So I went through one of those 50 BOOKS YOU MUST READ BEFORE BLAh blah blah lists
and I pulled out some that actually sounded interesting
specifically I read Bossypants by Tina Fey and How to be a Woman by Caitlin Moran
I preferred Caitlin Moran, it might be because she is British? I was raised with a sort of British sense of humor (as much as you can in the US without being raised entirely on Doctor Who and Masterpiece Theater reruns on PBS). I like that she messed up a lot, made an ass of herself and still kept moving forward.
Bossypants made me love Tina Fey a little bit for being from Pennsylvania and for not being able to drive and feeling like a horrible person for it while her husband drove for hours across the state to visit various parts of their families, I have been there, I have so done that. I am probably also a horrible person for making my husband doing all the driving (and for many, many other reasons) but he for some reason loves me anyway (some day I will figure out why).
Through reading both of these and thebloggess I have come to realize that there are a whole host of other women out there who are rather like me, gawky and awkward, who would rather sit at home reading books, watching Netflix and eating cookies than go out and you know like....talk...to people. It's not that I don't like people, it's just that I don't understand why they can't just come to me instead. I sort of love that there is this whole trove of women rising up going I am not really pretty or supremely intelligent and I regularly fall over while walking, but I am clever and I can be funny and I know how to get along with men without showing them my boobs and that is why I am awesome.
I think we really need this trend to keep moving forward.
Now then, I am going to go bake some cupcakes.
Hell yea
Friday, August 23, 2013
Thursday, August 8, 2013
Short People ain't got no reason to live
Random encounter in the parking lot with a guy who might be crazy, might be on drugs or might just be one of those sort of weird..happy..take life as it comes people (who I think is part Native American, I mean I am not just guessing that he babbled something about it, me too buddy, just haven't figured out what kind yet).
He made a few comments at me (I was less than receptive, sorry guy! I wasn't trying to be rude, just distracted) and the last thing he says is "You are a short one ain't ya, see ya shortie!"
I have spent my whole life being short (I mean obviously, it's not like I was 6 feet tall for a day and then shrank the next) and my whole life having people comment on how I am shorter than average. Isn't weird how something becomes so intrinsically part of yourself that you don't think about it? I have always been the short friend, even when my friends weren't much taller than me, I was the little one. It is still incredibly novel to me to know people my size or smaller. If I was suddenly plunked down in Peru or somewhere else where I would be about average height (thanks Wikipedia for telling me that) I don't think I would know what to do..it is sort of funny because there is a sort of half second of irritation when I meet someone who is small like me and someone comments on it like NO, ME I am the little one.
Does anyone else feel that way? Like you are the funny one in your group and some new guy wanders in cracking jokes and you are like who does this guy think he is? Or the tall one or the bookish one or whatever.
It's silly right? How one little thing that we never even think about otherwise becomes so important to who we are, to what we are for a moment.
He made a few comments at me (I was less than receptive, sorry guy! I wasn't trying to be rude, just distracted) and the last thing he says is "You are a short one ain't ya, see ya shortie!"
I have spent my whole life being short (I mean obviously, it's not like I was 6 feet tall for a day and then shrank the next) and my whole life having people comment on how I am shorter than average. Isn't weird how something becomes so intrinsically part of yourself that you don't think about it? I have always been the short friend, even when my friends weren't much taller than me, I was the little one. It is still incredibly novel to me to know people my size or smaller. If I was suddenly plunked down in Peru or somewhere else where I would be about average height (thanks Wikipedia for telling me that) I don't think I would know what to do..it is sort of funny because there is a sort of half second of irritation when I meet someone who is small like me and someone comments on it like NO, ME I am the little one.
Does anyone else feel that way? Like you are the funny one in your group and some new guy wanders in cracking jokes and you are like who does this guy think he is? Or the tall one or the bookish one or whatever.
It's silly right? How one little thing that we never even think about otherwise becomes so important to who we are, to what we are for a moment.
GET OFFLINE
Right so yes. I am writing an ONLINE blog to tell myself to get offline. I hope I am not the only one who sees the humor in this.
I noticed that I have become so attached to the internet, and it is just stupid and pointless. I just check the same like 4 things over and over in case someone did something interesting. Nope my bank account didn't suddenly have more money in it (tomorrow it does though, whooo, then $400 of it will promptly disappear when I pay bills). No one put anything up on facebook because they are either out doing things or they are ALSO checking facebook repeatedly hoping something new appears etc.
I have a few books that need finishing. I should get to that.
I guess I should also get around to folding laundry and washing dishes but that stuff is even more boring than the internet.
I want to go out and do something but skull isn't home and I don't have money for the bus.
Poops.
I should make myself some coffee, read a few chapters to stop feeling sorry for myself and get some stuff done.
Alright.
Awesome...that's the plan....
Seriously...it's going to happen.
I noticed that I have become so attached to the internet, and it is just stupid and pointless. I just check the same like 4 things over and over in case someone did something interesting. Nope my bank account didn't suddenly have more money in it (tomorrow it does though, whooo, then $400 of it will promptly disappear when I pay bills). No one put anything up on facebook because they are either out doing things or they are ALSO checking facebook repeatedly hoping something new appears etc.
I have a few books that need finishing. I should get to that.
I guess I should also get around to folding laundry and washing dishes but that stuff is even more boring than the internet.
I want to go out and do something but skull isn't home and I don't have money for the bus.
Poops.
I should make myself some coffee, read a few chapters to stop feeling sorry for myself and get some stuff done.
Alright.
Awesome...that's the plan....
Seriously...it's going to happen.
Monday, August 5, 2013
Money Money Money
If money is the root of all evil I must be a saint. Right now we make do on about $18,000. Yes we get foodstamps (About $250 a month worth, and I am decent at feeding 3 people on that), so at least we won't starve to death. Honestly we live in reasonable comfort, one way or another I get bills paid each month (sometimes even I don't know how I do it..), we have enough to get a few little luxuries and I never feel really all that poor....until something big happens....oh say like our car starts to crap out on us.
We bought our car straight out with our income tax return a few years ago, it has been relatively problem free (had to replace the radiator within a year of buying it and it got a flat tire once but seriously, it is over 20 years old, it has run well so far). We have not had the money to keep it maintained like we should and we are now facing the consequences of that and now it needs quite a few repairs and replacements. We considered buying a new car but the bank said nope, can't do it, so that's that I guess. I did find out I have a decent credit score though, yay for being responsible and paying bills on time! Anyway, we are taking it into a garage tomorrow to have it checked out and find out what is wrong with it (it has started leaking oil rather badly) and how much it should cost to fix. Hopefully it won't be too much.
Because of all this stuff I have realized how badly we are mismanaging our money. I hadn't thought about it much before because well frankly we don't have much left after bills and gas. I sat down to look at our funds though and realized how much we waste in times of plenty (fat check comes in from Skull's freelance work) and how we regret that in times of lean (little to no work and we are just getting by), so I need to start budgeting and putting what is left aside for later.
I found out that with our current average incomes (a surprisingly difficult number to figure out since I work seasonally and Skull is freelance) we only need to increase our income or reduce spending by $550 a month to be able to pay bills, account for yearly payments (insurance, back to school etc), set aside money for costly repairs and have a $2000 fund established in a years time. If one of us gets a minimum wage part time job we only need to work about 16 hours a week to make that. So, that is pretty much my goal and I think it is a pretty achievable one. Feeling a little more hopeful about all this (at least until I hear the repair estimate tomorrow, ha!)
Anyway, that is pretty much it, not that entertaining but that is life kids. I will probably post a bit about trying to make it to my goals over the next year.
We bought our car straight out with our income tax return a few years ago, it has been relatively problem free (had to replace the radiator within a year of buying it and it got a flat tire once but seriously, it is over 20 years old, it has run well so far). We have not had the money to keep it maintained like we should and we are now facing the consequences of that and now it needs quite a few repairs and replacements. We considered buying a new car but the bank said nope, can't do it, so that's that I guess. I did find out I have a decent credit score though, yay for being responsible and paying bills on time! Anyway, we are taking it into a garage tomorrow to have it checked out and find out what is wrong with it (it has started leaking oil rather badly) and how much it should cost to fix. Hopefully it won't be too much.
Because of all this stuff I have realized how badly we are mismanaging our money. I hadn't thought about it much before because well frankly we don't have much left after bills and gas. I sat down to look at our funds though and realized how much we waste in times of plenty (fat check comes in from Skull's freelance work) and how we regret that in times of lean (little to no work and we are just getting by), so I need to start budgeting and putting what is left aside for later.
I found out that with our current average incomes (a surprisingly difficult number to figure out since I work seasonally and Skull is freelance) we only need to increase our income or reduce spending by $550 a month to be able to pay bills, account for yearly payments (insurance, back to school etc), set aside money for costly repairs and have a $2000 fund established in a years time. If one of us gets a minimum wage part time job we only need to work about 16 hours a week to make that. So, that is pretty much my goal and I think it is a pretty achievable one. Feeling a little more hopeful about all this (at least until I hear the repair estimate tomorrow, ha!)
Anyway, that is pretty much it, not that entertaining but that is life kids. I will probably post a bit about trying to make it to my goals over the next year.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)