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!

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!

This week has been pretty busy.

I quit my job.

I will be doing some "stuff" in the math department at my school. I say "stuff" because they haven't actually decided what I will be doing most of the time. I will most likely be doing paper grading and some tutoring.

I am sad but relieved to be leaving my job. It is time that I start making more connections with those in my department. I will be working at my job until mid-September.

I joined "Intervarsity Christian Fellowship" and ended up spending 12 hours at school Thursday. I got to school early to meet with friends before my classes began. And then after my classes I attended the bbq that the club was hosting and then the group meeting.

I also changed my church membership from the church I have been going to for a few years to the cathedral. Fiance and I have been attending the cathedral for mass for about a year now and no longer go to the other church. I've been meaning to do it for a long time now, but I have always forgotten. The cathedral is on my way home from school so I no longer had an excuse of not being able to make it to the church when the office is open.

For my IS class we have several online assignments. I have finished all but one. I hate it when teachers assign homework online. For one, I *always* forget about it until 5 minutes before it is due. Hence why I have finished most of the assignments already. I need to get them out of the way now or later on in the semester I am not going to have the time to do them or remember that I have those online assignments. For another, I do not learn well with doing things online. I learn best by hearing the material and writing out the problems step-by-step. Online assignments don't help me at all.

After spending 9 hours in the sun, I am exhausted. I was supposed to do the grocery shopping tonight but I think tomorrow will be a better option.

I've had this sneaking suspicion that the two accounting textbooks required for my accounting class were actually one in the same.

Those suspicions were confirmed today when the teacher not only told us we only needed one of the two, but that they are in fact the same book. So tomorrow I will gladly head to the student store and return the $200 version and keep the $132 version.

Fiance and I ended up stopping by B&N today. I wanted to look at books so I would have a general idea of what I wanted to spend my gift certificate on. It didn't work though- it only made me more confused about what I wanted! There are so many books to choose from...

I picked up an application for the store. They are accepting applications (but not hiring) which means they probably won't give me a call anytime soon but it doesn't hurt to ask. So I will drop off the application the next time I am there. Though I want to leave my job, I am not in a huge hurry. If it takes a few weeks to find another job, I am ok with that. But the sooner the better.

Though it hasn't been much of a summer- I was either in school or working. Lol.

I have so much laundry to do tonight. Fiance and I are going over to my dad's to do the laundry and move a desk. I am so sore from the past few days at work that I doubt I will be much help with the desk. I hope he has food. I have not been eating much the past few days because of work.

Speaking of work... major drama going on. I have decided to look for a new job. I won't/can't quit until I have something else lined up, but I am getting fed up with my job. I am going to ask my advisor on Monday or Tuesday if there are any openings in the math department. Who knows, maybe there is something I can do. Paper grader anyone? Lol.

I will apply to places outside of school for a job of course. I will be looking a lot closer to home for a job. No more driving 14 miles to work everyday. There are plenty of restaurants and stores within 3 miles of my apartment that I can apply to. So I will look there.

Finally deposited my paycheck yesterday. $530. Of course all of that will be going to school related expenses. I still have to buy notebooks for my classes. I will get that at Walmart when I do the grocery shopping.

Which reminds me... I have to do grocery shopping. Darn. Why can't the groceries just appear in the fridge/pantry when I need them?

Fiance and I have been pretty good about our fun spending. We went to the movies once ($18) and that's about it.

But school... omg.

Fiance and I bought our parking permits today. $200 for two permits for the entire school year. We went from a $200 permit to a $100 permit each. More walking but less money.

$200 for all of fiance's textbooks. $100 on my textbooks so far and I will spend another $3-400 on textbooks tomorrow. One textbook I might be able to split with a friend because we are taking the same class. We'll see.

Fiance has prepaid tuition so his scholarships are extra money. That will cover the cost of textbooks and part of my tuition (which is about as much as textbooks!).

I'm still in shock over how much my textbooks cost. In the past I have been able to get the textbooks for so much less. Guess I chose an expensive major and minor. :P

I sold another book today. I made $4.14 pre-shipping. Shipping will cost about $3. I'm going to apply this month's half.com money to textbooks/tuition and next month's money will go towards fiance's IRA. He didn't contribute to it last month. After we will probably use the half.com money for spending money. Every little bit counts.

Tomorrow I have to be at work at 5:30 in the morning! That means I have to get up at 4:30! Ugh. I like mornings but that is a little too early for me. This week I am working several days which is very good. My last paycheck was for $428 so this next one should be at least that.

I went grocery shopping today. I spent $26.48. Last week I spent $22.96. I have budgeted about $50/week on groceries so we are coming in way under budget. Next week's grocery shopping is going to be more expensive because I have to buy food for our party. I think it will add another $15-20 to our grocery bill, leaving us still under budget.

I have to do laundry at my dad's and I need to do a little bit of cleaning there today too. But it hurts to move! Fiance says the sunburn looks better today but I don't believe him.

At work today I seemed to injure and bruise myself non-stop. It was just one of those days. Constantly bumping into things, running things over my foot... you get the drift.

And then I get home, park my car, get out and walk in front of my car and.. ram my knee into my license plate! Already a bruise is forming.

Sigh.

I got my paycheck today! The one bright side. It was for $404.88. So Monday I will go to the bank and deposit it. $202.44 will go into savings, $121.46 will go into my iRA, and $80.97 will be used for spending money. Which I've kind of already spent. Not all of it, only about $30. Agh.

You know, it is a lot easier to justify spending little amounts of money when you are already spending large amounts of money. Boyfriend and I both had a lot of expenses this month- car registration/insurance, parking permits, medical bills... And we started to let our fun money go slightly over because hey, we just wrote a $200 check to boyfriend's doctor, what's the big deal?

Luckily our "out of control spending" lasted only a couple days and cost us only $30. Well, technically $32 and change when you consider sales tax.

Ok, I need to get to sleep. I am way past my bed time.

I took my car to the mechanic today and the reason for the flat tires was discovered: hubcaps!

Apparently the previous owner put hubcaps on the wheels that did not fit and it was cutting off the valve. Somebody must have kicked my hubcaps and that made it deflate more quickly.

I joked to the mechanic: I never thought I would have to check the hubcaps on a used car! Seriously, who would have thought to check that?

I picked up my paycheck today. It was for $367.37 and went right into checking. I had to take about $50 out of savings to cover the smog/car registration and parking permit. I will get my car registered tomorrow and send off the payment for the permit too. So I wasn't able to save anything but I also didn't take anything out for spending money.

This weekend will be very very busy. I work Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. So my next paycheck should be larger than it has been recently.

What a night!

The wedding yesterday went just fine. I got a little after midnight and a coworker and I walked out to our cars together. I get in my car, start, and begin to drive up the hill when I notice my front tire is being weird. So I pull over and look at my front passenger tire.

It's flat!

My coworker saw me so she drove me back to the club to get my other coworkers and boss and have them help me change my tire. It is then that we realize that the front driver tire is flat too.

Two flat tires!

Argh. Fortunately my spare was in my car (when I bought the car I forgot to check for that. You can bet that now I'll never forgot to check the spare on a used car.) so we changed one tire and the other tire we fixed with "Fix-a-Flat". It is this foam that is pumped into the tire. It essentially makes the tire a spare as you can't drive very far on it. But the foam fills up the tire and coats any holes.

I'm going to be calling my mechanics very, very soon. Chances are someone let the air out of my tires (who, I don't know) but I still want to get the tires looked over. Just in case.

And I still have an essay to write today.

Today wasn't much fun.

I had to write two papers for my English class and read a TON of pages of Luther and Erasmus. It wouldn't have been so bad if I had started earlier but *cough* I didn't. Hehe. I took a walk between the papers to clear my head and recharge.

What matters is that I got it all done, and before 10 pm tonight!

Dinner was hard tonight. It took about an hour and a half from start to finish. Any other day that would have been fine but I was in no mood to be cooking so long. Turned out really well but the stuffed shells is a recipe I will be reserving for special occasions. I'm sure I could find a quicker recipe for it elsewhere though.

I went to the grocery store to redeem my coins. Not for cash this time, but for a gift card to Amazon. I will spend that money on books- once I finish the very long line of books waiting to be read of course.

The next two days I will be going straight from school to work but I have the weekend off. I'll be finding out very soon about whether I'll be staying at my job. Maybe even tomorrow.

Boyfriend made a decision about how much he will work.

Until mid-August, he will work 9 hours/day (he misheard his parents-it was never 10 hours/day), 5 days/week. He will have Sunday and Monday off.

If he works 45 hours/week, he will make $900 every two weeks before taxes. After taxes he will make about $810 every two weeks (no state taxes). That brings us to $1,620 every month.

His beginning savings is $5,500 (not including IRA). He plans on putting half of his paycheck into savings, 30% into IRA, and 20% for spending money (what I do).

At the end of June, he will have roughly $6,300 in savings. At the end of July, he will have about $7,100 in savings.

Assuming I have $4,500 by the end of July, between us we will have $11,600 in savings.

Our monthly expenses will be as follows (roughly, we'll fine tune it later):

Rent and utilities: $625
Phone/Internet: $50
Groceries and household supplies: $225
Gas: $150
Misc: $50
Total: $1,100

That means we will have about ten months of expenses in the bank before we move. This is likely to decrease though when school begins because I have to buy textbooks and tuition. Boyfriend has prepaid tuition and a scholarship and that covers everything, including textbooks. My textbooks and tuition shouldn't be more than $750.

There is a possibility of me leaving my job in as little as a week. I don't want to say much about it until it actually happens. Nothing is certain right now.

When I told boyfriend (I found out last night at work), he said, "Finally I get to be the primary bread winner!". His previous job made considerably less than mine, and I knew he felt a little bad about that. It never bothered me but I think it bruised his ego that he was making less than me. I asked him if he would feel bad if he had to pay for everything and he said no: he likes to take care of me.

If I have to leave my job, then that's that. I will find another. It might take a few weeks, but I know I can find another job.

I am in a pickle.

Boyfriend has been offered a job at his parents' shop. Which is great for a few reasons. 1) He can see them more, 2) he'll make more per hour (he'll go from $7.5/hour to $10/hour), 3) he will work as many or as little hours as he likes.

The problem is with how many hours he'll work over the summer. They want him to work 10 hours a day, 6 days a week (the entire time the shop is open basically). Honestly I think 60 hours a week is too much. We would have very little time together if he works 60 hours a week.

I work mostly evenings and nights. He would work from 8 am to 6 pm. I also work weekends, so the Sunday he has off I would be working. And during the week (on the nights I have off), I will be most likely be doing homework.

Boyfriend wants to work 60 hours/week so we can save as much money as possible. Yes, if he works that much he'll make about $2,000/month. Great money, but not worth it to me. If he just works 40 hours/week, he'll still make about $1,300 (after taxes). The extra money would be great to add to the savings, but is it really worth not spending so much time together?

I don't know what to do. We could use the money. Boyfriend says that he wants to work so much so that we have that extra money in case we need it. He says working so much now will pay off in our future. I can't argue with his logic- it makes perfect sense. The more he is able to save now, the better. That's less we have to worry about when we move, get married, I begin grad school... And if there should be an emergency over the school year (when neither one of us is working full-time), the extra padding in the savings could be a life saver.

I just don't know if I want to give up some time with him now. I suppose I'm being selfish. And it's not like we won't see each other at all this summer. We will have time together, just not as much as I would like.

He knows how I feel. I told him to do what he thinks is best. I think he's going to talk with his parents about the hours and see what else they can offer him.

Today was payday. My paycheck was for $371.65.

I put $185.83 into savings, $111.49 into my IRA, and I kept $74.33 for spending. $30 of the spending money is going to my Kindle, but the rest I can do whatever I want with.

This brings my new totals to:

Savings: $3,792.89
IRA: $1,991.52

Yay!

I got my paycheck today and it was $352.43. I'm really surprised at how high it is. Right after I got my paycheck I went to the bank.

I put $176.23 in savings, $105.72 in IRA, and $70.48 I kept as spending money.

This brings my new totals to:
Savings: $3,607.06
IRA: $1,880.03

Yay! I am less than $900 away from completing my savings goal! I'm very happy about this.

Currently what I am doing with my paycheck is putting 50% in savings, 30% into IRA, and 20% as spending money. Once I complete my savings goal I plan on putting 40% into savings, 40% into IRA, and 20% as spending money. I'll keep doing this until I move out and real bills start coming in.

I'm going to save my spending money for a larger purchase. I'm not sure what yet (Coach bag? Nice piece of jewelry?), but I want to buy a special item for when I complete my goal(s).

I looove natural fireplaces! And today, while my boyfriend and I were looking at a couple apartments, I found one.

It is an apartment complex less than a 5 minute walk from where I currently am. It is a nice, spacious apartment. The closet is huge (not a walk in, but I can deal!). The kitchen is a little small but the living is huge and has gorgeous windows overlooking the park. And best of all, it has a wood burning fireplace!!

The only downside is the price. It is $650/month, hot water included. Washer/dryer is not in the actual apartment, but on site. That's not a problem as I can use my dad's washer/dryer. We can afford $650/month, but that is pushing it.

They do have studios that are $550/month. We will have to go back and look at the studios as we didn't have the chance today. I'm pretty sure the studios also have a fireplace, but I'm not sure. The fireplace is definitely my favorite part!

But we won't be moving in until August so we have plenty of time to look at other places (which we intend to).

I have work tonight, though it will only be for a couple hours. Pay day is Tuesday and I can't wait for it to arrive! Boyfriend's work has also been giving him more hours. We're very happy about this as the past month he hasn't been able to save much.

Not much else is going on. Finals start in 6 days.

Oh, by the way, you can now get "The Suze Orman" show on iTunes for free. You can get the shows from March 28th on.

Tonight was my boss's b-day and I was invited to her house for her party.

Apparently one of my co-workers is an accountant and has started his own CPA firm. I was talking to him and he told me that next tax season, if I want, I can do some work for him! I would be helping his staff with tax returns. I fully intend to take him up on his offer next year. I'm very excited about this.

There's not much else to report on. Payday is the 20th but I won't be getting a paycheck. I created a list of stuff I need and want for my future apartment. I'm so excited about this! Life has been difficult the past few years but I feel like I'm over a major hurdle and it's starting to improve. I just hope that I'm not getting my hopes up too high.

This weekend at least. The rest of April is pretty much dead.

No work gives me a chance to relax and hang out with family, but that also means no pay. I picked up my paycheck today and it was for $83.66. And I doubt my next paycheck will be anything.

Oh well.

Summer school is going to be very costly. The tuition alone is $1,265! And that doesn't include books.

Ouch.

And fall tuition, after the school scholarships, is about $740 + books. At least I *think* that is how much it is. It could be less. I'm going to do extra searches for scholarships. Normally the school scholarships pretty much cover tuition so I don't need to do a lot of outside search for scholarships. But this time, I will. I'll begin looking tonight.

I'm a little mad at myself for not looking for scholarships for the summer. The school scholarships do not cover summer tuition and I should have prepared for that. If I am lucky I might be able to find a couple scholarships.

I am thinking that over the summer, instead of taking 3 classes, I will take two. This will drop the tuition to below $900 and I will not have to buy as many books. Unfortunately, this means that I will have to take this class over the fall semester and push one class to next spring. But if I take it during the fall, the scholarships will cover almost all of it. I think this might be the best choice but I will think about it for a couple days.

So with all this upcoming expenses I am not going to spend any of the money I am getting from the apartment complex for referring my friend. It will be saved and will most likely go towards books and tuition. As much as I would like to buy something for myself with it, I know I can't. It would be irresponsible to not put it towards tuition.

Tonight was unusually cheap for us. We have a couple date nights a month where we usually go out to dinner and then a movie, or a show, or something.

Tonight was date night and we decided to do something different. We made dinner at home (chicken and asparagus and a salad) and then rented a movie for free (some special program my boyfriend signed up for video games). We also went to the local park and played on the swing set and jungle gym.

We rented "Made of Honor" and after we watched that we watched "Blazing Saddles" (which we already had).

Sunday is technically payday but because it is a Sunday the paychecks will be available on Monday. I'm not expecting it to be more than $100.

Tomorrow and Sunday is the annual Women's Expo. I've never been so my boyfriend, friend, her mom, and myself will be going tomorrow. I'm looking forward to it. In the morning there will be a talk given on finances that I want to hear. So my boyfriend and I will be getting there a couple hours before my friend. I'll report tomorrow what the talk was on.

I sold another thing on half.com today. This time a movie.

Before shipping fees, I get $6.21. I haven't shipped it yet (it is a Sunday), but shipping fees should be no more than $1 or two.

Yesterday I also received cash tips for the party I worked. $42 in cash and I'll get another $40-ish on my paycheck. I am, unfortunately, not working at all this upcoming week. So my paychecks for April are going to be really low. Oh well. In May it will start picking up and will last at least through September (we have several weddings in September). I think I'm going to hold onto the cash tips and use that as my spending money and take less spending money (if any at all) out of my next paycheck.

I may an impulse purchase yesterday, but one that is definitely worth it.

For my job I have to wear a white, buttoned-down, collared, long sleeve, plain shirt. No fancy buttons, etc.

And it has been extremely hard for me to find one in my size. But yesterday I ran into some good luck when my boyfriend needed to go shopping.

We stopped by Old Navy because boyfriend needed to get some clothes and while he was trying on the clothes I wandered off and did some browsing myself. I wasn't intending to buy anything, just wanted to see what they had (it's been a long time since I've been in Old Navy).

And there I saw it: shirts I can wear for work! I checked the shirt over- small buttons, buttoned up to the top, collar, long sleeve, etc. I grabbed an XS (last one they had too- I really lucked out!) and tried it on.

It fit!

Yay! It cost $20 but well worth it. I now have a total of 3 shirts I can wear for work! In a few weeks I'll go back and see if they have anymore in my size. When I go back I will also look for a pair of black slacks. One of the two I have for work will need to be replaced soon.

We'll start with the good:

I got my paycheck today, it was for $258.51. So I put $129.26 into savings, $77.55 into IRA, and $51.70 for spending money.

And now the bad news...

I *kind* of went over budget today. I know, I know! Bad Cassandra! Tomorrow is my boyfriend's birthday and I finally figured out what to get him. I got him a $25 visa gift card for when he goes drinking tomorrow and a nice chess set ($50). I had budgeted $75 for his birthday so I went a few dollars over when you take sales tax into consideration.

But the real budget kicker was our little day trip today. I spent $19 on lunch for the two of us, I bought myself a $6 lip gloss (normally I wouldn't have spent so much on lip gloss but it had a funny tube!), $16 on fudge (it was REALLY good fudge!), $15 on gas, and on the way home I bought myself a small sandwich and drink ($9). Total spent: $65. Planned: $50.

Fortunately I have some spending money at home from the past couple paychecks that I haven't spent yet. I didn't think I would spend so much today so I didn't have enough cash for everything and had to charge the rest. Tomorrow I will go to the bank and deposit some of my spending money to cover my CC. So while I did spend more than I expected, I do have the cash to cover it. I just didn't have it with me at the time.

Ironically, the reason I left the rest of my money at home was because I didn't want to spend it all. We don't normally take day trips and normally we would have split the cost of it but because it is his birthday tomorrow I wanted to pay.

So I went over budget by $15. Actually $20 if you include the sales tax.

Well I am not working this weekend which is both good and bad. Bad because it means I don't make money, good because I can spend my boyfriend's birthday with him.

Which brings me to a problem... I have no idea what to get him. He says video games or something from a certain store, but there are problems with his suggestions. First, I don't know what video games he likes. And I feel weird getting him a gift card. Second, the store he mentioned doesn't exist! I looked in the yellow pages, googled the name with our city following, and I called 411. NOTHING! I even tried variations of the name but all I got were restaurants.

Friday is payday which makes me happy. I can't wait to see how much I can put into my savings.

I am no good at waiting.

No good.

Next Friday is payday and I want my paycheck now.

BUT, if I were to get my paycheck today, it would not be as high as when I receive it on the 20th. Win some, lose some.

But what I am REALLY wanting to get done is the countertops. They called and they are coming on Friday to put in the new countertops. It's about freakin' time! I first noticed the leak on January 24th. A plumber came by later that week and on Feb. 1 they began the process of removing the mold. And our kitchen hasn't been the same since. We are going on SIX weeks without a proper kitchen.

But even though the countertops will be done Friday, we are probably not going to have a sink until Monday. Why? Because the plumber is coming by tomorrow to remove the sink so they can put in the countertops Friday, and knowing this company, they won't be by until Monday to put the sink back in.

The bright side is that we did not have to pay one penny for any of the work done. Because the leak was caused by the pipes not being put together properly (maybe it was all that soda they were drinking...), the HOA covered all of it.

I'm going to go read. This week the homework load has been really light because spring break starts Friday! Yay!

After I finish these two books I am debating on whether or not I should get another book. The book in question is Bringing Home the Birkin by Michael Tonello. I can buy it on half.com for $8 (hardcover, only version available right now), but if I wait until August I can buy the paper back version from Borders using my gift card. Decisions, decisions.

Oh, and I decided to get a PO box. I'll probably get one at the end of March, so after I receive my paycheck. Do I have to change my mailing address with the Post Office? How about the DMV? Or does it not really matter because I am not moving?

So a quick run down of everything:

Work: This upcoming week I work 2 days: Friday and Saturday. Saturday will be easy, but Friday I am worried about. It is a good sized party (90), and they will be given a menu to choose from (if they want to order). They will mostly be drinking. I do not like parties where they can order food. I do not like actually serving. I almost always mess up. But, because they will be drinking, they will tip more. The only tips we get from this banquet will be any cash tips we receive.

Condo: Carpet repair men will be coming tomorrow. My boyfriend, brother, and myself just finished moving the dining room table, chairs, and hutch (for the third time!) out of the dining room. After they are done (hopefully it is a one day job!), all that is left is finishing the counters.

And just as one problem is wrapping up, another one begins. I think I need to call the washer repairman down to look at the washer machine. It is making funny noises during the spin cycle, so I think something might have become loose. I looked in the washer and felt around (it is a top loader), but didn't feel anything loose.

Everything else: (I'm too lazy to think of different categories.) I completely forgot to make an appointment with my advisor so I really need to do that tomorrow. I believe within the next month registration will begin, but I am not certain.

I went grocery shopping and forgot to buy sunscreen for the second time. I wear it every day but ran out about 1.5 weeks ago. Must remember to buy it on way to school tomorrow!

I hate wallets. I have been using a Coach mini skinny that I bought a few months ago as my wallet. It fits my cards and my car keys and is small enough to fit in just about every purse. But, when my boyfriend gave me a wallet for my birthday I decided to use it. It is a very pretty, albeit bulky, wallet. Today I wanted to use a small purse so I move my wallet into the purse and the wallet takes up the entire inside of the purse! Argh. Not wanting to completely change my wallet, I took out my ID, cash, and debit card and put that in the purse.

Yep, tomorrow I turn 20! Yay!

Today my boyfriend and I went shopping as I needed more work clothes. Didn't find what I was looking for so sometime next week I'll go to a couple different stores.

My boyfriend gave me my present today, which was a really pretty red cardigan, a pink leather wallet, and some perfume. We also went out for lunch today and got some chocolate cake.

The floor guy is coming on Monday to replace the dining room carpet and to put in the linoleum in the pantry. I have no idea how long it will take, but I am keeping my fingers crossed that it is only a day or two. The company that is doing the countertops is having trouble finding the same color granite as our existing counters, so that might take an extra few days.

The interest on my IRA is still coming in very slow. But at least I am making some money, right?

I looked over my older posts and figured out something interesting. It took me nearly 17 months to save the first $1,000 in my IRA. However, since then it has only taken me 5 months to save another $700, and I'll probably be able to save the other $300 (and giving me my second $1,000 in my IRA) in the next few months. I'm getting better at this.

I don't know if I mentioned this in my previous post, but tomorrow I am working. And the banquet that I am working is a 90th birthday party. It highly amused me that on my birthday I am working a birthday party.

I was debating on whether or not I should get my paycheck today but I decided to go ahead. My boyfriend came with me and while we were there we also had lunch- he has never been to my work before and we were both hungry.

My paycheck was for about $178.00 so I put $89 into my savings, $53 into IRA, and $35 I kept for spending money.

There is not much else to report on. Things are chugging along just as they have always been.

Today was a pretty good day. I had work at 1 pm and got off a little after 6. It was a golf tournament scoring party, which should have been cake, but there was some issue with the food. There was also a wedding at the same time and only two cooks.

I wanted to go out after work to get a couple more work shirts but my feet were hurting and I decided I'll get work clothes tomorrow when we go shopping. I was hungry and cold and my feet needed a break.

I really need to clean the back of my car. My car usually doesn't get messy (I don't allow anyone to eat in my car and I only keep what I need in my car) but I have been leaving junk mail and paperwork and for some reason, hangers in there. I know I had a reason for taking the hangers out of my closet, but I can't remember why.

Great news is that after almost 5 weeks, our kitchen is *this* close to being done! All that is left is the countertops. We have our sink and dishwasher and cabinets. Then they need to replace the carpet in the dining room, but I frankly don't care too much about the carpet. The dining room is not heavily used and the small chunk of carpet that is missing is not in a vital location. Soon our lives will be completely normal.

I am looking forward to shopping tomorrow. My boyfriend was going to come with us tomorrow but then decided not to. Says he put off getting my b-day gift and needs to get it tomorrow. I remind him that my birthday isn't until next Saturday (and that a gift isn't necessary) but he just shrugs.

Oh, and I earned 13 cents in interest on my savings and 6 cents on my IRA for the month of Feb.

I just got another W-2 in the mail today. They had a really old address so it took a while to get to me. Weird thing is, they had an address of mine from 2007, not 2008 (I moved in fall of 2007 to an apartment with my grandma).

But the thing is, I do not recognize the company. I worked at two places last year. One was where I currently worked and the other was a short stint at another company. I have already received both W-2s.

Could it be a correction? I thought that at first but when I compared the names of the companies on my other W-2s to this one, none match.

Obviously I am going to need to file an amended tax return, as this will affect what I was owed. I already received my refund so I am most likely going to owe the IRS money.

But that doesn't answer my question: Where the heck did this W-2 come from?

I'm going to try to call this company and get information from them.

ETA:

Ok. So the company I currently work for had one payroll company until the end of 2007. Then, starting Jan. 1 of 2008 they had a new payroll company. This W-2 is for the last paycheck I received from the old payroll company on Jan. 4th of 2008.

I'm glad I got that cleared up. Amended return here I come...

Well I am working a banquet tomorrow. I probably won't receive a lot of tips but at least I am working. There is another banquet I will be working next Saturday.

For this event however I need a black tie. I cannot find one in my house so I will have to buy one. My boyfriend will be picking one up from his work tonight before his shift begins. That is, if there are any in stock. If not I will be going to a Men's Warehouse to buy one.

I am very excited to be working tomorrow and next week. Since dropping a class I have had a lot of free time and quite honestly have felt a little useless. I have been looking for classes to take (on things like sewing or tennis or whatever) but haven't found what I have been looking for.

The company that was hired to kill all the mold has finished and now the leak can be repaired. I'll be so happy when this is all behind us. The HOA will be reimbursing us so that is one less thing to worry about.

I am a little worried about work. I called over a week ago about being able to return and have not heard anything. I called two days ago but again, nothing. I will try again today.

ETA: Grrr. I just called my bank to check my savings account balance and I discovered that the bank did not transfer money from my savings to my checking like I asked them to do on Monday. It was a telephone transfer. I really needed that transfer to be done on Monday to cover a check I had sent in the mail. Chances are that check bounced.

Sigh.

The bank shows no record of me asking them to make that transfer so I doubt they will cover a bounced check charge if it does bounce.