Footprints on the Moon

I took this picture on Friday on my way home from work. (My phone was in the holder thingy on the dash, and I was safely parked at a stop sign during my photography session, I swear!) I don’t know how things are in your neck of the woods, but here in Indiana, we’re having an unseasonably warm March! In fact, we’ve been breaking decades-old high temperature records! I’m not sure what I think about the implications of summer-like temperatures in winter, but I sure haven’t been complaining about the ability to get out and enjoy the warm weather!

By the end of the day, I feel like I need to seek austin airborne allergy treatment, but whatever. Warm weather, wee! I had big plans to be out and about and active, but unfortunately, I pulled my hamstring in a particularly awkward fall during scrimmage on Thursday so I had to rest it instead. I did skate in the St. Patrick’s Day parade with my team, but it turned out to not be the best idea… my hammy was unhappy and I spent a lot of the rest of the day sitting on an ice pack. I still took advantage of the temperature and drug the camping chair out of my trunk and sat on the front lawn of my apartment building with a magazine a few times! It only took me 6 years of living there, but I finally decided that I don’t care what people think. I want to sit outside, and if they look at me funny for sitting outside the front door, well… who cares?

I also got a little bit of baking done. I made strawberry, banana and chocolate chip muffins Saturday afternoon, which I decided to rename Banana Split Muffins because that’s less of a mouthful. They were really good! I also made Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins this afternoon. I’ll be posting those over on Jenn Cooks in a few weeks probably. They were good, but not quite what I had in mind, so I’m still searching for a better recipe for those.

All in all, a good weekend!

Wow, I have well and truly gotten out of the habit of updating over here. I really need to get better about that!

Tuesday I was finally able to make payment arrangements for the final service provider from my surgery last August! Getting that settled made me realize that I haven’t done a financial update over here since… what? October? Yeah… I’m still not here to do one. Hopefully soon, but I don’t have the energy/ability to go searching for account balances at the moment. In general, all the accounts have stayed the same or gone down, with the exception of one credit card that’s gone the wrong direction. Unfortunately, thanks to the medical bills, I’ve been unable to get money in savings, and I had some unexpected car repairs to make.

Since my last update, however, I’ve managed to completely pay off the anesthesiologist and the ER doctor’s bill is now down to about $320. It’s set to be paid off in the next few months. I was able to make payment arrangements with the collector that is handling the ER bill FINALLY, so that’s a huge weight off my shoulders. I still have to come up with the money to pay them obviously, but at least I no longer have to worry about when that harassing phone call is going to come. They were WAY easier to work with than the ER itself! She asked for a certain amount a month, which I couldn’t give. I said I could give $40 and increase the payment when I paid off the ER doc. Done deal. PHEW!

SO! The medical bills stand with the ER doc set to be paid off by June at the very latest (as in, if I can find absolutely zero extra money to throw at it, the minimum I’ve been paying will result in a June 1 payoff). $40/month to the ER collector, to be focusing on paying down that balance next. I’m just plugging away with my $100/month payment arrangement to the surgery center. The balance on that one is still $3211 and change so it will probably be around for awhile. The biggest goal is to have everything except the surgery center paid off or mostly paid off before my student loan comes out of forbearance in October. Meeting this goal is the only way to ensure I will be able to continue make all the necessary payments on all my debts.

I can’t say I’m not still stressed out about actually paying off these balances, and I won’t have any extra money to buy new home lighting anytime soon, but it’s a huge relief to finally have a plan for all of it. Slow and steady, I’ll keep chipping away at the balances!