I have new books on the way!

Thanks to Amanda I have some new books on their way to me.

My son has been wanting a garden. This year we did some tomato plants in a small area out back. I'm not sure how they are doing, but they are still alive! I know we planted them late, so we may not get any actual tomatoes, but it has been fun watching them grow.

We are preparing a section of our yard for a bigger garden next year. We want watermelon, tomatoes, strawberries, corn, peas, carrots, cucumbers, cantaloupe, potatoes and lettuce.
Well, none of us has ever gardened before. My step-dad did as I grew up, but I was never involved in it, and now we don't speak. So, we are clueless.

But now, I have 2 books on the way to hopefully tell me everything I need to know about gardens. I'm really excited for this next year, I think it will be a great bonding thing for our family!

I also ordered a book that I've been wanting for awhile, Infidel.

I hope they get here right after finals so I have time to read them before fall classes start!! Finals start tomorrow....................

Here are the books I got:

	1	"Infidel" Ayaan Hirsi Ali; Paperback; $10.20 Sold by: Amazon.com, LLC
	1	"Grow Vegetables: Gardens - Yards - Balconies - Roof Terraces" Alan Buckingham; Paperback; $13.57 Sold by: Amazon.com, LLC
	1	"Ferry-Morse - Gardening for "Dummies" - Vegetables (Yellow)" Lawn & Patio; $9.56

Breach of contract??

This story really got me. I'm still not sure how I feel about it.

Man proposes to Woman. Woman moves to Man's town, giving up a good paying job for a not so great one.
Man decides he does not want to marry Woman.
Woman sues.
Man looses.
Woman gets $150,000.

On one hand, the man screwed her over. I guess. There is always two sides to the story. But the one that the court believed was that she got screwed and deserved monetary compensation for this.

Aren't things like compromise and giving up things for the one you love part of the risks you take for love? Men and women get screwed all the time, but only because they take risks to find what it is they are looking for. It doesn't always work out.

I'm afraid with more cases like this, people will stop taking the risks for fear of being sued. All because their feelings changed, or they learned something about this person that they realized they could not live with.

But, maybe people will be less apt to rush into things. Take their time getting to know each other before popping that big question.

On the other hand, there are those people who tend to use people. Women and men both use others for money, short-term affections, etc...and then move on. Will cases like this stop them??

This case really bothers me.

I won something?!?!?

Wow, I'm always the one to enter stuff, but never win. Looks like I'll be getting $25 to spend at Amazon from Amanda.
I love reading her blog, and it's one of the few that I make sure I keep up with. Of course Google reader makes that pretty easy.
She takes great pictures of all her adventures (yes I do get jealous of both the travel and the picture taking skills, heck, even her garden is doing better than mine!) and always has stories of Zoe (the water ones are the best!)
The coolest thing is that we have actually met! She's one of the knotties that went to MSP!

THANKS AMANDA!!

Now if I can just win one of Pioneer Woman's contests...........

Free book drawing!

Check out this site for a chance to win 14 free books!!

http://trishsdiary.wordpress.com/2008/06/28/14-book-giveaway

Anxiety attacks..........

I think I just had one. Not cool.

I guess it's God's way of telling me to slow down.

Now to decide what to give up.

But first, I should get back to studying.

Goals for this week

1. Live to see next weekend. Seriously.
2. Read 2 more chapters in Economics. Already have the first 2 read.
3. Notes on all 4 chapters in Econ.
4. Read two chapters in Managerial Accounting
5. Do the problems in both chapters for Acctg.
6. Take 3 quizes in Econ and 1 test. Pass them all.
7. Do laundry.
8. Finish payroll, I have amounts done, just have to write and mail the checks!
9. Work at least 30 hours.
10. I have 40 pet sits booked for the week and hope to do them all myself.
11. Fill out FSA form to get some reimbursements.
12. Buy a couple Wall Street Journals to write an article summary on by next Monday.
13. Get DH to bill for his side job and stick some of that into savings, and make an extra cc payment.
14. Call to get our yard marked for digging.
15. Find someone to haul all our junk off. You should see the pile of wood from the deck!
16. Don't let my son's tomato plants die.
17. Finish getting all the weeds out of the flower garden. Right now it is a weed garden and not very attractive.
19. Catch up on invoices.
21. Get DH to call insurance company, have them take pool off and add flood insurance. Oh and to price check with another company.
20. Stop blogging, I mean procrastinating, I mean blogging........

What would you do with $10,000?

I'll tell you what I did with it over the last 6 months. Paid on credit cards. Since Christmas we have paid off 1/4 of our cc debt. While I am very proud of us.............I'm also pretty bummed about it. I mean seriously!! $10,000.00!!! I think of what I could have done with all that money, but couldn't because of our debt. It angers me.

I could have a very nice savings account, a new washer and dryer, and a new pool.

Instead, our savings account is skimpy, the washer and dryer may die any day, and we are tearing out our pool. (pictures of the pool to come soon)

As I have promised in the past, here is the amount of credit card debt that we owe.
In December it was $41,887.47
Since then we have been charged $3,895.44 in interest (ouch!)
Now our total is $31,888.02

If we can keep up the payments, we will be credit card debt free by December 2010!! But, it will be tricky because I have decided to go back to school for a second degree. So, my paychecks are a little smaller, but we are cutting back even more. Hopefully we can still meet that goal.

On top of paying all of that, I have this in savings (it will be gone in a few months)
$1,800 for house repairs (pics to come)
$2,400 for my daughters braces (her dad will pay the other half)
$2,500 for a new fence - and that's only the back end, can't believe the cost of that!!
and $600 for tutoring for my daughter
leaving us with $1,000 for an ER fund.

Not too bad! I refuse to charge anything! If we don't have the cash for it, we don't get it. I'm ashamed it took $41,000 in debt to finally grasp that concept, but better late than never.

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

I didn't have any books that I really wanted to start last week, so I asked my daughter for something. She gave me the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. I read the first one in one day. I'm now on the second one.

When I bought these books for her, I thought they were books for kids. I had some adults tell me that they have read them, and that they might not be for young girls, but I didn't listen. Now I must say that I'm a horrible mother for not screening my daughters books! She's 11, and has read every single one.

I must say, the books are good, but I'm still wondering if it's something she should have read. But, it's too late now. When I was her age, I was reading all my mom's Stephen King books. Which is worse??

She has now loaned me her "Gossip Girl" book. I can only imagine what it will be like.