Bitter...party of 1 (that would be me)

When it rains...it pours. Things happen in threes...Murphy's Law...whatever you want to call it...Today has NOT been a good day...

Tonight I am blogging my whiny vent...it's my blog and i'll cry if I want to.

When I got home, it sounded like there was water running on the side of the house. Nope...it's the AC unit. THAT is not a normal noise...currently the heat index is running around 105 degrees each afternoon. Granted i'm not HOME at that time of the day 5 out of 7 days a week, but still...it's not like I can just open the windows and enjoy the cool (HA HA HA yeah right) night air in lieu of air conditioning - it is Florida.  Open window nights don't start until November and depending on the year even that might not happen.


This may also explain why my power bill is hovering around $300 lately. It used to be $130 during a "normal" summer  month... $150, maybe $160 if it was really hot. A new unit would probably do wonders for that...

Why is it that whenever you start to get ahead, everything goes downhill and undoes everything you just accomplished? 

In this case...I just spent $300+ on a netbook for my birthday (which I now regret) . Mr. Paisley just spent $900 putting new tires on the truck (had to get new tires...could have picked something a bit cheaper, but he'll get probablu 90k miles out of them). We go on vacation and spend $250 to fix the leaking roof...only to find out that water has been getting into the basement (crawlspace) and is causing one corner of the cabin and one porch pier to settle...to the tune of $1500 to patch it or $10,000 to jack it back up and FIX it (including fixing the grading of the lot to keep water out of the basement). 

Now it seems the AC unit is on it's last legs (not that AC units HAVE legs...at least mine doesn't). Not totally unexpected...i've lived here 13 years and Lord have mercy the unit was OLD back then. I'd bet money that it's the original AC unit to this property (which did not have AC when it was built in 1945). While not unexpected, WHY this week? This month? I haven't even had a chance to pay off the $900 tires or the $300 laptop! 


My cell phone has been on it's last legs (cell phones are different that AC units...mine does indeed have legs...ok, not really). I rarely use it. I was due for an upgrade on my 2 year contract a year ago this past June. I have to charge it over night every day - the battery ain't gonna last much longer.  Oh and said phone is a hot pink Sony flip phone. It will access the internet, but it is NOT a "smart phone". In fact the last time my brother saw it he said "really? a flip phone?" Boys are dumb. It makes phone calls...in the grand scheme of things, that is really ALL I need it to do. THAT said...he has a Blackberry and his wife has an iPhone. I'm pretty sure they have texted each other while sitting on the same sofa at the same time...

So my plan was to get a new smart phone...mainly because we don't have an internet connection at the cabin. I've also never picked up a wireless signal there. Of course we can get in the car and run down the street to The Diner or Starbucks and use the WiFi, but let's face it, that's a pain if you just need to look something up real quick. Hence the smart phone. Internet access that is actually usable (unlike trying to use my ancient flip phone - it doesn't even have a QWERTY keyboard...I have to press the number keys multiple times to get the letter I want). Anywho - the new phone is a birthday gift from my parents...however, a smart phone requires a $15 - $20+ data plan in addition to the regular plan. Right now I pay about $58 a month for our 2 cell phones. iPhone run about $99 a month. Seems like such a waste of money to me... $100 for ONE phone...$60 for 2...hmmmmm. So do I get the new phone and find somewhere to cut the additional cost to make up for it? Do I just get one of the free phones and waste gas running down the road to use WiFi?


So now that Mr. Paisley and I used half our garage fund as a down payment on the cabin last year (oops...hello - no one told me you couldn't get PMI on a 2nd home! If I had known I needed to put 20% down I probably would have waited until I had 20% saved up!) Now it's looking like the other half is going toward fixing the foundation and putting in a new AC unit. Which leaves us pretty much hosed for building the garage at this time.


We aren't broke by any means, but when you start to get $10,000 bills rolling in you sure start to FEEL BROKE. 

So starting tomorrow - Mr. Paisley and I are on the college diet. That means whatever is cheap, not necessarily what we want. Luckily we have a few packages of steaks in the freezer for "special" meals, but spaghetti is fixin' to become a weekly meal again...and breakfast for dinner....and all the hot dogs that we bought too many of for the Memorial Day party. *sigh* 

Today is one of those days when I wonder "what was I thinking when I bought a 2nd home???"  and then throw myself a pity party and be bitter about my temporary situation.


Yes, I realize I have NO right to complain about any of this. I'm in this situation because I put myself there and a million other people can't even afford to pay their mortgage payment and here I am paying 2 (granted my 2 are equal to the ONE that most of my friends / co-workers are paying).

On the plus side...Mr. Paisley has some overtime work coming up that he has to get paid (usually he chooses comp time, but he has no choice due to this type of work) and I have my annual review tomorrow and will get a small raise (hoping for 5%, but i'm betting it won't be that much) AND Mr. P has some pending side work that he can do. The side work and the OT will pay off the computer and the tires...it's a start.

You can now look forward to "ways to save money" posts...cause that's what i'll be figurin'...back to basics for the Paisley Household!