I am so DONE

I've been done for one (1) week. :) I'm so happy! I've been playing Foo Fighters nonstop loudly in my car (you know, "DONE, DONE, ON TO THE NEXT ONE, DONE, DONE AND I'M ON TO THE NEXT ONE....")

However, I started feeling sick Monday. Go figure--it's probably because I kept telling myself all October and November that I couldn't get sick, repeating it over and over in my head. Then when I was done I stopped, so I got sick. Haha. It's just a cold though, thank heavens.

ANYWAY. Now onto the list of fun stuff to do with my free time now:

Reading (been reading almost every day now! Yay!)
Cooking (cooked last night even though I felt crappy)
Crocheting (have to find all my crocheting supplies, which will happen AFTER we finish dealing with the mold issues in our house).
Decorating (frugally, but still want to decorate the house. It feels very impersonal now, and we finally know what colors we want to paint stuff).
Drawing (I'd like to teach myself how to draw)
Painting (same)
CLEANING (yes I count this as fun because I HATE having a messy house)

And that's just the beginning. Watch out world!

Reunion

So I just went to my first high school reunion. (Seven year...they couldn't get it together enough to have a five year. lol).

And I actually had fun!

I suck at posting lately, and I know this. I think everything is just going to be on hiatus for a few months while I finish school--it's taking EVERY OUNCE of willpower I have to do my job well and do my homework well.

And yes, I still struggle with the whole frugality thing, but I am also still doing Dave Ramsey's plan and almost have one credit card gone. Wish me luck!

Style, or lack thereof

I used to be stylish. I had cute clothes that fit well, cute shoes, and accessories. I think I still HAVE most of those things...but most days I feel I just look kind of "blah".

I don't want "blah," I want sophisticated with a little bit of edge. For my clothes, for my house, even for my accessories!

I think a lack of time, money, and definitely a lack of prioritizing have made me slowly become "blah."

I'd like to start wearing more skirts--my legs are the one thing that I actually like about myself. I'd also like these shoes. Dear lord, would I love those shoes...

Here they are on the lovely CJane. Aren't they AWESOME??

Result of My Upbringing

As the youngest, I despise feeling left out. I'm not sure why this trait manifested itself so strongly, but it did.

Unfortunately for the last year and a half, I've felt left out of my own life. That's the best way I can describe it. I STILL feel like I'm waiting for the best part of my life--the part in which I don't have school, I get to enjoy time with Caleb, I get to have a clean house and occasionally add to its decor...to cook at will, even deciding on a whim to attempt a long elaborate recipe on a weekday--without having to worry about how it will affect my homework time.

I know I chose this, but damn, sometimes it sucks.

Come December, I will be hosting a PARTAY to end all parties. Start planning your cute outfits now!

Also, I'm thinking about having a "shopping party" sometime in the near future...where I invite a bunch of women over, we all go through our closets beforehand and bring decent clothing that we either can't or don't wear anymore, and shop through each other's piles...do you think it would work better with many or few? I think many, just because most of my friends and I are so different in sizes. But then it might get chaotic. Share your thoughts, I'm interested to know if any of you have done something like this, and logistically how it might work.

Exclamation Point

The beach house fund now has $150.00 in it!

Random Stuff with Links

Live in Atlanta? Want to "do stuff" but need to save money? There's a pretty awesome new website: Atlanta on the Cheap. After perusing it, I bookmarked it, and you might want to too. Free IMAX, cheap art, cheap show tickets and stuff. I was actually pretty impressed. The little box to the right of the blog posts has TONS of stuff in it.

Also, if you're into poring over loooong lists of completely random stuff in search of that perfect....forklift, exam table, laptop, or truck chassis? The (Atlanta) airport surplus website is here. You can bid on stuff and view it before buying. Interesting, if nothing else!

THIS is the coolest lamp ever. I totally want to make one (WITHOUT the fruit--my cats would probably hang themselves accidentally...the spastoids...).

And finally, someday I'm going to use this to plan a food-based road trip all over the entire US. It's a website that showcases "The most memorable local eateries along the highways and back roads of America." Sounds AWESOME. Also, yes, I do plan on making myself lose 50 pounds before starting this road trip and gaining it all back during, why do you ask?

Autocross!

I lessened my tire pressures somewhat from previous runs (41 psi front, 45 psi rear) and really liked the way they responded. I may need to increase the front a little though, and do 45 psi all around--i got a bit of scuffing on the sidewalls, but I think it was because of my half-spinout. Grin.

My first run, from a time perspective, was awful. 82 seconds-ish. BUT, it was smooth and I stayed on course.

Second run, much better, but half-spinout caused time to be 75 seconds.

Third and fourth run, got down to 69 seconds, which was pretty good for me. I was only a few seconds behind the really good people (still way behind the PRO classes, but that's ok).

Most importantly, I relieved a lot of stress, had a TON of fun, and cleaned out my adrenal system. Haha. Here are pics:










One poor guy didn't torque his lugnuts enough and lost a wheel and most of his studs...it was bad. But he had a good sense of humor about it at least.

Life, Oh Life

I am almost done with this semester! Yay! Then only TWO MORE TO GO!

And I get profit share on Friday, which will go toward tuition and car insurance. (Won't cover all of them, but is a nice reprieve from paying for them lol). Sure beats having to use savings!

I cannot WAIT for school to be done this semester. It's so nice to be able to do whatever I want in the evenings...it makes me feel like cooking and cleaning and reading and stuff, unlike when I'm in school and I just come home and do homework and crash.

I also did a focus group for Focus Pointe Global (They pay for you to talk about your opinion! How perfect is that for me??) a couple weeks ago and got $100 for a 1.5 hour discussion. I have another one on Thursday that is going to net $75 for another 1.5 hour session. This freaking rocks. I've registered with a couple other focus group sites too, but so far haven't gotten to participate in anything yet.

I'm trying to think of ways to boost my income (other than asking for a raise...can't do that till April when the formal annual salary review happens)...so far all I've thought of is babysitting, dog walking, and making freezable meals for busy people to eat during the week. Haven't actually DONE anything about any of them though, because I feel so strapped for time right now. And most people want babysitters on weekends, which is the only time I have to spend with hubby (Seriously. THE ONLY TIME. I don't see him at all during the week, because he's in another town). If I did the meals thing, I'd have no idea how much to charge and what to put on the "menu". Just mulling stuff over right now.

Also, hubby and I discussed the future, and it has me all excited. (We both agree that after we've lived in the city for some years, we will move somewhere a bit more remote...like in the mountains somewhere). So I started daydreaming about the big (but not extravagantly so) mountain house we'll have, where our families will all (maybe?) come stay for thanksgiving or Christmas, and I'll drink coffee on the porch every morning and admire the scenery, and we'll hike and the blue ridge parkway will be RIGHT THERE for me to go drive on whenever I want, and we'll have a family centric life and I'll cook a lot and basically, it will rock. We will also have friends come visit for getaway weekends a few times a year--well, ok, I will....hubby may want to run screaming when he reads that sentence, but if he does he can go camp with the guys that weekend. And we'll have a garden and a fainting goat. Well, the fainting goat is a maybe, but we both think that'd be a great way to a) have goat cheese, b) not have to cut grass, and c) be entertained whenever the goat faints.

Um, also, I might want to teach high school math at whatever time we decided to move to the boonies. Amen.

Go to Sally's Blog!

She's giving away a framed picture of her own or her husband's!

They're all so beautiful. I had a hard time choosing one (you have to pick which one you want if you win), but I eventually chose Melrose Abbey, one of Dan's photos. See below: