H just moved out, 13 months post-bomb

[Dawn of Hope]

BND, Thanks so much for posting to me, I was starting to wonder if being off the boards for a couple of months meant everyone had lost interest in me! (Just my insecurity showing, I guess.)

I have been signing up for a lot of free or low-cost resources (tele-seminars, books, programs) for improving my life in general, and my finances in particular. That's something. However, I am aware that the key to improving things is to actually break the inertia and get moving. I am nervous about this, because I have such a nasty history of not getting things done, but I am asking all of you to hold me accountable. Here are my goals for today:
-- Begin working on an order for a client that I have promised to deliver by Tuesday
-- Do SOMETHING concrete towards getting my website up (at least the first item on the list my tech guy has given me, and preferably more)
-- Check on the cost of having the pool liner replaced (H agreed to the idea of having the tax refund go towards that long-overdue repair expense)

That's probably enough for one day. Yesterday I did a lot of reading and watching videos on these programs for self-improvement, and I completed the shredding of a HUGE stack of papers which went back to 2006! With all of those papers processed, I was able to reshuffle things under my desk so that I actually have a clear space for my legs under there for the first time in several years! My feet are actually free to swing around as I sit here typing! I know, it's not a life-changing accomplishment, but I think it is helping me get unstuck.

Want to hear the latest news about H? I didn't mention it in my previous post because I was trying to summarize, but last Sunday night, he called me at 2 a.m. (I was awake, but I wasn't expecting a call at that hour, so I didn't have my phone nearby and didn't get the message until around 7 a.m.) That was pretty strange...he would have expected me to be awake, as I'm an incurable night owl, but it's very odd for him to call me at that hour. Anyway, he said he hit a deer on the way back from [OW's state], and his car wasn't really driveable but he was driving it anyway(?), and he wanted to know if he could stop by and pick up our extra car so he would have something to drive while his was in the shop. Long story short, I haven't actually spoken with him since then, but we exchanged a flurry of messages that day, and he ended up coming by while I was asleep and getting the extra car (which was okay, except that if I had known beforehand that he was coming then, I would have made a point of being awake and spiffed up).

In his last message, he asked if we still had AAA (emergency automobile service, FYI for you non-Americans), because he had had to jump-start the car before he could get it moving when he picked it up, and now he was off in the city working and it was dead again. When I got that message I left him one, politely explaining that I had let the AAA membership lapse in February in order to save money, and asking if he wanted me to reinstate it (this is the first time we haven't had it since I signed up for it at age 16). I have not heard from him since. I thought it was a little bit of irony that I had to jump-start my own car on Thursday, at which point I discovered that he had taken the jumper cables out of my car so I no longer had access to any. I really don't think he was trying to make things difficult for me, as my car is normally pretty reliable, and the car he was taking isn't, but we've never had more than the one set of cables between our three cars. Oh well, at least I was home and it wasn't a big deal that I couldn't get where I was going immediately. I think I will reinstate our AAA membership, but will charge it to our joint account (as it used to be). After all, which of us is more likely to need it--the one who rarely makes trips out of our area, or the one who travels five hours away (to visit OW) every couple of weeks?

In other news, I am excited to report that my work is currently appearing in a MAJOR national wedding publication, and more of my work will appear in the next issue of the same magazine, so that is six months of exposure to my target market...and I even got paid for it! I am really thrilled about that, and they even got my name and contact info all correct in the credits!

Thanks, all, for all your support! It's good to be back!

Peace,
Dawn