Catching up

My goal is to keep up with this place better the rest of the spring. I've got a good grasp on school work now--I think that first paper I had to turn in on the database was so difficult because it was so outside anything else I'd done. Hopefully, I've got it down (ha!). Or at least get it enough that I can devote more of life to other things.


Spring Break started yesterday and we've got no real plans. Paul is swamped with work and I've got a paper due on Wednesday (already completed and turned in) and one due on Monday (should be working on it but taking a break right now). Yesterday, I did the majority of our income taxes. It wasn't as bad as we thought it would be--I always psych myself up by preparing to owe at least 5 digits. We never have owed that much before and most likely never will but it's makes even $1500 much easier to swallow. And good news for us, we're now wealthy, at least according to our new president. Paul and I were recently talking about how frustrating it is now that the economy is tanking and everyone is touting the benefits of frugal living and saving since we've been doing that for years. I remember telling a coworker at the beginning of the economic downturn last year or so that there's not much more Paul and I can do. I'm a comparison/coupon shopper, hate throwing away any food, try not to pay retail for anything, we both put as much into our 401(k) or 403(b) as allowed, invest and save quite a bit of our income, try to be frugal with purchases (we do have "fun" splurges like the Wii but we still have a 10-year old TV given to us as a wedding gift, our newest car is 5 years old, etc). We won't benefit from any stimulus payout, mortgage packages, or anything else that is making news. But, hey, thanks Mr. President, for letting me know we're wealthy while our investments and IRAs are hemorrhaging money. And thanks, IRS, for not taking as much of our hard-earned savings as we thought you would.


The rest of my Project List for the week is some furniture rearranging, cleaning the yard if the weather is nice enough (been cooler and is supposed to be windy this week), and cleaning out some clothes and straightening/reorganizing the closets again (an annual thing since I just throw things in during the year). We're redoing the guest room to make it a more usable space for the 50 weeks a year we don't have company. I bought a desk for me to use in that room and found a futon at World Market a month or so ago that I really liked for the guest room. It is little narrower than a queen bed when flat but it is the length of one which is what I wanted. It was on sale last month ($200 off) so I insisted on getting it RIGHT THEN even though we weren't quite ready to actually own it. There was debate about keeping Paul's old futon and storing the double mattress and boxspring for later but that raised the question of where, donating the mattress but then if we have a child we'll end up buying almost the same thing in a few years, and on and on. And in the meantime, we've been living with a really big box in the living room for the last month while we decide what to do. People have been over to my house with this huge box sitting just a few feet from the front door. It's times like that when people see a bit too much how we actually live. After some sentimental agonizing, we decided to donate the futon in the upstairs bedroom to a local charity. I was hesitant to do that--it's the last thing from Paul's bachelor days and I felt bad about getting rid of it, especially since it would be because we're keeping the last thing from my single days. But Paul is much less sentimental than I am so the futon is being picked up on Friday and we'll move the double bed to the upstairs bedroom for at least the time being. I've debated repainting the room. I won't get to it this week plus, I still really like the color of the room. I'm going to put down the rug that used to be in our living room, buy a new desk chair, sprinkle around a few knick-knacks and wall art and we'll have a "new" guest room.

Our yard desperately needs to be cleaned up and pots replanted. Mostly, it will just be cleaning up some old growth and raking up old leaves. One of the bushes in the yard needs to be trimmed way back, too. I need to figure out what to replant in the shadier spot of the yard--one is a dwarf crepe myrtle that has been there for over five years and it isn't growing at all. I think we lost a few plants over the winter so I'll need to either replace those myself or get the landscaper out to do it. I just hope the weather cooperates this week. It was so beautiful last week--too bad we couldn't have had Spring Break then.

So, that's my week off. Spring Break will be a low-key but busy week. If nothing else, I've got to get this paper finished with hopefully less agonizing than the last paper caused me. And hopefully, I'll catch up over in these parts a bit as well. It will be good for me to write a little fluff along with that academic stuff I've got going.