Then on to salad, which I thought kind of sucked, but everyone else liked theirs. Then the main course! It was yummy, yummy, yummy. I had agreed to pick up the bill and expected it was going to be very expensive, but did almost pass out when it came and it was over $600! Of course the fact that my other aunt and uncle decided to order a bottle of wine on top of their cocktails did not help matters (yes, this was after I said the meal was on me...you know the single mother in school struggling to make ends meet!), but whatever. It was all worth it when on the way home my munchkin said to me that the night was "amazing" and the restaurant we just left at 73 stories up in the sky was "amazing"!!!! FTW!!! ;) I love you baby and that is what I wanted you to have, an amazing experience!

I totally committed a faux pas on one part of the evening...I didn't realize until we had left that I had likely just double tipped our waiter. Before the bill came my other aunt was going on and on and on about how uncomfortable she was and how she had to get out of there. I was feeling the pressure mount because there had already been instances of words being exchanged, albeit in a polite tone, between her and my mom the entire meal. And my aunt was getting to the point with her mouth and her whining and carrying on and physical antics about how uncomfortable she was that I was just thinking~~hurry up, pay the bill before it gets worse. So I quickly figured out 20%, added it on, signed the bill and we left. I refused to look at the bill until Saturday morning to see how much money I just over paid the waiter. When it came to a realization that Eddie had been tipped 39% I just had to keep telling myself, "Pay It Forward!" He could go home that night to his wife and tell her he had a great night! :) He was fantastic and didn't make my parents feel uncomfortable when they asked certain questions or like when my dad said, 'Man, I only eat at truck stops, I don't know what I'm doing.' Eddie was fantastic, patted my dad on the shoulder and said, 'It's all good. I've got your back.' :) So it was worth it and I have to believe that Karma will pay me back for that faux pas! ;)

When the munchkin, aunt and I came home, they took off for her house and I collapsed on the love seat. I made my way to bed soon and died when I hit the pillow. But only a portion of my busy-ass weekend was over! I was up by quarter to eight Saturday morning to get a few things done before we headed off to our Annual Pow-Wow!! :) After running a few errands, we finally made our way up there at about noon. It was very nice. :) Pictures will follow sometime in the future and I'm hoping the new camera took better than these from last year. The best part was...my munchkin had the time of his life! We booked out of there around 3pm and the entire hour plus ride home he went on and on about how he was a little Native American, "every drop counts", and thought that was awesome!! :) He just loves it there! I can't wait to go back next year when I won't have the pressure of school resting on me, making me need to leave early! We can stay the whole damn day if we want! Woo-hoo!!

After we got home, I felt like I needed to get some personal stuff done around the house and in my life. So I spent the rest of yesterday afternoon and all of last night getting things done so I could check off things from my to-do list...

Consider it done: 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 24

Just getting started: 10, 21, 22, 25, 26

Needs attention: 4, 11, 15, 23

Surviving More Than One Critique Today

This week has been exhausting. All I can think about is sleeping in Saturday morning! I feel like all I've done this week is homework, but I am happy to report that before classes started today I had completed all of my homework for the week! I'm pretty sure that this is the first time all semester I've accomplished this task! However, this has been exhausting, to say the least.

I had a headache that started this morning and didn't really go away until I finally thought about taking some Motrin. Of course this didn't happen until almost 5pm. I know, I know...so smart of me, huh?!?

I started my day at work irritated already for really no particular reason. Of course within just a couple hours I had several reasons to be even more irritated. We are finally starting to lose some of our files. I don't know how I feel about this. I'm partially upset that it is happening and what this could really mean for me. I'm also partially glad it is finally happening. I've been tired of the state of flux, that is for sure. Of course the fit will hit the shan for me and the two other gals in my position in my department. Ugh... Needless to say I will have no choice to bust my butt for the next several weeks! I'm up for the challenge, I hope...

Then onto class I fly, but not until I hit the parking snag. There were 7 cars waiting to get in the lot, so I drove around the block and parked on the street. So in addition to the $340 I pay for the school's parking lot I got to fork over $4.50 to park on the street today. Thank God I carry a pouch with me to stick quarters in through out the week for my Friday nights with my guy! Of course while I was getting myself together on the side walk and digging quarters out to feed the meter I almost ran into a homeless man. I was walking backwards onto the sidewalk while grabbing all of my stuff. The following conversation ensued:

j'lynn: Oh my, I am so sorry sir. (I was a good 3 feet from him, but still wanted to apologize because #1 I didn't see him, #2 if I wouldn't have noticed him when I did I would have knocked him down with my bag and/or my butt!)

HG: I'm okay.

j'lynn: Good. Again, my apologies.

HG: Honey, please do not apologize for almost walking into me. It happens.

j'lynn: Thank you.

HG: But please get that car washed! That you should apologize for.

j'lynn: Since it is suppose to be beautiful this weekend I had hoped to get it washed.

HG: Yes, it should be close to 50 this weekend. You really need to get your car washed.

j'lynn: (while feeding my quarters into the meter) I hope to, because I know I really need to.

HG: (while walking down the sidewalk away from me) What I really need is to find some work.

At this moment I decided to stop responding, because there isn't really much to say at that point. Plus I was just coming to realize that I was just admonished by a homeless man about the level of dirtiness of my car... Gosh, I didn't even think it was that bad!

I made it through another Trial Practice today and actually was proud of myself. My critiques from Prof Arrogance were all positive today! Yay me! I was nervous as hell, but so was everyone else. Each week I feel stronger and more confident! It makes me very excited about my future career in litigation! Then on to E&T I went!

Consider it done: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22

Just getting started: 12, 13

Needs attention: 14, 15

Getting Some Things Done

It has certainly been a crazy weekend so far. Not what I expected at all, but that isn't a surprise! I swear it has snowed here every day, a lot. Especially Friday. Of course, because I'm completely nuts, I still decided to drive and see my honey Friday night after work. I probably shouldn't have, especially after witnessing several cars in various ditches on my way to work at 7:30am and I spent the rest of the day watching it continue to snow, but I did. I left my office at 4:30pm and what normally takes me normally an hour and 15 minutes took me over 2 hours to drive. I was there for less than 2 hours and then back on the road. I didn't get home until 11pm Friday night to realize that out of the last 6.5 hours I had spent 4 of them driving...

This morning I had to get up crazy early since my Direct TV service call was "scheduled" for anytime between 8am and 12pm. In my delusional mind I was hoping that he (or she) would get here in the 8 o'clock hour so I could go to the bank, post office, the munchkin's doctor's office to pick up his prescription, the pharmacy, and the gym so I could come home get some stuff done, do some homework and then head out to the munchkin's Blue & Gold Banquet for Cub Scouts in order to immediately return home and do more homework. Ha! This so didn't happen. The service guy didn't show up until 10:40am and didn't finish until around noon. The only thing that I had accomplished by the time I was finally able to do my running around was starting the laundry.

I met up with the munchkin and my aunt to attend his banquet for 3pm. That was a different experience to say the least. Talk about unorganized...not enough tables or paper plates. The kids were crazy and again the thought of having everyone eat before the ceremony was attempted. The first time I experienced such a thing was here and that too was a total bust. I've never understood the decision to do this. Is this something new or are just the crazies in my life trying to make this work?

While taking pictures during the ceremony I realized that a chunk of my camera was broken off. Ugh... Of course I had just finished complaining to my aunt about the pictures that it was taking. She thinks that maybe the camera didn't like my dissing of it so it told me off by a chunk of it falling off! LOL She mentioned that maybe we should go and look for a new camera after the ceremony ended. This has been something I've been wanting for some time. Every time I would see someone take out their nice camera I would immediately experience total jealously. So I treated myself tonight to a new camera, a Canon Power Shot SX20 IS Digital Camera. I haven't even taken it out of the box yet...I'm still in awe! This time I promise not to lose my cord so I can upload pictures here much quicker. I'm so excited to use it, but afraid that I will squander the remainder of my weekend away playing with my new toy.

One unexpected thing I did accomplish tonight though was reorganizing my freezers. I couldn't take it anymore!! Things were just haphazardly tossed in to fit it all in and get the doors closed. Plus I didn't cut my grocery or dining out expenses enough in February, so I thought maybe if I could see more of what we have in the freezer I'd be less apt to do what I did today~~eat fast food all frickin' day, because I couldn't think of anything to make. Of course after accomplishing this task I discovered about 8 things in my freezer that I could have made quickly at home, which would have saved me money and more importantly loads of calories. Just another step in what I started several weeks ago with this!

Consider it done: 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 9, 10, 11, 16, 18, 22

Just getting started: 7, 12, 13, 17

Needs Attention: 5, 6, 14, 15, 19, 20, 21

Fearing His First Confession

Just like my Friday posts, my Friday night has became pretty predictable. I leave work, make the hour plus trip to spend time with my guy, and then head to the grocery store to do the majority of my weekly shopping. Last night I went about my typical Friday night, with the exception of getting off work early to return the page I "borrowed", but when I pulled into the Meijer's parking lot my cell phone rang. It was my aunt telling me that there was something seriously wrong with my TV...it wasn't working! I had been fearing for several days that my TV was taking a puke. So much so, I even commented about it over here! Of course this totally threw my exhausted brain into a frenzy, which lead to me going into the store without my reusable shopping bags*.

Upon leaving the grocery store, I decided to just run over to Wendy's for dinner as I was too tired and frustrated to even think about cooking something without meat when I would get home around 10:30pm. I got home, put away the perishables, verified that my TV wasn't working, shut off the power to my whole entertainment system for 30 seconds and then powered it back up. My TV seemed to be working or at least I had a picture while my Direct TV was repowering up. Hoping that I wouldn't be TV-less until I could get around to buying a new TV, I sat down to eat my dinner. I immediately discovered that McDonald's rules when it comes to fast-food fish sandwiches and after two horrible bites, I tossed my dinner out. My TV was back in business by then and I started to consider that it may be my satellite receiver taking a puke instead, so I called and arranged for a technician to come out next Saturday between the hours of 8am-12pm (there goes another Saturday of sleeping in!).

While playing Direct TV's little game of 'Did you do this? How about this? Is it working now?' my mom called, so I returned her call after I hung up with Direct TV. I also ordered "Julia & Julie" as my free movie for the month of February just in case my receiver gives out completely this week! As it was slated to start at 11pm and I was returning my mom's call at 11:10pm I figured I would start watching it within that half-hour so I could get to bed at an okay time to be up early for the munchkin's First Confession. Ha! An hour and a half later I hung up from my mom and began to watch the movie, which was pretty cute in my sleep deprived opinion.

I made my way to bed last night at 3:00am. So much for getting to bed at an okay time and being able to get up early to get some stuff done before I met my aunt and the munchkin at church. I still had high hopes so while I was trying to pack my stuff up to take care of while I was in town this morning my cell phone rang and it was my munchkin. He was crying and in a complete and total mental meltdown over going for his First Confession. He was scared to death!! I totally didn't expect this from him and it threw me for a loop! Even when I meet them at the church his eyes were still red and puffy from crying. I felt so bad for him! It appears he was not alone in his feelings as a classmate of his came in several minutes later and she was still crying, because she was so scared. I felt so bad for these little 7 & 8 year-olds who were so scared of making one of their sacraments. :( Fr. Bill was awesome with them, as usual, and seemed to calm most of their fears before he began hearing everyone's confession.

After the munchkin survived his First Confession it was time to meet up with the other aunt and uncle and grab lunch @ BW3's. Then I gave the munchkin his "present"/"reward"/"bribery money" when we left the restaurant for completing his First Confession. Then I was able to do some of my errands, come home and realize that the few hours of sleep I got last night was not nearly enough. So I'm off to take a nap and accomplish #31 on my to-do list!

Consider it done: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 12, 13, 14, 15, 21, 23, 26, 27, 28

Just getting started: 6**, 8, 9, 10, 11, 20***, 22

Needs attention: 7, 16, 17, 18, 19, 22, 24, 25, 29, 30, 31, 32

*~~today is not the day that Al Gore would be proud of me since I didn't even want to consider running back out to the car to get them!

**~~all I have left to pick up is bubble bath for the munchkin!

***~~apparently this can only be accomplished Monday-Friday 8a-8p. Too bad I didn't know this before! Guess I'll be completing this one Monday night after work, but before the gym. I don't understand why departments cannot be open on Saturday! I'm not saying all day, but hey...maybe 4 hours!

Spring Break Has Finally Arrived~~WooHoo!!

Yesterday I over-slept, which was just the start of my crazy day. While I was at work I remembered that I had told myself to get cash, but I couldn't remember why. So instead of paying $3.50 to withdraw money at our building's ATM I opted to save my $3.50 and leave for school. While gathering my books for school I realized I forgot all of my E&T books at home. Too late now, so I went on to TP and after we were released an hour early I realized why I thought I needed cash...to make copies @ the library! Dang-it to heck!!

I had enough on my card to copy some pages I needed for SADO, but I was $0.20 short to finish. Therefore, I couldn't even start on the copies I wanted for E&T, so I did something that I'm totally ashamed of...I took, er borrowed, the last two pages I needed for SADO. I am totally ashamed of myself and have the intention of taking them back (hopefully today if I get to leave work a little early). But I refused to take the chance of losing those two pages! Heck, there were already several pages I needed that were already missing. Needless to say...I picked up some cash tonight so I can get my E&T copies done and return the page I "borrowed."

Don't worry...I made my way through E&T without my books and I have now entered Spring Break and not a minute too soon.

My Friday To-Do List:

1. Leave work a little early

2. Return the pages I "borrowed"

3. Make the copies for E&T I need

4. Go & see my guy

5. Write out my grocery list

6. Go shopping

7. Do laundry

8. Pick up the house

9. Do all of my SADO homework

10. Do all of my Trial Practice homework

11. Do all of my E&T homework

12. Write out my bills

13. Balance my checkbook

14. Go to the munchkin's First Confession

15. Go out with the munchkin & family to celebrate his First Confession

16. Go to the gym Saturday

17. Go to the gym Sunday

18. Write my guy

19. File this week's papers

20. Pick up my lab results for my doctor's appointment

21. Pick up the receipt for paying my hospital co-pay to prove that I actually used my FSA card correctly

22. Catch up on my emails

23. Catch up on my TIVO backlog

24. File my taxes

25. Apply for financial aid for my last year in law school (Woo-hoo!)

26. Take down our Valentine's Day decorations

27. Put up our St. Patrick's Day decorations

28. Copy my sugar numbers to give to my doctor

29. Remain focused for WWs

30. Remain focused for next week

31. Get me some serious sleep

32. Plan out my week~~I already know it is going to be one busy week and I'm just happy I don't need to try and work around classes this week!!!

Amen for the weekend...

After going to bed at 3:30am Wednesday night, thanks Trial Practice homework, I'm completely exhausted. I think I have 1500 pages to read this weekend for school and I suspect that all I will really want to do is sleep.

My Friday To-Do List:

1. Go & see my guy~~this depends on the weather, of course. Got to love a pending snowstorm.

2. Write out my grocery list

3. Go shopping

4. Do laundry

5. Pick up the house

6. Do all of my Trial Practice homework

7. Do all of my SADO homework

8. Do all of my E&T homework

9. Write out my bills

10. Balance my checkbook

11. Get my hair done

12. Write my guy

13. File this week's papers

14. Hang up the munchkin's 8x10 class picture

15. Get our Valentine's Day decorations up

16. Get my house cleaned

17. Send out an updated email to everyone with the munchkin's important dates

18. Pick up script refills

19. Catch up on my emails

20. Catch up on my TIVO

21. Schedule my next pampering appointment...Since I go monthly for my waxing and facial I'm trying to get it to fall outside of my mother nature time frame, but I haven't been successful yet. Just like I tried to do this past month...but you know what happened, mother nature showed up 10 days late and the day after I was pampered...go figure!

22. Replace my yard light light-bulb

23. Get me some sleep

24. Refocus for next week

25. Plan out my week

26. Get my shit together

Reflecting on My Progress

As we enter month number two of the New Year, I want to take a moment and reflect on how I'm doing with my New Year's Resolutions:

Get healthier

~~continue to lose weight: Well, with the exception of this past week, I have continued to lose weight and since my net weight loss is 3.6lbs for the month of January I think I've been fairly successful with this one...

~~eat better/healthier: I've been eating out less, cooking more, and definitely eating more fruits and veggies. I could be doing better, but overall I give myself high props on this one too...

~~workout more: Failure here! I've made it to the gym once this year and it was only for 20 minutes. Yikes!

~~drink more water: I've been pretty darn successful with this one! :)

~~test my blood sugar more regularly: I've rocked this! Woo-hoo! I've only missed checking my numbers one night when I feel asleep too early... Yay me!!

~~get my skin under control: Slowly but surely my skin is getting better and better. :)

~~get more sleep with a better sleep pattern/schedule: Failure, again! If only I could get my stuff together maybe I could do better here.

Get my finances together

~~make a budget & stick to it: This one has been pretty slow to come around, but each day I'm doing better with this!

~~reduce my debt: I haven't made too much progress here, but I've made all my payments on time, so that is always good!

~~stop use of all credit cards: I've used my credit cards twice and that was at the beginning of January for books for school and one meal. Outside of these two things, I've been very successful here! :)

~~pay off BarBri & Kaplan: Failure. No payments made, yet.

Get more organized

~~at work: I have tons of piles and tons of stuff to do, but I'm organized. LOL

~~at/for school: Organized, but behind...go figure!

~~at home: I've been doing great here. Better than expected, so success is mine!

~~use better time management: Failure here. I need to stop letting things distract me or better yet, stop looking for things to distract me.

~~get things done: Slowly, but surely I'm getting things done. Hell, just check out my Friday To-Do list accomplishments! :)

~~stop putting things off till tomorrow (or next week): See above!

~~set a schedule and stick to it: Ups & downs here, but I keep aiming for total success here!

Communicate more...

~~with family, friends, my munchkin, my man, my blog & my blogging buddies: Doing better, but this is always a struggle for me

Enjoy life

~~laugh, cry, dance, and sing more: This has been hard to do in the last month as I've been very stressed, but I'm hopeful that as the days progress I'll have more time to work on this.

~~be a better mom: Oh, this is such a struggle...I try my hardest, but doing the hardest job in the world is tough

Recovering on hump day...

Today was a better day. I was exhausted though as I didn't sleep worth a crap last night. I didn't get to bed until a little after 2am and then I couldn't sleep and as soon as I started falling asleep I started hacking! Finally a little after 3am I got up, took an allergy pill and went back to bed. I feel asleep a little while later. That makes for a long day, tired on my ass.

The stress is rising by the minute at the office and I fear we won't know much on Friday. More than that, I fear we won't be allowed to leave early. :( With the fear of not knowing much more come Friday that just means that the stress, anxiety and fear will continue to increase, not decrease.

School stress is pretty high since two of my Profs didn't get a syllabus to us before class, but still had an assignment due that night. Seriously?!? So now I'm behind in all of my classes and will have double work this weekend. Ugh... The good thing is that I just have to make it through until 7:50pm tomorrow night and week #1 will be complete! Thank God!

Tomorrow is payday so that is such a plus...

One positive thing from this mess is that I have been really good with my money & my WWs! :D Trying to be positive here y'all...

Consider it done: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 22, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 31, 32, 33, 39

Just getting started: 5, 8, 9, 11, 20, 21, 24, 40, 41, 42

Needs attention: 10, 23, 30, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38

First Meltdown of 2010

Five days into the new year and I came unglued. Yes, my stress level is scary high right now for so many reasons. Well, one of my stressors burst open today, which lead me to my first meltdown of 2010. Tears, sobs, tissues, runny mascara...the whole bit. It all started with an email I received when I entered my car to go to work this morning. As soon as I saw it on the crackberry I knew things had boiled over and I had failed. I made it to work in record time, signed in and verified my fears from the email. Then I had to call for help. That call went out to my trusted and ever supportive aunt. I explained the problem and less than 4 words into my phone conversation is when the tears started. There was some name calling involved as well, along with the rhetorical question posed asking how stupid I could be. She promised to fix my problem a-sap, which she did within the matter of an hour. Before I could get it together my man called me. As soon as I said "hi" he asked what was wrong and the tears continued to flow and then the sobs started and some more name calling. He said all the right things and then made me laugh a bit. Our 15 minute phone call stopped the tears and made things better. I was grateful for that. Of course I spent the remainder of the day on verge of tears all day...

Consider it done: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 22, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 31, 32, 33, 39

Just getting started: 5, 8, 9, 11, 20, 21, 24, 40, 41, 42

Needs attention: 10*, 23, 30, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38,

*~~this is impossible when you get an email before 8am telling you your account is overdrawn by almost $500...it also will bring you to tears, make you sob and call yourself an idiot! Ugh...what a shitty day today...

Happy New Year!

As we all embark on this New Year and New Decade, many of us will set New Year's Resolutions. Some will call them goals and others will go with the traditional title of resolutions. Most will break them, but others will be able to keep them. There are the usual ones of lose weight, stop smoking and then some people have more unusual ones such as have less sexual relations with random women*. Some people will make one and others will make multiple resolutions.

I am fairly traditional with many things in my life so I make several traditional and some non-traditional New Year's Resolutions and without further ado...

j'lynn's new year's resolutions:

• Get healthier
• ~~continue to lose weight
• ~~eat better/healthier
• ~~workout more
• ~~drink more water
• ~~test my blood sugar more regularly
• ~~get my skin under control
• ~~get more sleep with a better sleep pattern/schedule
• Get my finances together
• ~~make a budget & stick to it
• ~~reduce my debt
• ~~stop use of all credit cards
• ~~pay off BarBri & Kaplan
• Get more organized
• ~~at work
• ~~at/for school
• ~~at home
• ~~use better time management
• ~~get things done
• ~~stop putting things off till tomorrow (or next week)
• ~~set a schedule and stick to it
• Communicate more in person, via email, calls, texts & letters
• ~~with family
• ~~with friends
• ~~with my munchkin
• ~~with my man
• ~~with my blog & my blogging buddies
• Enjoy life
• ~~laugh more
• ~~cry more
• ~~dance more
• ~~sing more
• ~~be a better mom

*~~courtesy of a caller into the radio station yesterday while I was driving to see my guy

The blue dot, a red bra and the plastic bag

Whatever would these things have in common? Well, they are signs that my cleaning lady is getting worse and worse...

Let me go back to the beginning so you don't think I'm a complete spoiled brat! LOL When I decided to go back to school I knew I would need help at home with my munchkin and the house, so I originally asked/offered the job to my mom. She would clean my house once a week, plus get the munchkin on the bus for $50/wk. Then she feel in my shower and broke her shoulder. Since I wasn't in school for the summer, it was okay and the house was no problem. By the time school came around again she was okay enough to start cleaning again. But then she was scheduled for surgery that January and actually in December stopped cleaning. I knew my neighbor was cleaning some other houses and they were really in need of some financial assistance, so I offered her the job and she took it!

I think I thought things would be great, because she was always going on about how often she cleaned and how particular she was with her cleaning. She was even nice enough to clean my house on Christmas Eve that year because she needed the money and I was having the family over for Christmas dinner. So our relationship went from being just friends and neighbors to being employee/employer.

Well, things seemed great in the beginning but quickly went down hill. After maybe six months or longer I came to realize that she wasn't moving anything and dusting around things. If my son's playroom was out of order at all she would refuse to vacuum in there. Then I figured out that she was cleaning my entire house with one rag. I'm not sure about you, but with a 3 bedroom, 2 bath, and an almost 1,200 square foot home when I would clean I used more than one rag. Then my aunt pointed out to me that she was the one having to wipe off the TV screen weekly because no one else was doing it.

So I came to the decision that I was going to have to let her go soon...this came a realization in December, especially when a co-worker gave me the name and number of an alternate person to clean my house. She said she is really good and cheap too. I never got to make that call in December because my current lady's, who is no longer my neighbor but is still a friend, daughter came over to give me a picture of her baby and told me that her mom had been really, really down lately. I told her I was aware that her mom had been depressed lately and she confirmed that she feared that her mom was suicidal. I found this scary because a couple times my friend had called and said there were a couple times she thought of calling me because she was at her wit's end and had thought about ending it all.

I knew after having this information confirmed and with the economic downturn that I couldn't make that call to my friend telling her I no longer needed her services. :( I just didn't want that on my hands if she decided to do anything, especially since she wouldn't take any of my advice or suggestions and go and talk to a professional. So I decided to take her down to every 2 weeks instead of every week and she told me they were using my $50 every other week to file bankruptcy because they were so far behind financially. So I thought maybe once I confirmed she filed her BK I would move her down to once a month during the summer since I could clean once I'm done with school and then call the new lady and see how she was and maybe in the fall alternate them and eventually let my original lady go.

Then I discovered something today and I have changed my eventual plan... Two times I've tested my cleaning lady. Not intentionally, but when I would see something I would leave it there to see if and when it would get taken care of. One time I noticed that my blue shampoo had splashed a small little dab up on the side wall of my shower. It wasn't noticeable if you just looked at the shower, but if you were cleaning the tub and the shower you would definitely see it. 6 weeks later I took care of it myself. A few weeks ago I noticed something on the floor at the edge of my bed...my red bra. It was between my bed and the foot board under one of my decorative pillows that don't always make it up on my bed during the week. Well, I picked it up this weekend while I was doing laundry so I could wash it. Needless to say...the pillow and the bra were never picked up from the floor. I find it really ironic since she never has to make my bed but I did expect she had been dusting and using pledge on my oak bed...well, I hoped she was but I kind of thought some time ago that she hadn't been using pledge on any of my wood since we used it some time ago and placed a dusting rag on top of the canister, which has never moved since.

Then I found the final thing that kind of sealed the fate of my cleaning lady dilemma. As I was putting paper products away this weekend after shopping something feel on the floor in my bathroom closet where I keep all of my cleaning supplies and paper products. It was the bag that went over the end of my mop, which I purchased months and months ago when my other mop broke, along with the zip-tie that fastened the bag to the mop. Apparently when my cleaning lady unwrapped the mop she didn't feel compelled to throw out the plastic bag and instead left it balled up on one of my shelves in my bathroom closet...

So after the blue dot, a red bra and the plastic bag I know what I will need to do this summer while I'm off school...I'm hoping that their BK has been filed so I will feel less bad.

Where did my weekend go????

I know I've been slacking in my posts the last several days, my apologizes, but I think someone hit fast forward on the clocks!! Last week was really busy and really stressful. I felt like I was running so far behind on everything and finally I said to myself, "screw everything, I have to get these things done." So I stopped working on anything else and only worked on writing out bills for one period of time. I discovered quickly that I had 3 bills due the next day, so I had to arrange for someone to hand-deliver 2 of them to their respective stores and 1 I had to call and pay over the phone using their automated system, which cost me an additional $9.95, but better then their $39.95 late fee charge! So now I felt better in that area.

The next area I was starting to feel stressed over was typing up my notes. I'm really trying to get better with my "school work", so I committed to typing up my notes after class (meaning the next day since I get home so late). In order to accomplish this, it has meant typing them up at work. I usually figure this is using my lunch hour since I don't really take lunch hours at work, because I end up working through while I eat at my desk. I think this is a fair trade off, don't you? Well, I hadn't typed up my notes since before spring-break, so I had about 2.5 weeks of notes to type up, so I borrowed a day at work and that is all I did was type up my notes to catch up there. So another area where I was feeling some relief.

Friday night the munchkin and I went shopping! We actually have food in the house again!! This was becoming a major stress area for me, because nothing I hate more than not having the essentials in the house and since by Friday we were out of milk, eggs, butter, bread, pop and popcorn...we definitely no longer had the essentials! So this was finally accomplished on Friday plus it was actually a lot of fun to go shopping with the munchkin. It has been a REALLY long time since we went shopping together. And since I can no longer lift him up in the cart (plus as he says, 'mom, I look dump up here where the babies go') I had to overcome my controlling ways and I let him "help" with the shopping. Well, until we hit the end and my stress level was rising by the time we were checking out of store #3.

Saturday morning we went to see my car guy....you know, for that "surprise car" he had for me! Well, it was a surprise!!! It is my car!!!! It has more than I wanted on it, which means more money, but whatever!! It is totally sweet.... The munchkin and I took it for a test-drive. I haven't felt so at home in a car in a long time. This is my car!! It only had 24 miles on it, it has been in the "sold lot" since it came in to the dealer. He said as soon as he saw it he knew it was mine. I love my car guy, because he was right!!!!! It is everything I asked for plus some! hehe So what I thought was going to be a 30 minute thing Saturday morning turned in to a 2.5 hour thing. But it was well worth that 2.5 hours! So I guess car guy was right...he did have a surprise for me!!! ;) BTW, I pick up my surprise on 3/28!! Pictures will follow, trust me!!

After 2.5 hours at the dealer, we met up with the auntie and had lunch. The munchkin was so good on both Friday and Saturday I was impressed and then I was sad, because I realized my munchkin was growing up... :( After lunch they went to Chica's daughter's b-day party and bowled. Apparently my munchkin loved it!!!! Who knew!!! We will have to go bowling this summer. It is so funny that he loved it, because I have dreamt of our "family" bowling in a few years, so I'm really excited about that and can't wait to tell my honey that I've got something to add to our list of things to do upon putting our family back together! (Yes, we do have such a list! LOL)

So by the time I came home Saturday afternoon and picked up the house (which is still sort of a work in progress even by now~Sunday afternoon) I was not feeling the whole homework thing. You would think then I would become productive elsewhere in my life, but I usually don't! I have some crazy hold-up or something that then just has me sit in a chair saying to myself, "I don't really feel like doing homework. I know I have a ton to do. Basically 2 midterms and I'm behind in my Crim Pro and BK reading, but I just can't do homework right now." I say this in my head over and over and over....then I turn on the TV and kind of lose myself for the remainder of the day or take a nap. Isn't this crazy? Since it was really kind of late to be taking a nap, it was about 5:30pm-ish, and I really had high hopes/ideas that maybe if I went to bed kind of early Saturday night that this morning I would get up really early and hit the ground running. Who is fooling who here....this didn't happen!! As I was having this motivating idea about going to bed sort of early and getting up early I added something to it...what if I filed my taxes tonight so I can make that huge ass down payment on my new car and then I can go to bed early, have my taxes filed, and get up early to get a jump start on my homework! Well, 1 good idea accomplished out of 3 isn't bad!!! So last night I gathered all of my papers and filed my taxes. I'm definitely glad that is out of the way. Plus I love the fact that according to Turbo Tax, my federal return should be deposited the day before I pick up my car....perfect timing IRS! ;)

So, as I sit here early Sunday afternoon doing laundry, wondering where my weekend went I think back at all the areas I'm a little less stressed in after the last 7 days...writing out bills, typing up class notes, stocking up our necessities, bailing myself out of my lease fiasco, and filing my taxes. Now I'm off to deal with another stress area...homework! ...or maybe I'll take that nap today! ;)

Enjoy your Sunday...