That’s what I’ve been doing this week… pouring over my budget and trying to figure out how it’s all going to work. And wishing I’d been able to pull off a debt consolidation last summer when I was trying to make that work. Maybe then I’d feel a little less pinched.

See, I’d worked out my budget for the next couple of months with one goal in mind: Pay off the laptop, and pay down as much as possible on my Chase credit card. Then I won a ticket to a conference this fall that I had wanted to go to, but decided I couldn’t afford. The price of the conference on top of the flight and the hotel just put it out of reach. But then! I won this ticket, and now all I have to cover is the flight and hotel… and figure out where the money is going to come from. And how much I’m willing to sacrifice all of the progress on my credit cards that I’d projected for the next couple months.

I know it will all work out, but man. Working and reworking the numbers sure does stress me out. I’ll be far less stressed as soon as I get a plan on paper.

Hehehe! Took this picture of myself wearing my nephew’s frog towel. He was NOT happy about it either! He’s getting to that age where he’s just not all about sharing. He might not want it, but he doesn’t want you to have it either!!

Had a pretty lazy weekend. Spent most of it lazing around, in front of the computer, or over at my mom’s hanging out with the rotten kid. I think the most productive thing I did all weekend was going to the grocery store this afternoon to get breakfast and lunch for tomorrow. And showering. Gotta love lazy weekends like that! Now, it’s time for bed… unfortunately, Monday comes around far too early tomorrow!

Why write about things like copper kitchen sinks when you can post everything else? Like pictures of this rotten kid? (Everything but the kitchen sink. Get it? Haha? No? Well, I tried.)

This picture is from Mother’s Day when everyone was at my house. Cute as a bug, and growing up way too fast! I actually haven’t seen him since the day this picture was taken, and I miss the little guy!

Is it seriously the last day of May already? Where the heck is this year going?

Right now I’m watching Bride Wars between trips up and down stairs to the washing machine. I had hoped to get more accomplished this weekend, but at the very least I’ll have clean work uniforms and clean sheets on the bed! Yesterday I didn’t get much accomplished because I was fighting a wicked headache all day. To the point that I took a nearly three hour nap. Granted, the nap would have been a lot shorter if I hadn’t had a neighbor who couldn’t figure out their car alarm. Today it’s been my lower back that’s been seizing up at random and inopportune moments. So my apartment is cleaner, but not as clean as I’d hoped.

I have been going through things to try and find more items for the garage sale Mom and I are supposed to have sometime soon. I’m finding a few more things. If I had a PS3, I can guarantee you, it would be in a box with my extra sheets I no longer use, the few books I convinced myself to trim off my bookshelf, and probably some clothes I haven’t worn since I moved here three years ago but somehow made the cut last year.

Well I need to go check on the dryer and get these movies back to the Redbox before I have to pay for another night, so I’ll leave you with the two SPS pictures I should have posted the last couple weeks.

In my whole ignoring the blog thing, I neglected to tell you guys one important detail: I didn’t move.

When I said I wanted the apartment downstairs, it was sight unseen. When I finally got the keys and got in there to look around, I commenced with the freaking out. It didn’t help that I saw the apartment for the first time at the end of an upsetting phone call, but in the end, I decided that it just made more sense to stay upstairs. I could have had a patio downstairs, but I didn’t feel like it was worth the rest of the trade offs I’d have had to make. It certainly wasn’t an easy decision to make… but after a lot of agonizing and a pros and cons list, I’m sure I made the right one.

So for right now, I’m staying put, focusing on paying down my debt, and keeping my eyes open for other options. Trust me, I won’t be looking for mortgage life insurance anytime soon, but I wouldn’t complain if something fell in my lap. I wouldn’t mind moving to a nice apartment complex, but wouldn’t you know… nice apartment complexes come with nice rent payments! And nice rent payments are not conducive to paying off your credit cards. Seeing as I just added to my debt with a laptop, I think I better stay focused!

Oh my goodness, I have been such a blogging slacker lately. I’ve even taken pictures for the last two Self Portrait Sundays, but do you see them here on the blog? I’ve got a pass for the 17th because I had no computer, but this week I have no excuse other than pure laziness. I even finally got the pictures onto my laptop (along with others I fully intended to blog about) but I never got them uploaded to Flickr. I blame Facebook, and FarmTown specifically. I’m addicted. It’s sad, actually.

In any case, I’ve thought several times over the last couple weeks that I needed to come over here and write something, but then I’d act like someone was asking me to discuss the merits of Mesothelioma lawyers or pull my fingernails out one by one. Whichever would be most painful. Sometimes I really enjoy blogging, and other times it really feels like a chore. Guess where I’m at right now?

Mostly that is because there really hasn’t been a lot going on lately. At least nothing that I’ve wanted to blog about. It feels a lot like the same old, same old, work, eat, sleep, repeat. There’s only so many times you can hop on the blog to say “I have nothing to say.” Don’t feel bad, the rest of my blogs are equally as neglected!

Well, it officially died this time! If you’ve been around for awhile, you may recall that my laptop up and quit about 7 months ago, back in October. My boss worked his voodoo magic on it, and got it back up and running. He told me at the time that he didn’t know how long it would last, so I’m impressed that the computer managed to limp along for another seven months.

Last week, I left the room and came back to find a black screen with a message saying “Primary Hard Disk Drive 0 Not Found” etc, etc. But I turned it off, and turned it back on later, and it worked fine. Friday morning when I got up for work and tried to turn on the computer though, the ominous sound from October, and the beeping from the hard drive was back. After the original splash screen, it went exactly nowhere, and eventually kicked up an error screen that a certain file was corrupted or missing, and to reinstall this file. My boss left on vacation this weekend, and even if he hadn’t, he’s not as readily accessible for computer repairs. Even if there was something he could do about it, I felt like making another recovery for a computer that was just barely limping along was only prolonging the inevitable even more.

So I put the thought of any Vegas vacations even further into the future and bought a new laptop. No, I technically couldn’t afford it, but I find a computer with internet access to be one of life’s necessities, so there you go. I was approved for credit at Amazon, so it came with a $30 statement credit, and HP’s $50 rebate. I had $15 in gift cards in my account, and the computer I chose should be eligible for their no payments, no interest for six months promotions. All in all, I think I got a pretty good deal. The new credit also has a lower interest rate than any of my others, especially the one I’m focusing on, so if it doesn’t get paid off entirely before the promotion runs out, I’m not going to stress out about it.

I finally got some keys for my new apartment. Yesterday they cleaned the carpets, and were cleaning up the kitchen when I got home from work. I found a note leaning against my door with a mailbox key, and a temporary key for the new apartment. Once I get moved, they’re going to move the lock from my apartment upstairs. Also in the note, it said that they were planning on cleaning the carpets, and I could start moving the big stuff in on Wednesday the 13th. Ha, I don’t move on one day’s notice. I already had plans for tonight, that were set in place about 3 weeks ago, so no, won’t be changing those. And moving on a weeknight after work?? Not my idea of a good time. This lets dad off the hook for moving me as he’s leaving the state on Friday after work and has to spend Thursday night packing up and getting ready to leave.

Which leaves me looking for some muscle to help with the furniture. I can move a lot of stuff by myself. My nightstands, the tv stand, the Papasan chair… all those I can move by myself. But there are plenty of things I can’t move alone– the loveseat, couch, computer desk, bookshelf, bed and dresser. And the couch? That I can’t even help with. It’s so heavy there is no way I could even pretend to hold up one end of it. My friend Amy’s son said he was willing to get a buddy and come help me move furniture on Saturday. It makes me feel uncomfortable to have them do it because I’ve only met him twice, and have never met his friend, but I’m not seeing where I have another option. I’ll probably run out and get them each a $10 gift card to Subway or something for helping me out.

So it looks like that’s what the rest of my week is going to look like. Tonight Sarah and I are getting dinner and watching last night’s Biggest Loser finale. Tomorrow, Friday night, and Saturday morning, I’ll be moving the little things that I can do on my own, and then Saturday afternoon help will come to move the furniture. Sitting where I am right now, I just keep thinking Why did I want to move again? Maybe I just should have stayed where I am… but I know that once I’m down there, I’ll be happy I made the move. Just need to get through the next several days first.

Happy Mother’s Day! I had everyone over to my place… 5 adults, a toddler, and about 50 matchbox cars in my one bedroom apartment. I made stuffed shells, my favorite salad, and chocolate cherry cheesecake. Yum!

My babies are 3 years old today!! Here are some pictures of them 3 years ago. Neither one of them sleep in the sink anymore… Lucy would rather pee in it, and Pudge doesn’t fit!

They’ve got some canned food to celebrate. What can I say? We go all out around here!