Looks Like We Made It...

...To Spring!

...To the third trimester!

...And we're still happily in love

Remember that blog I wrote in the fall about all the mistakes we'd made with money and how we were going to make sure those mistakes weren't made again and then we would live happily ever after on a bed of cash?

The good thing is that we made the changes. We did what we said we were going to do.

First I quit smoking when I got my BFP.

Then we stopped eating out. We had fast food twice this winter and that's only because we were far from home and baby was hungry (I swear!). And as sad as I am to tell you this, we haven't ordered a single pizza.

Then Brian talked his boss into letting him work on this side of the bridge, saving us about $100 a month in bridge fare! He also got a yearly raise and was authorized to work 20 hours of OT a week!

We got one of our credit cards balance down to zero! (It's not anymore...but still).

And then, after 6 failed cold-turkey attempts, Brian managed to quit smoking, too! He bought $35 worth of Nicorette lozenges at Sam's Club and they worked. Honestly, I didn't think he'd ever quit smoking and it ended up being so easy. Anyone looking to quit should definitely try the lozenges!

So after all this we're feeling pretty good about ourselves and all that we've accomplished. And since Brian returns to work in just 3 weeks we felt like we'd really made it! Our struggles were finally over! In November we were underwater gasping for air without a life raft in sight! Now we were floating peacefully towards shore.

I woke up on Thursday and my weather widget said 54 degrees. I was ECSTATIC! Not only were all of our bills up to date but it was nice out, too???? I jumped out of bed, ran outside and spun in circles on the front porch with my arms in the air to thank Mother Nature. I didn't care if the neighbors saw me acting cheesy like Molly Ringwald in a 80s teen movie. It was warm out! I went back inside to change my clothes and get ready to pull some weeds. But first I sat down and made a phone call. I made an appointment to get my hair dyed at a hair salon, something I haven't done since our wedding, something I thought was ok to do since the finances were slightly above water and the stress of it all had turned my hair gray.

Well, I don't know if the Frivolous Spending Gods (FSGs) were pissed at us or what but about 5 minutes after I called the hair salon our landlord came over and told us he was raising our rent $150 a month! Wow, that's big difference. But the FSGs were not done yet! Twenty minutes later the gas company dropped off a propane refill and a bill for $633! Yeah, remember how the landlord "didn't know" that the propane was set to automatic delivery and said he would change that? Guess he didn't.

So yeah, I was a miserable mess on the first nice day of the year and instead of doing yard work I sat inside crying...and then laughing...and then crying...and then crying and laughing at the same time. This has become a normal routine for me, bad news or not.

And BTW, we just put $600 into the gas tank at the end of January. Is this house insulated at all? Is there a leak? Is one of the neighbors tapping into our gas line? Seriously, WTF?!?!?!?

Brian is giving me that whole "everything happens for a reason" bullshit. He says we have a tendency to get too comfortable and we could have stayed here for another 5 years just because it was easier to stay than to move and start over again. But thanks to the landlord and this insanity over the propane, it's not easy to live here. And that will be what we're thinking of this summer when we're saving every penny so we can get a place with an electric furnace!!!!

Oh, and that 54 degree day was a total fluke. It's been below freezing everyday since then and there's a snow/ice storm coming tomorrow night. So much for Spring!