Some of the things I am learning

1. Prior Proper Planning prevents piss poor performance. Well, I kind of already knew that from college but I guess I am realizing that it is not just information. It is fact.

2. Prayer changes things. Sorry to be so cliche'-ish, but it really does. I had stopped praying for a looooooooong time, I stopped participating financially in church, and was basically just going through the motions. I had a run-in with someone I respected and loved very dearly. I found myself embarrassed and just down right hurt by my actions. I prayed and asked for guidance and well, what do you know!? It worked. I am not sure if my situation has necessarily gotten any better, but I do know that I certainly feel better. Frankly speaking, that is all I care about.

3. Time and life waits for no one. Especially me.

4. My apartment complex is and has always been serious about kicking us out due to renovations.

5. In the general sense, growing up sucks. It is scary, and I could honestly do with out it.... maybe.

6. I can really never do with out number 6. If I were to I would have to depend on others the rest of my life and would be miserable.

7. I may need to consider shopping at Costco or BJ's for my little family of two. We spend waaaaaaay too much money on eating out. We need a plan to treat ourselves.

8. When ever I feel myself slipping away into laziness I should repeat number 1

9. I may finally need therapy only once a month instead of twice. I have already reduced it from once weekly.

10. Bills SUCK & and they can KICK ROCKS!!!!

One of my favorite things...

to do is look through magazines, find items I like, find their websites, and dream. My God-mother turned "estranged person from my past" used to keep a book. She would save the pages, price the items, save for them and then purchase them. I don't have the energy for such hobbies. I do not want to be responsible for another piece of paper taking life in the little apartment of ours. Instead, I'll share them here, with you, on this little blog of mine. Please keep in mind that by the time this is over it will have taken me several hours to complete this post, as most of the items are high-end and the website prohibit me from copying and pasting. Therefore, I will be providing links.

The first Item is this ring from Cartier. Priced at $2925 (excluding sales tax), it gives me a reasonable, reachable dream to work toward. I really went to Cartier's website for this bracelet, but when I saw the price, I just could not wrap my mind around saving that much money and spending it on a bracelet. Next was this watch from Rolex. They do not list the price which is a huge indicator that if you have to ask, you probably should not be buying it. I would like a classic time piece in my life. Something I can wear everyday. Something elegant, yet casual, and something that makes a profound statement. I've just gotten tired. This will be all for now.

Our apartment

I'm so over my little apartment. By this I mean, I'm over the clutter and disorganization. Senator said it some time ago and said it well, "we need to do better". You know it is bad when one partner speaks to the other about the mess the both of you have made. As the move quickly approaces, I have become increasingly annoyed by all the junk we have seemed to accumulate. In 2010 I did two major yard sales and my first of many shred events. So why on earth do I still have ...

Storage space in my kitchen that looks like this

A living room/office space that looks like this

A bedroom corner and closet that look like this

Thanks to Valentine's Day and having plans to seduce my husband, it is not as bad as it was. All those clothes you see used to be all over our bedroom floor and all over the living room floor and couches. We literally had only two of the three cushions to sit on on the long sofa and the two hard chairs at the dining room table. On the plus side, the floors are vacuumed, and the furniture is dusted. April is sure to bring more that Spring Cleaning for me. It will surely bring a full-on purge. Do you think I'm an idiot for wanting to get rid of our couches?

Their old, used, not very fashionable, but dreadfully comfortable. Dreadfully. I was thinking of doing a bit of DIY and maybe reupholstering them. What do you think? Do you have any ideas to share? You see the Senator up there. He is over the clutter too. I think the move has got me in some kind of i-need-to-get-rid-of-the-old-and-buy-new mode, which is not a good look for our budget and savings plan. I was having a discussion with my pastor's wife today and she said to me, "better to have one bird in the hand, than two in the bush". After much confusion, she finally just looked at me and said, "don't sell anything you can't afford to buy again". Don't know if it is the best advice I have ever gotten, but it is useful. I want to sell that huge bookcase thing in our kitchen. I want to sell the little roller cart in our kitchen. I want to sell and/or do something really cool with our desk, and I want to sell those book cases. Their hubbies and from like, high school or something. He has a strange attachment to the black one. I want furniture that matches, and Oh! I want new dishes as well. Antique white. I have concluded that I want a lot... and since I want so much, I need to continue to save our money, and make a very detailed wish list complete with links for references.

Do you like my Valentine's Day bouquet!? They made me so happy.

Moving... New Orleans... A Dog

Beginning February 8, 2011, theses are the major purchases and/or trips on our calendar. I guesstimate it will cost us $5,000. I've given us 15 weeks (2/8/11 - 5/17/11) to save the money and I've broken it down to about $333/wk. This is good, sense that is my weekly salary, minus $3. How did I come up with this idea? I'm going to say that it was due to the fact I spent 45 - 50 minutes in prayer after I dropped the Senator off at the train station this morning.

Here is what I thought/prayed about.

Moving: yesterday the Senator and I went to look at a condo that was available for rent. The cost was $1350/mo and the deposit was $1350. Hypothetically, If we were to apply and be approved for the condo today, we would need to pay $135o (our deposit) + $900 (this month's rent for the apartment we are living in now). That's ... 14, 15, 16, 17... *breaking out calculator & adding 1350 + 900* ... $2250. This would give us a move-in date of March 4, 2011. Since it's not the first of the month we would have to pay a prorated fee for the condo of which I'm guessing they figure by taking the total monthly amount for rent and divide it by the number of days. So that would make our first month's rent for the condo *breaking out calendar to see how many days are in March* ... 27 days left in March if we move-in on the 4th; so we would need to pay $1350/27 *switching screens on my iPhone to do the math* I got $50. Okay. So. Plan B: call the Senator. *picking up the phone to call and ask how they figure out the prorated fee* brb ... Okay... he says... *immediately forgot what he said.... ugh! calling back. He's laughing.... $1350(rent amt)/30(number of days in an average month)=$45 multiply that by *3(because it's 3 days after the first of the month)=$135. Now I take $1350 and subtract $135, giving me $1215(our prorated rent for March). One thousand, two-hundred and fifteen dollars added to $2250 equals ... *breaking out calculator* $3465 *realizing I under guesstimated* This figure does not include the cost of boxes, a moving truck, and possible movers. Let's go ahead and round it up to $3700 giving us $300 for boxes, truck and movers, maybe. So according to the aforementioned calculations, moving is going to approximately cost us $3700. Next.

New Orleans: May 26, 2011, the Senator and I celebrate being married for four years. In addition, we also celebrate the 30th birthday for one of our close friends, A. She works at Hopkins as a microbiologist and is planning to be in New Orleans for a work thing. A decided that she wanted to spend her 30th with friends so we all decided to make it one big party and fly to New Orleans for her birthday and our anniversary. I was looking at some flight and hotel packages for *breaking out calendar to check number of days and nights* 4 nights and 5 days in New Orleans. I found nice packages for $350 - $500/pp. Not including food and fun. I'm in charge of getting packages together and want to keep it as close to the $350 range as possible. So let's just say $350 times the Senator and I? $700 total for flight and hotel. Add another $350 for food and fun (modest trip I know, but with this group of friends, we don't need much at all to be entertained) bringing our trip to *thinking, the math is simple* $1050. Next.

A Dog: After we return from New Orleans, the Senator and I want to rescue a puppy as our 4-year anniversary gift to one another. I haven't done any research at all except the type of dog we want (American Bulldog), and guess that most places will charge a $200 pet deposit fee. With shots for puppy, food for puppy, bed for puppy, toys for puppy, rescue fee for puppy, and pet deposit for puppy. I'm guesstimating about $1100. *praying I'm guessing on the high end*

That said, my bottom line has obviously increased. I began with a guesstimated goal to save $5000 over 15 weeks = $333/wk but ended up with

*adding totals from above... drum roll please*

$5850 over 15 weeks = $390/wk. Not bad,right!? In-fact. This makes it so much more manageable, having a more concrete figure, I mean. A measly $390/wk will get us a shiny new place to live, a trip to NeOrleans, and a new addition to our family of two. *sigh & thinking, "we got this"*

P.S. Thank you, God. This certainly helps with the anxiety.

~ Eat Pray Love ~ ...

I just finished Eat Pray Love. The consensus: Eh. I'm glad I finished the book. I won't be watching the movie.

Nothing a Good Book can't Fix

In my last post I complained and went on and on about all my anxieties... Last night the Senator and I went to the house of a couple friend of ours. We had a long talk and I felt so much better when we left. No matter what, I'm learning that it's always good to sometimes... just. talk. Although we still haven't quiet come to a decision about where we will go and what we will do (rent-to-own, rent a house/townhouse/condo, or rent an apartment) I think at last he's sees where I'm coming from and can appreciate my wanting to take it slow. Needless to say, I'm a happy camper right now and emotionally, I feel much better.

In other news: The month of February brings two very important uh... [insert appropriate noun]. For the first time, ever. I'm going to read a book in honor of Black History Month.

I'm so excited. First though. I need to finish the following...

&

Between the two I think I can finish them this weekend. Here's the issue. I'm. So. Over. Eat Pray Love. I feel like I want her go ahead and fulfill the prophesy of the medicine man and since I'm I've got the achiever syndrome, it's killing me that I haven't finished it. I mean it literally wears me out. When I finish the aforementioned literary works, I'm going to get myself together and

read...

I was finally convinced on Sunday when my uncle-in-laws fiance' went on and on about how great the book was. Lastly, I'm going to read...

just because the cover is pretty. Keep in mind, this is how I chose Wednesday Letters by Jason Wright and it is now what I read every year one week before Thanksgiving.

Moving... again

A while ago I blogged about a letter our leasing office gave us stating that our community was being remodeled and that we should begin a search for some other place to live. Well that time was April 2011. As the deadline approaches, I'm finding myself more and more annoyed, anxious, irritated, afraid, unsure, overwhelmed and anything other adjective along this vein you can think of. the Senator on the other hand!? Cool as a cucumber; and it's driving me up a wall.

Just the other night we talked quiet a bit about my fears, why I was having them, and decided to spend everyday for the next 6 months saving. Since our home buying program is so awesome and we just need to prove our responsibility, we decided that was plenty of time. We decided that renting another year (365) would be all we needed to get our file nice and solid with NACA, save, and search for a home. So, tell me why when I asked dear, sweet, Senator this am a question regarding the matter, he gave me the original answer to the original plan and claimed he did not "process the conversation" the way "I" thought he did. What the Hell, dude!? We've started from ground zero!?

I hate it. I hate it. I hate it. He makes me so angry sometime. Now he won't commit to finding and applying to rent some place for whatever reason he's come up with in his head. I don't want to talk to him, but I have to because we need to discuss this. *Opening up my heart and allowing you to see past the anger* I'm sad and afraid. I feel like he wants us to wait until the last minute to do something that I know we will need more time to plan for. I'm afraid we will have to end up moving back in with his parents. I'm afraid he is trying to put us in an impossible situation so we have no choice but to surrender to his parents suggestions because we will have no place to go. I'm afraid we will be stranded, homeless, ugh! ugh! ugh!.... I'm pissed because I believe he doesn't listen to me. I think he thinks I'm a nag and spastic, and I just want him to trust "us". We are capable of making decisions for ourselves w/o the influence of others, namely his parents. Plus I believe they think we're poor and struggling, and the last thing I want is for us to have to move back in with them. That year we lived with O. I spent more time crying and embarrassed, and upset that I ever have in my entire life. I felt like they were judging us. I know they are viscous people, by no means at all.... I just know they love the Senator and sometime I feel like they think I've ruined him in some way. *sad face. sigh*

I just want us to come to a conclusion that is best for the both of us. I want him to trust our decision and not go back and forth. I want to feel secure in the fact that if he and I decide something, I know it is settled. Period. *closing the door to my heart*

That is all