Playing Catch-Up

Oops.  I did that thing again where I think of all these great post ideas and then go eat a sandwich or take a nap and never do anything about it.  So instead of working up the motivation to write a whole post about some mind-blowing theme, I'm just going to play a little game of catch-up with you!

First, I do want to share some fun financial news.  Fun is the only word that fully embodies the essence of finances, right?? Wrong.  But this one is pretty jolly: we have finally paid off all the interest on our loans!  So in essence, we are back where we started, which could be really depressing, but not for this gal!  From here on out, all we'll be doing is make progress, and that's pretty darn neat-o.  

Also, a small update about groceries because I told you I would. My savings for March were $83.42 and 29.8%, which is less than February, but we also spent $98 less on groceries overall plus I tried my hand at shopping at more than one store for the first time, so it obviously still counts in the win column.  

So I started a little countdown... 33 days of work left!  That sounds ridiculously do-able until I also tell you that it's 11 1/2 weeks, but I'm ignoring that part and focusing on the 33 thing.  About a month and a half from now, I'll be able to start looking for a new job and relive this and also this whole process over again.  Yippee.  But really, yippee!

What else?  I have been horrible to the dear H lately, I am sorry to say.  Last night, he said something along the lines of, "Why are you snapping at me like a gosh darned sea turtle?" and I sat for a good ten minutes thinking about it, and realized I just really wanted to fight.  Not with him, not at all.  But I wanted to give someone a good spank in the brain with my ferocious words, and he happened to be the only person close enough to practice on.  I took many deep breaths and re-calmed myself, and hopefully I learned that spouses do not make good practice targets.

In better news, I just got back from a wild spring break trip spent with my new baby niece, who is adorable beyond words.  I got sunburned twice and giggled like a schoolgirl about it, and also laid around and marveled at my niece who is so much better than your niece.  I am sorry about that part, but the truth hurts.  I may have cried after leaving her because my sister is one of the most important people in my life, and one of the most important people in her life will never really know me, and if that's not a cause for a good cry, I don't know what is.

Other than that, I spend my days on bended knee asking the good Lord in heaven above to please send some sunshine and maybe not so much rain?  And then to go ahead and send a massive heat wave while He's at it.

What have your recent days been filled with?

P.S.  I pretty much never take naps, so that beginning part was a lie.  Oops again.

Lovely in Our Differences

Picture this, Northwesterners: You climb a tall tree and can see for miles (many, many miles) in Every. Single. Direction.

Picture this, Midwesterners: You drive in any direction for 15 minutes and experience an elevation change of at least 1,000 feet.

Crazy, isn’t it?  I have found that people who have lived here in the northwest their whole lives have this odd mixture of disdain and fascination with the Midwest.  They ask me questions like, “Have you ever slaughtered a cow with your bare hands?” or “Did a blizzard ever wipe out your entire family?”  

In case those very same questions were burning in the back of your mind, the answer to both of these is no.  However, in my short time of living here, I have found a lot of differences between these two regions.

*Before you read, yes I am purposely making broad generalizations.  It’s so much more entertaining that way!*

1. Food 

In the Midwest, you eat meat.  Real men eat meat and potatoes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  Grandmas bake apple pies, you eat fried foods at the county fair, and if you’re in a big city, you go out for chic drinks with friends (if you’re in a small town, you share those drinks in the back of a pickup.

In the Northwest, you eat vegetables.  Preferably organic vegetables that you grew in your backyard.  If you eat meat, it must be free range, organic, fed at a banquet table with all its friends, and in very small portions. Grandmas bake tofu cookies and you go out for coffee with friends (or beer if you’re a man.  Always a local brew, of course). We went to the Portland Saturday Market and saw a booth selling cotton candy made with organic free-trade sugar and all-natural fruit juice dyes. These people are serious.

2. Weather

In the Midwest, you’ll wake up on a beautiful October day and it will be 75 degrees outside.  You will fall to sleep with a blissful love of fall, and wake up early to scrape the frost off your car.  You go to the beach and the park and shopping in the summer, and you go to work and back home in the winter (if you can get your car to start and the roads aren't covered in ice and snow).

In the Northwest, you’ll wake up on an October day to lower 60’s with a light drizzle on and off throughout the day.  You will fall asleep to the pitter patter of raindrops and wake up to upper 50’s with clouds in the morning and a light drizzle in the afternoon.  That’s about it.  It’s predictable and consistent, 2 foreign words to Midwesterners.  In the summer you go to the ocean and hiking and running on the Nike trail.  In the winter, you go hiking and skiing and running on the Nike trail.

3. Mailboxes

In the Midwest, people have mailboxes.  In front of their houses.

I don’t know if this is a city-wide or region-wide thing, but where I live, there are community mailboxes where you get a little locked slot.  No house has a mailbox.  Can anyone explain this to me???

I joke, but I love all of these things.  I love hiking, I love sunshine, I love apple pies (only my grandma’s, of course) and all-natural cotton candy.  I have had so much fun getting to know my new home, and the Midwest will always have a special place in my heart.  There are many other differences, but these have by far been the most noticeable.  What categorizes your area?