Merry Christmas!

Well folks, I am outta here for the next few days for the holidays. I will be back next week.

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday filled with whatever it is that is important to you.

I got the scholarship!

Yep, $7,500 baby! The rules are it can only be used for tuition and books. No fees of any kind. Theoretically I will get this amount every year for 3 years but technically I have to reapply each year. I've been told it's essentially a rubber stamp. As long as I continue to be a good employee and keep passing my classes then I get the money.

Thank goodness!

The price of this program is excessive! But, with the scholarship money and the gift from my parents I will be out about $14,000. Insane huh? I am hoping that in one year from now I can get a bit of a promotion at work. I've already talked to my boss about a small restructuring that would give me more responsibilities and he seems to be on board with it. The only reason it isn't happening now is out of respect for a few of my coworkers who will be retiring in 1 year. The idea is that the new people would report to me. :) Obviously I am hoping for a raise to come with that. And if that happens then it makes the school fees much more palatable.

I am such a planner!

Are you done Christmas shopping?

Christmastime means Christmas shopping. In the cold. With the crowds. At full price.

Well, this year Boris and I decided not to give each other presents and his family did the same thing. We decided to do this because we are all going away for the holiday. This meant I had a few small gifts for co-workers, friends, and my own family to buy for. It's been easy breezy.

However, it's also made me a bit unaware that it was Christmas already. Without all the pressure to make sure I get the perfect gift for Boris...I didn't realize it was almost here.

That makes me a little sad to be honest. Why should the act of buying make me feel like it's christmas? Isn't that completely against the holidays?

It's made me think that maybe we won't buy each other gifts next year either. We'll see.

How do you feel about gift buying for Christmas?

Overwhelmed by pins!

I have too many freakin pin numbers and passwords!! I have them on my bank card, my credit cards, my online bank accounts, paypal, various other websites, work, phone, work phone, etc.

And of course each pin number is supposed to be unique and not written down anywhere. Well I am a good pin user and I would never write them down.

So when I got my ING bank card so I could use my thrive account, I dutifully memorized the pin number and then shredded it.

I then used my card the next day to ensure I had it memorized.

Then I went on vacation.

Then I tried to use my ING card and...nothing.

I forgot my pin!!!!!

So I called ING to get it reset and guess what. They don't reset pins! Instead they had to cancel my card and now they are going to mail me a new card and mail me a new pin. I was told to expect my card and pin within 2 to 3 weeks and if I want to change my pin then I have to use an ING bank machine (none exist within 3 hours of me).

GRRRR!!! I am so annoyed.

Trying to get more life insurance

Recently, Boris and I decided that we were underinsured. I am covered for $80,000 and he is covered for $50,000. Clearly not enough.

So, I've applied to increase mine to $230,000 and Boris' to $100,000. If we ever have kids we will have to revisit that but for now it's ok.

We applied. We filled out the paperwork and sent it off. Now we have the craziest things to do.

I have to take a pee test where they will send a "paramedical service" to my home or work, whichever is most convenient for me. How weird is that????

Boris has to fill out an additional questionnaire. So weird.

Have any of you had to do this?

Time for an experiment

Boris is a thin man. Not stick thin or anything but we typically weigh the same even though he is 3 inches taller than me. And I'm not overweight. In fact, a few years ago he was in his swimsuit standing next to his older brother (also in a swimsuit) and I asked his nephew, "do you think your dad and Boris look the same because they are brothers?". And this cute little 5 year old said, "yeah, but I know they're different because I can see Boris' spine". yikes!

He is thin not because of a good diet or active lifestyle. I would say he is average in those categories. However, he is thin because food makes him sick.

It always has.

We've never been able to figure out what was making him sick. At least until I went away to Mexico and left him to fend for himself for a week. Instead of making proper meals he ate fruits and vegetables for a week! And you know what...he wasn't sick!

I get home and we decide to have pizza and guess what. Yep, he got sick.

It finally dawned on us. He's sensitive to gluten (aka wheat)!

The last two weeks we have had him on a gluten free diet with fantastic results. Not sick! He feels so much better.

The downside...gluten free products are expensive. Obviously we are going to have to simply change our eating habits (mostly him) but in some instances we will just have to buy the gluten free products.

Yay. Boris is going to be healthy! And maybe we won't have to see his spine anymore.

How did I not know that???

So far for school I have paid a $2,500 deposit, $800 towards optional classes, and about $500 for books. Nothing unreasonable yet. In January I will owe another $3,000 and from there the costs just keep on coming! I can handle it though (with some work subsidy of course).

What I didn't realize was that I can claim all this stuff on my taxes!!! I didn't realize that! I guess for my undergrad I just never got to use my tuition credits because I didn't pay for my undergrad (my parents did). Since my parents paid, they got to use my credits. fair is fair afterall.

This will be my first opportunity to do that. I am feeling better and better about this.

Look at that...I'm being optimistic!!!

How can this be possible?

Last year Boris was given a lay-off notice twice! That's right...twice.

The first time Boris was laid off, he had been in the job for 4 months and was given 2 months working notice. Before he was laid off, he found another job!

Yay!

Then after about a month he was given a lay off notice again. This time though it never came to be. You see, his company works on a contract and every time the contract is up they have to bid for it again. Because the company doesn't know if it will win the bid for the next year, they give a lay off notice to all employees, just in case. So this past year, they ended up winning the contract so nobody was laid off.

Now we are going through the same process again. If they lose the contract then Boris will be out of work at the end of February. Of course, if they win the contract then nothing will happen and he will keep working. As a third option, it's possible that his company will lose the bid, lay him off, but the new company may hire him on.

Too much to worry about right now. So, I'm just not going to. It's unlikely he would lose his job, he has a marketable skill, AND our emergency fund will now cover about 4 months of expenses (with my salary to supplement).

I am doing just fine this time. Did I mention how much I love emergency funds?

Can you believe it is December?

I don't know what happened. I swear it was September yesterday and all of a sudden I find out it's December! Crazy how things seem to go so quickly.

I feel that way about my money lately.

It.goes.so.quickly.

It seems like I decided to buy a new tv, buy new living room furniture AND go back to school. Am I crazy?

Yes, I think I am.

I am going to be out of pocket about $6,000 in school fees in the next few weeks (unless I get that scholarship from work). Then I'm going to be out the $1,200 we already spent to buy the tv, cables, etc. Next I am going to buy some living room furniture which we have $2,300 budgeted for. I hope to get a couch, tv stand, and some kind of shelf or shelving unit. whew.

By the time Christmas comes around I might be all shopped out. I guess that's a good thing though because I won't really have much money left!

How is the shopping christmas season treating you?

Say hello to a new student...

ME! That's right. I am officially a student. I begin classes in January! Eeks!

Now I am waiting to find out if I got the scholarship through work. I find out within the next two weeks.

So excited!