30.30.30 Final Donation

I had 4 people comment on this post.  So since $4 looks lame, I'm going to donate $5 for each comment, which means a $20 donation.  I'm making it as soon as I hit post.  Thanks for your support!!

C'Mon, Y'all

Tomorrow is the last day of September, which means it's the last day of the 30.30.30 project.  In this post I said I would donate $1 for every person who commented.

I've had 3.

I know more people read me.  Blogger says I have 18 followers (though I don't know who about 6 of them are).  It takes all of 2 seconds.  Please?  With sugar on top?

There's a Light

At the end of the tunnel, that is.  And it's waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay down there.

Notice how I haven't bitched and moaned about money recently?  It's not because we won the lottery (I WISH).  Actually, things are still tight, but we've had a better handle on where our money needs to go which, really, makes all the difference.  I have a spreadsheet on my computer which goes all the wayt o the end of the year and basically tells me which bill I'm paying each week and how much (i.e. we split up our cell phone bill just 'cause we can and it's our largest bill...).  It's definitely helped us be more diligent about who we need to pay and how much we're going to set aside for rent and our car payment.

But at the end of August, Jerome's car needed $400 worth of work.  Money is still tight and we still aren't contributing ANYTHING to savings so we had to pull that from our rent money for September.  Luckily, we have amazingly forgiving landlords and were able to pay them half on September 5 and half on the 12th.  But now we're stuck in a hole.  That set us back a little bit on saving for NEXT month's rent.  Which could snowball into a lot of other issues.

I need a money tree.

Luckily, Jerome is putting in a LOT of overtime and I just finished a pay period at the bookstore with a LOT of hours so there is money coming in.  AND Jerome just got a new position at work; it's not necessarily a promotion but it does come with a decent pay raise.  That money will be nice once it starts coming in.  Yeah, you read that right.  Jerome has been in this new position for almost 2 months and hasn't seen a dime of that raise.  No, in case you were wondering, that's not legal.  But he will be getting retro pay for all of the hours he's put in since then without this pay raise.  This raise is like $2-3 more than he currently makes (or so we're expecting), so the retro pay should be very very very nice.  It's just a matter of being patient until then, LOL.

Just thought you were interested about where we stand on all that.  We're looking forward to being able to pay off a huge chunk of debt once that retro check comes in.  Until then, though, I feel like we're hemorrhaging money.  (Especially when I realize that I didn't click the "finalize" button on 2 of my payments I made last week... and we lose another $150.)

BUT don't think that I have forgotten about my pledge.  There's only NINE DAYS left of the 30.30.30 campaign and only NINE DAYS for you to comment on this post.  Do it.  Do it.  Do it.  Especially since Kait is matching whatever I donate.  And seriously $4 seems pretty wimpy right now...

Stinkin' Allergies

When J let us adopt Paulie, he was worried because I've had a history of cat allergies.  Like, I'd go to my aunt and uncle's for Christmas (they have a few cats) and within twenty minutes of walking through the door, my mom and I would be sniffling and trying to avoid scratching our eyes.  Then I was a before and after school caregiver to three kids in West County and they had two cats -- never had a reaction.  I'm not really sure why I responded to my aunt and uncle's cats and not that family's cats, but I did.

J wanted to get a dog but we were still in an apartment (now we're in a condo) which meant no yard and I didn't  want to do that to a dog.  So we compromised and got a kitty.  And guess what?  NO ALLERGIES.  I was ecstatic.  We even got a brother for Paulie when my friend had to get rid of her cat Sebastian.  Still nothing.

But the last three weeks or so?  Oh.  My.  Goodness.  Runny nose, scratchy throat, itchy eyes...  I think it's more related to my allergies that are going haywire.  Because the mold and ragweed counts are so high, it's irritating to be around my boys.  Which is so sad, because Paulie is a creeper and I'm usually the first one up in the morning and he is literally RIGHT there in my face the second my alarm goes off.

I can't wait for colder weather just because it means my allergies will be gone.

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Don't forget about the 30.30.30 campaign.  I will donate $1 for every unique commenter on this post.  I've only had two, so c'mon!  There's only 13 days left!

30.30.30

I love Google Reader.  I'm able to keep up with a lot of bloggers I enjoy reading all on one site.  You should check it out if you like to read a lot of blogs.

Bryan Allain is a guy I found through Stuff Christians Like.  He writes about life, faith, and the Amish (he lives in Lancaster County, PA).  Often he's funny but he has some really serious and thought provoking stuff, too.  For the month of September (30 days), he and 29 other bloggers (30) are trying to raise $30,000 for wells in Africa.    Back when the earthquake hit Haiti, I had some friends who pledged to give money in earthquake relief for every comment their blog received.  I am doing that here.

From now until September 30, I will donate $1 for every comment on here.


Did you know that $20 can provide clean water for 1 person for 20 years?  Think of what you spend $20 on every week.  Every day, even.

Jerome wants me to cap this, but I think that God is leading me to do this, so I'm going to let Him move.  =)