One of those quarters...

We've all had them. A bad day. A stroke of bad luck. An unpleasant turn of events. Whatever. Sometimes it's as simple as three hours of consecutive shitty happenings. Other times it can be weeks upon weeks of miserable occurrences. I regret saying that Gregg and I are muddling through quite a crappy quarter of 2012. I guess I have to call it a quarter since it started in July and we are into October now. Hopefully I won't have to brush up on my fractions to go any further with it.

Ya know when you try to cut corners a bit and you call a few companies and bargain with them for lower rates and whatnot? Well this year I decided to switch auto and homeowners insurance companies. Ecstatic that we would be saving around $700/yr. I felt great about my decision... until the sneaky little bastards pulled some ridiculousness and left me jaded with a fat lip. Long story short - we had two weeks to make roof repairs with very limited funds. Not THAT big a deal, we got it done. It was just very shady how it all went down.

Next up was our central air/heating unit that was just installed last summer for which we paid a hefty $9000. You can imagine our surprise when it started leaking and we had to shell out $400 for repairs on it a month ago. During those repairs, we were charged in error, our warranty was misconstrued and the unit failed again the very next week. Repairs made and refunds all squared away - I called for our FREE Fall tune-up. During this visit- which took place two hours ago- lo and behold, a new problem cropped up. Another faulty part which will be fixed tomorrow, labor not covered by warranty.

Then we had your typical car troubles two weeks ago. The brakes went on Gregg's Jeep while he was hitting up a gas station before heading to work one morning. THANK GOD he needed to get gas - otherwise he would have gotten right on the highway. We don't even want to think about how that story would've turned out. Another hefty sum.

For added fun it's about to start raining in our living room. We've had a watermark on the ceiling for a while but after this weekend's storm it has gotten larger and it is now soft - about to break through any second. Gregg climbed up into the eaves and found the wet spot - now it's a matter of pinpointing the actual leak and forking over another stash to the lucky fix-it man.

Add on all the small things like:

Missing pieces for my daughter's ride-on toy which involved an infuriating customer service phone call, emails to Hong Kong and an eventual easy trip back to the store

Brody's constant digging of holes in the backyard and running muddy-footed through a freshly cleaned floor

A toilet that runs constantly -unless we strangle the hell out of it- which is driving me slowly insane because we just haven't gotten to fix it yet

Gregg's never-ending million dollar dental work 

An infestation of bees in our retaining wall which kept Gregg from mowing the lawn and Scarlett from swinging in her pretty pink swing until finally we had the exterminator blast them

Ohhhh, and the fruit flies. The son-of-a-bitchin fruit flies!!! It's like the entire city is infested!! They're driving me crazy. Gregg and I actually call out how many we kill in each room, like it's a creepy, disgusting game. Sure I've used vinegar, I've even used tequila - but it just draws more into the house! I've resorted to Windex. They definitely hate being blasted with glass cleaner - free tip.

So, this was my WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA post. My post of wallow. My whiny, complainy, blah, argh, humph, grrr, drat, thumbs down with raspberries post. With one eye on the ceiling I've written this strictly to let you know that you aren't the only one going through a swampy time. We've been wading for months and months. I have to keep reminding myself, at least we are all healthy   At least we are all healthy  At least we are all healthy ... after all, that really is what is most important. That and the fact that we all know that our debt will live on well after we croak.

Ha! (Just kidding, that's not funny)

Maybe I should shut up

It is such a humbling experience when you are complaining about the annoyances or the bad luck that seems to be plaguing your life and you are met with tales of actual tragedy, health problems and horror. I find I am constantly reminding myself that It Could Always Be Worse. Maybe our financial situation isn't as desirable as we'd like for it to be. Maybe my dog is a HUGE pain in the ass (as I have even less tolerance for him since having Scarlett). Maybe one of our cars needs repairs, maybe I feel like I don't have enough quality time with my husband, maybe I feel overwhelmed by the amount of friends and family that want to see the baby. Maybe I LOATHE my street and everyone on it. Maybe I should shut up. Maybe I should watch the news and see men, women and children suffering and dying in the streets, no one to care for them. Maybe I should listen to a friend tell me that she recently learned she has cancer. Maybe I should realize that people are being put out of their homes for various reasons every single day. Maybe I should see my friend's heart filled with sadness because her dog is ill.

I'm not an ingrate. I'm not taking things for granted. I'm just guilty of forgetting sometimes. Forgetting that people have it far worse. Forgetting that I could so easily have it far worse.

I am thankful for everything I have. I am so blessed to be married to my soul-mate and to have a beautiful daughter that I couldn't have dreamed to be any more perfect. I'm thankful for the good health of my family. I'm forever indebted to my mother, who has bent over backwards to help me US in every single way she possibly can. I'm thankful for our home, which may come with a ridiculously high mortgage and may not be sitting on the most desirable street in the world but it's OUR home and it's filled with love.

I need to continuously remind myself to make my problems smaller. In the big scheme of things - what's a car repair? What's a barking dog? What's a few credit cards? Nothing. A mere drop in the ol' crap bucket. If you have your health, you have it all, baby. And as long as I have my health I'm going to live happily. So cheers to our years!

it'$ okay...

So how come every time things take a turn for the worse, financially, I convince myself to buy scratch tickets?? Does this seem highly irrational to anyone else? I assume it is my panic defense mechanism. Well sure we don't have enough money to buy Christmas gifts for 20 people, cross Brody's vet visit off the list or fix the furnace BUT maybe this twenty bucks could win us millions instead of buying us more turkey sandwiches... Apparently this is my thought process.

Over and over again I find myself sitting at the dining room table with a pen, calculator, notepad, stack of bills and bottle of red wine just trying to make sense of my life. Okay, so I don't always use a calculator. Kidding, I take care of my finances without the use of alcohol, thank you. I prepare a new budget several times a year (when the scary occasion calls for it). I know how much money is coming in and the amount designated to every conceivable genre of expense yet SOMEHOW I manage to blow past that boundary time and time again. I read all of the silly articles about 'the best way to manage your money' - which, by the way, all contradict each other. I constantly try new systems and stay on top of our accounts daily but, again, Faily McBrokepants.

I have come to realize that MOST of the living world (and some of the dead) have debt. I have also come to realize that this is a constant in life and beating myself up over it will do no good.  I learned that: pretty much everyone in my life lives paycheck to paycheck, going to a movie and out to dinner is becoming a thing of the past, we are lucky as hell to have two paid off cars that are in great condition and that it could ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS be so much worse.

So for anyone who is stressing over car repairs and rent and mortgages and groceries and clothing and the holidays - know that you are in GREAT company. The world suffers with you. Reality is not Hollywood. Maybe if they stopped making all of these ridiculous reality TV shows, we could get back to feeling comfortable about our own lives and stop giving a shit about theirs.