oh kim, this is wrong. i should be writing this to you 45 years from now, when i'm 89 and you are (were) 97- after having danced yourself to death in the nursing home singles "mixer" on a sunny sunday afternoon. that was my plan. why do you always mess up my perfectly reasonable plans?
 

think of all the fun you can have with $107

i recently took a different job with about half the hours to help me move forward toward my move to nepal. this was a prayer-filled, well thought out change and so far it's been wonderful. i have been very intentional about using the extra time to be productive. i have studied for my missions perspective class, read my bible, weeded out clothing i'll no longer need and have taken it to the second hand store for consignment... i have read 2 of the 6 books recommended to me by TEAM, and started a bible study/mentoring program with a young woman from church. i have completed online fundraising tutorials and surveys needed before my week-long orientation in chicago next week. i have cooked and cleaned and decluttered. i refinanced my house at a lower interest rate to lower my mortgage payments so that my roommate's rent will mostly cover it while i'm gone. like i said, i have been productive.

one of the things i decided to do today was make a budget. i have never made a budget. in fairness, i have never had to. i make good money and live a very modest lifestyle. i have no debt except for my mortgage. even my jeep is paid for. i am not a "shopper"- the only money i really spend is on things like eating out and entertainment. i am never in danger of spending more than i make, unless i'm traveling. i figured that i could easily live on half my salary if i tightened the reins a little on those incidental things. over the past several months i have cut expenses even further by volunteering at the food bank (they can't give out the dented cans for safety reasons, so us volunteers get to take some home, thus lowering my food bill) and becoming a "karma yogi" which means that i clean the yoga studio for a couple of hours a week in exchange for free yoga/exercise classes. that will allow me to eliminate my gym fee too. i have started frequenting our local "discount grocery store" on days like monday, which is "monday mania" and rotisserie chickens are $4.49, and tuesday when bananas are 19 cents a pound! in other words, i have a plan!

back to the budget. i put down my average monthly costs for my mortgage and utilities. i was doing pretty well at that point. that left me with between $400 and $500 a month for incidentals. oh wait... i forgot gas. i only get 14 miles to the gallon in the jeep on a great day. better take off another $150- more while i'm driving to and from raytown for class. okay, i can work with $300 or $350. oops... the text message that just came in reminded me that i have a cell phone bill too. bye bye to another $85. so now i'm down to $225ish. omg- how did i forget about car insurance and my internet bill? after all, i'm using the internet to look up my online bill pay info. sigh. after it was all said and done, my total after those expenses was $107. i haven't even taken off for food, yet, or the extra $200 a month i will have to pay for health insurance now that i'm part-time.

moral of the story- do the budget BEFORE deciding whether or not to take the part-time job. i am not sweating it though. i will trust that god will provide. and i'm starting the "freegan diet" again. this will be good for me, right? what better way to prepare to live like a missionary than to actually live like a missionary?

p.s. yes, i will take and eat all your stuff that has expired but still doesn't smell too bad. :0)

back to online dating- just for your amusement!

so, by now you know i'm an eternal optimist. or a fool. i prefer optimist and this is my blog, so i'll go with that.

i know i've had some dreadful online dating experiences (reference past blog posts. haha), but i am always one to play the odds. odds are that it's bound to get better, right? between that assumption and a recent request from a friend to post something humorous as opposed to "deep" this next round, i decided to take one for the team and go back on the online sites. i signed up for "christian mingle" and went back to browse "plenty of fish" which was a site i frequented before. actually, that was the one where i found the guy with 2 fiancees and 19 women who thought they were his girlfriend. wow. i really am optimistic.

christian mingle is fine but a little slow. the nice thing is that it is a christian site so not everyone is just trying to "hook up". plenty of fish, on the other hand, was sending me matches of folks that i am sure i wouldn't be attracted to in real life. i am not being harsh or judgemental, but we all have our preferences and the things that we find attractive, and these didn't fall into those categories. there was an option to go to a set of profiles and "rate" the pictures so the matching software would know what i prefer and send me matches based on those preferences. well, there was one out of the first 20 that was a "hit" so i rated him high. much to my surprise, it sent him an email telling him i wanted to meet. oops! i decided to throw caution to the wind and go with it. a friend and i were supposed to meet for dinner after my KC class last sunday but she had the nerve to have a baby and canceled on me. since i was going to be dining alone and he lives in KC, i asked if he wanted to join me. he did.

the nutshell was that he was handsome, well dressed, intelligent, educated, professional, interesting, and interested. overall, a pretty darn good date! i regained my hope in online matching potential. he did try to land a kiss in the parking lot, but i'm not that kind of first date girl- so i did a polite swerve and leaned in for the hug. after the date, he texted that evening and called the next day to talk for a few minutes. today we exchanged a text or two and made plans for a phone call this evening after getting home from all the "stuff" we had planned.

then i got the other text. "hey babe, i'm good either way, but i'm going to plan on picking up food and heading over unless you tell me you want to go out."... did i mention that he was NOT heading to my house? he sent that text to the wrong girl. it was followed by "my bad. sorry."

awkward! and back to square one.

yike...