Moving

Yes, it's been a while since my last post. My blog has been discovered by someone local, and because of the nature of the things I post about I needed to take some time to think about whether or not that was okay. I mean, I don't care who reads the blog, but this person figured out who Fidget and I are based on my entries. With the boys still being young, I'm not okay with that.
So...

I will be moving. This blog will no longer be updated. If you are interested in following me, please send me an email. Once I have figured out where I'm relocating to, I'll give you the new addy.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Made a Big Payment

I have been waiting to be able to make this post. I have been fixated on it, couldn't wait for the moment to come...

I sent in a payment to one of our credit cards for $6000. WOO-HOO!!

Now comes an explanation as to why and how. Most financial gurus would not agree with the way that Fidget and I did things. Many of the financially-aware will scratch their heads and chuckle. In no way, shape, or form am I telling anyone, anywhere to follow our plan. But I am always a little curious how people come to the financial decisions that they do, so I will share some info.

A couple of years ago, we had made a really poor decision in car-buying. We bought a Chevy Avalanche (it was orange, and yes--part of me still misses it). It was a completely un-calculated, unnecessary, EXPENSIVE purchase...and we got a loan to do it. A loan with a crappy interest-rate (because the dealer we went to was a schmuck) and really high payments, because I insisted on a 4-year loan.

So, last year we traded cars numerous times to get our debt down, as well as our payment. In January, we made the last trade that we need to (assuming our cars keep running and don't get totaled or anything). In order to do that, I used a credit card check at 0.99% interest to make a down payment of $6000. Normally, I would never have considered doing that, not even for a second. But we had a plan to pay it back before the 90 day low-interest rate was up. So we used our tax return money and I sent the check off.

In hindsight, I can see all kinds of things that we could have done differently. Perhaps I will post about that another time.

For now, I'm going to do a little happy dance--I just made a credit card payment that cut our total credit card debt in half. SWEET!!

Excel

I've been spending my free time creating Excel spreadsheets that track our financial info. Back when I worked for the local hospital I created budget and billing sheets that were interactive. Now, because I haven't worked intensively with Excel since then, I'm having to re-teach myself all the little tricks I used to use on a daily basis.

Anyone out there use Excel for this and have any tips/tricks they'd like to share?

Thank You

I still can't believe how many people emailed me for links to the local news and also sent along prayers, reiki, positive wishes.

Since this is technically off-topic for the year, this will be my last post on the bus crash.

What happened?
A van with an unlicensed, 23 year old driver at the wheel was traveling (very fast, though that's not yet "confirmed"), ran a stop sign and broad-sided the bus. The bus tipped over onto a pickup truck. The driver of the van has been arrested.

4 children died. A third grader, a fourth grader, and two 13 year olds. Two that died were brothers. All the other injured are in stable/fair condition, with the exception of our friend's son who is still in ICU.

There were more than 20 ambulances on the scene, 4 helicopters, more fire trucks and rescue rigs than could be counted. One of the boys (who has a pelvis that's broken in 3 places) was helping to round up the kids from his mom's daycare at the scene, he was up and walking around trying to help. To say that the heroism displayed that day is staggering would be a gross understatement.

To say that it's a miracle that more weren't seriously hurt or killed would be an even bigger understatement.

Pause in Posting for today

I was prepared to post an "on topic" entry today.

A very serious bus crash occurred near me. My partner, Fidget, is an RN and is working at one of the receiving hospitals. My former ambulance crew was one of the primary responding crews.

3 people are dead, at least one student. Several are critical. Many, many students have other injuries: imagine, a bus that's FULL (there were 40 students on board) rolling on it's side. No one is buckled in except the driver, and many of the windows were likely broken. A terrifying scene to say the least.

UPDATE 6:43PM: One of the news stations is now reporting that all 3 that are dead were students. Jesus.

Please send your prayers, positive thoughts, etc. to the rescuers, doctors, nurses, ancillary staff, parents, friends, students, and anyone else you can think of.

For those who aren't aware, I live in a very rural area. For the most part, everyone knows everyone else. One of the children that's in critical condition is a friend of Fidget's oldest, he's also the son of a friend and fellow RN.

In this area, every time a pager goes off, a code is announced, a disaster occurs: heroes rush to the scene and to their staging areas. That happens everywhere. When it happens here, the lives you are trying to save are friends, relatives, neighbors, and maybe even your own kids.