Apartment Hunting

on Tuesday, October 27, 2009

We have been keeping our eye out for apartments in our neighborhood. There is one across the street that had a moving truck outside but when we asked if someone was moving out we were told no and there is one down the block. I met with the landlord of the down the block apartment today and it was not the most plesant experience I've ever had. Let's just say we'll probably keep looking but S is going to call him back to follow up.

-M

Not feeling well!

on Wednesday, October 21, 2009

I haven't been feeling well since Thursday. It started out as a sore throat which went on to be cough. Yesterday, I took a day off of work because I had the voice of someone that had been smoking and drink straight scotch for 50 years. Today, I'm feeling better but still not 100%. I have a headache and a lingering cough.

Yesterday, I finished knitting a pair of mittens using my own pattern as I couldn't find one to fit her hand. They are a bit long but that's ok as she won't even put them on. She starts to shake her head and yell no when I get any where near her with them. Hopefully, she'll try them on before she out grows them. I'm very proud that I was able to finish the hat and mittens without putting them down for a different project. I've had a blanket in the works for awhile now. I'm going to work on that some more before I start yet another project.

-M

Work and Hobbies

on Tuesday, October 13, 2009

While we haven't been any busier this week than we have in past weeks we experienced a big change and a hobby resurgence. S went back to work (at least one of us has been unemployed for the past 16 months) and I started knitting again.

S going back to work has created some mixed feelings from everyone. O now has both parents in the work force which is something she's never had before. I'm upset at the shift. S is upset he can't spent more time with us. We're both happy to have more money coming in. It is one of those situations in which you are damned if you do but even more damned if you don't.

Back to the more exciting stuff, knitting. I have been knitting on and off since high school. I taught myself using internet instructions. I bought a how to book as well as a kit to get started with and just couldn't figure out the darned pictures. I did end up learning the basic knit stitch and just like Ellen Page, I've made a bunch of scarves and attempted a hat which has a massive hole in the top. That is until this weekend! I attempted to make O a hat and it turned out nicely. It is very hard to see in the picture but it is a multi colored hat (purple, blue and green, 959) with a royal purple (596) trim. I'm not a big fan of the yarn itself but I had it around the house. She loves holding the hat and carrying it around but doesn't really like it on her head. I'm hoping she'll warm up to it. My next project is going to be a set of matching mittens... wish me luck!

-M

Money

on Tuesday, October 6, 2009


Money
Originally uploaded by Leaca's Philosophy


I can honestly say I am shocked at the numbers for September! Our net worth went up when I fully expected it to continue to fall. I have come to realize that I haven't been counting my retirement fund in our net worth statements. I'm going to continue to not count it and while this may paint a skewed picture of our net worth we are not using that money for another oh 40 years so it is not in our every day thoughts. I'm going to keep it to banking accounts that we can access as well as debts.

Our E-fund is up a bit from $149 to $675. We are working our way to our long term goal slowly but we'll get there if we keep chugging along.

We did a deposit in O's savings account this month. We are not depositing every month so a lot of times this doesn't change. We deposited $60 to bring her to a total of $300.50. She also has $30 in her piggy bank in bills as well as a good deal of change. This will get deposited this month. Usually we do it all at once but S and I had a bit of a mix-up regarding who was depositing the check.


Our travel fund is down and down a lot! We used this money to pay for S's college tuition this month. He is paid in full for the semester and it is his last semester. This was not something I was willing to put on a credit card when we had the cash in the bank. Vacations will come and go but not more paying interest on college tuition than necessary is golden at this point.

Retirement stayed the same at 4% for September but I changed the deposit amount to 5% as of this past Sunday so that will have an increase in the October amounts.

M's Student Loan is down, of course, to just under $15,000 which was our goal for 2009! WOOHOO! We should have about $500 more paid off by the time January rolls around. I am excited about this but also know that we should be saving a little bit more. I'll think about changing how much I'm sending to my student loan this month and report back next month. S's student loan remains the same.

Our net worth, as I said, has gone up. It wasn't much but any improvement makes my heart and pocket happy. We are up to -$26,330 from -$26,740. As I said, it wasn't much of an improvement but I fully expected a decrease.

So, there you have it! Our monthly check in... a little late but due to illness it was to be expected.

-M

Visiting My Parents

on Saturday, October 3, 2009

As I've posted before, we are living with S's parents because S was unemployed for the past ten months. S started his new job yesterday and we're hoping to move out by our first wedding anniversary in March, if not a little sooner. I don't particularly enjoy living with S's parents and while I'm very grateful to have them to help us out in this time of need it makes me miss my own parents even more. I haven't always had the best relationship with my mom but I think all women go through that at some point. However, having O has changed things. While I'm annoyed that she wants to buy her toys every time she sees her, it has certainly made us closer. S's parents live three hours from my parents but we visit my parents often. In fact, I'm typing this from my parents' home computer. Visiting my parents has always been a priority for me even while away at college. I was the girl that went home at least once a month in addition to holidays and vacations. Now, we try to visit my parents twice a month. I'd like to cut it down a bit but then feel guilty that they will not see O as often and as my mom always reminds me, "She's only little once." We will continue to visit often so that O can have a great relationship with both sets of grandparents. S and I never had that option as our grandparents died while we were young. Well, that's not entirely true. S had his paternal grandmother until earlier this year. His mother did not get along with her and she lived a few states away so he did not see her often plus his mother's opinion of her strained their relationship. I think a part of parenthood is wanting your children to have what you didn't and that's why I visit my parents so often. I'm hoping she has a great relationship with all of her sets of grandparents.

-M