Road Trip: Day 1

I know I missed my post yesterday. Yes, I also know it was only day two of my month long blogging challenge.

Moving on. 

Today in a nutshell:  lots of driving, nonstop interrogation by my inquisitive children, and interesting moments. 

We made it all the way from Toronto to Bridgewater, West Virginia. We are currently what I would consider the middle of nowhere. Except there is a lot of traffic. And rain. 

This place will forever be remembered by me as the place where I risked life and limb in the middle of a pelting rainstorm to save three puppies. 

I truly believe things happen for a reason...

So when Super Husband missed the turn for the K-Mart we were trying to infiltrate causing us to be essentially trapped on a highway, I thought, okay, we will turn around and go back. No problem. Two seconds later we see not one, not two, but three small dogs on the teeny tiny sliver of a median separating the highway lanes. Super Husband slams on the brakes, puts the hazards on and I jump out in an attempt to stop traffic. Which, by the way, is barrelling by. Super Husband jumps out and starts running towards the dogs to corral them. I'm screaming at cars to stop like a crazy woman. The dogs start running into traffic and my heart almost stopped. One of the dogs was within mere feet of being shucked by some oblivious (or uncaring) woman. Thank God my screaming and frantic waving worked and she slowed down at the last moment. 

In the end the dogs got across and ran down the mountain on the other side - away from cars. We have no idea where they came from or where they went but if it weren't for us stopping those dogs would almost certainly be dead. 

I'm so happy that we were there to help but sad that so few people care enough to go out of their way. I hope those puppies have found their way back to or into a loving home. 

Now onto our chuckle of the day. Super Husband could not contain his enthusiasm for the following sign we saw in Erie, Pennsylvania. Awesome. 

Repurposed

When Super Husband and I got married we decided to pool all our wedding gift money and purchase a really, really expensive hand crafted Mennonite dining room table. We love this table. Plus, frankly, it is worth more than anything we own excepting my engagement ring and, I suppose, our cars. We bought it with dreams of hosting beautiful dinner parties and gatherings.

Then we had kids. 

Now our table serves a different purpose. Often, it is my sewing station. Today....a packing depot.  This is what happens when you plan a road trip with children. For days on end I have been gathering necessities and squirrelling them on the table. Now we have 30 hours left before the rubber hits the road and we head to Myrtle Beach. 

I bet my table is looking forward to our departure. 

Enter Sandman

Yesterday I had a revelation. I was on my commute to work and wondering how time keeps alluding me and how damn long it's been since I've posted on here on a frequent, recurring basis.   I realized the only way this would improve is if I make a promise to myself. So, I have decided to devote the month of August to this blog. I will commit to publishing one post per day for the entire month of August. I have no idea how I will come up with daily material (especially considering we no longer have the Troll drama to lament about) but this is my commitment, nonetheless!

So,  stay tuned :)

In the meantime I would like to share the lovely surprise I had waiting for me after draining the tub one night last week. To clarify....this wasn't after MY bath.

Identity Crisis

Well I can hardly contain my excitement now that we are finally moving towards summer!  Now, if only the weather would cooperate.  Anyhow, with the onset of (quazi) summer comes outdoor soccer season.  This is the first year we have both boys enrolled.  Buddy is in the U5 division and Little Man un the U4.  This means being committed to spending Monday AND Thursday evenings on the soccer field.  Rain or shine.

Now, I know that organizing hunderds of children and their overbearing parents must be a really, really painful task.  This is exactly the reason why I do not offer my services for these things (sad but true).  BUT......you knew there would be a BUT in here......what the hell is the issue with people?  We signed up the kids months ago.  Like in February.  And waited for eons before finally getting some communication in the form of a very convoluted email message.  Despite the fact that we had signed up for Mondays and Wednesdays we were expected to join the "opening weekend" festivities which, conveniently, coincided with Super Husband's Grandmothers 90th birthday celebration.  Hmmmppph.  Needless to say we could not make it.  This meant we forefeited meeting the coach and team lead as well as getting their uniforms in advance. 

So here we find ourselves Monday night rushing to the field for Buddy's first game.  This was after reading the details no less than THREE times with BOTH myself and Super Husband trying to figure out who they were playing against and what the format was.   Apparently it really didn't matter after all because we ended up on the opposite side of the field that it indicated on the map but hey....that's okay.  So we arrive 10 minutes early all set to go because we wanted to be able to meet the team lead and of course get his uniform all squared away, however, when we get there we are advised that the uniforms are with the team lead and ours has yet to show up.  It became clear as time went on that the team lead had no intentions of showing up so while the other kids ran around in their red and purple uniforms, Buddy sported his street clothing.  I felt so bad for him but in all honesty he didn't mind and had fun.  Once the game ended, I marched over to the coordinators and the conversation went something like this:

Me:  Hello.  Excuse me.  My son is on the Red Team and.....
Girl:  [interrupting] Oh.  Yes.  The RED Team.  We are having issues with that.
Me:  Apparently
Girl:  Sorry.  We have been trying to get in touch with that person.  We will figure something out for next week.
Me:  Ummmmm....okay.

So that was that.

Next up:  Thursday night with Little Man.

This was even more fun.  Showed up in pouring rain.  Confirmed that surprise upon surprise his team lead decided not to come.  Fantastic.  What the hell is wrong with these people?  You sign up to be a parent volunteer as a team lead and then pick and choose when it is convenient to you????  Not cool!  Did any of us enjoy the cold or wet?  Nope.  But we dragged our butts there anyway for the kids.  And I didn't have anyone else's kids depending on me!! 

GRRRRRR!

The talk of the evening was that one of the two other kids that actually showed up from Little Man's team has the same name as Buddy.  Which is unusual as it is not a common name.  The mom asked me what Buddy's middle name is and guess what....same also.  I felt like they had violated us in some mysterious way.  For the record, Buddy is a full year older than their son.  So he's the original :)  The funny thing is though.....as bad as I feel admitting this.....the kid was super annoying.  More specifically the parents were super annoying.  We are now going to have to work hard for the rest of the season to avoid the Buddy #2 (or Buddy Imposter as we like to refer to him).

Hopefully next week we will actually make some headway on uniforms.

I'm Still Here

Oh dear.....I officially suck at updates. 

Anyway, I was taking a look at our finances (yes, again) and made a happy revelation. 

In less than 2 years (21 months, to be exact), we have:

Paid off more than $46,000 in debt and increased our assets by $24,000....which means we are $70,000 richer now than we were then.

I am very proud of our accomplishments.  Looking at it this way is motivating and shows how every little bit counts.  I am trying to stay focused on the positive because the reality is....we still have about $20,000 in debts.  Sigh. 

What else is new, you ask?

Hmmmmm.  Buddy is awesome and almost done JK.  Meanwhile, Little Man is getting himself beyond excited to start JK in September.  He asks each and every day.  Is it time?  I respond no and he immediately launches himself into tantrum mode yelling, pumping his fists and lamenting, "But s takes a looooong tiiiiime"!  I try to stifle my laughter but I love his enthusiasm.  We will see how excited he is when he has to eat packed lunches........

Finance Update

Well, well, well.  It's creeping close to the 2 year anniversary of our life changing decision to sell our home and take on living the renters life in order to pay debt (and move within a reasonable distance to work).

When we made the decision to do this, our intention was to simply get finances (debt) a little more manageable and then buy a new place.  I can now say the plan has changed.  When we moved into the apartment (shudder) we had an astounding amount of liabilities.  $74,211.91 to be exact.  No wonder I couldn't sleep at night.

Well, at this point I am happy to report that while we still have debt it is getting much more manageable.  We have paid off 43,809.91 in just over 1.5 years.  Pretty freaking awesome!  At the same time we have increased our assets (retirement savings) and we are very happy to be in a place where our living expenses are declining.

Last year, our child care costs = $2,400/month
This Year = $1,300/month
September 2013 = $700/month

We have been working to pay off our term loan that runs us $950/month (choke, gag, barf) and if all goes well that will be paid in full by the end of August freeing up almost a grand per month!

In addition, I just found out our car insurance has decreased by a whopping $50/month.  Why?  Who the fuck knows!  But I don't care!

At this point, we are hoping that effective September 2013 we will be able to allocate >$1,500 per month to savings so we can finally buy a house again.  Although, truth be told....I'm quite content to stay in our current (rented) home.  I'm in no rush to move again :)

50 Shades of Awkward

Yes, I know it's been 2 months since my last post.  It's not for lack of trying. I *think* about posting much more frequently than I actually post.  Does that count?

Awhile back we spent the day over at the in-laws.  Luckily I get along well with them so this is not a painful event.  I do consider myself lucky in that regard.

Anyway, we are over there and I get into a conversation with my father-in-law about e-readers.  He had bought a tablet recently and wanted to know if I had ever read an electronic book on my iPad.  So, excitedly, I pulled out my iPad and demonstrated to him that I had a Kindle app.  I opened it up quickly not thinking and of course it immediately opens up the book I am currently reading:  50 Shades of Grey.  Oops.  I then closed it quickly but it was too late....

FIL:  Oh!  Reading a little bit of S&M I see!
Me:  Uhhhhh.....ya......little bit
FIL:  I've heard all about it
Me:  Uhhhh...ummmm.....it's not that great.  It is poorly written (this is my attempt to move the conversation away from the subject of the book)
FIL:  Well S&M is very popular now as a result
Me:  Ummmm....oh.  Is that right?
FIL:  Yup.  Those sex shops are selling out of all their S&M stuff
Me:  Wow.  Interesting.
FIL:  You know that reminds me of the family trip we took one summer
Me:  <Blank Stare>
FIL:  Yup.  Super Husband and I stopped for gas and when we went inside to pay the back of the gas station was a sex shop.  FULL of S&M.
Me:  I'm surprised Super Husband never mentioned that fond memory

Father-in-law then proceeded to call Super Husband into the conversation to ask if he recalled the S&M store.  Apparently he did not.  Thank goodness the conversation ended there.  At this point we gathered the kids and left for home.