well, *that* was interesting

So orientation was last night. During and after the meeting, this is how I felt (because everything in my life can be related to Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory):

dear marcie, you ain't got no money

After spending an offensive amount of money in February (after January's spending freeze), I've been a bit behind in my finances. So much so that I'm having to forgo my second student loan payment this month in order to catch up. [THE SHAME!]

Obviously, I'm really in need of Steph's April Wallet Watch link-up. Like, REALLY in need.

preparation

So, today's our orientation. It feels like it's been forever already. Man am I in trouble. Anyway, I've been reading lots of things in order to prepare myself, both for the journey and for parenting these children once they're mine. As is so often the case in my life, however, I find that more knowledge is not necessarily helpful. In fact, it tends to flare up my anxiety, although not as much as being unprepared does... just in different ways.

In no particular order, here are some things that I'm afraid of/nervous about/freaking the fuck out about:

today's lesson

After my post yesterday, I did a little bit of dangling my feet in the water of whatever the hell it is you dangle your feet into. [West Wing reference. Sorry to all those who are lost.] Today, I leave you (and myself) with these thoughts:

source

source

confidence - {just write}

Let's be real, almost all of my posts are what I would consider "free writing," but I saw this link-up at The EO and wanted to join.

loan progress -- 03.19.14

Undergrad: $0
Law School: $38,887.02

a programming note

I'm going to be writing a series of how-to posts on my adoption journey. They'll be pretty specific/technical in nature, so I'm sparing all of you who don't really care about the minutiae and creating them as pages instead of posts. You'll be able to get to them in my navbar up top, so in case you're interested, they're up there.

I'll still be posting on our adoption journey in the regular feed on a semi-regular basis (mostly posts about my impatience and roller-coaster of emotions), so never fear! I'm just trying not to bore you all to death :)

UPDATE: We gave up on the adoption journey, but I wanted to provide the link to the one post that I did write, in case it helps anyone else!!

How to Adopt From Foster Care in Indiana

nerd love

I happened across my retirement balance today, which was good since I was in need of a bit of cheer.

Not too shabby in 7 years, eh? Especially since the first few years I was working/contributing, I lost money (damn stock market).

Today's payday, which means another student loan payment. My Direct Debit comes out on Monday, so expect a student loan balance update next week!

the patience of job

patience of Job (noun): 
           (idiomatic) A great amount of patience.

If you've been following this blog for any amount of time at all, you know that patience is not my strong suit (as evidenced here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here... this is getting sort of embarrassing...). Well, I'm beginning to believe that the adoption process is enough to test the patience of even the most saint-like among us. I have no hope.

the fosters

Confession: I love ABC Family shows. Granted, they always seem to jump the shark earlier than shows on other channels (I'm looking at you, Secret Life of the American Teenager), but they're fantastic all the same. Until last week, my favorite was Switched at Birth. However, I noticed last week that The Fosters was available on Netflix. I've been wanting to watch this since I'd heard of it coming out, so I queued it up and churned through the 10 available episodes.

money is like a purse

As a woman in her late-twenties, I've had a lot of purses in my life. They've all been varying shapes, sizes, and colors (I once used a lunchbox as a purse when I was in high school), but one common thread between them was that they were all full. Not usually bursting-at-the-seams full, but definitely shouldn't-put-any-more-stuff-in-there full or, in the case of my current purse, you're-gonna-get-scoliosis full.

My purse at the moment.

03.04.14 -- loan progress

Undergrad: $0
Law School: $39,475.12

productivity woah

This weekend was a whirlwind. So much so that thinking of where to start is overwhelming me! Here's a tiny recap:

• Friday: IKEA
• Saturday: 10k training run
• Sunday: IKEA build party