Dunzo

After ten years of making monthly payments to the U.S. Department of Education, I can finally say that my college student loans are officially paid off! WEE FREAKING HOO!!

I never thought this day would come - or at least I didn't think it would when I received my first bill in the mail. Talk about a cloud of doom hanging over a fresh graduates head...

In looking back, I sure borrowed a lot of money for beer, good times, and great memories :)

But it was so worth it.

Bye-bye loans.

To Accuse

Have you ever been falsely accused of something? How does that make you feel? I know for me, it feels pretty numbing.

I have been accused of many things - from personal attacks on my character to the 'what he said/she said' sorted comments that can be misconstrued through communication.

Yesterday couldn't have ended any sooner. Work was mind boggling to begin with, but knowing that I got to go vote afterwards gave me something to look forward to in order to top my day off. I was excited, I knew I was making a difference with my vote, and I was going to be a part of history one way or the other. After I got out of the polls, I came home to a note on the door - "Now what?", I thought.

I started shaking my head as soon as I opened it - it was a 3 Day Past Due Notice that the apartment gods didn't receive my rent check. Are you kidding me!? I am so OCD when it comes to paying my bills on time that I actually write my rent check out for the following month two weeks in advance. That's right... just to make sure all is in good order. Now, let me remind you that two months ago, they admittedly 'threw' my last rent check away 'on accident' - because, 'you know, it happens'... not only did I have to put a stop pay on the last check, I had to immediately take them a new one to cover for the 'late' payment. Even though it wasn't late. It was freaking lost.

Livid. That would pretty much sum up my feelings looking at this stupid piece of paper.

Naturally, I call to explain what is happening - and by 'explain', I mean yell at the poor girl who happened to answer the phone about how inept and irresponsible they were for not double checking the envelope that rent came in ... and then get transfered to one of the managers.

After waiting on hold for eternity, I get some chipper sounding woman who needs me to explain everything to her. People, I'm trying my hardest to stay calm and keep a pleasant tone, but get this - after I told her what had happened two months ago she says, 'Well, don't you think it's pretty ironic that it's always YOUR check that gets lost? Why is it always YOU who has this problem? I'm thinking YOU didn't pay your rent and you're trying to get out of the late fee that I'm going to charge you anyway for not having it in on time.'

My retort, "MY CHECK ISN'T LATE - YOU LOOOOST IT!!" So much for calm. Then it hit me - I can continue on arguing with this woman and not get anywhere or try a different approach. (Punching her in the neck was my actual approach, but she was out of arm shot.) I decided to be nice. To take it down a notch. Maybe she was having a bad day? But dang it, I had a bad day, too.

So I told her that I was sorry for raising my voice and that I wanted to resolve this - what did I need to do? Obviously, she still wanted to yell at me for being a dead beat and continue to accuse me of getting out of rent, not being responsible, blah blah blah... Calm... breathe... pray - God let this woman calm down so we can talk... God let me hold my tongue... deep breath...and wouldn't you know... the conversation changed.

I ended up having to go get a cashier's check, put ANOTHER stop pay on this check, and go to the rental office. It was like going in to see the principal - I felt like I was in trouble, but I know in my heart of hearts that I was being honest - I really did pay my rent. But how do you convince somebody that your words are true? I had the proof with my duplicate checks. It wouldn't help.

The lady I had spokent to was gone, but the other woman working gave me that condescending look and accompanying sneer and said, "Oh, I know what this is about. I'll take that." I smiled, said thank you and walked away.

But before I left, I stopped at the desk where the girl answering the phone was sitting - I told her who I was and apologized for being rude and raising my voice when I called. Her eyes lit up and she said, "Wow - thank you... you're so sweet for going out of your way... but these things happen and I'm sorry they happened to you." Yeah, me too.

You want to know what my bible study sermon was about last night at church? Persecution and how we handle it. Ironic? I didn't think so either.

Trick Or Treat

I'm not a huge Halloween person, but I do enjoy seeing the little kids all dressed up in their costumes every year.

Last year at work we decorated the whole office and my coworkers (or their spouses) brought in their kids to walk up and down the aisles and get candy from us. It was so much fun and I'm totally looking forward to it again tomorrow. Of course I bought MY favorite candy in case we had some leftovers (Jr. Mints....mmmmmm)!

I haven't been to a costume party in years and doubt I'll go to the one I was invited to this year. I get too freaked out about drunk drivers. When did I get all 'old'? Plus, I didn't want to spend the money on something I'll wear for one night.

I think my favorite 'adult' costume was an angel and my boyfriend at the time was the devil - I had light up wings and a halo and oddly enough after a long night of drinking, my halo burned out. Go figure. It was so cute though... do you have a favorite costume?

Send me pictures of your kids so I can see them all dressed up, too!

Have fun and "Trick or Treat!!"

Sigh

I have such a bad case of writer's block... I have no idea what to talk about... this is so frustrating. Any ideas, thoughts, opinions? :)

The Countdown is On

In almost 2 weeks we will be able to use our voices to elect a new president to run our country - how exciting is this?! No matter what the outcome, this election is going to be a history making event and I cannot wait to be a part of it.

I'm not here to share my political views, but I do want to make sure everybody is going to let their ballot be counted because we all know that EVERY vote matters.

This will be the fifth election that I have been able to vote in and I'm sort of proud of myself for being able to say so. I had only been 18 for three months in my first election back in '92 and my mom even came to the high school to pick me up at lunch so we could go together. (Please stop doing the math in your head!).

I felt SO good about myself when I walked out of the library after voting that day, but I'm not sure how to explain it - do you know what I'm talking about? We can breath a huge sigh of relief for being able to live in a democracy where our voices are heard and our freedom is so important not only to ourselves, but the people who come in to our country and worked hard to get here - all for a better life.

In '96 while attending college, I was so proud of my 'I Voted Today' sticker and I kept it on my favorite notebook so I could look at it every day. However, I didn't know that you could ONLY vote for the president on your ballot - I thought you had to vote for everything on there. I didn't know any of the other names for judges, sheriffs, and whoever else was on there, so I made a cute little pattern with my bubbles. Probably not the best approach, but it seemed logical as a 20 something...

I drove through an icy/rain mixture in 2000 to find a little elementary school for my next voting stint - and it was the first time that my roommate and I had watched every debate and I knew without a doubt who I was voting for - I nearly body checked a little lady into the wall trying to get in to my booth because I was so excited. I wondered if being that excited was 'normal'?

'04 seemed uneventful because I walked across the street to the fire station and the volunteers in there were rude...I didn't feel quite as upbeat when I left, but it didn't seem to matter, either.

This year will mark a point in history where we will be able to tell our kids and grandkids what this was like to experience in the near future and all I can encourage you to do is VOTE, VOTE, VOTE!!

If Only...

I had some extra money - I would buy this bad boy and drive it proudly with my matching window flags blowing into the black and gold sunset....maybe put some sweet hub caps on it, too.

Ahhhh....

The first rain of the season came this afternoon and what a welcome change!

When I left for work this morning, I took a few pictures of the sunrise coming up over the hill - it was brilliant and of course, pictures don't justify the colors.

The rest of the afternoon was spent watching the radar anticipating the big blob of green heading our way.... everybody was so excited and I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't too! I mean, it's the first rain we've had since February - that's right, seven months.

Day after day it's nothing but blue skies and sun - it's dry, dusty, and up until last weekend, it's been 100F - hello, I'm ready for fall already!

As I'm sitting here with the patio door open taking in deep breaths of fresh air and feeling the cool breeze, it makes me want to curl up in a blanket, drink hot chocolate, and watch football. Ahhh....