I'm Seeing Dollar Signs

So Ryan and I just got back from picking up his financial aid excess check. I don't know how, but we got more this semester. Plus they apparently forgot to allot him his lottery money last semester so we're getting that, too. So in total we got...a lot. Like I feel like I won the lottery a lot. Nothing even remotely close to what we expected in a good way. Just...wow.

Needless to say I'm not going to have to worry so much about money while Ryan is gone. And I may be able to buy a new computer, at last! : D But the rest of the money is going away for me to pay off my rent here in Knoxville and live comfortably while I'm with my parents until I get a new job and apartment in Johnson City. Yay to unexpected money to the good!

Too Lazy for Contacts

I've been really lazy about wearing my contacts lately. So lazy that I've been wearing my glasses for a few weeks straight now. Last time I had my eyes checked I bought some pink frames from the Wal-Mart kids department. Now that it's time that I should probably think about getting my eyes checked again, I think I'm going to with something a little more adult. I need all the help I can get.

I was looking for some ideas, and I was surprised to find glasses for as low as $8! Zenni Optical: Sell Rx Glasses $8 with case! They have some really cute stuff, too. Like this snazzy pair of practically frameless glasses:



I'm definitely going to check with their site before buying anything else for my new prescription. And if I find I can't part with the pink, they have some pink framed glasses, too. Yay!


(This is a sponsered post.)

o(_ _)o zzzZZZ

I'm so bored. Or maybe just lazy. Or maybe just a bad combination of the two. I got all of the laundry and cleaning done this weekend. I did my Sociology and Japanese homework, too. Didn't touch my Astronomy, though, so I need to continue stepping it up a notch on that over the next couple of days. Heh.

Ryan and went to the gym last night and then stopped by Wal-Mart for some groceries. I bought some yummy popsicles that are made from real fruit and not just some frozen Kool-aid rip off frozen on sticks. Haha. And I bought my first bridal magazine! : D All of the pretty dresses are making my head spin. The possibilities are too endless.

Today after class I came home and surfed the channels for something to watch while I ate lunch. Ended up getting sucked into watching Silent Hill. I hadn't ever seen it before, but I thought it was okay. Actually didn't scare me really so much as it confused the bejeezus out of me. The ending was crazy like whoa. Ended up having to Google it to get other opinions because I felt like I was coming down from a bad trip or something. (Not that I'd know what that feels like. For serious.) Crazy stuff.

And now I'm just putting off doing anything productive for the next hour before I have to head to work. I really need to figure out while I'm so bleh all the time and get motivated. Life's kind of passing me by half the time while I sit in front of the TV and sleep until noon. It sucks. I need to do something about it. If only I knew what.

They Say Money Can't Buy Happiness

But I'm prone to disagree. Ryan and I have had so many ups and downs since moving out on our own. And it seems that every time we're back on our feet just a little bit, something happens to wipe out whatever we have saved and then some. Now we're looking at having to pay all of our own car and health insurance and buying a car for me to drive when we move back to Johnson City. Eventually, Ryan is going to need a newer car, as well.

There's no way we can afford to pay full price for anything so loans will have to be the way to go. I've been thinking a little about it, but I haven't really decided exactly how we're going to go about it. For something a little cheaper we could always go the payday loans route. Christian Faith Financial is a site that searches for the perfect lender for the needs of the individual. And they have plenty of links to information about the details of payday loans so you know what you're getting into. I will definitely keep that in mind as summer draws closer.

(This is a sponsered post.)

Let it Snow!

Well, it was snowing like crazy for about an hour, and now it's over. T-T I want one good snow! Just one! East Tennessee hasn't had a single good snow in years. Just wet, rainy winters. Blergh. I want snow.

I'm getting slightly more up to speed on school stuffs. Astronomy is the only thing I really need to work at to catch up. Hopefully I can do so before the weekend is over.

I've been bored a lot lately when I'm not at school, work, or doing homework. Heh. I wish I could have my old computer capabilities back. Graphic design and Asian dramas galore. >_<;; Stupid spyware and junk. Ugh. I need a new computer. But first I need the money to buy one.

R.I.P. Heath~

I can't believe Heath Ledger died yesterday. I heard it on the radio at work last night, and I almost cried. He was only 28, and his career was far from over. It's really sad.

...

I really need to get on track with my school work. I've been lazy about my Astronomy reading again this semester. Ergh. ^_^;; I'm such a lazy bum...procrastination doesn't help either I suppose. Haha. Oh well.

Ugh, I think this weather is my problem. I usually love winter, but lately our winters have been nothing but cold and rain. No snow or anything. Just rain and dreariness. Bleh. I'm really sluggish and unmotivated to do anything or try to get up at a decent hour, make myself more presentable, and accomplish anything worthwhile. I hate being so unproductive. Any suggestions?

Boredom is a Constant

Not much to blog about lately. Ryan and I spent most of the weekend together. We saw Juno Sunday evening. We really liked it. Made us start talking about the kids we're going to have one day for the rest of the night. Haha. We're crazy.

Yesterday we both got haircuts before I went to work. Ryan was starting to look shaggy, and my hair was still uneven from my last pointless trip to a salon. So now it's even, although as short as it was in high school. Now I get to decide whether to leave it that way or grow it out. Hmm.

This morning the roads were so icy that Ryan had to drive 30MPH all the way to work, and UT delayed its opening. Since I only had one class, and it was in the morning, I didn't have to go to school today. Unfortunately I wasted my newfound free time sleeping until almost noon. Heh. Hate it when that happens.

Laziness...

Today hasn't been very productive, but I've enjoyed the down time. Tomorrow will be homework, cleaning, and laundry day. : P Today Ryan and I slept in before heading to the mall to buy a new wallet for him at the leather store there. I ended finding some leather gloves that actually fit me on sale for $19! : D I'm pretty thrilled about it because adult gloves are usually too long in the fingers for my child-size hands. ^_^;; I have to wear kids' mittens from Wal-Mart. Haha. So now I have gloves that will actually keep my hands warm and won't look like I stole them from a twelve year-old.

Ryan and I have the wedding planning full underway now. We've been doing some estimated budgeting and looking at pictures and ideas online for our Christmas wedding. Yay! ^_^ We're basically just trying to find a place for the reception at this point so we can book it since our date is right around the holidays. Hopefully we can get something set up in time. It's going to be interesting getting this all planned on our small budget with Ryan gone for six months.

For now I'm just going to watch some random TV until Ryan comes home from work in about an hour~

Poor Ryan

Ryan ended up missing school today because he still felt bad. But he managed to drag himself to the DMV and to his four hour shift at work tonight. He'll be coming home any minute now to collapse on the couch and have me wait on him hand and foot. : P But that's okay because I've never seen him so sick I had to take care of him so he deserves a little pampering for all his sufferage.

I'm getting on top of this whole homework thing so that's good. I have some Astronomy reading to do this weekend, but otherwise a little Japanese studying is all I have on my agenda aside from my usual weekend cleaning of the apartment and laundry doing. Yay! : D So at least I have that going for me. Heh.

When it Rains, it Pours

Apparently Ryan and I have a bill from our accident last March that wasn't paid for some reason. Ugh. So I called them back today and set up a couple of payments so we wouldn't have to pay it all up front. At least they notified us before it went to a collection agency. The payments aren't too high, and it's only for the next few months so it could be worse.

Then last night while Ryan and I were at the gym, someone stole his wallet out of his locker. They took his credit and debit cards out and left them in the locker, but the wallet itself, about $2 in cash, a Marine Corps. money clip that was a Christmas gift from his brother, a few of my Senior portraits and a picture of us from his military ball in high school, a few membership cards for PetSmart and the like, his Wal-Mart employee discount card and absence/tardy hotline card, his voter registration card, and his driver's license were all stolen.

We figure they wrote the credit and debit card numbers down so we'd think we were safe while they were off spending money online with the numbers so we went ahead and shut them both down and had new ones sent to us. We reported the theft to the gym and the police, and Ryan is going to the DMV either today or tomorrow to get a new license and hopefully voter registration card so he can vote in the primaries next month, which is really important to him. Unfortunately he woke up this morning throwing up and running a 100 degree temperature so no work or PT for him today. I asked him if he needs to go to the doctor, but he's afraid of costing us more money. We still owe my dad like $800 for fixing the car. But we have the money for that thanks to my excess financial aid check. I just need to transfer it to my other bank account that I share with my dad so he has access to transfer it to his account. Ugh. Then Ryan's excess financial aid check at the end of this month is going toward the ticket Ryan got for being at fault in his accident which he doesn't go to court for until the end of February. I'll be glad when this is all over.

Hopefully things will start to straighten out now. Thankfully as of right now we still have enough money to pay the remaining bills for this month so it could be so much worse than it is. The last thing I want to do is ask my parents for any more help than they have already given us. I haven't even told them we joined a gym, never mind that Ryan's wallet was stolen. -_-;; I haven't mentioned the doctor bill either. I don't want to have them worrying or lecturing us about our money usage/problems. They have enough going on in their own lives, and Ryan and I chose to be independant when we moved out. Our problems are our problems. We're doing the best we can.

Going to the Chapel

I've been on a wedding planning kick lately, which is good considering I usually procrastinate...which is bad for a wedding. ^_^;; I've been looking at dresses and cake designs online to get a feel for what I want, and, believe it or not, I have Ryan's opinion on both to keep in mind when I make the final decisions. If only I could get our families to be so wedding-productive... -_-;; I need guest lists, please!

Ryan ended up getting home really late last night so we forewent the gym, but we're heading there tonight when I get home from work instead. School is starting to overwhelm me a little, but not because it's difficult. Just because I make preparing for my classes harder than it really is. : P I'm such a perfectionist. (Also bad for weddings. Haha.) I'm headed off to work momentarily. Blergh. Luckily my job is pretty awesome in the easiness and lack of energy needed departments.

Feel the Burn

Ryan and I finally decided to get off of our lazy arses and join a gym. It's a really nice facility with a pool and more equipment than I could count, and it's open 24 hours a day, which is perfect for our whacky schedule. The membership fees are pretty cheap so we're doing it on a month to month basis until we move to Johnson City. We worked out a little bit last night, and we like the place so far. Probably be going back tonight. Haha. Well, it's better than spending money on fast food or movies or sitting on the couch at home when we're bored.

I've noticed a drastic decline in comments, guys. As in, no one is commenting. Is it the journal server that just isn't understood or did my little hiatus earlier kind of deter everyone? Don't get me wrong, I'll blog comments or no comments, but it is nice to get a little feedback sometimes.

For now I'm off to work on some homework. I'm determined not to get behind or slack off this semester. I need to do some Sociology and Astronomy reading, as well as an online lab for Astronomy before I head to work this afternoon.

P.S. Happy Belated Birthday to my little brother, who turned 18 yesterday! I told him Happy Birthday, of course, I just didn't get a chance to post it here. : P

Blergh

So today I cleaned the apartment and started the laundry. Waiting for Ryan to come home from work with some more quarters to finish up. Can't wait to move to a place with my own laundry machines. Ugh. Having to dig up quarters and go outside to do laundry sucks. A lot.

I don't really have anythings else to blog about today. Nothing exciting going on here. Just a lot of random TV watching and trying to save money so we can pay off the car repairs and tickets from Ryan's accident. Heh.

I signed up for PPP!

I actually signed up for PayPerPost a few months ago, but I was having some coding difficulties that kept me from using their services. Now that I have reworked some of my coding and switched to a more user friendly blog service, I can finally put my membership to good use.

I found out about PayPerPost via Jenn's website where she often wrote sponsered blogs and talked about how much the extra income helped. I did a little research and decided it couldn't hurt to try. The money will come in very handy when Ryan leaves for basic training in May. I won't have to stress so much about paying all of the bills and still being comfortable. In the meantime, I'm saving for a car and, of course, a wedding so extra money wherever I can earn it is always good. Why not take the opportunity to blog for it?

I will still be posting personal entries, and even my sponsered posts will relate to things going on in my life so don't worry about this becoming nothing but paid posts that are completely impersonal. I'm excited about this new opportunity. Not only for the money but for the chance to enhance my writing abilities behind blogs, poetry, and fiction. The writing skills that PayPerPost will enable me to sharpen will allow me more opportunities in the future.




(This is a sponsered post.)

Waiting

Ryan is on his way home! : D

The door is back on the car at last, but it's still not perfect so we need to just leave it closed until we have time to take it back to my dad for further tweaking. I'll still be climbing in through the driver side door...so ghetto. Haha. But at least the passenger side door closes all the way now! No rain in the car or fears of the door flying open mid interstate drive.

I've spent the past hour practically demolishing my filing cabinet and what few places I have books stored in the apartment searching for the passcode to access my online Astronomy book for the second semester. I think I threw it away when I was done with it last semester. -_-;; Ugh. So now I have to go buy the entire bundle again which comes with two passcodes and the online lab software. I already have the software, and I only need one passcode! >_<;;; I've looked online to see if I can just buy a passcode, but alas, my life doesn't work that way. And let's just say this bundle is going to be more than $30-$40 at least. Oh yeah. Great.

The rest of my evening once I returned home from work was spent watching TLC. : D I love 'What Not to Wear'. I wish I could have such a shopping spree. I'm not totally inept with my clothing, at least I hope not, like most people that go on the show, but it would be awesome to get ideas from people who can look at what I should wear subjectively for my shape and all that jazz. Because I have a horrible habit of wearing the same kind of stuff all the time. I've been trying to branch out, but without said shopping spree it's kind of impossible to do a wardrobe overhaul. T-T So wish I could, though. I'm filled with envy right now.

Gah! >_<;;

Ryan is still stuck in Greeneville. Everything is back together except for the front passenger side door. Apparently one of the hinges on the front was bent in the accident, and they can't seem to get it bent back into place as of yet. So my dad is making a trip to town to find something to help them out. In the meantime Ryan had to call in to work. He's missing an eight hour shift that we desperately need with this car business. And if they can't get that hinge fixed, we're looking at a lot more missed shifts. Not to mention he has a mandatory function for the Marines early in the morning. He might have to miss that, as well. Which won't look good for him. But at least he has the fact that he usually shows up to every function and PT whether they're mandatory or not going for him.

Luckily work will help keep me busy for part of the evening so I won't be too lonely. Hopefully they can get the car fixed, and Ryan will be headed home before the night is over so I won't have to be by myself all night for the third night in a row. T-T I'm going insane!

The World of HTML Coding

So I figured out how to use FTP with my server at last! : D This is a proud moment. Haha. So now my Blogger journal is my moonlit-butterflies.net index page. Mwaha. I recently had to factory restore my computer and lost all of my graphic making software so it'll be a while before I can get another layout of my own up. That being the case, I'm going to wait to put the menu to the rest of the site up until I can make a layout.

I'm so bored without Ryan here. I could go to bed right now and not care. ^_^;; Maybe I can find a good movie on or something. Don't know what I'm going to eat for dinner...maybe fishsticks or something. I just have to get unlazy long enough to cook. Heh. And then I just have to finish some Sociology reading, and all of my homework will be done until at least tomorrow. Haha. Oh the joys of being back in school.

It's Been Decided

School hasn't been bad so far. Then again I'm only two days in. I only have three classes this semester because my Pre-Calculus class was canceled, but it's all for the best. I won't need that class at ETSU so I would have been wasting my time anyway. ^_^;; So for the rest of the semester I will only be attending two classes and taking Astronomy online. Unfortunately my two regular classes are early in the mornings. I go to Sociology every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 8AM, and then I go to Japanese every weekday at 9AM. I do have to attend a lab session for my online Astronomy course on Thursdays around noon. But compared to the craziness of last semester I'm relaxing.

Ryan and I have pretty much decided that as long as we both get accepted at ETSU, and I can find a good job similar to the one I have at the hospital now, we are moving to Johnson City in the Fall. Actually I'm probably going to stay with my parents over the summer and just finish paying my rent here so I can keep all my furniture and bulkier items in this apartment for storage purposes until August. That way it's the only bill I have to pay, and I can spend my time getting my license, a car, and finding a nice apartment in JC. I'll probably work at the McDonald's in Greeneville or something for the two or three months I'm with my parents. The manager there will love that. ^_^ But I plan to move on to something closer to the job I have now when I start living in Johnson City. Working in Greeneville will just make it easier for me to get to work over the summer since my parents will have to drive me until I do get my license.

Ryan ended up driving to Greeneville after he got off of work last night, speaking of our hometown. He's staying at my parents' for a day or two before school starts since he's off of work today while my dad is helping him fix the car. They've already gotten all the damaged parts off, and my dad is buying the parts to put back on today. It's going to cost us several hundred dollars, but my dad is going to let us pay him back for the parts when I get my financial aid check next week. I was so hoping to put that away or maybe buy a laptop with it. Ugh. Such is my life. But hopefully either tonight or tomorrow I will have Ryan back home safe with a much more road worthy car.

I'm trying to be a better student this semester so I need to get started on that by doing some homework. But first I need some lunch...

Change of Plans

Turns out that ETSU back in Johnson City has a Japanese minor now...so it's very likely that Ryan and I will be moving back closer to Greeneville in the Fall. : D Yay to having all of my friends back and paying less rent! And getting away from ghetto-ville! *happy dance*

Back to School

Unfortunately school starts back tomorrow. Ugh. I'm so done with school. But I need to try harder this semester to bring my GPA up from that 'C' in Economics last semester. >_<;; At least I made an 'A' in everything else. Speaking of school, I'm thinking about changing back to a Graphic Design major. I know that makes my move to UT seem pointless, but I still want to minor in Japanese.

The thing is, Ryan and I have been talking about our future together once we're married and done with school, and we've pretty much decided that we want to travel rather than just live in Japan forever and ever. And as much as I love Japan, I know that I can never be a citizen, and that at times it might be difficult for me to live there on a long term basis. So we're thinking about traveling with the military after school.

Ryan is more than willing to go enlisted once we graduate, and we can travel the world in two to four year stints together. We'll request Japan every chance we get, but we want to see a lot of Europe and Asia. We shall see. I think my parents are a bit disappointed in me because of this idea. They think I changed my dreams for Ryan, but the fact is my change of mind just happened to coincide with Ryan being in my life. Not sure if I'll ever convince them of that, though.

In other news, Ryan got into another car accident yesterday afternoon. Nothing major. He was going straight at a three way stop after stopping and looking both ways several times. The lane that kept going had a car turning right that Ryan didn't see until they collided. Luckily the car was going slowly since it was turning so the damage to both vehicles was mostly cosmetic, and neither driver was injured in the least. But our car may have the beam between the two passenger side doors damaged enough to just 'total' the car and start over. Problem is, we can't afford another car right now. Hopefully it's just the two doors that are banged up and need to be replaced. But if it's the beam, we're screwed. My dad is coming down sometime soon to take a look at it.

The car is still perfectly driveable, but the front passenger door won't shut all the way. There's a small gap at the top of the door between it and the roof of the car. So if it rains...yeah. And even though we couldn't get the door to open or close with all of our strength, I'm afraid it will decide to fly open while Ryan is driving down the road and end in another wreck. So we need to get fixed regardless. So here's hoping.