Sunday, November 27, 2011
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Holes In Our Plan
Now Playing - Always Something by Cage The Elephant
Life -
Well, I should have called my last post "Knock On Wood" cause just a few days later, my wife calls me from work - Her car has a leaking tire. Grr. I've kind of suspected that we'd have to get her car new tires soon, they weren't exactly new when we bought the car two years ago, and we've put a lot of miles on little Bluebelle in that time, but I was really hoping it would wait until Jan or so when we'd paid off some of these recent moving expenses.
So off to Bangor today, where we spent $400 on four tires, where we learned that her alignment is also off, which will end up costing another $300 due to some missing pin or something. (I don't speak car) It was kind of a rough trip. One of our goals this year was to kill off our credit card and we're up to almost where we were before we moved to Maine 2 years ago. Linz was in tears at one point, but the simple fact is that her safety, driving on four new tires is more important than 20% interest.
While we were in town, we decided to do the last little bit of shopping for Christmas we had to do (Pretty much everyone is getting a card this year...and nothing else) and check out the stores we haven't been to for a long time. We aren't shoppers. We hate crowds and usually take our list and buzz in, grab our stuff and buzz out. But we like Holiday decorations, so once a season we take our time and wander stores.
Plus, this was our new town and we still hadn't been into a few of the big box stores to check them out. Target had some impressively cool looking fake trees and ugly ornaments, K-Mart was trashed and cluttered and carried potatoes, which was a surprise. There was a bizarre thrift store next door that, in addition to second hand goods, they sold furniture, four-wheelers and wedding dresses. I am not kidding.
We also went to the mall and indulged in a couple of Hickory Farms treats, bought a couple of finishing touches on clearance at Bed Bath & Beyond for Linz's room (Which we've been working on for the last few days, pics soon!) And in the old Border's building, which closed a month or so ago, was a new store - BAM! With a subtitle of something like books, gifts, something and more.. It was kind of funky, the entire store was laid out almost exactly like Borders, only the place had a very rushed "We gotta get this up and open before Christmas!" feeling. Including a few exposed spots of old carpet and shelves supported with pieces of board and exposed nails.
At one point, I spotted a sign with the copyright belonging to Books A Million(Hence BAM, I assume.) , which I'd never even known they had a Brick and Mortar store. It's no Barnes and Noble, but I'll take any book store.
On the way home, we grabbed a cheap pizza at the gas station and watched Castle. It wasn't the best day in the world, but it's potentially the last trip we'll have to make into town before Christmas (Apart from driving there for work every day, of course) and despite the disappointments of the car, it was a nice day.
So off to Bangor today, where we spent $400 on four tires, where we learned that her alignment is also off, which will end up costing another $300 due to some missing pin or something. (I don't speak car) It was kind of a rough trip. One of our goals this year was to kill off our credit card and we're up to almost where we were before we moved to Maine 2 years ago. Linz was in tears at one point, but the simple fact is that her safety, driving on four new tires is more important than 20% interest.
While we were in town, we decided to do the last little bit of shopping for Christmas we had to do (Pretty much everyone is getting a card this year...and nothing else) and check out the stores we haven't been to for a long time. We aren't shoppers. We hate crowds and usually take our list and buzz in, grab our stuff and buzz out. But we like Holiday decorations, so once a season we take our time and wander stores.
Plus, this was our new town and we still hadn't been into a few of the big box stores to check them out. Target had some impressively cool looking fake trees and ugly ornaments, K-Mart was trashed and cluttered and carried potatoes, which was a surprise. There was a bizarre thrift store next door that, in addition to second hand goods, they sold furniture, four-wheelers and wedding dresses. I am not kidding.
We also went to the mall and indulged in a couple of Hickory Farms treats, bought a couple of finishing touches on clearance at Bed Bath & Beyond for Linz's room (Which we've been working on for the last few days, pics soon!) And in the old Border's building, which closed a month or so ago, was a new store - BAM! With a subtitle of something like books, gifts, something and more.. It was kind of funky, the entire store was laid out almost exactly like Borders, only the place had a very rushed "We gotta get this up and open before Christmas!" feeling. Including a few exposed spots of old carpet and shelves supported with pieces of board and exposed nails.
At one point, I spotted a sign with the copyright belonging to Books A Million(Hence BAM, I assume.) , which I'd never even known they had a Brick and Mortar store. It's no Barnes and Noble, but I'll take any book store.
On the way home, we grabbed a cheap pizza at the gas station and watched Castle. It wasn't the best day in the world, but it's potentially the last trip we'll have to make into town before Christmas (Apart from driving there for work every day, of course) and despite the disappointments of the car, it was a nice day.
The ROUS FAMILY -
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
A Test and a Snack
This was posted from my phone in an attempt to find a way to post more often... We'll see if it works.
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Ain't Broke Yet
Now Playing - Hold You In My Arms by Ray Lamontagne
Life -
But, as they say, I'm bending.
We moved in here a few months ago, and at the time, we were doing well financially. We'd paid off a few bills and started making headway on our big credit card. But moving was expensive. Apart from a loan for the down payment, we had to buy a mower, home improvement supplies, hook up fees, heating oil, propane, Internet... A little bit of everything. You'd think that moving from one trailer to another wouldn't require that much additional stuff, but for some reason, we kept running into expenses. Of course, a $3000 wisdom teeth bill for Linz didn't help either.
So now we have our credit card back up to where it was, a couple of home improvement store cards with balances, a dental bill and an installment plan for our heating oil and propane. On top of our utilities, car payments and Linz's student loans, which just those tally up to about $700 a month.
And we're making less money. Not a lot less, but Linz's job doesn't pay as well, it's further away and up until recently, I was gassing up more than twice as often thanks to my commute. For the last few months, it's been all we can do to keep above, to catch up on things. I'm hoping that by December, barring any emergencies, we can be caught up on all of our bills and start paying everything down again. But that's if we don't buy anyone Christmas gifts and if Lindsay's car doesn't need snow tires... Crap.
But surprisingly, I think it's worth it. We like our little home on the range, it's getting comfortable. And I love the store I'm in now, Linz's job is finally hitting some equilibrium and even if I never get a promotion, we like this area of Maine so much more than the south. We just need to get caught up and get rid of that stress.
We've been working at it though, we both have Etsy shops now, I have Deeply Dapper, where I sell Sasquatch stickers, Lego portraits and bottled beasties, and Linz has Wire Willow, where she sells her amazing cross-stitches, jewelry and crafts. (And she's got a grand opening sale going this month, coincidentally..) They aren't making us a fortune, but five bucks every now and then lets us eat out once a month or buys me some new work pants at Goodwill. (Because Goodwill is awesome and I ruin pants constantly at work...) Whispering Ferns is still available to buy and both of us should have new novels out by the end of the year. We will get there. Then we just have to start saving to buy a motel! haha
By the way, for those wondering, I am NOT going to be actively participating in NaNoWriMo this month. More about that HERE.
We moved in here a few months ago, and at the time, we were doing well financially. We'd paid off a few bills and started making headway on our big credit card. But moving was expensive. Apart from a loan for the down payment, we had to buy a mower, home improvement supplies, hook up fees, heating oil, propane, Internet... A little bit of everything. You'd think that moving from one trailer to another wouldn't require that much additional stuff, but for some reason, we kept running into expenses. Of course, a $3000 wisdom teeth bill for Linz didn't help either.
So now we have our credit card back up to where it was, a couple of home improvement store cards with balances, a dental bill and an installment plan for our heating oil and propane. On top of our utilities, car payments and Linz's student loans, which just those tally up to about $700 a month.
And we're making less money. Not a lot less, but Linz's job doesn't pay as well, it's further away and up until recently, I was gassing up more than twice as often thanks to my commute. For the last few months, it's been all we can do to keep above, to catch up on things. I'm hoping that by December, barring any emergencies, we can be caught up on all of our bills and start paying everything down again. But that's if we don't buy anyone Christmas gifts and if Lindsay's car doesn't need snow tires... Crap.
But surprisingly, I think it's worth it. We like our little home on the range, it's getting comfortable. And I love the store I'm in now, Linz's job is finally hitting some equilibrium and even if I never get a promotion, we like this area of Maine so much more than the south. We just need to get caught up and get rid of that stress.
We've been working at it though, we both have Etsy shops now, I have Deeply Dapper, where I sell Sasquatch stickers, Lego portraits and bottled beasties, and Linz has Wire Willow, where she sells her amazing cross-stitches, jewelry and crafts. (And she's got a grand opening sale going this month, coincidentally..) They aren't making us a fortune, but five bucks every now and then lets us eat out once a month or buys me some new work pants at Goodwill. (Because Goodwill is awesome and I ruin pants constantly at work...) Whispering Ferns is still available to buy and both of us should have new novels out by the end of the year. We will get there. Then we just have to start saving to buy a motel! haha
By the way, for those wondering, I am NOT going to be actively participating in NaNoWriMo this month. More about that HERE.
The ROUS FAMILY -
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