March!

[vanillafluffy]

Here we are, turning the page on the calendar to March, which means I have just completed my first solid month of work. I submitted my "invoice" (their version of a time card) this evening, for a total of 90 hours.

Which probably doesn't sound like much to the 40-hours-per crowd, but it's been an uphill battle for me, it having been such a very long time since I've had this much structure in my life. The first couple weeks, by the time Friday rolled around, I felt like I'd been hit by a truck---but it's getting better.

At some point in the next 30 days, I'll have a paycheck; Pay ALL the bills! will be my battle cry. No more of those humiliating end-of-the-month phone calls begging for help with insurance or utilities. Oh, how I want to be caught up and PAID AHEAD. I can't even....

Supposedly, we're going to have a cold snap this weekend, so I skipped most of Person of Interest (a rerun) and took a shower and washed my hair. Hair is at the in-between growing out stage of hanging in my eyes but not long enough to tuck behind an ear...I twist the too-long bangs around and clip them back. Not flattering, but priority-wise, a fresh haircut comes after paying bills, somewhere between car repair and getting the lawn mowed. May, maybe? In time for summer, that's for sure.

Right now, my head is in a better state than it's been since, oh, last July, at least. I'm not under that looming cloud of I'M FUCKED---which was my frame of mind, growing ever more trapped and doomed as the months went on. .thanks, y'all, for putting up with my crazy, and all your encouragement and support. I WOULD NOT have made it through without you. Really.

TT---FN.

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Comments

[jdsgirlbev.livejournal.com]

*HUGE HUGS* Thank God for a paycheck, ja? :D

[vanillafluffy.livejournal.com]

*hugs back* Amen!

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[majolika.livejournal.com]

paycheck paycheck woohoooooooo :D

[vanillafluffy.livejournal.com]

Yes, and I'm going to have to be supremely careful so that I don't have too much month left at the end of the money.

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[pwcorgigirl.livejournal.com]

*hugs* Such a wonderful thing all around to read.

[vanillafluffy.livejournal.com]

*hugs back* Thanks!

I've been chronically broke for most of my adult life, but this experience has exposed me to a whole new level of poverty. I need to make sure I never repeat it--I want a safety net!

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[pwcorgigirl.livejournal.com]

Amen, sister! You've got black belt frugal skills, so you can keep applying all those skills and set a little aside every month for an emergency fund.

I am so proud of you for surviving this long, awful experience with sanity and a sense of humor still intact. *hugs*

[vanillafluffy.livejournal.com]

You put your finger on it---without the sense of humor (dark tho it may be at times), I would've thrown myself under the bus. But between that and my friends, I made it. Whew! That was a close one!

Black belt frugal skills, tee hee! Honestly, tho, it'll be wonderful not to have to count every sheet of toilet paper and check the bread for penecillin spots. I'm not going to run out and buy anything extravagant, but I'm looking forward to a stove with an oven that works!

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[pwcorgigirl.livejournal.com]

Your comment about the stove reminded me of the year Corgiguy and I lived in a house without a stove. (We were extremely broke in the Early Marriage Years.) I used to make biscuits -- probably with Bisquik -- and cooked them in a well-greased electric frying pan like English griddle cakes. To this day, he prefers crispy-crust biscuits to the soft. fluffy kind. :D

His parents took pity on us and bought us a nice toaster oven after about nine months of creative cooking with the frying pan and an electric wok.

[vanillafluffy.livejournal.com]

No stove at all?! The mind boggles---tho those biscuits do sound intriguing. I do hhave a functioning stovetop, tho, and thank god a microwave. If I had to choose between no oven and no microwave, I'd definitely keep the microwave!

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[ang5fam.livejournal.com]

At one point when all three children were small, I had no oven and a stove with only one functioning burner. I cooked all of the meat out on a decrepit grill every night. Never thought about a toaster oven back then~ that would have been handy~ We didn't have a microwave at that time, either. I was really like a pioneer woman! ha ha

[vanillafluffy.livejournal.com]

I only ever seem to use one burner...since I'm just cooking for me, it's not really an issue. I've had this stove for at least 15 years, and it was used when I got it, so I feel like I've gotten my money's worth out of it. In a few months, once everything else is caught up, I'll start checking out the scratch and dent store for a newer one.

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[kukkurkurat.livejournal.com]

I am glad for you.
I, on the other hand, had my last paycheck on the 28th. At least the last from that employer. Long story short - I fucked up, they fucked up even more, and thus a warning-worthy situation escalated to sacking.

[vanillafluffy.livejournal.com]

I just found out on Friday that I am not performing up to expectation, and as a result, I'm not getting the hourly rate any more, they're going to pay by the item. I'm quite upset; I'm going to have to do twice as much work to make the same amount of money, and I feel like even that may disappear without warming. Plus, my car is still dead. I'm ready to jump in front of a train, I am so tired of THE NEVER-ENDING SHIT

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