...and then there were 5

Count them 1..2..3..4..5 more classes and I will be a real live college graduate FINALLY!!!

This last semester was VERY time consuming, but it was all worth it. I took my final exams this past Saturday and I feel confident that I did a great job!!! I will be posting about all the things that have been going on inside my head the last month or so now that I have a couple of weeks before my summer class begins. Yes I am taking a summer class...sigh because my goal is to be walking across that stage next May and unfortunately in order to make that happen I can't take a break this summer. I am only taking one class though and that should be a nice reprieve.

15 credits to go... Go ME!!!

For all of you people out there who are thinking about going back to school, but are feeling discouraged and making excuses. Please...Don't wait any longer sign up today. It is so worth it. One class...One semester at a time... that is all it takes.

Don't Be a Victim, But Be a Victor !

Every Sunday morning I am awakened by a little body crawling into my bed. I usually just pretend like I am still sleeping, but this morning when I rolled back over I looked at the clock and realized that Joel Osteen was on. I like to watch his show every Sunday morning his message is just so positive and I like to meditate about what he says throughout the week. Since I have incorporated this in my life my glass always seems half full rather than empty. Joel's message this morning was about not letting your past define you and how instead of being a victim you should be a victor. Anyway, after the program this morning the following conversation ensued:

Me: I received it. He was talking right to me this morning.

E: No Mom, he was talking to me.

Me: Really? What did he say to you?

E: Don't be defeated when bad people come your way. It is not happening to me, but for me.

Me: So, that when things don't go your way you shouldn't feel sad and defeated, but take power over the negative feelings and stay positive.

E: Yes.

Me: Well, I am glad you were paying attention.

E: I always do. He was talkig to both of us. I am going to go watch cartoons now!!

Break Time

I am not even going to pretend that I am going be blogging about anything this month. I have too many papers to write, cases to brief and people to interview for my classes. Not to mention finals coming up. I will be back when I can.

Whew !!!

This week has been the most challenging yet since this new semester started. Not only am I being overwhelmed with a bunch of school projects, but someone at my place of employment has decided to finally start using me to my full potential. Between working my ass off all day at work and then coming home to not only work on school work and doing all those things it takes to be a good mommy. Ya girl is BEAT and I have been fighting off a cold to boot.

On a more personal note I think I picked the wrong week to re-join the world of dating. I don't really talk about my dating life on this blog, but the main reason has been because I haven't had a dating life in a very, very long time. I am not sure if I will talk about my dating (mis)adventures or not. For now all I will say is that I met what could be a very nice man this last week and I plan on going out with him very soon. I am not sure if I feel any chemistry as of yet, but it is worth a try it seems to fit into all of my mental checklist thus far...so wish me luck.

On a much lighter note I leave you with this SNL sketch:

Cosmo Girl

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All About the Benjamins

Busy, Busy, Busy...

I know I really need to schedule in some downtime into my life, but there always seems to be something that NEEDS to get done. I guess I should be grateful, because there was a time in the not so distant past where my life was totally crazy and I had no sanctuary of my own to rest. Now at least I have my own apartment as meager as it might be, but it is all mine as long as I pay the rent...LOL.

My next major goal in life, besides finishing my undergrad degree, is to become a homeowner. Sadly, if the economy does not start to get better my dream may not get realized for sometime. I really do hope that all of the years of sacrifice I have had to make in order to get my degree pays off in a big enough way. I mean I am being realistic I don't expect all of my financial difficulties to go away with one fell swoop (although that would be nice), but I at least will like to have some breathing room in my budget to really start aggressively saving up for my own home.

It really has been very hard for me to save, because something always seems to come up. It really doesn't help that the price of everything seems to go up by the minute and my salary in comparison seems to stay stagnate. I guess the best thing I have going for me is that I am inherently a saver and I don't go spending my money all willy nilly on ridiculous things that I don't really need but just WANT. I have never been one to try to keep up with the Jones' so to speak. I could care less what they have and I am definitely not trying to go broke getting it. I try very hard to live within my means. Most of the time I am successful, but sometimes I do have to steal from Peter to pay Paul.

The one thing I am very proud of is that I do not have a whole lot of debt and I have decent credit. I would love to say I have great credit but my credit is pretty new. I thought I was doing fabulous when I was in my early 20's because I had no credit card debt, because I had no credit cards...LOL. All I ever heard was people talking about all this mounting credit card debt they had especially in the military. No one ever told me that I NEEDED credit in order to get a great interest rate on say...a new car or get an apartment. But I digress...

Like I was saying before I don't have a lot of unnecessary debt. I have two credit cards one major one and one clothing store one that I am about to get rid of. I only have the clothing store card because when I got my first job out of the military I needed new clothes right away. I have a balance on my major credit card...in fact it is maxed out right now because I used it to pay tuition. As soon as my GI Bill comes in next week...the balance goes bye-bye.

The next piece of debt I have is a small student loan that I regretfully had to take out last year. I was very broke and I needed to get a new computer and to pay the upfront costs for my tuition. Times were very lean, because of some medical things I had to take care of for E. I really needed to finish school so I took out a small loan to get started, but I have great interest rate and I should be able to pay it off fairly quickly.

My last part of my debt is my car note, but in a few short months it will be paid off. I decided once it is all paid for instead of looking at the extra cash as free money. I am going to direct deposited into a high interest avings account and pretend I don't have it. That added on to the amount I already deposit should accumulate into a nice down payment for a home pretty quickly.

Well basically this is the start of my plan and hopefully nothing major comes up that I have to tap into that savings account for anything. This year I also cut out all unnecessary spending, and I am really budgeting everything to the penny. I make sure that I do give myself an allowance, so that I am not feeling too restricted. I give myself a certain amount of cash every pay day to do with what I want.

So, far my plan seems to be working and I actually had a little extra money left over after all bills were paid and allowance was doled out this month. I am putting half of my surplus into savings and the other half...Hmmmmmm...

Oh yeah...If you have any money saving tips or tips on buying a home. I will be more than happy to listen. Like most things in my life I am going at it alone.

Save Me From Myself

I just adore her and I am so glad she is so happy.