You Got A Friend In Me

Have you ever read these blogs? Because they are some of my very favorite people.

Tricia never seems to get angry at anyone. And after living with Elena and I and all of our terrible pranks, that is something to be said! We may have even been so terrible as to pull her pants down in a local grocery store...
but she still loves us. What a gal. T, I love you!

Elena is this crazy mix of intense sauciness and sweet sincerity. She can be as nuts as you want, but knows how to be a good listener when you need it. I love my little girl.

And now that I've written this sappy post, you two should feel very guilty if you don't hang out with me this weekend! That is all.

Content

This past weekend was really fun. My dad and three of my siblings drove from the east coast for a short, eventful trip. Our church celebrated a big anniversary, my nephew celebrated a birthday, and there was much fun had by all. One of my siblings even stayed behind. For good.

Speaking of that sibling, she is currently at my house while I sit here at work. Jono had to leave town briefly, and as I never like being alone, she had a slumber party with me. Unfortunately for her, she doesn't have a car yet. So, she gets to sit at my house and (hopefully) do the dishes.

Just kidding. Mostly.

Anyway, I am reminded a lot lately of the value of our family. Especially since there are so many we don't get to see nearly enough. Jono and I are very blessed to have immediate and extended family that we really love to be around. And once you add on all the not-really-related-but-loved-just-as-much friends, it's easy to see that we are leading a blessed life.

I have everything I need (and more!). If I can't be content right now, I'll never be.

Perhaps today we should all think about how lucky we truly are. Just try to be in a bad mood after that. :)

New Opportunities

Last night my husband, brother-in-law and I were invited to a cousin's surprise 16th birthday party. We were happy to go, especially since we hardly ever see that side of the family.

Apparently the cousins have been getting into swing dancing, so the party had a lot of kids who had been learning all about it. It would have been lots of fun to learn, but since almost everyone in the room already knew how, there wasn't a lot of teaching going on. So, instead, the three of us spent the first part of the evening standing by the drink table, watching and feeling old. It has been a while since I have been around that many high schoolers, and I certainly felt a bit out of place. But they were all really nice kids, and soon the dancing gave way to some games.

All in all, I'm still glad we went to wish her a happy birthday. Not to mention the fact that (being a homeschooler) I've never gotten to be a wallflower before. It's good to try new things. :)

Remember me?

It's been a while, but I think only one or two people have noticed. Everyone is actually busy, you know, living. I won't begrudge them.

Life is good. Better than I deserve, in fact.

We started taking an FPU class, which has been interesting. It definitely puts Jono and I on the same page as far as our spending goes, and I think that is a huge relief to my husband. While I am not a believer in wasting large sums of money, I am a believer in excessive generosity. However, one cannot be excessively generous when one does not make excessive amounts of money. Go figure. We have a plan, though, and it hasn't even been that hard to stick to it once we figured it all out.

Another new thing has been our eating habits. 'Bout time, I suppose. We picked up the South Beach diet and have been doing that for about a month. Jono doesn't really need to lose anything, but I feel better knowing that we're both eating healthy foods. I have managed to lose 15 pounds, so I'm slowly admitting that it's worth it.

The one catch to this is that we have been creating the most monstrous piles of dishes that you can imagine. When every bit of counter and table space in the kitchen was overrun, we decided we had better get on top of it. Whoops.

Other than that we are the same, old, boring married couple who are more busy than we like, but unable to cut anything out at the present.

What an exciting update...

Dare I Title A Post "Good News"?

My insurance called today and things seem to finally be looking up. She said that they will go ahead and pay the bill from the city, but will take further action against evil (my words, not theirs) American Family and see if they can transfer the fault to them after all.

So, at the very least I don't have to pay that ridiculous bill. And at best, American Family is found to be at fault and I may actually get money for my poor, dead car.

I know a lot of sweet people were praying for me. Thanks, guys. I appreciate you all.

Inconsistent (or Screw You, City)

That's what my blogging has become.

When it turns into more of a chore than a pleasure, I just don't do it. But since I know that at least one person will get on my case if I don't update occasionally, here I am again.

The most annoying thing in my life right now is probably not that much fun to read about, but since it's becoming quite a little monster of an issue, I might as well share for those who might care.

Remember that car accident I had back in September? Well, that has turned out to be one of the biggest butts of a situation that I've been in during my short life. You may also remember that in this post I detailed the fact that the (other driver's) insurance company wasn't being the most helpful. Well, my insurance did their thing and denied the other company's claim that I was at fault. Since all this takes about a million years, I just figured that by the time it was all resolved they would both come down to a 50/50 fault, and I would get nothing.

As it turns out, getting nothing would have been a good option.

Instead, the day before Thanksgiving I received an itemized bill from the City letting me know that I owed them $7,000 for the fire hydrant I hit.

I will skip a detailed description of the various words and phrases I may or may not have used after reading this letter.

Anyway, my insurance wrote the City a letter stating that I was not at fault for the accident. I didn't hear anything more from the insurance or the City, so I didn't do anything. Then, a couple days ago we got a delinquency letter.

And, OF COURSE, my contact at the City is absolutely worthless when it comes to ANSWERING THE PHONE OR RETURNING PHONE CALLS.

*deep breath*
Maybe I should work for the city. You don't have to do anything.

So, I have multiple calls into this lady (who will remain nameless though I have no intention of protecting her), and my insurance adjuster has a call in, as well.

I'm trying very hard to understand what lesson I should be learning right now. I didn't do anything wrong, and I may be stuck paying 7 grand and losing $2,200 worth of car. In the end I realize it is "only money," but it feels like the most unjust thing in the world.

I wonder why the City is so willing to use my tax money to erect statues on top of buildings and construct $5,000,000 round-a-bouts, yet is unwilling to use tax money to fix a friggin' fire hydrant. I also wonder why it costs so much when I actually saw the "labor" that went into some of it. I swear, one of the men was standing there smoking while watching another guy do the work. Again, maybe I should work for the City.

I'm pissed.

(End of rant)

Goodbye, Holidays...

Hello, January depression.