bbblllaaahhh

Ugh. What a day.

First, I called the auto repair shop to set up my drop off, then I call the car rental place to set up a pick up time. After the phone calls, I start the laundry because Mom is watching Amelia until the first weekend of Aug.!! Yay Mom!

So, I head out around 10:45am and I don't return until 7:15pm.

The estimate to repair my car is $3650.00!!!! Thank goodness for insurance, except my deductible is $500!!!! There goes my savings. bbbblllaaahhhh

Next step was to pick up my rental. When I arrived at the place, first they told me that they didn't have my reservation. The dude I spoke with misunderstood my last name, figures. Then, the car wasn't even ready and they asked me to come back later! WTF!! They told me it would be ready around noon, and I showed up at 12:15 and they didn't have it. Bbbblllllaaaahhhh

So, Sean and I went to Cactus Willies for lunch. Sean hasn't eatin since he moved out (why? because Greg and I did all the grocery shopping and cooking when we lived at the townhouse). Amelia was a hoot at the restaurant. She was chatting and shrieking and being very loud, but not in the screaming her head off way. She was such a good girl!

After lunch, Sean and I go back to the car rental place and the car is finally ready, though not the one I reserved! I am now driving an exciting Chevy Cobalt. Joy.
Now, it's 1:45 and I call Mom to let her know that I am now heading down to Waldorf. Traffic on 301 was notorious! bbbblllllaaaaahhhh So, I skipped 301 and got onto 214 and headed south on 95 to 5 and then back to 301. I made it to Waldorf a little after 3pm.

Met Mom at Burlington, then we headed to Chipolte (my first time there, as well as Mom's) for a lunch (though, we really went there because we both had to pee). The food was great, the wait wasn't and Amelia became angry and cried every time she saw Mom. Then, I fed her some carrots and she was happy again.

After Chiplote, we headed over to Kinko's so Mom could print some of her Vegas Extravaganza pictures (and make a cd so I can put them online for her). We were there for ever because the kiosk ran out of ribbon and paper and the Kinko's Guy didn't know how to replace it. bbbllllaaahhhhh

Finally, around 5:30, we part our ways. She heads south and I north. Traffic was ok up until Crofton. On the way home, I called Greg to see if he wanted to do anything for dinner and he said he wasn't hungry because he ate a late lunch. So, I asked him to order me a pizza and I'll pick it up. Well, I arrived before the pizza was ready, so I hung out for about 10 minutes at Greg's job. When I talked to Greg on the phone, he estimated that he would be done around 6:30, which was the time I would be in the area. But, even though his 'job; was done, he was still hanging out at the office collecting things for his Sim City game. Did he want to leave work? No. So, I became mad and left, which was at 6:45. I picked up my pizza and headed home. I stopped and got gas for the stupid gas hog and walked into the apartment at 7:15pm.

My day in a nut shell.

I am still feeling pissed at Greg for, lack of a better description of what I am feeling, choosing his game over coming home with me. It's now 7:50 as I type and he hasn't called nor is he home. He'll probably walk in the door and start playing Sim City and maybe say a few words to me, which is fine because I'm not feeling very sociable right now.

bbbbbllllaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh

12 Days

I was 12 days shy of owning my car for 2 whole months.

Today, I was in a car accident. It was a minor accident. Amelia and I are fine, no injuries or anything. Amelia didn't even cry or make a sound when the accident occured.

Here's what happened:

I was leaving the Farmer's Market in Glen Burnie. I was at a light (which was red for me) and was going to make a right turn onto the rd. I looked to my left and saw a car coming that had their turn signal on, to which I assumed they were going to turn into the parking lot I was coming out of. I was wrong, and as I pulled out, they hit me. The impact wasn't nearly as bad as a previous accident on 09.09.99 that I was involved in. My air bags didn't even open. But, since she had the green light and I had the red, I am found to be at fault, which I knew I was.

Story of my life.

All Gone and Then Some

Today is payday.

And, my money is all gone.

Why?

I MADE MY FIRST CAR PAYMENT LAST NIGHT!

I am so adult right now, it's freaky.

After I made the car payment, I headed over to my credit card site to make their payment, but the system was down. Though, I did learn that they gave me a $100 credit increase! Hot damn!

Last night, I had an interesting chat with an old friend, Ed. Ed and I met in 2004. We met online and hung out on a simi-regular basis. I haven't seen Ed since June of 06, when he helped me clean my apartment before I moved to where I am leaving from this weekend. Ed and I did the "FWB" thing a few times, so all was good. I, at one point in time, did start to develop a 'crush' on Ed, but after I learned that he had feelings for another women (and has had feelings for her for over ten years), I knew that there wouldn't be anything more between us.

But, Ed wrote a few interesting things last night on Y! Messenger that has got me wondering; here are a few:

I said: Jessica (11:55 PM): yeah, I didn’t take it personally or anything. No hard feelings, I promise
Ed said: ********_evil (11:56 PM): I know- you’re so sweet, thats why I liked being with you

Hmm... he liked being with me? I knew we got a long pretty well, though we never went out; we just hung out in my apartment and chatted and 'whatnot'.

Then, he stated:

******_evil (12:09 AM): looks like you lost more weight in your pic- looking good!

Ed found me on MySpace, though never added me as friend (until last night), so who knows how long he's been checking me out. LOL

Then, in conclusion he wrote (as we were saying good night):

********_evil (12:31 AM): bye, Jess- LOVE YA!

Ok, from my past experience with guys, when it's the platonic 'love', they spell it as LUV, right? So, here we see Ed spelling it as LOVE...

I'm not reading into anything that isn't there (or I least I don't think it's there), don't get me wrong. But, I just thought it was interesting. Once Ed and I said our good byes, I went upstairs and told Greg about the conversation and he said that it sounded like Ed wants something that he can't have, being well aware that I am in a relationship. I guess that is possibly true, I don't know.

So, it was probably around midnight when I went to bed last night and I was some how awake and packing up my room by 7am. I was rudely awoken around 6:40 by my brother who was doing something with the hallway closet door.

Last night, Sean and I pretty much packed up the kitchen. We fought over the pots and pans because we both brought in a new set (I had received a nice set from my Grandma as a Christmas present and Sean said he bought a new set not too long before we moved in) when we moved. I stated one set was mine and he said it was his. Finally, I got the set that I stated as mine and he's taking the other set to Good Will and then he's going to buy his own new set. Then, we went through the dishes, which were all mine, except for a few bowls that he didn't want. We're donating a lot of things to Good Will, such as a dresser, entertainment unit, kitchen items and some of Amelia's clothes that are too small.

After the kitchen, I headed up stairs to start there as well, but ended up laying on the bed with Greg watching Hackers and playing DD (to which I later went down stairs once I realized that I had forgotten to make my credit card payment and then ended up talking with Ed for a about a half hour).

*Update*

I didn't quite finish the entry when I posted it. I became busy and didn't want to leave everyone hanging for something to read from me.

In any event, it's now the last hour of the work day (5:00pm est) and I've talked to Greg, Sean, and my Mom a few times. Greg is working at a different shop today and is hella bored and not motivated to work; he should be heading to the townhouse as I type. Sean, went to the Good Will and dropped off some items and then had to wait until 5 pm to even start moving items into his new place; in the meantime, he and Aaron took apart the couch (which is a huge sectional with a queen size sofa and a recliner all built in and weighs 12 tons, little exaggeration) and loaded that into the u-haul. Mom, when I last talked to her, was on her way to Sean's new place (though stuck in traffic in Crofton); to which I gave her general directions to.

In the meantime, I've been here, at work, answering so many phone calls since I am the only person in the queue. Yay.

I've been debating on whether or not to send an email to the condo guy to check on the status of our application, but I am too nervous because I fear another rejection. But, I am trying to be opptomistic and keep saying to myself "No news is good news", that is until I do get 'the news'. Greg seems to be handling this 'waiting' rather well, but he's more focused on the move than I am, or so it seems.

Mom's flight to Vegas leaves at like 6am tomorrow. She and her friends are renting a hotel room tonight so they can arrive to the airport at the same time. Mom is returning home on Tuesday, the 24th, at like 8pm. Greg and I have volunteered to pick Mom up from the airport (like he would pass on an opportunity to hang out at BWI)and take her to her car so she can head home. Then, on Wednesday, since I have the day off, I am going to take Amelia down to mom's so she can watch her and give Greg and I a break (of paying for the babysitter). I am very thankful that Mom hasn't gone back to work because without her help in watching Amelia, I have no idea what I would have done those few times we needed a babysitter.

I don't know what the full plan is tonight with where we're sleeping and what not. I believe, that I am going to spend the night at Greg's and start doing laundry and stuff, after we load up our cars and the truck, and then on Saturday go back to the townhouse to get the last of anything and finial cleaning. Ugh, this weekend might be hell. But, at least when Greg and I are ready to move out, as soon as we find a place, there won't be as much work. I hope.

Wish us luck that we're going to hear back from the condo guy and he's going to say "So, when do you three want to sign the lease and move in?"

Finally Friday!

Yay! Less than 2 weeks from moving day. Greg and I are so excited!!! He's setting up the reservation for the u-haul as I type (I assume and I was correct). Hey, he even finish the reservation before I finished this sentence! Here's the email I just received from him:

From: Greg S. [mailto:*****@yahoo.com]
Sent: Friday, June 15, 2007 10:56 AM
To: Jessica D
Subject: RE:

We got's our Uhaul. From approx. 6:30pm on Wed 27th to 10:30AM on Friday 29th. 17 foot truck. More than enough Space.


So, I finally got a hold of my insurance agent to talk about my new premium and how much it's going to cost me. It looks like my normal payment of $84.75 will be deducted this month from my checking account and then on July 15th, they are taking $264.75 as a down payment for my new policy, but there isn't any information about how much my installments are going to be. I've tried calling the actual insurance company to get that information but their systems are down and they suggested I call back after 1pm. Crossing my fingers that it's going to be reasonable.

After work, Amelia and I went to visit Greg at his job. The weather was so nice! We stood outside the entire time. Amelia sat in the car and just talked away, and even laughed! I'm so excited that she's begun to laugh like a real baby. I can't wait to get a recording. And, she ended up falling asleep around 7:30. Greg and I talked a little more about his concern and I reassured him that we're going to be fine, and we talked about money. They say money can ruin any relationship and I believe it. So, we talked about what we would pay for out of the joint account and what we would use our separate accounts for. Basically, everything that we're going to share is going into the joint account and the separate accounts for things that we want to buy for ourselves, such as clothes, games, movies, etc. I told my Mom what Greg and I are planning and she sounds a little hesitant and her excuse was "I guess I watch too much Judge Judy", silly Momma. Also, Mom has been on this Opera kick. Every time I talk to her (almost daily) she tells me what she saw on Opera and yesterday it was about poop and pee and other body excretions; Mom said it was a great show. Hmm. Greg and I also talked about the car payments. My idea was to round up the payments to a whole amount, for example: Greg's payment is currently $385 and mine is $278. I was thinking of rounding the payments to $400 and $300. Well, Greg has a little more than a year left on his car note, so he thinks it would be best to pay my minimum and put extra to his payment to pay it off earlier than scheduled. Then, we can out his car payment and my payment together to pay off my car earlier than the six years that is set up. Shit, if we could pay my car note at $700 a month, the car wold be paid off in two years!

I am thinking that I need to start a hobby or something. Work is going to be slow this summer, as I've been told, and I don't want to just sit at my desk staring at a screen. I am thinking that I could go back to knitting, although I threw away all my supplies when I moved last summer. I could learn scrap-booking, but I don't know how well I am going to be able to keep up with the details and what not. I could go buy a baby book for Amelia and put that together and record her first year and such (even though I am 5 months behind. LOL), but, if I am truly honest with the things Greg and I talked about when we learned that I was pregnant with her I wouldn't want to share it, yet I don't want to lie about it either. So, I am torn about the baby book.

Wow!! I totally feel like gossipping but I can't!! I so want to say so much about something but I can't!! Well, at least I can write about the juicy gossip at my 'secret garden'. Oh, if people could only see what's in my 'secret garden'! Maybe one day in the future.

The past 7 days in review...

Last Thursday was when my 1996 Pontiac died on me on the BW Parkway with a little over 190K miles. Exactly 7 days later, I am driving a 2006 Nissan with a little over 27K miles!. I upgraded my car by 10 years, although I downgraded my features.

I forgot how much fun, and nerve wracking, it is to drive stick! When I test drove the car at the dealership, I had a little hesitations about the car, but once I was in it and driving all the 'memories' of knowing how to drive stick came flooding back and I had no hesitations about choosing that car.

Going through finance was interesting. First, Greg and I waited for nearly an hour. Poor Amelia was so tired. It was after 9:30pm by the time we got to talk to the finance people. The first 'offer' was for a 48 month payment at $458 a month! Greg and I were like, what the hell! Because, when we arrived at the dealership, we told the sales person what price range of a car and payment we can afford, all at the very beginning of the whole process. So, when the finance lady said her first offer, we were kinda pissed because we didn't want to waste our time with something we weren't going to be able to afford. After a little more negotiation, the finance lady made a 'final' offer of $305 for a monthly payment. Again, Greg and I were telling them what we could afford and even bargained for a monthly payment of $275 max. The finance lady asked if we could put an additional $400 down and we said no since I increased my initial down payment of $800 to $1000. After they hemmed and hawed, Greg and I were like, "it's late and we're tired. We can't afford your payment option and we can't increase our down payment. We'll try Carmax since we know that there is a lender out there that will finance me." At that point, the finance lady told us to wait for a few minutes and she came back and took $400 off the total price in order to get my monthly payment to $278!

By 10:30pm, Greg and I were leaving the Antwerpen Nissan dealership and heading home (Greg was driving the rental car and was driving back to his office since he forgot his overnight bag in his car). I got home around 11pm and brought Sean and Aaron out to check out the new car. Currently, of all the people in my family, I drive the most current car (by year). Usually, I was the one that drove the oldest car.

This morning, I called the bank to check my balance. I was expecting it to be in the negative but to my delight, it was in the positive and well over any amount I was expecting! My ING withdrawal came through hella early! I was expecting it to come in something next week or the week after! I closed the account on Tuesday and had the money Thursday! Way to go ING!

Just to recap:

The bad in the last 7 days:

- Sitting on the side of 295 for 4 hours
- Learning that my car needs a new engine and that it would cost $5200
- Having to pay over $300 for a car rental
- All the stress that I went through about the car

The good that has happened in the last 7 days:

- Greg and I finally finding a place to live together
- Sean and Aaron moving to the same complex
- Actually being approved for financing a car
- Buying my very first car (and doing so all by myself)
- Receiving my IRA 2 weeks sooner than expected
- Paying everything with the IRA check AND still have more than enough money at the end of the month for the move and expenses related (security deposit, first months rent, u-haul rental, etc)

So, in review, even though the week started out horribly and I was very miserable, it has ended amazingly. I am feeling really good right now.

Want to hear something funny? Ok, well I have this magic 8-ball. I'm sure I've mentioned it before. Anyway, on Monday night, I asked the magic 8-ball if I should finance a car and it said 'yes' (or something along those lines), then I asked it if I would be approved for a finance load and again it said 'yes'. I was skeptical, of course. But, lately, that damn magic 8-ball has been pretty accurate. Remember the condo Greg and I were considering to rent? Well, after Greg and I checked out the place, I asked the magic 8-ball if Greg and I were going to move to the condo and it said 'no'. I asked that question and other variations of it numerous times over a few days and each time the response was 'no'. Greg and I were really hoping to get the condo, so it was kind of a bummer to keep getting the 'no' response. I believe on the 29th of May, Greg called the condo guy to check on the status of the application. Condo guy never called Greg back. Then, on Wednesday, I was approved at the townhouse complex and Greg and I checked the place out on Saturday, June 2, and decided to move there instead of the condo. On Sunday, the condo guy calls Greg and asks if we were still interested in the condo and Greg said no. Freaky, isn't it? Also, I've asked the magic 8-ball if Greg is going to propose to me in the next 12 months and every time I ask that, the response is always 'yes' or positive. Now, do I actually believe this.... mmmm... a little yes and a little no. It's nice to pretend but at the same time I am being realistic. I won't be upset if Greg doesn't propose to me within the next 12 months, but it is nice to day dream about it.

Speaking of 'surprises', over the weekend I told Greg that I haven't heard from Denise in a while and asked if he had. He said that he's talked to her off and on, via email, during the week. She's helping him with some sort of surprise for me!! Of course I thought it was for her opinion on a engagement ring and he knew that was the first thing I thought about but said that isn't what they are talking about. Then I asked if they were planning a trip to MD or if we were planning a trip to Michigan and he said no to both. He won't tell me what they are planning!! I am thinking it's a trip of some sort. But, it is exciting to know that Greg is thinking about me in that sense. Especially since he wants to really surprise me! I can't wait to see what it is.

We finally have a crib for Amelia and a dresser all of her own! My Grandma's brother and his wife gave Greg and I the crib and dresser. My mom picked up the other day and she's painting it for Amelia. She's going to do a garden motif. I can't wait to see the end result. My mom is a wonderful artist. When Greg and I get our own home, Mom is going to paint murals in Amelia's room and the bathroom. At the house in Churchton, Mom painted the bathroom as if it were under the water. There where whales, sharks, fishes, starfish, plant life, all of it. It looked really amazing. I think Mom could start her won business painting murals for people.

I really hope the next three weeks go smoothly.