Ok, so I will be writing this in between homework assignments and random flitting around. (Because that is what I do... I flit.)
So I shall start off with an amazing story: Jason constantly teases me about how creepy I am because I "stalk" people online. I don't see it as stalking as most people have their information on there, put there by themselves for other people to read... I mean there are some specific cases where I may be seen as creepy... but meh, we're not talking about that right now. Anyway, when I was a wee one, I had this best friend named Sharifah, we hung out, and did little kid things like play with Barbies, play on the swings, run around like maniacs, you know, that kind of stuff. Well, she moved away when I was in first or second grade, back to Kuwait. I was heartbroken. She wrote me letters, well letters as far as little kids can be concerned, and we kept in contact for what was probably a short while and then the letters stopped. I didn't really know what happened to her after that point. I never heard from her again. To this day, a good nineteen to twenty years later, I wondered about her. I looked for her online, on MySpace, on Facebook, and just google-ing her name to no avail. Disappointing to a pro like me. Anyway... SHE FOUND ME! After such a long time, I was so amazed that she even remembered who I was, especially since she is still living in a country so far away from her life back then. It was great to know that she was not only still alive, but that she missed me as much as I missed her. I love hearing from her, and although her English isn't perfect, it’s pretty good, so I can understand all of what she says to me. She got married, and has a 3 year old daughter, and she looks completely different, but I think this has been the one friend reunion that I have been looking forward to all my life! (Almost literally!) Ah, I love the powers that the internet has to bring people together, who have been lost from each other no matter how long.
Next up: Tax Money!
Tax money is quite a confusing and exciting topic. First off, we got a lot of it! So much, that we have spent most of it! We love it! Money, money, money! What sucked for me was that when we bought the house, they told us to lower the percentages taken out of our paychecks because of the interest write off. So we did, well, they forgot to tell us, that only ONE of us should do that since we can't file jointly. Since Jason had more deductions, it was more beneficial for him to take the home credit, which left me owing the government (state) $57. Not bad really... except I haven't paid it yet. Today I get a notice from the Arizona Department of Revenue. Thinking they are mad because I was supposed to have mailed them money by some unknown deadline, I started flipping out, only to find a nice $420 check saying I had overpaid. Overpaid what, I am not sure, since I haven't paid anything, but a nice little reward nonetheless. I'm not going to do anything with it until Monday when I can call them, and find out what the heck is going on, because while the extra money may be lovely now, when I don't have it, and have to pay it back, it will not be so lovely. As for the rest of the money, we paid off ALL our high-interest loans / credit cards, and our "big" debt is now the house, and car. The only outstanding credit card we have is my David's Bridal card, which is soon to be paid off anyway. It is so nice to be free. We also got caught up on our house payments since we had fallen a smidge behind with Jason pretty much being jobless for two months. The remainder of the money went towards some down payments for wedding stuff, invitations, doggie doors, and hopefully replacing our fence. Unfortunately, we didn't really think enough when we first got the money, and didn't allot the practically half we would need for a block fence, so we are getting some estimates on new wooden fencing instead. Disappointing, but new wood fencing will hold up better than what we have now.
Wedding Stuff
I still don't have my dress, and although David's Bridal is an "on the rack" store allowing you to walk out of there with the dress you want that day, I have had to order mine. And then another one... and then ANOTHER one. I am sure glad I did this early. My third order will hopefully be the last and that is just because my hips and chest don't match classic measurements. (Heh, imagine that.) Luckily, the order time they have given me so far has been about 2 months too long, and the dress comes in about two to three weeks after it is ordered.
A few weeks ago, we met with a photographer, and liked her from the moment we met. She is an odd-one, oddly similar to Jason, so of course they hit it off right away. She also seems very meticulous, and anal about her work, which I think is a good... even a great thing. She also does PhotoShop (Hurrah!) And uses a Canon (super hurrah!) You can check out her work at JenniferWeems.com
We ordered our invitations, and letting a very limited number of people see them (2) they were proofed, and perfected, and should be in my little hands on Monday. Our RSVP date isn’t until August, but I want to send them now, I don't want to wait for June! I'm sure we will have to assemble them though, which will put a halt to my over-zealousness. We are also waiting on a few more addresses from people.
As for the rest of our life:
Jason is back to normal. Being his annoying (yet loveable) self again. He has been told to stay off the salt, soda, and red meat for 6 weeks, and then he gets to pee in a bucket for 24 hours, and then they will see where his kidney stones are coming from. He has been a trooper so far, but I will admit, I am taking pleasure in all the steak and burgers that I get to eat in front of him while he gets stuck with chicken or fish. He has eaten the greasiest, unhealthy, delicious foods in front of me when I have been on diets, and now, I finally get my bittersweet revenge. When I asked him if he would change the next time, now that he is on the receiving end of it, he still said, “no.” Can’t win them all.
Speaking of chicken, Monday I made some chicken wraps, Tuesday (like right when Tuesday hit at midnight) I woke up sick as a dog. I am pretty sure that I got salmonella (again) which is odd because the other two times I’ve had it have been right around this time of year. So I ended up staying home Tuesday. I went back to work Wednesday, and felt miserable most of the day, and was mediocre by Thursday and ok by Friday. I have been having some trouble with my hearing though, and I have been super sensitive to smells lately (which sucks working at a mortuary.) I hate being sick so much. It was really cute though, I got up because I knew something wasn’t right, and was sitting in the computer room so that I didn’t wake Jason up. Well, Lucy heard me puking into the trashcan and tried to wake Jason up. When nudging and licking him didn’t work, she actually bit him to wake him up. She didn’t leave my side the entire day Tuesday, and she was a bit protective on Wednesday. My puppy loves me. ♥
As for school a few weeks ago Jason and I both knocked out a few of our classes with finals, so the schedule got cut in half, which is nice school wise, but life wise, I swear our schedule just got worse. I am so looking forward to being done before mid-April. Unfortunately Jason started the majority of his classes after I did, so he ends closer to (and maybe even in) May. Sometime in April we hope to take a much needed camping trip. We have tons of new gear from Christmas, and we got some cooking stuff as well as a portable toilet, and some water canisters to take with us so that we can camp in more remote areas shall we ever run into a holiday weekend again. Jason says that he is pretty sure we got everything on our camping “needs” list, but I am sure we will find something once we are out there.
This weekend we got our doggie doors installed. We had to get two, one through the laundry room to the garage, and one from the garage to outside, or we’d have to go through a wall. We figured their new-found freedom to come, go, and bark as they please would be an incentive for the dogs, but they just don’t get it. Well, Landon kind of does, but Lucy, the wimp is scared of the flaps, and basically has to be shoved out, or have the door opened for her. I hope they get it soon. We got these so there would be less work involved… not more.
I hope to keep on top of the updates once again… but you know how it gets you get behind, and then you mean to catch up and then when you try to more stuff gets piled on… but I think I have really caught up to where we are at at this very moment… so hopefully you will be hearing from me soon! : )
