Wow, this was pretty darn accurate!
What American accent do you have?
Your result: The Inland North
You may think you speak “Standard English straight out of the dictionary” but when you step away from the Great Lakes you get asked annoying questions like “Are you from Wisconsin?” or “Are you from Chicago?” Chances are you call carbonated drinks “pop.”
I found the ad for the RV. I also recorded a new voice mail message on my phone to let people know that my number was a misprint.
Year 1979
Make RV
Model FLORIDA ROOM
Price $21500
1979 RV. Florida room, 1 mi. from beach, remodeled 2006, furnished, tile floors, 2 bedrooms, 1 bath, appliances, pool, 55 plus park, boat dockage avail., tropical paradise 600 sq. ft. $21,500. Fort Myers, FL. 517-719-7406, 517-626-2220
Now I just need to get in touch with someone who can take my number off before the next week’s papers get printed. Apparently those things run until the darn thing is sold. The ads are published in six states and boast a weekly circulation of 546,500. Yikes.
I keep getting phone calls asking about the RV for sale down in Florida. Someone apparently published my cell phone number in an ad by mistake. I just politely tell the people I don’t have an RV for sale in Florida and they have been given my number by mistake. Heck, I’ve never even been to Florida.
Oh my, I cannot contain my excitement! It’s all starting today! Mom-in-law and I will be making appetizers tonight and then we’ll go to Mike’s dart tournament afterwards. Tomorrow is turkey day! Lots of great food, great family. Mom is bringing homemade mac and cheese and Dad is bringing homemade banana creme pie – YUM! Friday is an all day fun fest with friends – Tracy and Christie are both in town so we have a ton of catching up to do. Saturday I’ll be chillin’ at Mom’s eating my all-time favorite food, pizza. Who knows what Sunday will bring? I predict lots of napping.
USA Today is running a six-part series on young people and debt. The first article was pretty interesting, but even more interesting were Jeremy’s comments on it over at Generation X Finance:
If you look at the sense of entitlement with the ease of obtaining credit, you have just found the answer to why young adults have a debt problem. It is a dangerous combination of a mindset where someone feels they deserve to be successful with the ability to obtain a means to feel successful. Credit is the vehicle and many young people got in for the ride.
Well said. Yes, tuition is rising, housing costs are rising, lots of costs are higher proportionately to the average income than they were in generations before. But on top of that there is a huge problem of people spending more than they can afford on things they just don’t need. Advertising and the media have done such a wonderful job of brainwashing us all into believing we “need” certain things in order to live a happy life. You only have one car? No garage? No cable? No dishwasher? Oh, you poor thing! It’s all a lie, folks! Resist the urge to keep up with the Jones’. I’m sure all of us are striving for it in one way or another. You may be quick to say “No, not me” but I think if we all search our hearts we’ll find some of that somewhere in our lives. It’s human nature.
Mike and I had a great conversation about finances the other night. We were mostly reflecting on what we have learned about money and how far we have come. With Christmas coming, and a baby on the way, we could potentially be in a very stressful place right now with money… but we’re not. We have funds saved for emergencies, home repairs, car repairs, car replacement, and most importantly: for Christmas gifts! We are so at peace with where we are at, and it all started three years ago (11/7/03 to be exact) when we decided to stop borrowing and start working together on a budget and sticking to it. Yes we have made our share of mistakes over those three years but the point is we made more rights than wrongs (a 180 flip from the 4 years prior). We are learning to be content with what we have and we understand that when we have to say no to a coveted purchase it is for a greater purpose. We are getting out of debt and saving for our future. Our bills are paid and we have money left over. And with that leftover money we are telling it where to go instead of letting it slowly slip away only to look back and say, “Where in the world did all that money go?”
In life we are often dealt circumstances that we have no control over but we do have control over how we respond to them. With a bit of tenacity and determination you can overcome those obstacles! And as Dave Ramsey says, “Live like no one else, so later you can live like no one else.”
I ate chinese food for dinner last night. I was craving it. I’ve been known to eat chinese food from time to time. I usually stick to the mild stuff, I go easy on the sauce, and I never use soy sauce. Yech. But funny thing, yesterday I poured on as much sauce as I could, and used almost a whole packet of soy sauce. Cuz it smelled good. Last week I cooked up some frozen pot stickers and instead of eating them dry the way I usually like to, I tried eating them with the sauce that came with and it was delicious!
I’m attributing this new change in taste to the pregnancy, although it could be the seven year change in taste buds. I am 28 after all (Divisible evenly by seven, understand?). Who knows, maybe next I’ll be craving sushi!
I’m pretty sure I saw a coyote this morning on my way to work. Three blocks from my house, no less. I guess it could have been a dog, but I got a good look at it and it sure didn’t look like a dog. And it was near the woods so it wouldn’t be all that unusual, would it? Do coyotes live in the woods? Do they live in the city? I don’t know how they could afford the taxes if they did.
Highlights of the past weekend:
Highlights to come this week:
I’m geeked about this quality time with all my amazing friends and wonderful family – it sure makes up for those weeks I spent alone on the couch and hunched over the porcelain bowl!
*I had to go back and edit this post three times because I kept screwing up the days and leaving out important details. Wow. Must be Monday.
Don’t you remember? We built this city. We built this city on rock ‘n roll.
Oh, that song just put me in a silly mood. That mixed with the elation and relief at just finishing up the filing I was putting off all month and I am one happy girl.
I have been extremely focused and productive from 8 am – noon, but after that I start to slowly hit a wall. My brain slows and I get all off track. I’m left staring at the monitor with my head cocked slightly to the side. I usually come-to when the drooling starts, but even then it’s hard to get back into work mode. It’s been happening a lot lately, and I need to rearrange my priorities at work in order to coincide with my brain capabilities. Do the stuff that requires focus and concentration in the morning, save the more mindless tasks for the afternoon. It worked today so we’ll try it again tomorrow and see how it goes.
This and next week are short work-weeks for me so I need to be sure I’m getting all my work caught up. I don’t work Friday. I took the day off originally for Chrysalis, but that was cancelled so now it’s to clean my house in preparation for Thanksgiving. Having been confined to the couch and bed for the last several weeks, I haven’t done much around the house and it shows. If I reach my cleaning goals on Friday, Saturday will be devoted to grocery shopping. We’ll have a full house again for Thanksgiving, only with a slightly different mix of people. Of course I love all the food and eating, but what I’m really looking forward to is the family time. I’ve been blessed with such a great family, in-laws included!
Happy Wednesday, folks.
It has been a tad difficult for me to accept this pregnancy. I knew it was not just because the first trimester was so horrendous, but I couldn’t put my finger on what else was bothering me. Heather lent me a book that talks about infertility and she noticed that it touches on pregnancy and parenting after infertility. By the way, it’s a great book for those experiencing infertility. It helped me out a great deal when we were ttc and I highly recommend it to anyone struggling with infertility. It’s called When Empty Arms Become a Heavy Burden, by Sandra Glahn and William Cutrer, M.D. Anyway, the part about pregnancy after infertility talks about the unexpected feelings that come. You imagine what that moment will be like, when the test turns up positive, and you imagine that you will be elated beyond belief. But then it happens and instead you feel fear and guilt. I’ve been feeling a lot of mixed emotions about being pregnant and I think the reason is that for so many years I was an “infertile woman”. It was such a big part of me and now that has all changed. I am having to take this time to accept my rewritten identity. I was beginning to feel some unnecessary guilt about my feelings so it helped to read about it and know I’m normal. It’s been an interesting process.
This has a lot to do with why I have been so hesitant to talk about the pregnancy on the blog. The shifting identity thing and also knowing that lots of people find this blog through my posts about infertility and not wanting them to be angry or sad to see a bunch of talk about pregnancy. But I can’t worry about that or feel guilty and I just have to pray that they can appreciate what I’ve been through and maybe draw some hope from my situation. So with that said, I’m going to talk about it now…
I am currently 13 weeks along. I’m still feeling the occasional nausea but the medicine helps with that. I’m eating and feeling good. I eat small portions every two hours or so, which I love, because I love eating. And for the most part it’s healthy, except when my attempts at healthy fall on the floor on their way out of the fridge, at which time I cannot be faulted for turning to oreos and milk for comfort and consoling. Apparently pregnancy brings clumsiness because I am dropping everything, but am most sad about losing the basket of strawberries because I was so looking forward to eating them atop a delicious stack of homemade pancakes.
I don’t think I’m really “showing” yet but I’m pretending I am. See, I’ve always had a pot belly and have been mistaken for pregnant numerous times because of it. I’ve always been slightly self-conscious about it, but not now. I can let it hang out, forget about sucking it in, because if someone sees it and thinks I’m pregnant, they would be right! I’m starting to wear some maternity clothes. My regular pants are getting tight so I put on my sister’s maternity pants this morning and wouldn’t you know it? They fit perfect. I’m not even showing yet and her maternity pants fit me. Oy. She always was the thin and pretty one 
I’m going to have to do some shopping soon.
