Playing Hopscotch with My Money

But I like it!

Things are going well over here. My official first day of my new job is next week. I am writing monthly newsletters for one of the colleges at my university. It pays pretty well, the only downside is that there is no work during the summer. So I have been applying to several places for summer internships and the like. I'm hoping that I will be able to find something for the summer.

Classes are going really well. It is incredibly hard to drag myself to my marketing class though. It is a 7 pm class twice a week, and the last class of the day. It doesn't help that I've already been at school 10 hours by the time class starts.

I have been very good about not getting food at school. I have eaten at school twice since the semester began! I have found that the easiest thing to do is to just buy a bunch of fruit and veggies and eat that throughout the day. Sometimes I will bring leftovers from the previous night's dinner, but I have no fridge access at school and I don't want to keep the food in my car for hours at a time.

I have decided to take a student loan out for the next semester. Tuition is going up by 50% ! A couple colleges and majors have been cut from the curriculum along with a few graduate programs. Our governor keeps on cutting the school's budget. But that's another rant for another day.

I started volunteering with an organization called Guardian Angels. I've been doing mostly patrols, but they also would like me to help them with planning special events and fund raising. It is a lot of fun and I have met some great people.

The weather here has been insane. I wish it would make up its mind. One day it is in the 80s, the next day we are having freak blizzards that last for 10 minutes. Today I was walking from my class to my car and decided to cut through the student union. I am in the building for not even two minutes and when I leave it, it is snowing so much I can barely see in front of me!

I got my first fillings done earlier this week. That was nothing short of torture. I hate every second of the hour long process. I swore upon leaving that I will do everything I need to to avoid having that done again. And, according to my dentist, they were SMALL fillings!

Out of the 5 classes I am signed up for, 4 of the classes have a very large online component. For 3 of those classes ALL of the homework and quizzes are online.

And I hate it. The ONLY upside is that for those 3 classes, the textbooks are also online. I spent $251.95 on those 3 e-books, as compared to $551 on the paper versions. I ended up spending about $500 on textbooks this semester- the 3 ebooks, 2 books that I rented from Chegg (great deal too- renting the two cost as much as buying one used!), and 1 book that I had to buy from the bookstore (first edition and it came with a special code for online work). I am in the process of putting the ebooks on my Kindle.

I get that there are a lot of advantages to doing work online- less paper wasted on turning in assignments, the teachers don't have to spend hours grading papers, etc. But I don't seem to do well with online assignments. I can complete them, and get a good grade on them, but I just don't seem to learn the material as well as when I have to write it by hand.

It is going to be an interesting semester for sure. I have to spend about 12 hours at school every Monday and Wednesday. I do have breaks in between my classes so I can get homework done while I am there. Tuesdays and Thursdays I have only one class so I plan on going to school early to practice racquetball by myself. Fridays I have off!

I have several recipes I am gong to try this week so I can bring the food to school. Since classes started on Tuesday, I only had to spend one 12-hour day at school this week. And I ended up going to the vending machine (Pop-tarts). I don't want to get used to getting food at school as it will get very costly, very fast.

Speaking of food, I entered a recipe contest! I already submitted my recipe and now I am just waiting. The deadline is Feb. 1 and winners won't be announced until October. I plan on entering more contests as it was a lot of fun making the recipe. There is even a cash prize (not going to lie, good motivation!).

I have sold 6 textbooks the last couple weeks. A little over $300 made. I am going to use the money to buy a cheap pair of boots (mine are following apart) and then put the rest in savings.

That is about all for now. I am going to finish the reading and then make some lunch.

And 2010 is going well so far.

2/3 finished with my Econ class. I had the midterm yesterday and I feel like I did well. I can't believe that the spring semester starts in about a week and half. I have to do some textbook shopping.

My class schedule sucks next semester. I have Fridays off, but Mondays and Wednesdays I am there for almost 12 hours. Blech. I will have to prepare lunches and dinners for those days as it will be VERY tempting to eat on campus.

I have started playing racquet ball with some friends. So much fun! I haven't been playing as long as they have, so sometimes they hit the ball really hard and I run away from it. It has provided endless entertainment for the guys I play with. I am thinking of getting a pass to the school gym so I can keep my work out clothes and equipment there.

I had this really good sushi last night. It was a sushi place in one of the casinos and they had a dessert sushi they called "Sweet Maki". It was bananas, mangoes, cherries, nuts, and whipped cream on top. Absolutely delicious.

I'm looking for a job but having some problems. I am writing my resume (not that I have a long resume) and am sending it to a couple places. I never before have had a job require a resume, but there are a couple law firms and doctor offices looking for some part-time help and have advertised on campus. And they require a resume. Good practice though for later on when I am doing the "real" job hunting.

The internet has been wonderful help with the resume though. Plenty of example resumes to model.

I think that pretty much sums up everything. Hope everyone enjoys the weekend!

It has been so long since I have posted here! I have missed you all.

A LOT has happened in the tail end of 2009.

For one, I am no longer engaged. Or in a relationship actually.

Ex-fiance broke up with me in late October/early November. We had just decided on a date and begun planning the wedding. Randomly (to me) he told me that he wasn't happy and wanted out.

I'm doing ok though. Really confused and angry at first but I am doing better now. I actually have a date next week. Don't know if anything will come from it but it will be nice to get out.

I changed my major!

I love math but realized after taking a couple classes this semester that I cannot work in the field of math. I took a theory class, Theory of Positive Integers, that I just hated. Absolutely hated. I don't want to have to do proofs or anything to do with proofs ever again.

The second class was Probability Theory. I had taken a couple stats classes before and thought it was interesting but after this class... no. Just no. I can't stand probability I discovered. The class focused a lot on the types of problems actuaries have so that is one career that is definitely out of the question.

So I am now an accounting major. I am taking an economics class over winter break (business requirement) and I really like it so far. My accounting class were also really interesting this last semester and I found myself really enjoying those classes.

I've gotten so much better at cooking! I did a completely home made Thanksgiving this last year. I even made the bread for the stuffing and everything. It was a hectic two days of cooking as I didn't want any help but I really enjoyed it.

So I signed up for a cooking class at the community college here. It begins in a few weeks and I am really looking forward to it.

Christmas was good. A couple friends and I went to a midnight mass and I had Christmas dinner with their families. One large holiday dinner a year is enough for me.

For New Year's Eve a group of friends and I played 3 rounds of laser tag. One round was free which was pretty nice. Then we watched "Inglorious Basterds". Hilarious movie.

Financially things are ok but could be better. Tuition has spiked dramatically and if it goes up again it looks like I may have to take out a small student loan. I am, of course, looking for other scholarships and financial aid but a student loan may be on the horizon. Fortunately, even with my major change, it looks like I will graduate in 3-4 semesters so I am not worried about having a huge amount of debt.

I can't think of much else to say. I think that covers just about everything... I hope everyone has had a great new year so far!

My dad surprised me today by buying me a KitchenAid mixer!

He said it is an early Christmas gift- so don't expect anything under the tree. Lol.

I love it! We got it at Costco today. He told me we were going to do some grocery shopping and then led me to the aisle of stand mixers and food processors. I should have been suspicious- he said he wanted to replace the Cuisinart food processor he got 10 years ago (even though that thing still works perfectly). When we came to the stand mixers he said to pick one out.

I got a Professional HD 475 watt, 5 quart bowl, red KitchenAid mixer. I had to lift about 7 boxes of other KitchenAid mixers to get to the color I wanted. It came with four mini prep bowls and a kitchen timer (which I really need- I have been using my cell phone alarm as a timer). There is also a mail-in rebate to get a free attachment- your choice of a food slicer/shredder or a food grinder. I am opting for the slicer/shredder.

I'm so excited! I think I am going to bake some bread tomorrow using my mixer. The instruction booklet has some recipes so I might use one of those. We'll see.

In other not-so-exciting news, I had to buy light bulbs today because my cat decided to pounce on a lamp, causing the lamp to fall over, and the light bulb died. I was watching her from across the room and I just knew what was going to happen before it did. Cats.

I know it isn't healthy, and can lead down a bad road, but lately I have been feeling really horrible and have the urge to shop.

The first anniversary of my mom's death is only a few weeks away and it has been getting more difficult to deal with it. I just want something to take my mind off it (something happy- school is stressful right now). I should be looking forward to my second anniversary with fiance, which is a few days before the aforementioned anniversary, but I can't get excited about it.

I haven't gone shopping, aside from grocery shopping, yet. Fiance has been really great- he's been trying to come up with different ways to get my mind off it and is being a total sweetheart.

I am annoyed with my accounting homework. It is online homework, with the website checking your answers. It gives you three chances to get the homework right and then you are marked wrong. In one problem we had to do an income statement and we had to calculate the income tax expense. I am 99.99% sure I got the right number for it but the website kept telling me I was wrong. I think the website made a mistake so I am going to talk to the teacher tomorrow.

That's about it. I may or may not be updating much. School and everything else is keeping me really busy.

I accomplished most of my goals for the weekend. I did not do a lot of studying (I still have time... the test is Thursday) and I did not do the IS quiz. Why? Because there was no IS quiz. There is not a quiz for another month and I figured I will wait to do that one until about a week before it is due.

Everything else though is complete! Yay!

I will be depositing about $800 into our checking today- my last paycheck at my previous work and fiance's latest paycheck.

I am making spaghetti sauce as I type. Ok, technically, my crock pot is the one making the spaghetti sauce, but I am the one who mixed all the ingredients together! I decided to use canned diced tomatoes instead of buying tomatoes and dicing them myself because the canned version was a lot cheaper. Next time I will probably use fresh tomatoes. It was pretty easy and a lot more fun then buying pre-made sauce.

The sauce I am making is pretty basic in flavor. Oregano, basil, and a bay leaf are all the spices I am using. Oh, and a little bit of garlic and onion. I wanted to see what this tasted like before I started experimenting with different flavors. I figured I can use this recipe as a "base" and go from there.

It is (finally) beginning to get colder here. I actually need a little cardigan today. Towards the end of the week is when the temperatures will start to really drop. Our stove REALLY heats up the apartment every time we use it so I don't think we will have to run the heater a lot this winter.

I have been slacking the past few days. I did, however, have three tests this week so everything else got put on the back burner while I studied for the tests. Now that the weekend is here I can do some catching up.

So today's goals are:
1. Get my IS quiz done. And possibly get a couple quizzes done that aren't due for awhile.
2. Do the accounting hw and quiz.
3. Pick up my paycheck and turn in my work shirts.
4. Upload all the food pics I have taken and flip through my cookbooks for more ideas.

Tomorrow's goals:
1. Get the probability hw done and start studying for the test.
2. Clean the bathroom (tub and shower curtain- don't ask me how that got dirty, I really don't know), living room, and the kitchen. Also put the clothes away properly (fiance originally did this but I don't like how he put my clothes away so I am going to redo it).
3. Go for a bike ride in the morning.

My credit limit went up again- but this time on a different card!

I have a CC with wellsfargo that has a limit of $1,800 and a CC with Barnes & Noble that used to have a limit of $500- now it is $1,250!

Yay! I now have a total credit limit of a little over $3,000! Later this year I am going to check my credit score. It must be decent if my limits are going up.

I don't drink soda. I don't like it. Every once in awhile I will have a can of soda (almost always Sprite) but it is not a regular occurrence for me.

And yet, I so want this:

Just barely though. :P

I have been so busy this past week and a half with school and work and family... I've been popping in and out, reading a post here and there, or reading a thread.

Last week I did try a new recipe, but it wasn't from any of the cookbooks. It didn't turn out too well. In fact, I hated it. Fiance insisted it didn't taste that bad but I think he was lying to me to spare my feelings. Lol. Tonight I will not be trying a new recipe, but rather a new thing.

Chicken thighs with bone and skin. I have NEVER cooked chicken thighs or breasts with the bones and skins. I always buy them boneless and skinless. But, it is more economical to buy them with the bone and skin still on. We'll see how it turns out. I've seen cooks add herbs and spices underneath the skin so I think I will try that.

School is going well. Info Systems is really boring but really easy. I really like my accounting class. The only class I don't like is probability theory. It is challenging, which I like, but I don't like probability. Which is a bummer because several people have told me to consider becoming an actuary.

Fiance and I are doing well with not spending a lot of money. We went to sushi over the weekend and got all you can eat for $30 for the two of us for dinner. We even got a coupon for the next time we go. But we both agree we won't be eating out again this month.

I will be sticking to Walmart to do my grocery shopping. Last week I went to a different grocery store that my friend said is really good and not expensive and ended up spending a little over $50! I got the same items I usually get at Walmart. So I'll be doing my shopping at Walmart for groceries, with the possible exception of fruit. Sometimes the Walmart here doesn't have the best fruit so I'll go to another grocery store (same shopping center) for that if I need to.

So far my half.com total for this month is $21. Not bad.

I think that is all so far... it seems so little to update on for the past week.