Stress

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I need to figure out a way to handle stress better. With all of this house buying business, my nerves are going to be shot. I basically hate the whole process...the looking, waiting, negotiation. All of it. I don't like buying cars, and I'm discovering I'm not any better at buying houses. I've turned into a great big ball of stress and nerves. When I'm not working, I'm thinking about it. I haven't slept well in two weeks. It never ends. This is worse than dreading my eye doctor appointments...and those are pretty bad. I'm praying for patience, wisdom, and peace.

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Oops!

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A rollercoaster day

The last 24 hours has been rather ridiculously stressful for me.

The house we were prepared to make an offer on has two other offers pending.

The fire alarms in my apartment building went off this morning at 4:50, again at 5:40, and yet again at 7:00.

Will called me at 11:30 this morning to tell me that he had a flat tire and needed me to come help him in an area that's a 20-minute drive from work.

Now, any one of these events taken by itself could be handled with aplomb. Even two of them would be okay. But three? By lunchtime and running on about five hours of sleep, I was ready to pull my hair out. My poor little Frasier spent at least an hour out of his day today howling and whimpering and barking in agony because of the shrill sound of the alarms.

You'd think that someone who can get a needle stuck in her eye with relatively little ceremony on a semi-regular basis should be able to handle some stress as well. And I had every intention of going to the gym tonight and then spending the rest of my evening reading. The gym, though, is going to be a stretch this evening as it's only 3:00 in the afternoon, and I'm already waning. By 9:00, I may be out cold.

It's a good thing I already had dinner planned (marinated lamb chops and baked sweet potatoes).

P.S. I think we're going to make an offer on another house. We found one that's very similar to the other, but we don't know if it has any offers on it yet.

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Meal ideas

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I used to post a daily "What's for supper?" thread in the MyTMMO forums. It was a popular thread, usually generating at least five to ten responses every day. But life got busy, and I didn't have enough time to pay attention to it any longer. I recently passed the torch to another forum member (but I'm not sure how long she'll be able to do it since she's going to homeschool her children beginning next week).

The reason for these meal threads wasn't because we needed them. It was more of a way to generate new meal ideas. At my house, it seems like we eat the same things over and over and over again. Boring! So I'm always looking for something new to make. I've scoured websites, but they usually involve fancy ingredients that I don't keep around. So tell me...is there a website out there that caters to simple ingredients and meals without encouraging boredom? I need to stave off the boredom!

I'm balking

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This afternoon, when I got off work, I made the mistake of calling the electric company to find out what the cost of electricity had been under the previous owners. The house that we're contemplating is a monstrous 3,200 square feet--a veritable beast!

According to the electric company, the smallest bill the prior owners had was about $128. The highest bill they had--in the middle of Tennessee summer--was in August 2007 and was $395.

In our tiny one-bedroom apartment, we pay an average of $100/month. The idea of doling out $300/month just for electricity boggles my mind. So...this is just one part of the decision process in this whole "buy a house" thing. I hope we make the right one.

A house? Really?

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Will and I are about to make a leap that's been a very long time in the making: we're about to buy our first home. And I am absolutely terrified. I really shouldn't be scared. In the grand scheme of things, this is only one of the largest investments I'll ever make in my lifetime, right? Sheesh, no pressure or anything.

The reason I bring this up is because this weekend, I saw some houses that Will requested I go see. We've both sort of fallen in love with one in particular, and now that we have one sort of picked out, this is all seeming very, very real. We've talked about buying a house for so long in hypothetical terms that I thought the time would never arrive. Now, there's this great hulking mass of a house waiting for us to buy it, and suddenly, I'm balking. Looking at this from a purely analytical standpoint, I shouldn't be. We have a fully funded emergency fund, a down payment, and no debt. From a logistical perspective, we're great candidates for a mortgage.

But we've lived completely debt-free for almost two years, and now we're going back into debt for a mortgage. Yikes! Granted, we'll be getting rid of rent and picking up a mortgage payment instead. But the idea of owing someone money...I don't know. When you've had that freedom, it's hard to suck it up and go back to that. A part of me wishes we'd made the decision to buy a house with cash, but I also know that we wouldn't really be happy for four or five more years in a small apartment. We're ready for a yard, extra space, and something that feels like we own it. So while my nerves are getting the best of me right now, when all's said and done, I realize that this particular financial decision is probably for the best overall.

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I'm a horrible bowler

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I haven't been bowling since college, but today, my team here at work gathered for a lunch of bowling and eating. I discovered that there's a reason I don't bowl very often: I'm horrible! The first game, I scored a 57 where one of my team members scored a 210. Ridiculous. In the last game, I scored a 69--better, but not anywhere near the 197 the winner got. This is one sport I may not be qualified to play.

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Kids in the spotlight

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All eyes are on President Obama's little girls, Malia and Sasha, ages 10 and seven respectively. The nation is buzzing about where they'll attend school (SidWell Friends--the same school Chelsea Clinton attended), who their new friends will be, what they're wearing. I saw a photo of them yesterday while they were watching the inauguration, and they looked entirely exhausted. Those two little girls are adorable, and it's natural that people want to see pictures of them, talk about them, and are generally curious about their lives as our nation's First Daughters.

But let's step back for a moment. Malia and Sasha did not ask for this...they did not ask to be thrown into the limelight. Their parents made that choice. I am around the same age as Chelsea Clinton, and I remember how cruel the press was to her about her hair, makeup, braces, and clothes. She was awkward as a teenager like many of us were (or are). It wasn't fair that she became the butt of jokes, and I'm sure that was not good for her self-confidence, which--at that age--is already pretty fragile. We all know that Chelsea turned out to be a very attractive young woman, but I imagine that as Malia and Sasha grow up before our eyes, they will be subjected to some of the same criticism.

I've had a long-standing belief that children of celebrities or politicians should not be treated as celebrities themselves. They should be allowed to make their own mistakes in private, celebrate their accomplishments in private, and simply be allowed to be kids. As much as I wish there was something to stop that, public human interest will throw these kids into the spotlight just as much as any other child of a celebrity or well-known politician. And as their father is now the leader of the free world, they will perhaps be watched even more closely than anyone else...much like the daughters of President Bush were.

Give Malia and Sasha a little breathing room. Their lives have just been dramatically altered for the rest of their lives.

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Just for fun...

This was an interesting (and entertaining) video I ran across today.

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History in the making

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Today, we make history as a nation. Our first African-American president will be sworn into office, and a huge part of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s dream will be realized. What a great moment for the United States of America. I love that we've come so far as a society...that we appreciate our differences and can look beyond skin color to elect someone based on policies and values. I'm proud to be an American today.

On the other hand, as I was waiting for our morning devotional to begin, I was discussing today's inauguration with a co-worker. She told me that she wasn't sure that her kids knew the name of the current president--George Bush--before Barack Obama's election in November. This is a huge moment in our nation's history, that we're placing our first African-American president in office. But I think it's sad that children haven't been nearly as aware of who our president was before this moment. Shouldn't every child know who the current president is? What does that say about what kind of education our children are receiving?

I may not agree with Obama's policies on a political level and maybe not even on a personal value system. But he's my president, and I will stand behind him, support him, and pray for him as he moves into office. And as one of my other co-workers said, if he can make patriotism cool again, he'll make an incredible change in our nation.

Good luck, Mr. President. I wish you well.

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Buying our first home

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One of our goals as a couple for 2009 was buying our first home. And as of this weekend, we've begun that process by associating ourselves with a realtor.

What's interesting to me is that this process is not going to be like that you see on HGTV where the realtor picks out some homes, shows them to you, and then you pick the best one. Rather, the realtor has asked us to make a list of homes we'd like to see in neighborhoods we're interested in. He also asked us to drive through the neighborhoods of some of the homes we've looked at online and make sure those are areas we'd really like to live in. And much to our dismay, some of those homes and neighborhoods did not live up to our expectations when we drove through on Saturday afternoon. We quickly knocked out a couple of neighborhoods for one reason or another.

This is an exciting process but also rather nerve-wracking for me. This is going to be a large purchase--larger than any either of us has ever made before. We're committing ourselves to living in this home for three or more years. And we're finally settling in one location, which is something we've never done before. As we sat discussing our options and hashing out details on Saturday with the realtor, I could feel my whole body shaking with nerves. Afterward, I told Will that I had been shaking the whole time we'd been talking. His response was, "Really?" He couldn't understand why this would make me so nervous. His reaction to the process so far has been one of pure excitement and intensity. I wish I had that same attitude. I'm excited but can feel my nerves take over far more than I'd like them to.

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It pays to shop around

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In the ongoing saga of my car troubles, I discovered that sometimes it pays to shop around...especially when you're doing business with car dealerships.

There are two major Mazda dealerships here in Nashville. I recently discovered this little tidbit of information because I previously did business with the larger of the two. This particular dealership has several branches in the middle Tennessee area. (I won't print the name here, but it sounds suspiciously like Nelson.) Last summer, when my husband and I relocated to Nashville from Chicago, we purchased a Mazda Miata. Not too long after we bought it, the check engine light came on. We took it in, Will asked if it could possibly be the O2 sensor, and we were told no. So we paid about $700 for some problem we'd never even heard of and hoped that it was fixed. Two weeks later, the light was back on. We took it back to the dealership for service again, and this time, it was the O2 sensor. And while the dealership wouldn't admit it at the time, our theory has been and remains that they misdiagnosed the problem the first time and ended up costing us an extra $700.

Now that you have the background, here's the current story. Thinking there was only one place I could get an extra key for my "new" car and a remote, I called the dealership we were familiar with. They told me it'd be $77 for the remote, another $47 to program it, and about $8 for the key itself. Not happy with that option, I began searching the Internet and discovered that there's another dealership here in Franklin called Mazda of Cool Springs. I called them this morning and was told it would be $61 for the remote, $8.50 to get the extra key made, and they would program it for FREE. John in the parts department said that the programming only takes about 10 seconds and the guy that does it usually just programs it for free while the car is in the lane. Wow! What a different response than the other place!

The moral of this story is shop around--even if you're buying some fairly simple things for a car.

Appreciate what you have

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Too often, we take our day-to-day lives for granted...trudging through them and always wishing for things to be better or different. The theme of our devotional this morning triggered this thought, and I thought it would make an excellent blog post.

We all have things we could dwell on in our lives. In my case, I have an eye condition that gives me problems, and I often think to myself that if only I didn't have that problem, everything else would be perfect. That's not true. If it weren't the eye condition, it would be something else, and if it wasn't something else, it'd be something else again. It never really ends. So I want to take a moment to list just a few of the things I do have a reason to be grateful:

*Faith in a loving, forgiving God
*A husband who loves me even with all my faults
*A beautiful little dog who can't wait to see me at the end of every day
*A mom who's still with me despite some pretty serious health conditions
*My brother and sister
*Good friends
*Overall good health
*Living debt-free and comfortably
*The ability to travel and experience the world when so many others never have the opportunity to leave their tri-state area
*Living in a country that allows me to express my views without fear of repression

Those are just a few of the things I take for granted every single day. What do you take for granted that you should be giving thanks to God for?

Bryan Adams and a "new" car

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Wow...this past weekend was eventful. As you'll recall, I totaled my car on Thursday morning. I found out on Friday as the insurance company was handing me my check that I had 72 hours to find another vehicle or I would have to begin paying for my rental vehicle out of my own pocket. That wasn't going to happen, so Will and I went car shopping bright and early on Saturday morning. We had cash in hand and were ready to make a deal. I ended up buying a 2002 Mazda Protege5. It has 68,000 miles on it and is in great mechanical condition. The catch? It has a rebuilt title, which doesn't bother me but may make a difference in how I have to resell it.

Now, on to the fun part of the weekend! I had tickets to see Bryan Adams live in an acoustic concert at the Ryman Auditorium here in Nashville last night. He puts on an amazing show. His only accompaniment was a pianist by the name of Gary Bright. I've been a Bryan Adams fan since I was about 13 or 14 years old. I grew up in Kentucky, and the last time he was in Nashville, he gave a free concert on the riverfront. I begged my mom to go, but she wouldn't let me go because it was an hour and a half away. Now, almost eleven years later, I finally got to see him live. It was everything I'd hoped it would be. Will even enjoyed it and called BA "one of the greats." I suppose he is since he's had so many hits over the years. And even though he isn't nearly as popular as he once was, he still puts on a fabulous show. I found it hilarious that Will and I were some of the youngest people there. Everyone else appeared to be reliving their teenage years from the '80s.

As for the Ryman auditorium...well, it's a classic venue and really pretty. I found out from a co-worker that it's actually an old church. I had no idea, but I did know that the seating was really uncomfortable and didn't enjoy the venue that much. The seats are actually pews, and they've been numbered incredibly close together, causing you to get to know your neighbor more intimately than I would prefer.

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Since I'm feeling the heat...

All right, all right. I'm feeling the heat, so I guess I have to share the story now.

The night before my car accident, I was complaining to Will (the hubby) that I wanted a "new" car. We've had the Civic for quite some time, and frankly, I was tired of it. But then he reminded me that now that we think we've found a church to make our church home (still not entirely sure but getting there), we need to put a tithe in our monthly budget. Well, I complained not so subtly that while I certainly don't mind the tithe, I did mind that it would cut into our cashflow for another car, our next vacation, etc.

The next morning, I had my accident. Can we just say that God has a sense of humor and leave it at that?

Murphy attack!

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If you've listened to Dave Ramsey for any amount of time, you know that he calls life's little mishaps Murphy. Today, Murphy came pounding at my door in a big way.

This morning, I was traveling along the interstate on my way to work as I do every weekday morning, and traffic was heavy as usual. It makes for a slow trip into work, but you get used to it (especially when you're used to taking public transit in Chicago). I was listening to a local morning talk radio show, and suddenly, not 10 minutes into my drive, I spotted a guy in front of me slamming on his brakes. This is not an uncommon occurrence in Nashville. I reacted quickly and slammed on my own brakes, hoping to avert an accident. No. Such. Luck.

Yep, I skidded and rear ended the guy in front of me driving a SUV. At the force of the impact, the guy I hit then hit the guy in front of him (but didn't cause nearly as much damage). The insurance company has totaled out my car, and I'm basically out $1,000 because of the deductible. And you know...I'm not stressed or worried or concerned. We can take the hit, get another vehicle, and be back on the road to recovery in no time. Because we've been working the Dave plan, we have enough financial peace to let this be like water off a duck's back.

So while everyone in the media is screaming about how the economy is in terrible shape and we're all going down, even in the middle of my own personal financial mini-crisis, I know that my husband and I will be juuuuuuuuust fine.

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Making reading a goal this year

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Did you know that 50% of American adults are unable to read at an eighth grade level?

I find that particular statistic frightening. In a country where knowledge has become your strongest asset in the working world, 50% of the adults can't read at a basic eighth grade level? Are you kidding? According to the book The Millionaire Next Door, the average millionaire reads at least one nonfiction book a month. I'd much rather be like the prosperous millionaire. To tie in with that theme, people who have good reading skills make on average about $28,000 more a year than people who don't read nearly as well. While reading might seem like a relatively minor and basic skill to have, as it turns out, it is rather indicative of your success in the working world.

This is such an important subject to me. I would encourage each and every one of you to make an effort to read at least one book a month in 2009. Make it your goal. I've been a lifelong reader--mainly fiction--and that transposed itself into writing (also fiction). I'm finding more and more as I travel through life that both of those skills have been vital to me...nearly every day. And I don't care if you begin by reading nonfiction books. If you can make it your goal to just start reading, you'll be 10 times better off than you were yesterday.

What do you say? Can you take the challenge? Make this your year to read at least 12 books. As for me, I'm already on book number two for this year.

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