a funny life

Life is funny. I don't really know how it is funny because it doesn't make us laugh but it does throw unexpected turns at us and I guess those can be funny. It all depends on how you look at it. But I will say this....life is funny because not all turns given are unexpected. Some turns we know are coming. But it always seems like when those turns are coming, life sends the unexpected turns our way.

About six weeks ago, my cousin was in town and we were having a discussion with my husband about vacations. I want to go to Walt Disney World and he doesn't want to spend the money. My cousin and I  tried to argue that now is the best time to go because we have no major financial concerns. I then said, "It's not like everything is going to happen to us all at once." This was a Brian Regan moment when I started desperately chasing after the words that came out of my mouth. I seriously jinxed us.

We knew that our neighbors were moving and that the new ones moving in wanted to share internet with us. So it was our responsibility to get that situated. We previously had Qwest but decieded to try Comcast because of a friend's suggestion. Big mistake! The guy took over 2 hours to get it going, ruined my white hand towel after washing his greasy hands, and then proceeded to tell me that I did not have wireless internet but just an Ethernet connection. Also, we found that even with the Ethernet connection, the internet was slower than Qwest. And I'd have to spend another 50 dollars to buy a router. So it was back to Qwest.

The beginning of May we noticed that our car had a rattling sound. So we took it in. While it was in, we also had our oil leak fixed. We came back from a birthday weekend and drove the car out of the mechanic's lot. Within 10 minutes the car died. Thankfully it was already in our driveway at that point but it would not start try after try after try. So we had it towed back to the mechanic. After a few days and several tests, the only thing they could tell us was that they were perplexed and that they thought it was an engine problem. Really? Really?!

Although we made a good chunk of money last year, we were still expecting financial aid from the governemnt to help pay for my husband's education. It was the beginning of May and we still hadn't heard anything. So my husband checked into it and found that technically he had been in school for 4 years and no longer was eligible for financial aid. But if he filled out some paperwork stating why he was still in school and hadn't recieved a degree yet, they would consider giving him some money. So he did, and they did, and no money. Apprently they ran out....? We were suppose to have recieved an email in April explaining the situation but we never did.

About a year ago, I asked my landlady if we could repaint our apartment. And to my surprise she said yes. She even allowed me to choose the colors. (I guess my degree did come in handy.) Well, it wasn't until this Memorial Day weekend that we got serious about painting. We went to Home Depot, got the colors, approved the colors, got the supplies and 5 cans of  paint, and started. Its been 6 days now, and with some parental help, we managed to paint the front room, the hallway, the kitchen, our bedroom, and the bathroom - ceiling and all - all on a budget of less than 400 dollars.

We decided that since our current vehicle was dead and we didn't owe much on it that we'd just pay off our loan. So we went into the bank and asked to do so. The nice young man helping us asked about our car. We told him the brief version and explained that since it was dead (and not likely coming back from the dead) that we didn't want to have to make any more payments. Once the transaction was completed, the nice young man said, "Congratulations! You are now the owners of your car." We both looked at each other and mumbled, "Yeah, a dead one."

A dead car and 2 rental cars later, we managed to start looking for cars. We found several online that we liked and called on, but without a car we couldn't exactly go looking for one. My mother was sweet enough to let us borrow her car. The day she brought it up, we went to look at a few different cars around town. The first one we saw, we liked....a lot! So after talking and glancing at a few other cars, we told the guy we'd take the car. We ran into our bank at 5:55pm on a Friday evening and started work on a loan. Tuesday evening, everything went through on the loan and we became official owners of a Nissan. Wednesday we got it inspected and registered and Thursday we got it detailed. Can I just say that cars are expensive!

After a few headaches and phonecalls, I finally got Qwest wireless internet up and running. The problem now is that the only working phone jack in our house is five feet up the wall and in our hallway. And the cloest outlet without going through doors or behind ovens is across the room. So now we've got working internet but at the expense of a green cord running through our kitchen. We're still working on it.

I don't know if I can look back at May and laugh. But life, thanks for making May a funny month.