August 3, 2007
there’s a mysterious deposit to my checking account. It’s labeled “Customer Deposit,” which means it was an in-branch deposit, for one thousand dollars, originating from another state. While I have relatives in that state, I don’t have relatives who have that kind of money, who have my checking account number, or who would unexpectedly make huge deposits for me. Do I?!
The bank can’t give me information on the deposit over the phone, they can just send a copy of the deposit slip, and that’ll take 5-7 days to arrive.
Huh.
That’s weird.
Still waiting for my cell phone to ring with some news. Any news. She’s being seen at the hospital right now, and I’ve got friends at the county hospital on call this weekend in case of problems. Just waiting to hear anything.
And I shouldn’t have had turkey for lunch, I’m full, sleepy and worried.
Also, I have to make a decision about this trip to Baltimore on Sunday. Go? Stay? Shouldn’t this be obvious?
July 18, 2007
BoyDucky’s been (let himself be) suckered into depending on United’s E-fares that publish the week of the weekend he’d like to travel. The last time he got complacent and found that United wasn’t going to fly him down to SoCal for less than $350, his coworker came to the rescue reminding him to use Travelocity’s last minute package deals that include airfare and car rental.
This time, however, he’s completely out of luck. Not only did lastminute.com, and various alterations to his itinerary still not turn up any good flight options, he was too late to buy the $166 fare I found, using more inconvenient airports, on farecompare.com. Now that it’s just a couple days before he wants to travel, options are much more severely limited.
If h’s determined to come down this weekend and work out with his team, it’s going to cost at least $250. *shudder* This is why I’d rather make arrangements far in advance and have a plane ticket I can live with that (< $150). I'm so glad that he's already got his tickets for the next weekend (Con weekend). We simply can't afford to keep flying him down at such exhorbitant prices!
And I can’t wait until we’re in the same city.
July 16, 2007
This blog is one year old!
After a whole lot of random blog posts, and a small group of readers, this blog has really become quite a fun outlet for all the deeply personal and financial issues close to my heart. Thank you all for participating in the conversations, and I look forward to many more!
July 4, 2007
It’s the beginning of the third quarter, and it’s still not clear who is going to win this year’s fiscal game, but I have to say that despite all the setbacks, financially, emotionally, and familially (that’s not right, is it? It’s just familial), I’m slowly creeping towards a milestone of financial stability.
No, there’s not much left after the bills are paid and I’ve mentally subtracted the amount of the outrageous loan I made to my brother. Nonetheless, I have a steady job that brings in a few slices of bacon every two weeks, and I am, at the end of the day, able to pay the bills and have a little left over. It’s time to be grateful that, despite all the obstacles in the way, and despite all the hardships that are yet to be faced, progress is still being made.
There’s light at the end of this tunnel. And I’m grateful.
June 29, 2007
It’s amazing how little time, and how few sentences it can take to evoke that numbing sensation of helplessness.
Pa: Your mom wants to work three days at the local *business which I’ve asked her to give up. It pays next to nothing for hours upon hours of work.* They’ll pay her $50.
*Realization: She’s doing this because she’s absolutely determined to do whatever it takes to gain some financial stability and independence. She resents PaDucky refusing to change his ways, and in the meantime letting me work constantly, and not getting a real job himself until I finally insisted on it. Despite her poor health, it’s not practical for me to ask her to not work at all because I can’t take on the one bill that she does pay out of her own pocket, and I won’t undercut her independence. But knowing that my mom is literally toiling away at drudgery and I’m not able to save her some of it is …. utterly depressing. There’s a small bright side to this. She was offered extra hours at the local restaurant, cashiering, and so she’ll do that instead. But I have a sinking feeling that if Pa hadn’t tattled on her and the cashiering hours weren’t offered, she would have done the other job behind my back.*
Ma: Your dad is really short of money again because your brother made him cover his portion of the monthly investment bill. (This is the investing thing that I’d talked about before, I’m part of it but I’m positive that I’m the only one of the family who is disciplined enough to make money from it.) Your brother said it was because your dad owed him money.
*Realization: One, the two of them should never deal with money together. Neither the borrowing nor lending of. I made my stance on that crystal clear years ago. If Pa needed money, he should have come to me. But he won’t. Why? Because he’d rather lie to me than tell me that he needed something. He’d rather lie to me and say that “Oh, haha, Ma took out the money I meant to give you (my profits that he collects from the investment on my behalf) I’ll get that to you later!” I knew I shouldn’t have asked for it if he didn’t volunteer the payment, but I had to know if he was still going to lie to me. I guess he will. Two, apparently there’s still nothing I can do to force anyone in this family to GROW UP. And for the sake of my sanity, I have to bite my tongue, and refuse to get involved if they insist on making deals, plans, or anything behind my back.*
I realize I’m not the parent here, but with all the tattling going on, and the sheer inability to make the tough, prudent choices anymore, I feel like I AM their parent!! Part of me finds that exasperating, yet a little bit funny. This had better be good training for the future.
June 25, 2007
Wanda brings up the conundrum I frequently debate: to travel or not to travel?
In particular, my group of friends had a mini-pool party this weekend, and we got to chatting about trips we’d love to take. The conversation rapidly evolved into a discussion of weekend trips we could actually take over the summer like a kayaking trip either over by Alamitos Bay or in the Channel Islands, or camping in Yellowstone, or a long weekend in New York.
B, an outspoken blonde, asked with some asperity if we were ever going to take a cruise as we’re always talking about it, and never actually do it? Cue the requisite “Can we take a cruise when we have money?” from a few members of the group. B’s response? Absolutely guaranteed to give me hives: “That’s what credit cards are for. I’m in debt anyway, what does it matter?” *shuddering uncontrollably* Seriously???
I withheld my mental, knee-jerk, ranty response to her disparaging implication that now that she’s got money, others should be willing to pony up for fun regardless of their circumstances.
I only said that I didn’t believe in getting into debt for luxuries, but it did turn my mind to the trip to Italy and Greece that my best friend is taking with her family next year, and whether or not I’m refusing to consider it out of an enforced sense of poverty? I expect it would cost approximately $2000-2500 and I already have about 130 vacation hours. Sure I don’t have the money yet, but if (and this is a BIG if) the rumors about a substantial raise really do come through, could I? And I really want to go. Of course, if I evaluated everything on the basis of how much I really want it …. 🙂
To be honest, you know what I’m really looking forward to if that raise truly comes through? Giving my mom a monthly allowance. I’m sure it couldn’t be much, but it would mean, to me, that she would see that she doesn’t have to slave away at her various jobs, earning a mere pittance, so that she’s not a burden to me. It would mean that she isn’t a burden to me and I could prove it. And for her to believe that? Priceless. So, really, there are more important things in life than going on a trip or three.
