Promotion!!!

I went back to night shifts (11pm to 7 am) so I could go back to school, but what I didn't know is that with the new education bill that was passed awhile ago, whenever you are put of financial aid suspension for some cockamamie reason...you are ineligible for you student loans too!!! Like how stupid is that!!! Anyway...so I tried and tried to get back on to days. So my boss calls me the evening before my birthday and says..we have a new general manager and he's looking to hire someone for half of her job, which is the accounting department. She told me that she recommended me and he wanted me to come in for an interview in the morning. Russ and I talked and we really didn't feel comfortable with the whole idea. There were a lot of extenuating circumstances that I'm not going into on here. But I went into the interview and turned him down flat. He said he understood my reasons and wished me luck. The next day after a staff meeting he offered me that job again with stipulations. About two weeks later...low and behold I changed my mind and took the job. So now I'm back on days...weekends off...a raise and it seems like a really really good fit for me. I'm having trouble adjusting to the new responsibilities that they call on me to make snap decisions. You know I don't want to mess something up. Hopefully, I can get over this and become the person that MY boss believes to be and also live up to the potential she sees in me. I just don't want to let her down.

Almost finished with the construction of my Halloween costume! Totally excited this year because I convinced my husband to dress up also. We're going with a couple of friends of ours as cool people from the 80's! Lace gloves, rocker outfits, cool attitudes. My husband likes it because along with the Halloween party that same day my sister is getting married and we're supposed to dress up for her wedding...(in costumes). Well he doesn't dress up, so he will be wearing a pair of black slacks, a black button up shirt that has the collar open and a black tie with hot pink lightening bolts...in this sorta casual look....oh and don't forget the white sneakers! Me...I'll be wearing the same dress from my sisters wedding...which is a knee length strapless dress that is lace, but their kinda ruffles that make up the dress. Now for the wedding I will transformed into a vampire minion for my sister, but after the wedding...I'm putting a hot pink sash, hot pink leg warmers and black flats on and then I'm still looking for some hot pink 80ish jewelry. Plus, I have to get my wig which is a razor cut black wig with hot pink highlights. It's either that or I'll get a hot pink bob cut wig...I'll just have to see what I'm in the mood for.

Still waiting to do cakes for people. I've actually got a lot going on at the end of the month. I'm making cupcakes with white chocolate skulls for my sisters un-bridal shower, a brownie grave yard cake for my soon to be brother in laws grooms cake or it might be a skull cake...he hasn't really decided yet what he wants. And then I'll be making two cakes to donate to our Halloween party, which are a werewolf and mummy. Those are going to be so much fun!!!

Anyways...that's the latest dish and I guess I should get off the computer and go grocery shopping!!! As always I wish you guys:

Peace, Love, and Girl Scout Cookies!!!

Pictures

It's a year in blogger time!!!

It's been since March 21st when I first created this blog that I've posted anything. So much has happened that I feel like I am going to burst! First things first! Cake classes are going great and I will be posting my class graduation cakes pics and some subsequent cake pics that I've made. Wilton has also reorganized the classes and now there are only three...so I am working on my last class, which just happens to be the one I was most looking forward to!!! FONDANT AND GUM PASTE!!!!
Financial Peace University just wrapped up...sad to see something that has become a big focal point in our lives end, but the hard work is just beginning. At the beginning of the course, Russ didn't want to go with me. We had $200 in savings and just barely covering everything in the month that we had to pay for. I am happy to say after the 13 week course...Russ attended every class after the first one, we have $2300 in savings and at the end of the month, everything is paid for on time and we have money left over. I can't say that we don't worry anymore financially but it's not about paying stuff on time, it's more about paying stuff off and not taking twenty million years to do it. We're getting ready to pay off a big chunk of our debt and be left with about $900 of it left. That is definitely easier to handle paying off and I don't feel like the finance company is making a killing off a decision that we made. The first year paying off this debt the finance company made $600 just off finance charges!!! If we continued in that light and not tried to pay this debt off early they would ultimately have gotten $1550 in finance charges from us. We're already paying off a $3200 set of pots!!! And the finance company decides to get greedy and tack on finance charges...Sorry boys...The Thurston's have wised up and gonna suck alot cash away from your sorry butts!!!!!! After those frickin pots are paid off we only have credit cards and student loans and the house to start throwing money at. That's called Debt Snowball...the credit cards and student loans have the same balance so I don't know which we'll attack first, but this isn't about not paying anything. You make the monthly payments on your bills but the lowest amount you throw all your extra money at. When it's paid off you take the monthly payment from that and any extra money and throw it at the next bill...you keep doing this until your bills are G-O-N-E!!!! I don't know how to truly thank this man whom I've never met in my entire life, but I feel like is an incredible friend to me and my husband for saving us! His class has changed our entire life style.
I wanted to start a cake business as an extra source of income, but have decided for the time being that it wouldn't be enough for us to get out of debt faster! I was looking around at what I could do to earn extra money...and about two weeks ago an incredible offer landed in my lap. I have an associates degree as a paralegal, but have never been able to use it. I had a lawyer whom my place of business had to use call and offer me a part time position as their firms paralegal!!!! This was incredible...it was a God Send and the answers to many of my fervent prayers. Now I've switched my shifts at work...I'm back on nights. It's hard being away from my husband, not being able to sleep with him, but I know that this isn't permanent. A couple of years from now we'll be debt free, excluding our house. I won't have to work full time and can afford to send myself back to college to finish my teaching degree. I thought life was handing me a lemon when I was put on financial aid suspension, but it was just God giving me a shove telling me that I've already made a commitment to get my family out of debt and I was just going to pile more on it. So I'm going to get used to the night shift for a while and then start at the law firm during the day for a small amount of hours during the day. Extra funds...work and experience in a field that I thought I would never be able to work in...and the opportunity that once I have kids I can stay home with them, but still work! GOD IS GREAT!!!! Also Dave Ramsey is GREAT TOO!!!!
Russ had his birthday today. For me birthdays are a huge deal!!! I don't care how old your turning, just celebrating that you are living is the best part. So I sang him happy birthday at four am. Got him a card and a gift...he hunted around the house till he found it. (I swear the man is completely oblivious because it was right by me the whole time and he never saw it. And it was plainly wrapped in a bag!) Then after a nap...(Again just started back on nights) I took him out to dinner at a buffet place with a group of his friends. He didn't know it, but they were doing a rib special so he was very surprised when he saw the sign. Two hours later the waitresses are very subtly trying to shoo us out and the kids are falling asleep. (Along with me...again night shift..nuff said!) All in all Russ had a great day. I think the icing on the cake though was when he told me that out of everything he got today, my birthday card I got him was his favorite. He cried, I cried and we cried together...that's how great this stinkin card was...I'm trying to teach him to be more romantic...it's not sinking in, but it's great to know that my over the top romance is greatly appreciated by him. I try not to do this every year, but I can't help it. I'm already excited to see what he has in store for me...to see how he's going to make my birthday special. Every year though I always try to have a back up cause you never know when someones gonna forget or just not plan anything. (THAT'S RIGHT MOM I HAVEN'T FORGOTTEN YOU FORGETTING MY FRICKIN 16TH BIRTHDAY!!!! THE BIGGEST BIRTHDAY FOR A GIRL IN OUR FAMILY...and sorry a couple of weeks late would have been fine, but to write on my birthday cake sweet 16 and never been kissed was MORTIFYING!!! It in no way made up for your lack of mental facilities when it came to remembering pushing out an alien on August 24th 1983!!! All it did was make it ten times worse and ensured that I would remember and never forgive!!!)

Please excuse the tirade that just happened,

we now return you to your regularly scheduled blog!

Well I guess I am done for now. I'll need to post some pics in the next couple of days, so be watching for them. Hopefully, I will catch the hang of this and start posting at least once a week! Tootles y'all!!!

PEACE, LOVE AND GIRL SCOUT COOKIES!!!

Financial Peace University

So today was the first class of Financial Peace University. With all the snow that fell, which happened to be more on the south side of town where my church is located it was kinda tricky. My friend couldn't go with me because she was snowed in outside of town, so I asked the hubby to go with me. He wasn't really interested and we kinda had a tiff about it. Didn't argue or anything, but he knew I was upset and I didn't beg or plead...nor did I ask him to please go with me because it was something I wanted. I realized afterwards that I was being a big butt about it, but still it was something that I thought we should be doing together.

Anyways, class scared me and made me think. There were things that Dave Ramsey talks about that we exactly the same things I had done or thought. I came straight home and cried and talked with hubby about how I thought we should do this together. I wanted him to come to one class...just one and if he still didn't like it then he could just listen to the audio cd's at home and do it that way. He was amenable to that. Dave wants you to cut up your credit cards...but I can't do that. It only has a $300 limit, which by the way is five dollars from maxed, but still...I am going to pay that down and until we have a safety net, we need that cushion for emergencies or my new way of thinking...GOK....God Only Knows. Our savings which was started about a month ago has become the GOK fund. And it will expand exponentially. So those are the plans...have a lot to do tomorrow...clean house...many loads of laundry...grocery shop...pay bills...and cut down on the cable...hopefully save about $50 a month. Lots to do and I am wiped. So it's off to beddy bye for me.

Peace, Love, and Girl Scout Cookies

Over extending oneself..

It's the day after payday and after a night of uninhibited spending I am now reaping the joys and sorrows of such an adventure. Don't get me wrong the bills are all paid, but I also purchased a dress for my sisters wedding (in which I am a bridesmaid), bought a bunch of scrap booking stuff from Michael's, bought the Wilton cake decorating student kit one and four I believe because they were on sale, and signed up and paid for my course one classes. Of course, the classes were 50% off in April so I just had too! I found out afterwards that the classes are four weeks long, but I'm not complaining... I wanted something that would help get me out of the house. I need to rejoin the real world. I've been holed up in my house because I love my husband and want to spend time with him, but at the expense of all my friends. I think they have abandoned me, or at least trying to get me out of the house.

A friend was going to come over tonight and we were going to scrapbook and watch New Moon (...giggling excitedly...), but the weather has turned crappy and if she comes over tonight she won't be able to go with me to Financial Peace University tomorrow afternoon, which is something we both signed up for together. FPU is every Sunday afternoon, while Wilton's classes are every Thursday night. Guess I better go get out my scrapbook stuff and try knocking out some pages while I still have some creative energy left.